Hiya Franxie, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
Thanks for having me! Very happy to be here again.
Thanks for joining us today… Tell us a bit about where you are from and how you got into music?
I’m Franxie, a singer-songwriter, musician and producer from Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
I’ve been making music for most of my life. I started as a classically trained vocalist and gradually found my way into songwriting, playing multiple instruments, performing and eventually recording and producing my own work. Over time my sound has moved towards alternative folk and singer-songwriter music, with a lot of room for experimentation.
Franxie has become a place for me to bring all of those parts together and finally release songs I’ve been carrying around for years.
What’s the live music scene like in Wollongong right now?
It’s a small community, but there are so many amazing artists coming out of the area. The live scene is starting to feel really vibrant again after COVID, with venues like La La La’s, Dicey Riley’s and Society City creating spaces for local music, as well as Yours & Owls doing a lot for the community.
It feels like there are people genuinely trying to build something here, which is exciting to be around.
Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
Locally, Joe Mungovan, Bec Sandridge and Private Wives are definitely worth checking out.
More broadly, some of my Australian favourites are Angus & Julia Stone, Boy & Bear, Thelma Plum, Gretta Ray. They’re artists I keep coming back to and have definitely influenced the way I think about songwriting and sound.
What are your thoughts on all this talk about ‘indie poo’ going around the socials at the minute?
I think “indie poo” was created to criticise a supposedly lazy or affected way of singing and songwriting, but the label can become a lazy critique too. I’m definitely guilty of a cursive vowel here and there, and as a classically trained singer I’ve spent years deliberately changing vowels depending on the style anyway.
Labels can be useful for identifying a sound, but not every weird vowel, simple lyric or repetitive melody is an accident. Sometimes it’s the point, and maybe it is the joke. I think it’s fine to joke about trends, but not every piece of art needs to be torn down and criticised for fitting into one.
What’s the biggest thing you hate having to do to showcase your music?
Social media! Sometimes it feels like I’m screaming into an empty void.
I love sharing the process and connecting with people, but constantly having to turn the process into content can eat up so much of the same creative energy I need to actually make music. I’m still trying to find the balance between documenting the work and actually being present enough to make it.
What are your ambitions for Franxie?
I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot lately. Over the next few months, I want to slowly and fairly low-effortly release some of the songs I’ve been sitting on. I have a habit of holding onto things until they feel perfect, so part of the goal is simply finishing them, putting them out and letting them go.
Over the next couple of years, I’d love to build towards a full body of work. There are singles, EPs and eventually an album floating around in my head, but I also want to experiment with what a “release” can look like: live performances in strange places, looping, animation, concept projects and eventually some small house or backyard shows.
Right now I’m trying to build a sustainable career while soaking up as much information as I can. I want to keep developing my production and recording skills, collaborate with more people and eventually put together my own tours and shows.
My head is very much in learning and finishing mode at the moment. Creation and experimentation are next!!
What’s your view on the music industry today?
I think the music industry is in a really strange place right now. AI, the cost of living and the increasing cost of making and experiencing live music have created a lot of uncertainty about what the future looks like for artists.
At the same time, it’s been really interesting watching creatives respond by thinking outside the box. People are collaborating, creating their own spaces and finding new ways to make shows and art that are affordable and accessible. There’s something really exciting about that, even if some of it has come out of necessity.
What’s the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
Not everything is yours to carry.
Social media is a tool, not your website.
Nothing is ever going to be perfect, and most people don’t notice the tiny things you’ve spent three days obsessing over.
And, probably most importantly, I’m capable of a lot more than I give myself credit for.
What’s currently in your ears and on rotation at the moment?
Lately I’ve been listening to albums! A definite rotation has been Angus & Julia Stone’s “Karaoke Bar”, Father Of Peace’s “The Year of Madness”, and Phoebe Bridgers’ “Lost Weekend”.
I’ve been needing a lot of self-soothing lately, and Angus & Julia Stone are a go-to for me.
What was your worst experience on stage? Any funny stories to share?
Probably sharing a stage with someone who was being rude to me or putting me down between songs. It’s surprisingly difficult to smile, sing and entertain a room while simultaneously trying not to cry!
Otherwise, most of my live disasters are the classics: gear dying, strings breaking and drunk punters doing drunk punter things. At this point I think surviving mild chaos is just part of being a live musician.
Got any fun, funny stories from life on the road?
I don’t know if I have any particularly wild road stories yet! I do love travelling and driving though, and music has given me an excuse to see little pockets of Australia I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.
It’s also amazing how frugal you become when travelling for music. You get very creative about how little money you can spend while still somehow making the trip work.
Hopefully there are a lot more kilometres, and better stories to come!
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
My new single “Stone” is an intimate piano ballad about letting go. I wrote it almost ten years ago, when I was trying to put words around this feeling of heaviness: anxiety in your chest, feeling stuck, and reaching the point where it becomes harder to keep holding yourself up.
The meaning has grown with me over the years. Now, it feels less like falling apart and more like accepting that I don’t have to carry everything all the time. It’s one of those songs that has followed me through different versions of myself, so finally releasing it feels very full circle.
What was the recording process like?
The foundation of “Stone” is a live recording of me playing grand piano and singing into a single microphone. I never intended for that performance to become the final version. It wasn’t perfectly in time, there were mistakes, and because the piano and vocal were recorded together on one track, there wasn’t much I could fix. I kept trying to redo it, but nothing ever felt quite the same.
About a year later, I came back to the recording and started building around it. I added backing vocals, and my friend Sofia played bass and electric guitar. Every time I thought about replacing the original piano and vocal, though, it felt like I was taking something away from the song.
So I kept the imperfect live take and let the rest of the production grow around it. For a song about letting go, it feels fitting that making it also meant letting go of the need to make everything perfect.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
There are always tiny things I could keep changing if I let myself. That’s probably exactly why I need to release it.
I’ve spent a long time learning that finished doesn’t have to mean perfect. The imperfections in “Stone” are part of the performance and part of the history of the song, so I think changing them now would miss the point.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
There’s a lot more music sitting on my hard drive than I’ve let people hear. I’m trying to overthink a little less, trust my voice a little more, and get those songs out into the world before I can talk myself out of it.
So, expect a few more songs from franxie soon x
FOLLOW HER HERE
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