On July 23, 2024, Frankie and the Witch Fingers took a sunny Seattle afternoon and turned it into a broiling mess of psychedelic synth lines, fierce guitar riffs, throbbing bass and pummeled drums. Sweaty bodies bounced off one another in KEXP’s performance space as the newly christened five-piece played with wild abandon while providing their hallmark punk-rock energy mixed with tight musicianship during a 40-minute set.
“Recorded real, raw and raucous at KEXP,” read the live album’s liner notes. The set is a perfect document of FATWF’s knack for melting faces while moving between sludgy metal rumblings and frantic garage rock with a pulsing potency.
Ripping through nine songs in the presence of the legendary arbiters of indie music, of course the band members knew they were being filmed and recorded. That’s kind of KEXP’s thing, fueling its on-air and streaming content machine, but FATWF also intended to release the live performance on wax. What’s more, this was the first gig that they’d ever played with new band member Jon Modaff on synthesizers. Yeah, no pressure.
“We knew when we were recording KEXP that we were gonna put it out. That added, for me, an extra layer of stress,” bassist Nikki Pickle recalled in an interview. “Playing a live show, having a good show for everybody and you’re recording it for vinyl—like, ‘Don’t fuck up.’”
Pickle looked cool as a cucumber, per usual. Meanwhile, frontman and guitar player Dylan Sizemore brought an unhinged intensity to his vocals, but he wasn’t just yukking it up for the cameras. He exhibits this baseline energy expenditure at every FATWF show.
In between the penultimate rager, “Empire,” and the set closer, Sizemore was seen plugging in his mic with the extra-long cord while drummer Nick Aguilar shed his soggy shirt. Sizemore graciously thanked the crowd before the gut punch of “Bonehead” wrapped it all up with Sizemore-as-emcee, sans-instrument, crowd surfing. As he fished his cord out of the crowd, he shouted his final lyrics of the dystopian revolution anthem backed by a wall of riff-tastic noise: “The prototype has proven itself broken; The washing of our brains was set in motion; The poorest class will rise and rip them open.”
Guitar player Josh Menashe recalled, “That was actually the first live performance we did with old Johnny Boy.” To be fair, Modaff had performed with the band before, filling in as a tour drummer in 2021, but that was his first time playing synths.
“We have thrown around the idea of adding a fifth member for a while now,” Menashe continued. “I was kind of doing double duty with playing guitar and then I’d have the synth to the right, and it got to the point where I couldn’t cover everything.”
Although keys were Modaff’s first instrument—“I’ve played keys my whole life,” he said—they aren’t what he’s primarily done professionally as a touring band member or composer. “At my core, I’d say I’m more of a drummer,” he said. Still, it’s familiar territory, and “it was a really unique challenge jumping in and wearing that hat.” He said that hitting the ground running, KEXP was “a wild first performance to sink my teeth into.” But the 2021 tour went a long way to quickly establishing cohesion as “there was already a lot of camaraderie and familial-like sense to it all, so it just seemed kind of seamless.”
While the aura may have felt instantly right, that didn’t mean FATWF didn’t overprepare for the gig.
“I think we ran that set like 20 to 30 times,” Menashe said.
“Twenty times, yeah,” Aguilar responded. “Those songs are ingrained into my muscle memory.”
It’s no coincidence that the band’s latest record—Trash Classic, released in June 2025—really leans into a new synth sound. “Having more synths as a texture was something that was really interesting to us,” Sizemore said.
More specifically, FATWF wrote a record that required a fifth member to play all the synths. “If we write too many synth parts, then there’s no way Josh is going to be able to have fun up there on stage trying to do both things,” went the thinking.
“It got to the point where I couldn’t even have a beer before we played because there was just too much to focus on,” Menashe said.
While Trash Classic still exudes the psych-punk vigor for which FATWF is known, more dance-punk vibes à la LCD Soundsystem are found on tracks like “Conducting Experiments,” “T.V. Baby” and the meandering title track, which ends the album with head banging and flailing arms as the driving guitars become dance-friendly synths. Other influences came from experimental innovators like XTC—specifically the 1979 album, Drums and Wires—and “the weirder side of Devo,” Menashe said. It’s all rich with even more of the group’s signature eccentricities in textures and rhythmic changes, thanks to Modaff’s additional contributions.
Whether in the studio or onstage, FATWF’s output is impressive and includes a fresh visual aesthetic with each release. From collaborating with artists and designers on new album and single art to developing t-shirts, posters, hats and other swag, the band, alongside Harry Portnof of Greenway Records, has produced a zillion kaleidoscopic color variations for its vinyl records. The most mind-blowing Trash Classic offering is dubbed sewer spew: a neon-green, liquid-filled LP that’s reminiscent of a lava lamp or an old-school liquid light show.
The band was elated at the results of working with Blood Records to create the unique collectible, with Menashe saying, “I can’t wait to drink the forbidden juice inside.”
Pickle added, “And get the powers.”
Instead of making a music video for the fuzzy, angular track “Gutter Priestess,” FATWF tried something new: a side-scroller video game backed by the propulsive rocker. The band members were excited to showcase their music in a different medium that genuinely aligns with their personal interests.
“It was this really cool opportunity to collaborate with new people and make something that we’re all super into,” Sizemore said. “We all play video games in the van on tour, so it’s kind of an extension of what we like.”
Frankie, the band’s namesake, is a cat who’s a dozen-or-so years old. “I get updates from our friend Virginia all the time. [Frankie] just had surgery. I think his hearing’s not doing so well, but he’s on antibiotics. However old the band is, he’s a year older,” Sizemore said.
“I think we have to retire when it’s time,” Menashe said, trailing off and not wanting to address the mortality of the group’s divine inspiration.
“He’s like the voodoo doll of the band,” Sizemore continued. “So if something happens to Frankie …”
Menashe asked, “Wait, his hearing is going out? And Jon’s been having ear problems …”
A boisterous round of laughter erupted from the band as Pickle and Aguilar shouted, “Oh no!”
Witnessing what looks like limitless stamina, one can easily understand Frankie and the Witch Fingers’ consistent drive to record new music and play more shows. There’s very little downtime for a band this hungry.
“This band is full-time,” Pickle said.
Sizemore still remembers when “we were playing basement shows … so the fact that we’re touring all the time and getting to make art with all these amazing artists, it’s definitely not lost on us.”
Pickle added, “It’s the best job in the world. You have to grind and you have to be busy all the time, but when you’re having fun, it doesn’t feel like work.”
Frankie and the Witch Fingers play Mosswood Meltdown on Sunday, July 19, at Mosswood Park, 3612 Webster St., Oakland. mosswoodmeltdown.com
