FREDDY MONDAY
LONG ISLAND BASED SINGER/SONGWRITER
TAKES FANS ON A COLORFUL,
IRRESISTIBLE JOURNEY OF HIS LIFE WITH
THE NEW INDIE RELEASE ‘EVERYTHING ANYHOW’
****
In addition To Licensing His Original Songs
To Hit Shows On CBS, TNT, USA And Lifetime And Co-Writing
The Title Track To The Film “Born To Ride,” Monday has
Jammed With Jimmy Buffett, Shot A Video With
Davy Jones And Appeared On ’60 Minutes’
To riff off the title of a bona fide blues classic, they call him Freddy Monday (www.freddymonday.com) – the Long Island, N.Y. based singer-songwriter.
True to the title of his new 12 song album Everything Anyhow, the multi-talented performer has done it all, from touring the East Coast—performing several times at the Nassau Coliseum—to licensing many of his songs for film and television over the past few years. Tracks from his debut album Words in Pencil have been heard on the Lifetime sitcom “Side Order of Life,” CBS’ classic soap “The Young and The Restless,” “Moonlight” (also CBS), “Dark Blue” (TNT) and “Burn Notice” (USA).
Monday also co-wrote the title track to the Sunset Pictures Film “Born To Ride,” due July 24, with Vincent Alfieri from Deetown Entertainment. Alfieri and Deetown have been huge in the film soundtrack world, with songs penned for blockbusters like the “Transformer” movies, “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Iron Man.”
Even though his fans and TV and film music supervisors are always clamoring for more Monday, he’s the one aiming to “Please” on his new grooving, country flavored pop-rocker, which was released as a digital single prior to the official drop of Everything Anyhow. In the recently completed video for the song–shot in Chelsea to give it a distinctive NYC feel– Monday “plays a woman like a guitar” the same way Paul McCartney did in The Beatles film “Help!” The song’s co-writer John Snow also plays a riff on his 12-string at the end that is reminiscent of the classic Beatles tune.
“I’m going to use a very obvious word to describe how I feel about the song ‘Please’ – and that is ‘pleased’!” Monday laughs. “I love recording all my songs but with ‘Please’ I knew I had something special…certain songs just feel like they have always been around…always existed…and that’s how I felt immediately about that one. We also had great fun shooting the video, which I think captures a lot of my playful side as an artist and performer.”
A strong family man, Monday is not only a devoted father to nine year old twins Michael and Julia, but got them their first gigs with cameos on Everything Anyhow. That’s Michael playing percussion via a paint can on “Trail of Tears” and Julia playing viola on “Fracture.” Monday also features two six year olds on one of the versions of an inspiring new holiday song he is promoting called “Christmastime is Coming,” the other rendition has Monday on lead vocals. One critic used some cool, quirky language to describe the irresistible tune: “a jovial marriage of bells, bass and cheer, bound to jolt any grump into the holiday spirit.”
Beyond the positive musical and lyrical vibes Monday brings to the songs, one of the most unique aspects of the music on Everything Anyhow—and indeed, the reason he chose that as the title—is the fact that the songs (or parts of them) were penned at various stages along his musical journey. Most of them are recent compositions that find him reflecting his feelings about family life from an adult perspective. Others had their origins from a time when Monday was playing a few years back with his band Sorethumb, and still others were conceived when he was growing up.
Though “Another Memory” is a reflective tune about the importance of his family in his life, Monday wrote the original melody to the song when he was only 11. The lively “Rain All Day” is about spending all afternoon in bed with that special someone – not sleeping, just enjoying each other and some intimate “indoor sports” – making it the perfect song for the hopeless romantic. Monday slyly implies that “rain” is a metaphor for a pretty intense part of this day. “Fracture” is a moody, alt rock flavored tune reflecting on where one stands in life; its deeper emotions are underscored by piano, mellotron, acoustic guitar, strings, bass and drums. And, infused with acoustic and electric guitars and mandolin, the title track “Everything Anyhow” is a spirited romp about the joys of a happy relationship.
“I love the fact that these songs touch on so many different aspects of my life,” he says, “and that’s only natural because they originated in different times of my life. I updated the older ones, but my goal was the spirit of the time they came from. I took a more conventional route in writing and recording songs for ‘Words in Pencil,’ but I felt like I had so many songs that I had accumulated over the years that needed to be shared and this was the time to do that.”
Monday’s desire to draw the listener deep into his life extends to the unique collage cover art, created by an artist named Zig. A black and white picture of the artist’s face is in the center, surrounded by people, items and artifacts that represent different aspects of his world. In the windows of the building are images of Michael and Julia. On top of the building is Monday’s house. The little record player above Michael’s head is the first one Monday used to spin records as a kid.
There’s a gigantic bowl of ice cream, because the singer has one every night before he goes to sleep, and a childhood toy named “Wishnick.” There’s also an image of the red seat at Shea Stadium where Monday sat during Game 7 of the 1986 World Series that his team, the New York Mets, won. And there’s his cat “Mookie,” named after the Mets famed center fielder Mookie Wilson from that World Championship team. Zig also took liberties to put in some images he fancied on his own, but his instincts were usually spot on; Monday loves sunflowers and there is the image of one, clearly representing the upbeat vibe of the music on Everything Anyhow.
There wasn’t room on the cover collage for them, but Monday’s musical history also includes two iconic names you have most likely never seen side by side before: Jimmy Buffett and Davy Jones of The Monkees. When Monday’s alt-rock band Sorethumb was down in Key West, Fla. cutting a track at Buffett’s Shrimp Boat Studio, the legendary leader of the Parrotheads took the stage and jammed with them at Margaritaville, where they had a popular annual gig every Spring Break. Monday didn’t expect the show to go on so long – and wound up not being able to pick up his wife at the airport (which he planned to do during a break that never came) as a result! A Monday performance at Margaritaville was included in a “60 Minutes” segment on Buffett.
The original guitar tracks for “When The World Is Asleep” from Everything Anyhow were recorded at Shrimp Boat. Though the album is mostly self produced, Monday did two tracks with Grammy award winning producer/engineer Steven Rinkoff (Jim Steinman, Celine Dion, Meat Loaf) and multi-platinum engineer Paul Umbach (Jive Records, Matt White), who mixed “Please.”
A few years after the Buffet coup, Monday got in touch with his inner “Marcia Brady” and snagged the always game Davy Jones to make a colorful cameo in a 60’s mod themed video for his novelty rocker “I Want To Be Your Davy Jones,” which received play on VH1.
Monday is currently working on a unique side project, which is in line with his desire to ultimately share every aspect of himself with his fans. Anchored by a re-release of “I Want To Be Davy Jones,” the collection (a repackaging of many tracks he has recorded over the years) is intended to showcase the singer’s humorous side via tongue in cheek cover versions of numerous pop classics.
“I love performing because there is nothing quite as exhilarating as sharing your songs with an audience and knowing you’ve made a connection when they are singing along,” he says. “But if it’s possible, I love recording even more. I enjoy the whole creative process of getting a song to sound the way I originally heard it in my head. It’s exciting and inspiring to be able to realize my vision, and making Everything Anyhow was one of the great musical experiences of my life.
Recording these songs goes hand in hand with sharing them with the audience, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to do just that.”
