Artist Spotlight: Frankie Stew & Harvey Gunn
Being a fan of an artist can be incredibly rewarding. You can find true, undeniable joy in watching their careers augment, as well as witnessing the evolution of them as musicians and as people. Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn, the rapper/producer duo from Brighton, have allowed listeners to immerse themselves in their lives. From a naive young adult caught up in petty girl trouble, to troubled quarter life crisis’ and questioning meaning, to currently landing at caring but terrified parenthood, we are watching the story of an authentic and imperfect man unfold before our ears and imagination. The beats aren’t half bad either.
With a career spanning nearly a decade, the duo are now seven albums deep, and have built a loyal fan base who have been with the boys every step of the way. Whilst most writers romanticise, exaggerate and project, Frankie is grounded in the enthralling verisimilitude of his own existence; there is no facade behind his gloriously monotone voice, there’s no need to pretend for a man who simply wants to understand himself. The pair have worked exclusively together, and why would they change that? Harvey’s emotionally resonant instrumentals, that have augmented in craft, nuance and feeling through his career, are produced for Frankie, and Frankie alone. There’s nothing groundbreaking about Frankie and Harvey, but that’s what makes them so groundbreaking. The combination of two objectively simplistic elements combine together to create something layered, complex and relatable; defiant to expectation or industry desires, the pair dine alone on a banquet of heartfelt realism.
Late October saw the release of their seventh studio album, Nothing New Under The Sun, an album that epitomises the musical and personal progression of the duo. With a stunning list of features from the highest echelons of UK hip hop and alternative music (Kojey Radical, Finn Foxell, Lex Amor, Everyone You Know), the pair outdo themselves in heart, soul and skill. It’s a coming of age project; the past year or two of their lives have seen drastic life changes, including the birth of a son for Frankie, resulting in a change of perspective and a more settled mindset. No longer in ‘Fabric drunk thinking about life’, Frankie is rooting for happiness for himself and those around him, nostalgic and thankful, anticipating the joys and strife of life to come. It’s one of the most wholesome and poignant albums of the year.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Frankie and Harvey to discuss their relationship, their sound, their future, and their best album yet.
What are your musical origins?
HG: I always loved music as a kid, but I first got into it through DJing when I was a teenager. At the time it was all DnB, jungle, early dubstep, grime - very 140. I went to music college after that and discovered sample based production, flipping records and getting into it that way. I fell in love with that. I wanted to fuse that love of sample based music with love and respect for UK electronic music.
FS: I think we started making music together when we were 16. We were mutual friends before that. Similar to Harv, I’ve been obsessed with music since I was quite young. I used to play drums as a kid. In the beginning of secondary school I started finding out about UK grime and hip hop and became obsessed with it as any stoner teenager would. After years of listening to it, the penny dropped and I thought 'why can I do that?'
HG: When we were mid teens it was that golden age of UK hip hop when the scene felt so alive with High Focus etc. Facebook and Youtube were massive back then.
FS: That’s how we got started actually. We used to make tunes at Harv’s house before we could afford a studio. We used to put it on Soundcloud for free and then share it on our personal Facebook’s. We’d watch it go from 5 likes to 100 likes etc, that’s how it all began for us. Like everything, people ignore it until it’s popular.
From writing together, how did you find and develop the pocket that you wanted to create within?
FS: For me with writing, it’s just natural. Even the songs now often have a lot of similarities to the songs that we made when we were 16 years olds. With rhyming patterns and flow, I think part of the inspiration came from playing the drums.
HG: It’s a hard one to say because it is so natural. I think it is partly just messing around with each other and having fun with it. We never try to replicate anything, never have references to songs.
FS: We’ve also always worked exclusively together since we’ve been kids. It’s always felt like our sound because it is our sound.
Why have you decided to do that?
FS: We’re mates at the end of the day. It’s easy, if something’s not broken, why are you trying to fix it? I like Harv’s beats more than anyone else’s, and we think very similarly in what we’re trying to do creatively. So why would I go searching elsewhere if I already have it here?
HG: We’re in too deep now.
FS: It’s a cooler, unique selling point as well. Frank and Harv, two best mates from when we were at school, exclusively together, not working with anyone and everyone.
How would you define the essence of your sound?
FS: It’s very British, and there’s always an emphasis on storytelling. It’s just chapters of our lives.
HG: Yeah with each album you get a different chapter of our lives. It’s very personal. If you keep listening to the albums, you come on a journey through our lives and you hear about different times and experiences.
Yeah that discography has definitely shown you grow from boys to men. Was that a purposeful intention, to document your personal evolution?
FS: I don’t know if it is intentional, but on reflection it’s definitely the case. I think it goes hand in hand with the fact that we keep putting out an album every year or two, and my storytelling is all based on things that are actually happening to me. If that documents and has documented my journey from a kid to an adult then so be it. I think there’s something cool about that, it’s not like we just jump on a trend and then it’s not popping 2 years later. Our listeners have grown up with us. The same people who listened to what I was talking about as a teenager are the same people who relate to what I say now as a 28 year old, growing in parallel with me.
