An interview with: Frankie and the Witch Fingers
- Brandon Pestano
- Jul 27
- 5 min read
Fresh off the release of their new album 'Trash Classic' (2025), Astral had the pleasure of speaking with one of our favourite psych bands around today: @frankieandthewitchfingers
"Los Angeles psych-punk shapeshifters Frankie and the Witch Fingers have spent the last decade mutating their sound into bold, electrifying new forms. Their latest release, Trash Classic (via Greenway Records and The Reverberation Appreciation Society), plunges into a sewer-slick fusion of proto-punk venom, fractured new wave, and industrial grime. Brimming with wiry synths, angular melodies, and grooves that squirm and bite, it’s all delivered with a sly, playful wink. Fueled by relentless global touring and a fierce DIY ethos, the band has shared stages with OFF!, Ty Segall, Oh Sees, Cheap Trick, and ZZ Top, cementing their place as one of the most unforgettable live acts around. Frankie and the Witch Fingers continue to morph, dragging listeners into whatever warped direction their experimental journey takes next." - frankieandthewitchfingers.com
Read on below for the full interview...
First of all how's 2025 been for you so far and how's life lately?
It’s been a sort of like hosting a birthday party in a burning building. There’s so much to celebrate and be grateful for, but also everything is on fire and I really want everyone to make it out safely. - Dylan
We’ve been having a blast so far this year! We released a brand new album that we’re really proud of, plus we get to head out on the road and tour all the new songs. I can’t wait to hear what everyone’s favorite track is from Trash Classic! - Pickle
It really feels like you are able to take inspiration from the crazy modern times we're living in and channel that into your music and lyrics. In a sense punk has always done that, so I guess you're never short of things to write about these days haha ?
Yea, the list of things to complain about today is astoundingly long. I do yearn for a time when things aren’t so bleak and It feels normal to just write about nonsense. I think we could all use a break haha. - Dylan
Yeah, I think art is always a reflection of the current time period and kind of distills what’s happening into something that resonates for people. A lot of what we are writing about lately is around the bleak state of our world and the impending threat of new technology. It’s new, but it’s also nothing new in the grand scheme of things. We’re just sharing our outlook and seeing how it connects for people and what they’re experiencing. - Pickle
There's definitely a psych element that weaves itself into your music. Could you tell us a bit about where that influence stems from and who have been some of the strong creative influences on you inside or outside of music?
I think my brain has always been a bit psychedelic, even as a kid. I was sort of hallucinating reality, and then it just became more literal later. I love artists that build their own language like the 13th Floor Elevators, Velvet Underground, CAN, DEVO, Throbbing Gristle, and really anything surreal, emotional, and especially unhinged. That’s the sort of thing that gets my blood pumping. As I get older I realize, it’s more fun to be open to everything, and so my friends have turned me on to some really interesting stuff. Lately I’ve been listening to Grime adjacent music our synth player Jon turned me onto. I really like this guy, The Bug, is a crazy producer and the first M.I.A. album has also been on heavy rotation. - Dylan
There has always been a psychedelic theme to Frankie’s music, and that stems from the fact that we all love and admire psychedelic rock music and the many incredible bands that have made/are making it. We’re fans, and so those sounds weave their way into what we make, cuz it tickles our ear holes! I also think psychedelic themes of consciousness and interconnectedness are something we like to explore lyrically, because we think about those things a lot. Art, music, philosophy, film… they all inspire us to do what we do! - Pickle
Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters was a massive album for us during the lockdown era. Could you tell us about some of the feelings you had going into making that album and ideas you wanted to explore in that?
That album was conceived during a year of massive touring where we had little time in between. I think the feedback we’d get from live shows informed the songwriting process a lot. We also took it as a challenge to try to weave each song into each other. We ended up recording it down in San Diego with Mike Kamoo, someone who I had worked with back in my teenage years. That gave it a real sense of “bringing it all back home”. Even though it was released mid-pandemic, we were really pleased with the reach and reaction of it all. - Josh
That was a transitional period for us, our bassist left before we made that record. We made that album as a three piece. The writing was interesting for me because I got to see Josh come up with some really potent bass lines. We also recorded that record in San Diego, shoutout to Mike Kamoo at Earthling Studios. Pickle was around for that before she joined and helped us out a ton. Her parents gave us all these wild African instruments that we all jammed on together in the live room. We had a bunch of friends there with us.
The screams you hear at the end of the record are all the homies that were around that day. It was a really nice experience working with Mike. That was the first record we made that wasn’t in a home studio, so it was a great learning experience for me personally. It was definitely strange putting a record out in the middle of a pandemic, but it was nice to have something to work toward, otherwise I would have been raw dogging the apocalypse.” - Dylan
How does it feel reflecting on 10 years since the release of the debut album and the rise you have been on?
It's pretty surreal to see how far things have come since playing house shows in college. I don’t think we could have ever imagined turning this into a career when we started. Sure touring can be grueling at times but it’s all worth it when someone expresses how much our music means to them. That’s the magic of it all. - Josh
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Discover more of Frankie and the Witch Fingers via their:
- Astral Magazine
