When most people think of Chris "Fronz" Fronzak, mainman of Attila, they picture a party beast provoking the morals of society, living a life of excess. And it makes perfect sense, since this is exactly what he lets out. Attila has built a notorious reputation of being the "bad boys of party metal", the band that people will go out of their way to hate -and there is no doubt that Fronz himself is a smart person who knows how to handle all this attention to his advantage. I have to admit that, walking into the interview, I didn't know what to expect.
Fronz was in a good mood, leaving his stage persona aside. As the conversation was flowing, he turned out to be a multifaceted personality who is not afraid to display a more human side, while being a brutally honest but very fun interlocutor.
Fronz was in a good mood, leaving his stage persona aside. As the conversation was flowing, he turned out to be a multifaceted personality who is not afraid to display a more human side, while being a brutally honest but very fun interlocutor.
Chris "Fronz" Fronzak: It's been really good! It's always an interesting thing
to release a new album and see what people think of it, but I think we were
very very clear with our fans about what we were doing with the new album, and
everyone that's a fan of Attila loves it. I think it's broken us into new
audiences as well 'cause it's the first album I did a bit of clean singing on,
we have a couple of rock n roll songs, we have really heavy songs, we have old
school Attila songs and we have metal EDM songs so it's really a crazy diverse
album, but we told fans from the get-go, so everybody knew what to expect, and
they appreciate what we did. (ed –how to sell your product in about 5 lines, take notes.)
U: Attila is one of the most controversial bands in the
scene…
F.: For sure!
U: People call you the bad boys of party metal… For you, what is
it that makes Attila the band that everyone loves to hate?
F.: I’d say because we are very unfiltered. Most people
wouldn’t say the things that Attila says. I don’t have a filter and I don’t
really care so I’m very transparent. If I think something, I just say it. I’m
very outspoken and it’s just a trait of me that gets a lot of love and hate. I think a lot of fans
appreciate the way we are… We’re just different, you know? There’s not really
any bands like us. It’s the same thing when Limp Bizkit came out in the 90’s;
everyone either hated or loved them but if you looked back on it, most people
just only loved them. I think it’s gonna be the same thing for Attila. Right
now it’s controversial, people don’t know what to think, but I think down the
road people will be like “fuck it, it’s just fun party music”; just take it
with a grain of salt, have fun.
U: And you know, it’s funny how reactions change. When Jesse from Stick To Your Guns posted a photo with you recently, people went nuts over the mere idea of the
two bands working together; when you announced the Japan tour, everyone was
like “cool, when do we get some dates?”
F.: It’s funny that many people don’t realize that we’re
close friends with Stick To Your Guns, we’re close friends with Terror, Stray From The Path,
Every Time I Die, all these bands that the people that hate Attila love. They
don’t realize we’re close friends, there’s no weirdness about it, we all tour together,
it’s all cool. We’ve toured with STYG twice and it was a great time.
U: You are known for your entrepreneurial spirit. How has that
helped Attila from the get-go to the point where you are right now?
F.: Being in a band is a lot like a business, whether you
accept it or not. If you know how to run and promote your business, then that’s the difference between being a band on our level, playing
shows around the world, and never leaving your city. From the very beginning
Attila was always about the music, but I had a side of me that was very
business-oriented, that knew the steps we needed to take in order to succeed
and I had the right mindset. It’s the same thing. A band and a business are
very similar. You just have to embrace it and know how to handle it.
U: You also have your website, www.fronzak.com, where you give advice to
your fans. How did that come about?
F.: To explain it very simply, it’s like a portal inside of
my mind. If you wanna see how I think or hear anything that I have to say, as
far as being entrepreneur and pursuing your dreams, I put it all on one
website. That’s kind of what it is. I wanna help people from the experiences
I’ve had in my lifetime, teaching it to other people so they don’t have to go
through the hardships that I did.
F.: Not really, because nowadays we don’t tour as much as we
used to. I’m gone for a few weeks at a time but it’s not that difficult when
you think that an average person works a 9-5, 5 days a week. I technically get
to spend more time with my kids than any working dad would. This year we’re
touring a little more but even so, I think the total touring for this year is
gonna be 4-5 months. Getting to spend 7-8 months straight with my kids, without
having to do anything, is a lot of time so it’s fine. I’ve done this my whole
life so I’m used to it.
U: If you could cast each member of the band as a villain,
who would each member be?
F.: (Laughs) I would be Batman, Chris would be Robin, Kalan
would be Spiderman… I don’t know many comic villains! I suck at this. I don’t
know. I would just be Batman, ‘cause I drive black cars and I’m badass.
U: If you woke up one day in the opposite gender’s body,
what would be your first reaction?
F: Oh fuck yeah, that’d be awesome! (laughs) I’d just have a
lot of fun, it’d be sick. Probably just fuck myself all day long. I would just
try shit out, it’d be different! (laughs) It’d be a really rowdy, horny day. Whoever woman’s body I borrowed, they wouldn’t
want it back.
U: The plot twist is that you keep your head.
F.: I keep my head?? Whoa… I would just shave my face so I
wouldn’t have a beard. I look good when I put makeup on, I look good as fuck! I'd put a wig on, makeup, I could be a sexy woman if I wanted to. Gimme the right parts, let’s do it! I’d try it out for
a day!
U: What’s the weirdest thing a fan has ever done?
F.: We’ve had some crazy experiences, like people following
our tour bus, drunk-driving and crashing… We have people who tattoo our
signatures, but that’s not weird, that’s cool. The coolest thing a fan ever did
was, when the new Playstation 4 dropped, the day before it came out, he sent
me one. He had an inside connection and he gave me a PS4 the day before it was
out. That was the coolest thing.
U: What was the best moment of your life? The moment you
said “even if I die now, I’m complete”.
F.: Having a kid. I tour so much, I’m always in a bus, always
on the highway or always on a plane… You never know. One day my plane could
crash into a mountain, or one day my bus could fall off a cliff... I think, knowing
in the back of my head that I have two boys, I’m just happy because they are
miniature versions of me and there’s a piece of me in them that will carry on.
F.: Good question… This is gonna sound contradictory but I’m
not a very materialistic person so there’s not many materials in my house that
I care about except for my cars, so I have to take my Lamborghini, my I8 and my
G-Wagon and pull them out of the garage really fast.
U: Well, you know you can’t drive all three of them at the same time…
F.: Fuck, then I’ll take the Lamborghini only and let
everything else burn. And if I had to pick 2 things to put in it… I don’t even
really know, I don’t have anything cool in my house. The coolest things I have are a basketball court and a pool. I can’t take that with me. The pool’s not gonna
catch on fire.
U: It would, if it had alcohol in it.
F: Holy fuck, this is sick. I’d have a lot of friends over.
I’d be popular (laughs).
U: Fuck, marry, kill in the band.
F: I’d fuck Kalan, marry Chris, kill Brian.
U: What do you want Attila’s legacy to be?
F: I want Attila to be known as the band that made heavy
music fun. I wanna be known for having the most fun live show. I want us to be
known as the only band that made metal fun and wasn’t serious all the time. So,
far into the future, when music is only serious and people are sick of it, because
everyone is so politically correct, they will be like “once upon a time, there
was a band called Attila and they were sick as fuck. But now they’re 98 years
old and can’t play no more” (laughs)Check out the full photostory from the European Chaos Tour 2017 here.
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