HG: I think a lot of the topics that Frankie touches on are universal and timeless. They are things that people experience and feel and relate to throughout your whole life.
Nearly 10 years deep, what’s it like looking back on your discography?
FS: It’s sick, it’s one of my favourite things to do. It’s like memories, like a different way of looking through a photo album. I love listening to tunes from when we were like 18 and seeing where I was back then. Even the imperfections in it, I might have said something that was a bit suspect as a 20 year old and I might not even agree with it now, but that’s the beauty of it and shows the growth.
HG: When I listen back and analyse the old stuff and hear what Frankie is talking about, I’m like ‘shit I remember that’, and I can pinpoint the moments and remember it. I personally listen back now and think that it sounds so raw and unfinished. In another sense, I look back and am proud of us for being able to do that at such a young age.
FS: As a general fan, I love listening to artists' early music to see that growth, so to be able to do that myself is amazing.
In your lyricism you are so honest and never shy away from your faults, how did you become like that?
FS: It’s almost like having a diary. Once I’ve written something down and made a song about it, it’s no longer just a thought or feeling in the corner of my brain. I’ve addressed it head on, whether it be a positive or a negative. I’d always just have the weirdest ideas for bars, but they are always the lyrics that people like the most and shout at shows. If you are writing tunes thinking that everything has to be perfect and that everyone will like and agree with what you’re saying, then you’ve fucked it already; you’re polishing something that doesn’t need to be polished.
Production wise, the evolution is crazy. One thing I took from the new project is the emotional resonance of the instrumentals. When you go into making an album, do you pinpoint a certain sound palette or certain instrumentals and styles that you want to lean into to help contextualise the album?
HG: I think you’ve got to get the first new tracks down first, but then there’s always techniques that run throughout the project after that. I’ll make a mental note of them early on in the process. I always like to keep some recurring sounds and ideas going through it. There are certain styles and sounds that I’ve come back to over the years as my signature sound. With this album, I tried to make the album quite spacey and atmospheric, a little bit trippy in certain aspects of the production. I always establish it early on in the process and double down on it.
FS: It’s really hard to sit down and brainstorm an album before you’ve made any music for it. We need to make two or three tracks before starting to hash it out and figuring out what we want it to say and how we want it to sound. The beginning and the end of an album is the hardest. It’s a lovely time being in that middle, when you have that freedom.
When was the creative process with this album?
FS: In the past, sometimes Harv has made the beat and then I’ll write on top of it after elsewhere. The majority of ‘Nothing New Under The Sun’ was made in the studio together. We did a little writing trip to Kent right at the beginning.
HG: We started it at the back end of last year but then all through this year we intensely worked on it. We structured it almost like a 9-5, Monday to Friday normal job. We were just trying to create all the time. In general it all came together really quickly. We did the features and collaborations right at the end.
I love the features, it’s a really eclectic mix of upcoming talent. Why did you pinpoint those names to be involved?
FS: We’re fans of all of their music. If you’ve got your eyes on the UK scene, you know about them. If you’re a hip hop head, you know about Lex Amor. If you’re in with the UK alternative/indie scene, you know Everyone You Know. Everyone knows about Kojey Radical. Quite a few of them we met on the road, Finn Foxell came on tour with us and we’ve been wanting to work with him since then. You know each other, meet face to face and cement the relationship, then it’s not as random when you link to work together. It was a pleasure working with all of them.
This album feels like a real coming to age project, both in the completeness of the sound and the lyrical approach and themes. For you, what are you portraying?
HG: The music is so personal, the easiest way for us to analyse our personal lives. The past year or two has been a coming of age period in our lives. We’ve had big life changes, Frankie’s started a family. I think that that has naturally come across with the album.
FS: It’s that stage of our lives now. Our lives have been very similar since we were teens up until like 2 years ago, whereas the past couple of years have been full of change for us. If that comes across in the music, so be it.
What do you want listeners to take away from the project?
FS: I want them to relate to it. I want them to hear certain lyrics or sentiments and realise that they aren’t the only person who feels like that. That’s what it’s all about.
HG: I think that if people can enjoy it and can relate to it, we can’t really ask for much more. People will take different things for it and perceive it in different ways, which is cool.
You’ve achieved major things in your career to date, playing huge shows, releasing various albums. What else do you want to get out of your careers?
HG: It’s hard to know having just come out the back end of writing an album - fuck knows what the next process will be.
FS: We haven’t really made that 5 year plan yet. All the focus has been on this album. Hopefully we will have a nice festival run and go on tour next year, and then settle down and see what the next chapter will be. We want to make music and be able to tour it, we can’t ask for much more than that.