KURT FROHLICH exclusive. “‘Worry’ is a song about something that has affected me personally: anxiety and overthinking.”

THROWBACK rock and roll guitar slinger KURT FROHLICH (Riley’s LA Guns, The Hooligans, Faster Pussycat, Marky Ramone Band) releases new single ‘Worry’ today (Golden Robot Records) ahead of next month’s ten track ‘1987’ album – the keenly awaited follow up to debut long-player, ‘1977.’

An earthy, gritty, genuine, authentic musician, Frohlich steadfastly wears his musical heart on his sleeve, influenced by many, for example The Ramones, Led Zeppelin, Sex Pistols, The Beatles, yet unmistakably, consistently, delivering his own sound and style.

“I don’t think you can hide from your influences when it comes out in your writing and playing,” he said. “I grew up on punk rock as a teenager and it formed and shaped me as a person. Later on, when I started playing and writing music, I always wanted to have melody and hooks in my songs. The Beatles were the masters of great melodies over any type of music, yet some people have reached out to me and said my ‘1977’ album sounds like if The Ramones put an album out today, and I really appreciated that compliment.”

‘Worry’ marks an enormous departure from ‘1977,’ an almost polar opposite vibe to, for example, ‘I Couldn’t Care Less,’ perhaps a conscious decision to shake things up, to travel in a new direction, in order to prevent being pigeonholed?

“I don’t think it was deliberate, I just wrote what I was feeling, and the synths just inspired me to write a bunch of songs. I took six years of piano as a kid, I started messing around with old ‘80s synthesizers and fell in love with them. The sounds of John Carpenter and Depeche Mode are also a big influence on me, and you can hear it on the new album.

“But ‘Worry’ is a song about something that has affected me personally – anxiety and overthinking. Being a private person, I have rarely shown personal sides of me in the songs I have written in the past, so I wanted to share some intimate things about myself and my life on this new album. ‘Worry’ is about the stresses that I think many people go through on a daily basis. Writing this song helped me take this head on and I think it personally helped, and maybe, can help others.”

There’s a lot to take in on today’s release, ‘Worry’ develops into a dramatic, wide screen song, synths to the fore certainly, but not necessarily a retro sound, rather one featuring the unmistakable, ‘Kurt Frohlich DNA.’

“That’s cool if you can hear my sound in this very different sounding album from what I usually do. I think it might be because I’m just pouring out what I feel and hear in my head and not trying to imitate anything or anyone. Jun Murakawa co-produced ‘1987’ and worked alongside Trent Reznor for years. He really had great ideas and made great choices on it. I trusted him, especially on Worry.”

But anyone expecting next month’s album to be even remotely similar to Frohlich’s ‘1977’ is in for a rude awakening.

“’1987’ is very different from my punk influenced ‘1977’ album. This is influenced by the alternative sounds of the ‘80s with a synth driven, dark rock feel with crunchy guitars. I think it’s an original sound that you can’t put your finger on, but I think it has a modern sound also.”

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