A Moment with Angry Agency's Tim Fraser

Tim Fraser plays Baritone Sax in the long-standing London band, Angry Agency. Their unique sound combines elements of ska, punk, hard rock, fast time changes and hardcore breakdowns producing high energy, high emotion music. Renowned for their ballistic live performances this group have toured across Canada twice already in their early career, playing in many different cities and provinces all the while staying Indie. They played at the OBS on Friday November 18, and rocked the house! The lineup is as follows:

Kreg - Vocals
Cory - Guitar
Tuck/McGyver/Assblaster - Guitar
Dale - Bass
Brendan - Drums
Jeff - Alto Sax
Greg - Trumpet
Tim - Baritone Sax

I got a chance to talk to Tim afterwards, and here's what he had to say…

Give our readers a brief history of Angry Agency.
Angry Agency started with a phone call between Cory and Dale to get together to play some music together about 10 years ago. (Although there is a fight as to who made that call) Soon after that, the idea came along to find a drummer and singer to make it more than two dudes in a basement. Since then there have been numerous changes to the lineup, myself being the 22nd member in band history. The majority of the current lineup has been together for six years.

How would you describe Angry Agency's music? Are you guys really that angry?
We see ourselves as more of a punk band with horns rather than a ska band, which we usually get labeled. We like to keep the music fun with some ska influence but also rock really hard to keep the metal heads interested during live shows. When it comes to being Angry, I wouldn't say that we are particularly angry, but we do try to convey a message with our lyrics. We try to not only entertain our fans but also educate them on certain social issues that we feel are important for today's youth.

How long have you personally been with the band?
I have been in the band since August 2004.

How did it come about that you joined the band?
Really randomly to be honest; my older brother went to high school with all of the guys and I was always a HUGE fan of AA growing up. I was that nerdy 16-year-old kid in the crowd at every show the band played in London. I even started a band modeled after AA; we had three horns and covered a really old Agency song Heaven or Hell. Last spring, I was talking to Greg (Trumpet) and asked how the band was going and he told me that their trombone player quit right before they were going to tour the west coast. I made a joke that I should take his place with the bari sax (that I had played throughout high school) when they got back from the road. To my surprise Greg immediately sent me eight of their songs and said "Learn these while we are gone and we will have you out for a try out when we get back," apparently I impressed them at that practice. I call it my own personal moment from the movie "Rockstar" where a huge fan of the band gets a chance to be a part of it.

Angry Agency

You recently played at Fanshawe's Out Back Shack. How was the show? What's Fanshawe's crowd like in comparison to other crowds you've played for?
The show was a TON of fun. Fanshawe definitely knows how to treat their bands when they come to play. We opened for a funk group from Toronto and the crowd was really receptive to our music (the beer might have helped with that). The Fanshawe kids definitely party harder than most kids we play for (again the beer might have helped that out).

Angry Agency seems to have a rotating cast of horn players, how many have there been over the years?
There have been a lot of "try-out" members that have come to a couple of practices but never really made it into the line up for any number of reasons. Jeff and Greg have been in the band for a long time now. There have been a couple of part time trumpet players that helped out for shows when Greg wasn't available, two different trombone players. One that recorded on the first demo album, and the second who was in the band for a while and recorded the second full length album. (Funny story, AA stole him from my old band).

What's the largest your group has ever been?
I think that eight is the largest number of full time members.

Does having a group of such a size complicate touring very much?
The van gets kind of cramped and uncomfortable with seven or eight people, especially when you are driving a mini van with all your gear as well. But on the plus side, if you get sick of someone it's easier to avoid them...which in our band tends to happen fairly regularly (jokes).

You've toured the East Coast a few times, what are music fans like out there compared to back here in Ontario, and the music scene in general?
The kids out there were awesome. Really receptive to us. There were a couple of nights that we didn't have a place to stay and made an announcement on stage that we were sleeping in the van that night and had more than one person come up to us after the show to tell us that we could crash with them if we wanted. I had such a great experience with the people out east, I can't wait to go back.

I understand that your trumpet player started working as a chemistry teacher at Medway Secondary here in London- do you see any of his students coming out to shows?
I think it's just science in general but who cares??? Free advertising to a couple of hundred kids!!!! Actually our first show in town after he started teaching, one of his students was there. We all thought it was awesome, I think it kind of weirded him out.

What's your favourite gig you've played, or favourite town to play in?
Both times we played in Halifax I had a GREAT time. Awesome crowds with great responses. I have two shows that will always stick out in my mind. On our last east coast tour we played a show in Halifax the one night and then Guelph the next night with the Planet Smashers. It was a horribly long drive and none of us had showered or changed in four days. We played our set to an awesome crowd and then we all hid behind our merch table because we stunk so bad we were hoping no one would notice. And the other was fairly recently when we almost burned down our drummers kit at the YMCA in Burlington.

Image-wise, it's easy to see how your band is set apart from other ska-punk groups (if I may be so bold as to use the term), does that translate to musical differences as well?
I always find it hilarious when we walk on stage and the crowd sees Tuck (aka the biggest metal head I know), and myself with a shaved head and wearing a Killswitch Engage shirt. I hear comments like "Oh man these guys are gonna rip," then I get my sax out and the metal heads in the crowd get a little disappointed. But there are a lot of different musical influences in our band. We all listen to different music and that really translates to the songs we write. Most people would be really surprised to look through our cd booklets on tour. Everything from jazz, hiphop, dancehall, death metal and straight up balls our rock and roll can be found.

What's up next for you and Angry Agency as a whole?
We are planning on getting into the studio in the near future to record a full length of brand new material that we have been working on. We are also playing shows as often as we can in as many places as we can.

While we're here, tell me bit about Trackfire.
Trackfire is an independant record label and production company that Cory (guitarist) and I started up with a mutual friend. We are currently working on getting a studio up and running so that we can start recording London area bands. We currently have one band signed onto the label side, local area punk band Bordertown, who are currently finishing up recording a five song demo that we will be helping them put out. You can check out all the details of Trackfire at www.myspace.com/trackfirerecords

Thanks Tim!