Uncle Frank

UNCLE FRANK

‘Diablo’ is the 4th offical album from UNCLE FRANK, multi-instrumentalists and producers Frank Benbini and Naim Cortazzi.

Uncle Frank
By Ed Condran

Drummers turned charismatic, engaging singers are about as rare as humility at the Grammys.
Frank Benbini is one of those uncommon musicians, who crosses over easily from percussionist to vocalist.
Uncle Frank’s lightning rod, who has made a name for himself as the Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ drummer, explains how he made the transformation.
“I met Phil Collins and Dave Grohl at the (film) “Crossroads,” which is where (actor) Ralph Macchio (of “Karate Kid” fame) met that dude Willie Brown who played the mouth
organ,” Frank Benbini cracks. “ I sold my soul to the devil and made a pact at that moment. Dave and Phil are doing a little bit better than me, so I need to catch those guys.”
Collins and Grohl shouldn’t look back because something might be gaining on them. Benbini and his partner, Naim Cortazzi are on the way to wreaking sonic havoc with their latest album, the diverse, hook-laden “Smiles For Miles .”
The initial single, “Dance Instructor” is a catchy and funky ear turner. It
features a New Order-esque beat and synth line but with a dash of funk. Benbini adds a drum beat with a skippy shuffle disco beat and drop
s a laidback vocal.
The groovy, eccentric “Chocolates” nails it with the revelatory phrase, ‘you never know what you’re gonna get.’
That’s the way it is for Uncle Frank albums. The tandem possess an impressive range.
The clever “Somthin’ Somthin” is a gorgeous, moving cut that is reminiscent of Paul Westerberg at his finest.
“Gravy Baby” is lush, soulful and packs a big hook. Cortazzi drops an intense Prince-esque solo, which caps the moody “Desperate Town.’
“When (producer) Tim (Latham) heard (“Smiles For Miles”), he was wide-eyed,”
Benbini says. “He said, ‘this is like a breath of fresh air. It’s not like anything else out there.”
That’s a bingo! There is no album like “Smiles For Miles.” There’s also no contemporary act like Uncle Frank. The Leicester based duo
doesn’t follow a template. The unique unit has no problem hitting with a groove-laden funk number,
followed by a melancholy ballad to a pop tune filled with cheeky lyrics.
“Me and Naim truly believe in the diversity of a record,” Benbini said. “It’s like Prince’s “Sign O’ the Times” or “Lovesexy” or “The Parade” album. Prince goes off
on a little tangent. It wasn’t odd to find Prince going from a rock song to a love song for Jesus Christ and then to a dirty sleazy, sexy song and then to a pop song with a
girl singing. All of that is just brilliance! It’s all these different flavours and that’s what we happen to do with our records as well.”
Style, flair and unrelenting fun are some of the ingredients of your typical Uncle Frank tune. “All of that and more should be part of a song,” Benbini explains. “But I love it. If you can’t have a good time being in a band, something’s wrong,”
Benbini and Cortazzi, who started writing together a dozen years ago, are arguably at their best when writing love songs. The prolific team, which have 300 unrecorded songs at their disposal, stands out since love songs aren’t as common
as they were a generation ago.
“We love coming up with love songs,” Cortazzi says. “We don’t see classy new love songs out there, because, there’s no purity in the writing anymore. It’s all writing by committee. When there’s six, seven writers in the mix, love songs don’t work. There’s no soul in these type of love songs.”
Benbini concurs. “There’s no substance to love songs.
You have all of these writers but the artists aren’t putting their stamp on the song. We are putting our
stamp on it and then some. I love love songs since there’s so much to love.”
The catchy and offbeat “Centro Vasco” is a perfect example of how deep and wide love is for Benbini. “I was driving with my mum and sh
e said, ‘do you have any new
songs.’ I sang her “Centro Vasco” and she started crying and she said it reminded her of Tony Bennett. She said, ‘is that about your daughter?’ I said, ‘it’s actually about my favourite lobster restaurant in New York.” She kind of joked slapped me and said, ‘you got me going so emotionally about some lobster.”
I explained that she would understand it if she ate at Centro Vasco on Wednesday night and had the seafood special.”
Benbini, who has essentially split time between his native England and New York since joining the Fun Lovin’ Criminals in 2003, (“that
’s why I look like an American
with my ball-cap and trainers,” Benbini says.) could punctuate many of his stories with a rim shot. “That’s why he couldn’t be just a drummer for the rest of his life,”
Cortazzi says. “He’s too funny. He had to be the lead singer.”
There’s no doubt that Benbini’s entertainment quotient is high. “Playing out is meant to be fun,” Benbini says. “I engage the audience. I think humour is a good thing in music. It’s a shame that humour died when Elvis Presley
checked out. People take themselves so seriously today. Why do Chris Martin and Thom Yorke takethemselves so seriously? It must be miserable having millions of pounds and hanging with models every day. We’re not about misery. Naim and I love showmanship. Our
favourite artists are Prince, James Brown and Elvis. We love the flamboyant performers. The more pizazz, the better. When we perform, we break into skits. We
have ringers in the audience, who try to confront me.
I jump in the audience and
whip their ass. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it work onstage.”
You can say the same for Benbini when it comes to song craft. “I
I thought it would be great for me to take Naim out for a back massage for his birthday,” Benbini recalls. “It worked. After he came out, he was feeling alright and wispy. I put a guitar around his neck and all of a sudden he comes up with the funky
riff to “Step Into My Room.” But that’s what we do.
We’re true to ourselves. If a
record company said, ‘can you write five songs like Robbie Williams?’ I’ll say, ‘I can’t and I won’t.”
Benbini and Cortazzi are uncompromising but “Smiles For Miles” is full of unrelentingly catchy tunes. The fresh batch of songs is the group’s most accessible
collection to date.
“Just because you’re not trying to write jingles doesn’t mean that you can’t write songs that are catchy,” Benbini said. “We’ve got some po
ppy songs here.”
Much of the direction is due to Cortazzi, who is one of the most under heralded characters in the business.
The multi-instrumentalist-songwr
iter-producer is a dynamic player and when he’s not working with Benbini on Uncle Frank tracks or with their other band, Fatal Star, Cortazzi is a teacher.

“Naim is a special guy,” Benbini said. “That’s why when Fun Lovin’ Criminals asked me to be their drummer, I brought along Naim to
be the drum tech, even though he was never a drummer. Man, we had so much fun working together back then.”
Speaking of FLC, Uncle Frank has been given the short shrift over most of its existence due to Benbini’s Fun Lovin’ Criminals obligations but that’s about to
ons but that’s about to change. “I gave a lot of my life to the Fun Lovin’ Criminals,” Benbini says. “I need to be true to myself and give everything I can to Uncle Frank. We need to put Uncle Frank first for once.
We worked our asses off for ten years and this time we’re taking
our blood, sweat and tears and working Uncle Frank. You know that movie “Yes Man” with Jim Carrey. We’ll my movie right now will
be called “F*****’ No Man.”
It’s all about Uncle Frank and my spiritual leader, Naim. We’re going all the way with this.”

Recording over an intensive three-month period in their home studio, Benbini and Cortazzi arranged and played the majority of instruments themselves, as well as actually engineering and recording every part of the record. They then added even deeper layers of sound by inviting an array of particular players, ranging from classical harpists to full brass sections, to perform on the album.

The resulting album captures Benbini and Cortazzi’s musical passions, perfectly distilled into a heady brew, the larger than life character that is Uncle Frank: imagine a young Ray Winstone, meets Biggie Smalls, with a side order of Dean Martin.

The album was mixed by Grammy Award winning mixer and producer Tim Latham (Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, The Rolling Stones and Erykah Badu). Benbini first met Latham during a Lou Reed session at Quad Studios in New York. They immediately hit it off, and when it came to mixing the Uncle Frank album, Latham believed in the project so much, he committed to it before Uncle Frank even secured a record deal.