Frankie Delmane - Biography
Frankie Delmane (born Mark T. Murphy, Chicago Heights, Illinois, August 26, 1970) is known as one of the most fiercely independent, underground rock musicians of the last 20 years. Delmane's trajectory actually goes back to his pre-pubescent years in the 1980s, in Beaverton Oregon (Delmane's parents relocated the family sometime earlier) where he formed his first of many bands- The Mental Cases, Parasite, Belfast. As he entered his teenage years he co-founded, or was involved, in many more bands- Wretched Death, Sex Trip, S.P.I.T., Protest, Funeral Party- all of the punk, thrash, hardcore, goth, or noise variety. Earliest influences were decidely punk and new wave in presence, with a passing fancy for power pop. All of this activity was a lead up to Delmane's first band to play beyond back yard gatherings and neighborhood parties, Dead Conspiracy. Formed in the Fall of 1985, initially as a hardcore unit, heavily indebted to groups such as Fang, Cro Mags, English Dogs, Subhumans UK, Agnostic Front, and Black Flag- the band held local sway momentarily at Club Satyricon, opening for the likes of Poison Idea, Smegma, Instigators, Sacrilege, and a handful of other now forgotten local and international punk bands. During this period Delmane authored two scene reports for Maximum Rock N Roll (under his birth name), produced his first fanzine called POISONED (which included interviews with Corrosion Of Conformity, Christ On Parade, and Lockjaw), in additon to starting one of the most satirical, nasty, offensive zines SICK HUMOUR (with co-hort Mike Teal of Wretched Death, and other raunchy underground bands such as Machine, Bludgeon, The Dirty Lowdowns, and Go Ballistic!)- a brazen, careless distillation of arrogant, impish, puberty driven insults and inflammatory language, all aimed to offend as harshly as possible. No issues survived their initial, limited press run, possibly for good reason, as SICK HUMOUR made Jim Goad's Answer Me! seem like quaint, nice little bedtime stories in comparison.
Dead Conspiracy soon mutated into a full on death metal band in 1986, influenced solely by the heavily traded demos of the era by bands such as Sodom, Destruction, Hell Hammer, Death, and Bathory, as well as more well known entites such as Slayer and Motorhead. First attempts were made with Frankie Delmane on Vocals, Chris Carey on Guitar, Mike Teal on bass, and Jeremy on Drums. Delmane and Carey (who would be involved with Delmane many more times, not to mention becoming a key member of Poison Idea himself in later years) then discovered Eric Dorsett and Eric Detablan, who would then fill out the classic line up of Portland Oregon's first official death metal band (Portland had only arrived at speed metal thus far in the form of Wehrmacht- the evil had yet arrived). Upon playing thier debut show October 1987, opening for Bay Area thrashers Sadus, and fellow comrades Savior, the Portland death metal scene was born.
Eventually Dead Conspiracy tired of their strict death metal sound, expanded to include other musical elements such as hard rock and soul- signaling the end of thier reign as a band of note, marginalizing themselves with ill fated ideas and worse presentation, disbanding in 1991 as each member became disillusioned with this direction. Delmane then began his absolute dedication and intense love affair with rock n roll culture. With Chris Carey in tow, he formed the pub rock homage Frankie Machine & The Stiffs (the boys were in love with Nick Lowe, The Adverts, Wreckless Eric, and The Damned) , finding a home at the now legendary X Ray Cafe, where they performed regularly until thier break up in 1994, where they perfomed during the last week of X Ray Cafe's final year of operation. Delmane then returned to his birth place- Chicago, with drummer Jim Holiday- who played in the final incarnation of Frankie Machine, to start a new band that would go beyond what either had done previously.
Originally formed in October 1994, Teenage Frames were at first a duo, until meeting guitar player Eric Vegas in 1995, which then lead them to writing some 30 songs, half of which appeared on their debut release More Songs, Less Music. The band then toured all over the United States, as well as traveling to Spain, building up a solid following in the midwest. They released their sophomore record- recorded with Steve Albini and Mike Hagler- titled 1% Faster- in 1999, appeared on The Jenny Jones Show, followed by a two month tour of the UK that saw the band do 54 shows in 59 days. In 2000 the band released The Kingsize Sessions EP. By this time the band were considered one of the best live acts not presently on an arena stage, as well as one fo the best punk inpired power pop bands around. After this flurry of activity, Delmane began work on two projects that would possibly be his finest artistic works. In 2003 he released his solo debut White Terror In Black Verse- a mish mash of cover songs and originals, merged into a hybrid that recalled Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Kevin Coyne, and early Van Morrison. That same year he re-teamed with Chris Carey and old friend Tim hanson to form The Injections- a feral, raunchy punk garage act that so far has produced one CD, Working For The White Pigs. It has been best described as a "Cheap Trick and Motorhead huffing glue with The Saints" (Mad Music zine).
Tenage Frames continued relasing EPs up until 2008, in which the band took a hiatus as the rhythm section quit for other life concerns (though one more EP- Armband Manifesto- would come out in 2012) Delmane- not one to dawdle, formed a new band The Wicked Wicked Ways with former Meat Joy drummer Jamie Spidle, recording demos for a potential full length as of yet to be recorded. Also at this time Delamne had several other projects- Plastic Panther, Secret Lovers- that would record, play a few shows, and then disband. In 2009 Delmane joined The Crazy Squeeze, a loud, gnarly, good time pub rock band heavily influenced by New York Dolls, The Boys, Flamin' Groovies and Chuck Berry- with Johnny Witmer of So Cal punk heavies The Stitches- and set out to ignite the bars of Los Angeles a flame with the fire of rock n roll. Upon release of their first single- Gimmie A Kiss, and their self titled debut LP in late 2012/early 2013- the band have gained much traction, being cited as one of West Coast's finest live acts, song writers, and performers presently playing. In 2012 Delmane authored and published a book entitled I Love You! I Fucking Hate You! through Lulu.com
Most recently Delmane has released the 23rd issue of his long running rant zine TRASH, in addition to starting up TRASH TV, a monthly DVD series modeled after the 1980s late night pop culture show NIght Flight. It is available through his blog for a nominal fee. Presently he is hard at work writing the next Teenage Frames full length with guitarist Eric Vegas, preparing songs for the both The Wicked Wicked Ways debut LP, the next Injections release, as well as the release of the next 7" by The Crazy Squeeze, to be out Fall 2014, on Pure Punk records from Italy- entitled "To the Lonely Ones" b/w "Red Rosey."
