Another in a great series of free concerts comes to Ragged Island this weekend when singer-songwriter Pete Francis, formerly of Dispatch, brings his band to the Portsmouth brewery on Saturday, June 24.
I caught up with Francis earlier this week as he was preparing for a few shows in support of his new album PTRN SKY!, released in May. Like many performers, Francis was stuck at home during the pandemic and used the time to grow professionally.
“During the pandemic, I got into learning how to record,” said Francis. “Over the years, I’ve been in studios, but I didn’t totally understand the engineering or what went into it. My wife is an artist, and she has an art studio in the house, and I have a music studio. I recorded most of this record myself and played most of the instruments. You may hear that on some of the tracks, I was using drum loops. I took kind of an interesting approach where I would start with the loop and then do a guitar riff or a progression on acoustic guitar, and then a song would sort of come out from that – I would improvise lyrics.”
Francis worked on the album with Grammy Award-winning producer Scott Jacoby who has worked with Coldplay, Vampire Weekend, Ronnie Spector, and John Legend, among others. The release is more synth-driven than his previous work.
“I always thought synthesizers were cool but I didn’t really know much about them,” he added. “Part of me really wanted to explore that. One of my favorite bands was Pink Floyd, and if you think back to Wish You Were Here or some of those records, the mini moog (synthesizer), was part of that along with that acoustic sound. Even an acoustic guitar with a synthesizer can have a timeless feel. It was an interesting backdrop for me to paint the soundscapes – synthesizer, acoustic guitar, drum loops.”
Francis has made no secret of his lifelong struggle with depression and bipolar disorder, in recent years becoming an advocate for mental health awareness and treatment. He’s addressed the issue in interviews with magazines, including Men’s Health and American Songwriter.
“This album was a chance for me to write music about that, to open up about that,” he explained. “I think we’re becoming a world where we’re talking more about issues that were more difficult to talk about in another time. I found that to be helpful, I’ve noticed in social media that people responded.”
“There are some interesting books about artists with bipolar disorder; we often hear that artists can be quite sensitive people, which I am. There is a healing component to the music, in the sense that it’s all not dreary, dark, or depressing; through my experience, there was a lot of learning and growing that happened with me. A positive point is that people can grow through these predicaments. I want the record to be hopeful and positive. In the end, it comes back to the power of love, self-forgiveness, and compassion for others. Those are the themes that I want to be most prevalent.”
That theme is evident sonically and through the lyrics on the album. “On the track ‘Brighter Days,’ I think the music is contemplative; one can be introspective and listening to the sounds if we think of the drum loop as something that is almost a calming continuous sound, that I’ve sort of painted the other sounds on. I hope that the music and words come together for something that feels meditative.”
Francis will bring a full band to the Portsmouth show – “there’s rock and funk and soul, my wife sings with me too,” he noted. He’ll be touring this fall, including a gig at City Winery in Boston in October, along with more breweries, shows in New York, and private parties.
“It’s such a real cool brewery, nice people, Matt and Katie; I think they’re doing a fantastic job. I’ve done a bunch of breweries… It’s a great gig, you have a built-in audience,” added Francis.
With the heady days of constant touring with Dispatch behind him, Francis is busy these days raising two kids with his wife who sometimes joins him on stage. “My work these days – I like being a mental health advocate, I like to teach, I love being a bandleader. The great part is working with talented people, putting together creative projects, and playing shows – it’s at the top of what I still really enjoy.”
Click here for more information on the show.
