via Right Side Up Productions
There’s a deep-rooted insecurity inside the psyche of singer-songwriter Andy Frasco, the frontman of the popular jam band Andy Frasco & the U.N., and the latest guest on the Load Out Music Podcast.
Frasco’s inner struggles can be heard in the opening lines of his rather remarkable song “Flowers,” in which he copes with the anguish of demonstrating his true self outside of the safe confines of his home.
“When I am alone / Yeah I impress myself
But if I walk outside / I can’t even be myself
Yeah it’s hard being you / When you’ve got something to prove”
Andy Frasco’s challenges are not terribly unique. But while most people who struggle with mental health are good at hiding their issues from the outside world, and even possibly themselves, his anxieties are actually on full display if you know what to look for.
“I’m an optimistic depressed person,” Frasco said with a smile on the latest episode of the Load Out Music Podcast.
Whereas many comics describe themselves as taking out their childhood insecurities on the world through self-deprecating and passive-aggressive humor, Frasco is a pleaser. He chooses to translate his struggles into a good-natured, funny, party-time persona that has become the hallmark of performances, videos and his popular “Andy Frasco’s World Saving Podcast.”
These interpersonal battles have never been more on display than they are through his 10th studio album, Growing Pains, Andy Frasco & the U.N.’s first self-produced record. It’s also Frasco’s most personal release to date—demonstrating growth well beyond the reputation of a “crowd-surfing party guy,” with themes that include addiction, burnout, mental health, self-reflection, and the chaos of life on the road. You feel it peppered throughout the lyrics that toggle between humor, heartbreak, and hope. It’s littered with authentic moments of absurdity and emotional truth.
“I am going to talk about the sadness,” Frasco told me during our conversation. “All of my songs are kind of like, if you go into the lyrics, and they’re all pretty f***ng sad. But there’s hope, you know. Hopefulness in it. Because I don’t think depression lasts forever.”
Perhaps surprising to anyone who has seen him perform, what drives Frasco’s art is a personal sadness stemming from loneliness. It’s just that the presentation comes in an optimistic wrapper, and that’s no accident.
“I wanted to put an optimistic take on sadness,” Frasco noted. “I’ve always been sad, and I always had that cloud over my head. But I’ve always tried every day to realize it.”
The question is, where does his sadness derive from? He seemingly has had a pretty good life.
Frasco was raised near Los Angeles, in a supportive, middle-class upbringing. He worked as a DJ at bar mitzvahs starting at age 13, and eventually using his bar mitzvah savings to buy a tour van for his band. Like most Jews, he faced antisemitism growing up, but by age 16, was confident enough to be managing, booking and promoting bands in the San Fernando Valley, working with notable labels like Drive Thru Records, Capitol Records and Atlantic Records.
via Right Side Up Productions
All along, Frasco said he struggled with mental health, depression, and substance abuse. Much of it stemmed from that exact loneliness he felt growing up.
“I was just kind of just a loner,” he recalled. “I was like an emo kid. I’d go to Van’s Warp Tour and just see all these screamo kids talking about the saddest fucking lyrics on the planet. But everyone is sitting, hugging each other, and I’m like, ‘damn, it’s my community,’ you know. I’ve always been 1-foot in, 1-foot out with friendships. I never really committed to anyone. I’ve only committed to one girl in my life. I’ve always had this one vision that I was going to be this like a heroic type of guy and just live on the road and never commit.”
Frasco did find one thing to commit to, and he’s full steam and 10 albums into it as of now.
“The only thing I commit to is my dream and my art,” he said. “I destined myself to this world of loneliness, because I know that the bigger picture is my sadness won’t be remembered. It’s how I approach it. It’s what will be remembered.”
Andy Frasco. He’s more than simply that crowd surfing party guy with an impressive “Jew-fro,” as his publicist put it. He’s an artist with depth and a message that many of us can connect with.
Enjoy a great episode of the Load Out Music Podcast.