In partnership with Nettwerk
Things are moving fast for NEIL FRANCES. 2023 saw the release of their second and most successful album to date, ‘It’s All a Bit Fuzzy’, supported by a touring schedule that took them all over the world, including Australia – where every show sold out. And now, the group have confirmed huge festival dates in the US: at Coachella and Bonnaroo.
For Marc Gilfry and Jordan Feller, the core duo behind the burgeoning band, life is good. In the days leading up to this interview, the boys were busy touring America to their biggest and warmest reception to date. A few days later, they were on their way to perform both full-band and duo-DJ sets at Mexico City’s behemoth Corona Capital festival. A week after that, their cover of Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better With You’ achieved gold certification in Australia.
“We’ve got three different things,” explains Feller. “We DJ, we have a two-man-show, which is what we’ve been doing earlier this year when we went down to Monterrey and Guadalajara, and then we’re doing a full band. We’ve been on tour with the full band over these past 40-odd days,” he says.
“We’re not 20 and being told that we’re the greatest. I’ve definitely failed so many times at this point that I appreciate the success that this band has had” – Jordan Feller
Not bad for a couple of chaps whose initial intention was to write and produce music for other people.
But anonymity wasn’t to be Gilfry and Feller’s destiny. Somewhere around 2016, KCRW and triple j got wind of the duo’s SoundCloud demos, and by mid-2018 they had released their first EP, ‘Took A While’, followed by their 2022 debut album, ‘There Is No Neil Frances’.
Combining Gilfry’s gift for melodies with Feller’s excellence as a producer, NEIL FRANCES play to their strengths. Now two albums deep into their career, they’re touring the world augmented by a talented drummer aptly named Rhythm, and a bassist who happens to be Gilfry’s childhood friend.
“It’s crazy,” Gilfry says of bassist Greg Cham. “Even back in high school he had this amazing innate sensibility with any stringed instrument. He’s always been good.” Feller picks up the baton to explain how sticksman Rhythm Luna came into the picture: “A mutual friend of ours connected us, and he said that his name is Rhythm, which is his name, but I didn’t take my friend seriously,” he recalls. “So I was calling him ‘mate’ throughout the whole rehearsal. He’s a unique cat… very fun to tour with and always up for a good time.”
A good time is what NEIL FRANCES are about. In addition to music, Feller and Gilfry seem intent on putting positive energy into the world, and their success seems somewhat karmic. In the studio, on stage, behind the decks, and in conversation, they make an excellent team… supportive and complementary, with just the right dash of brotherly needling.
Reassuring too, is that NEIL FRANCES’ increasing fame doesn’t appear to be changing them for the worse. Thanks to their respect for each other and the mutual benefit to their partnership, Gilfry and Feller’s cannons are facing in the same direction. Plus, their support network is keeping their egos in check.
“We have friends and family that take care of that pretty well,” says Gilfry. “I don’t think my wife’s ever gonna let it get to my head. And we have plenty of friends that will be very quick to give us a little chirp here and there. We’re grateful for where we are, but we’re also…”
“… we’re also older,” adds Feller. “We’re not 20 and being told that we’re the greatest. I’ve definitely failed so many times at this point that I appreciate the success that this band has had, and I’m not going to fuck it up by doing a bunch of dumb shit.
“Also we’re not really that famous. There’s no gaggle of teenage girls running after the van as we’re driving away,” he jokes.
“James Murphy has an interesting level of fame, success and respect within the music industry. I would like to think that I would be very happy just to get to there” – Marc Gilfry
In addition to the people who keep them grounded, Gilfry and Feller have a role model they feel comfortable following: LCD Soundsystem, whose blueprint for a successful career is a great fit for Neil Frances.
“James Murphy has an interesting level of fame, success and respect within the music industry,” Gilfry says. “I would like to think that I would be very happy just to get to there. There’s this great club he’s involved with in New York called Nightmoves, and they also do Despacio, which is a tent at Coachella. It just feels like it has cemented his position in the history of music. I think I’d be very happy getting anywhere near that. That kind of success is definitely the goal for me.”
“I’m exactly the same,” agrees Feller. “I’m not interested in the fame and hype and all that hoopla BS. I think James Murphy is a great example. I think also what’s cool about this day and age is that artists can be so much bigger than you realise.
“Rüfüs Du Sol is a perfect example. It’s like, ‘I know Rüfüs Du Sol.’ But do you know that there’s a stadium-sized amount of people that come to their shows? That’s like, ‘holy shit, what the fuck!?’ Slightly under the radar, not chasing pop stardom, not trying to be something they’re not, and not industry-manipulated. That’s the sweet spot, you know? That’s the zone.”
Gilfry, a native of the wonderfully-named city of Rancho Cucamonga, looks the way most of the world perceives Californians: tall and tanned, with long blonde hair; a surfer by appearance. Like most people who have seen Los Angeles growing up, he’s saddened by the seemingly-unsolvable homeless crisis that has gripped the city. Rather than join the mass exodus of creatives, however, he and Feller have decided to stay put. Everywhere is what you make of it, both allude.
A Sydney-born Australian national who has also lived in the UK, Feller’s perspective is sensibly pragmatic.
“I love Los Angeles, in a professional way,” he says. “With music, I started in Sydney doing the DJ thing, and there’s definitely a ceiling in Australia when it comes to opportunities. When you come out to LA there is no ceiling at all. The opportunities are limitless. I really like being Australian in America. Americans have a reverence for Australians that no other country has,” he says, before Gilfry playfully cuts him off.
“Not this one… I know better,” he laughs.
“There’s an American positivity, a ‘can do’, that isn’t really mirrored anywhere else,” continues Feller. “When I first moved here, there was such a difference in people. And maybe I was just lucky with the people that I hung out with, but it was like anyone and everyone would give you the shirt off their back, give you an opportunity, or at least hear you out… sit down and meet with you. And I love that about this country. I love that about LA.”
NEIL FRANCES’ ‘It’s All a Bit Fuzzy’ is out now via Nettwerk. The band play day 1 of Coachella in April and Bonnaroo in June
