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MARSHALL & THE FRO
25th February, 2012
The Ivory plays host to the very talented MARSHALL & THE FRO ! ! ! !
Marshall and The Fro are a Surf/Roots/Rocking Band from the North Coast surfing mecca of Lennox Head, NSW. They’re known for their powerful, pulsing music, the soundtrack to the summer for many a carefree festival freak.
Their songs feature on cult surf films like David Bradbury’s Going Vertical and in Billabong ads and surf comps around the world. Having played virtually every big festival in the land, they’ve also had tracks on Australian TV shows like ‘East of Everything’ and ‘No Way San Jose’. And they’ve just completed a new album, ‘Friends For Life’, that looks set to eclipse these landmarks.
Marshall Okell, driving force and songwriter, recently recruited his newest member, Luke Ferguson, Fergo, on bass. The big, affable redhead also has a five-octave range that lifts their dual choruses into deep space. Their drummer, Jacob Mann, known affectionately as Poodle, is a hugely likeable unstoppable force, who pummels the kit like it’s his little brother and has done so previously for the likes of Pete Murray. Marshall reckons he’d jump in front of a bullet for either of ‘em.
The sleep deprived monsters have just spent three months hunkered down with producer Anthony Lycenko (ARIA Nominee, Pete Murray, U2, Beautiful Girls, Xavier Rudd) at 301 and Rocking Horse studios in Byron Bay. Together they’ve garnered an enormous tempered and timely record that reveals an artist and band in permanent progress. The band’s first, self-titled release was a party record, the sound of young bucks on the hunt. ‘Get Up’ and ‘The Player’ were aimed smack bang at the heaving throng in the Far North Coast, the epicentre for grooving grommets and geishas. Yet even on tracks like the much-covered ‘Thongs’, a bouncing, full-blooded tribute to the surfer’s footwear of choice, OKell sang like he meant something else, something important. On the ‘Friends For Life’ Album Marshall establishes his intent beyond doubt, with a potent collection of songs that defines an artist and band in a blazing trajectory – but still firmly anchored to their roots.
Marshall & the Fro’s performances are igniting fervent reactions up and down the country. He displays the ability, like all great performers, to go inside his music, and inhabit it like a shaman. “I go somewhere in the cosmos when I play, time stops and I really don’t know how long I’m out sometimes. When a massive crowd goes off I go a step further, I’m excited to find out how far a huge explosive crowd can push me” he reveals. Wherever he goes, it’s working. Marshall and the Fro are set to ride into the big leagues and the release of ‘Friends For Life’ is the tipping point. Once that wave rolls they’re in for a helluva ride.
Marshall & The Fro.
