Frenzal Rhomb

Frenzal Rhomb are an Australian punk rock band that formed in 1992 in Sydney. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jason "Jay" Whalley, guitarist Lindsay "The Doctor" McDougall, drummer Gordon "Gordy" Forman, and bassist Michael "Dal" Dallinger. Though the band's mainstream success has been minimal, four of the group's albums have entered the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart: A Man's Not a Camel (1999), Smoko at the Pet Food Factory (2011), Hi-Vis High Tea (2017) and The Cup of Pestilence (2023). Hi-Vis High Tea charted the highest of these, peaking at number nine in the charts. The group has also supported Australian tours by American punk bands such as The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, The Lawrence Arms and Blink-182. Frenzal Rhomb have also toured in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, South Africa and Taiwan. The band has undergone several line-up changes, with lead vocalist Jason Whalley serving as the band's sole constant member. Frenzal Rhomb formed in 1992 in the Sydney suburb of Newtown with Alexis 'Lex' Feltham on bass guitar and Jason 'Jay' Whalley on vocals. Feltham and Whalley had been school mates at St Ives High School in St Ives. Whalley had commenced a Bachelor of Arts course in philosophy at Sydney University when he formed Frenzal Rhomb as a punk rock band. The band was formed to take part in a battle of the bands and at that stage was not seen as a permanent project. The name came from Fresnel rhomb, which is a prism-like device invented by the 19th century French engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel. Because we thought we were hilarious and then we entered ourselves into the band competition at Sydney University and I'm pretty sure they said "don't come in here with your stupid band names, like if you have a band, have a proper name and you need it by this afternoon", and so were like frantically sort of looking around for things and we opened up one of Ben's textbooks and there was this French physicist. — Jason Whalley, J Files on Double J Podcast (30 Jun 2022) Yeah, and we sort of mangled his name and came up with a Frenzal Rhomb. I think his name was Frenel. It's like spelled Fresnel. Yeah, and he had this thing called the Fresnel rhomb and yeah, we sort of butchered it and came up with Frenzal Rhomb. — Ben Costello, J Files on Double J Podcast (30 Jun 2022) By 1993, the group's line-up was Feltham, Whalley, Ben Costello on guitar and Karl Perske on drums. They played at the Sydney iteration of the Big Day Out in January. In March 1994, the band issued a seven-track EP, Dick Sandwich. Its cover had "a graphic drawing of the offending flaccid appendage draped over a sesame seed bun with lashings of bloody sauce." Posters with a similar image that advertised the group had them banned at some venues. National youth radio station Triple J criticised the group as being immature and told them to "grow up". The EP was described as having "good songs but it sounds like it was recorded under a doona" and had the group banned from some radio stations and retail outlets. One of its tracks, "I Wish I Was as Credible as Roger Climpson" (aka "Roger"), attracted attention of its subject, Roger Climpson – a Seven News anchor on TV – who posed with the group for a photo. The E.P also features fan favourites "Chemotherapy", and a cover of the TV series theme "Home And Away". The E.P featured an alternate cover depicting rabbits on the flipside of the liftout to appease record stores or people who may have been offended by the original artwork. In October of that year, they released a single, "Sorry About the Ruse", on their own label, How Much Did I Fucking Pay For This Records? The group were the local support act on the Australian leg of separate tours by United States punk rockers Bad Religion, The Offspring, and Blink-182. In March 1995, Frenzal Rhomb released their first studio album, Coughing Up a Storm, on Shock Records' sub-label Shagpile Records. Perske was replaced by Nat Nykyruj on drums before the album appeared. The album features live fan favourite "Genius". In October 1997, it was retitled Once a Jolly Swagman Always a Jolly Swagman and issued with additional tracks by the US label Liberation Records. In mid-1995, the group supported NOFX on their national tour. Fat Mike, a member of NOFX, was also the owner of Fat Wreck Chords, and he signed the band to his label, which released the 4 Litres EP in the US. In July 1996, Frenzal Rhomb released their second album, Not So Tough Now, which was produced by Tony Cohen (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, TISM, Dave Graney), Kalju Tonuma (Nick Barker, The Mavis's) and Frenzal Rhomb. Just after its appearance, Costello was replaced by Lindsay McDougall on lead guitar and backing vocals – Costello left to attend university and become an animal rights activist. In November, the group issued a CD EP, Punch in the Face and, in January 1997, performed at Big Day Out. Late that year they toured the US supporting Blink-182. In September 1997, their third LP, Meet the Family, was released, which reached the top 40 on the ARIA Albums Chart and became their first certified gold album by ARIA. It spawned three singles, "Mr Charisma" (June), "There's Your Dad" (September), and "Mum Changed the Locks" (April 1998). In April, Gordon "Gordy" Forman replaced Nykyruj on drums, and they toured Australia with US ska band Blue Meanies. Frenzal Rhomb were the head-liners for the Australian leg of the 1998 Vans Warped Tour and they were recruited for the US edition. A 1998 version of Meet the Family contained a bonus disc, Mongrel, that was recorded live on this US leg. In March 1999, they released their next album, A Man's Not a Camel, which was produced by Eddie Ashworth and was supported by a nationwide tour. As from November 2011, it remains Frenzal Rhomb's highest-charting album, reaching No. 11. It spawned their highest-charting single, "You Are Not My Friend" (August), which reached No. 49. Allmusic's album reviewer Mike DaRonco felt "the first two songs are great in that catchy, playful pop-punk sort of way, but the rest ... fall under the trap of having all their tracks sounding like one big, long song". The album also features fan favourites "We're Going Out Tonight" and "Never Had So Much Fun". At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999 in October, the group performed "Never Had So Much Fun". In 2019 Dan Condon of Double J described this as one of "7 great performances from the history of the ARIA Awards." According to the band's website, US gigs were dropped after Whalley suffered a heart attack in late 1999 and the group spent the first few months of 2000 inactive. Whalley later denied that he had had a heart attack with "a lot of things on our Web site are greatly exaggerated. There was also a thing about my having trench rot, the World War I disease, but that's not true either". In November 2000, Frenzal Rhomb returned with the album Shut Your Mouth, released on Epic Records in Australia, an offshoot of Sony. RockZone's Samuel Barker liked some tracks as "a fine template for a pop punk album" however "the majority just falls into the same formula of most punk today. It's not bad, just overplayed". The album peaked in the top 40. After six months, Sony dropped the band in mid-2001 and they signed with Epitaph Records in Australia. In April 2002, Feltham left the group, which provided many stories about why he left, including one that he was fired after thinking that the group should incorporate synth and keyboard work. The last song he recorded with the band was a cover of Midnight Oil's "The Dead Heart" for the 2001 tribute album Power & The Passion: A Tribute to Midnight Oil. After holding auditions in Sydney, Tom Crease was announced as the new bass guitarist. In April 2003, the band released Sans Souci, which appeared in the top 50. Jo-Ann Greene of Allmusic liked the group's outlook: "they're not bitter, just snotty about it all, as all good punks should be. And Rhomb are four