“I do like a certain looseness of things in music, that feeling that things could fall apart,” says David Collins, guitarist and chief instigator of Frog Squad. “And that’s something I see in Memphis music a lot. It makes it feel more genuine.”
Frog Squad’s new album Special Noise features a murderer’s row of Memphis jazz talent, including bassist Khari Wynn, drummer John Harrison, percussionist Hector Diaz, sax mistress Hope Clayburn, tenor sax Franko Coleman, woodwind swinger Chad Fowler, baritone sax Aaron Phillips, and keyboardist Cedric Taylor.
In contrast with Frog Squad’s last outing, which meticulously adapted pieces by French Impressionist composer Eric Satie, Special Noise travels toward the ’70s fusion experiments of Herbie Hancock and Sun Ra. “Everything’s better when you have multiple people
putting their input on it,” says Collins. “I can just bring in a rough sketch, and people play stuff over it I would never think of. It sounds cool that way and it brings things out of me that I wouldn’t play otherwise.”
The video for “The Inescapable Truth of the Void/Water Snakes” features majorly glitched out images of the band performing. Take a few minutes to bliss out with the Squad.
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.