May 5, 2025 • 46 mins
The struggle between head and heart shapes every artist's journey, but for rock vocalist Gina Fritz, this internal battle birthed "Chemicals" – a powerful anthem about perseverance in today's complex music landscape. When faced with the exhaustion of simultaneously playing creative and businesswoman, Fritz chose to follow her passion despite the uncertainty.
Fritz draws inspiration from female-fronted powerhouses like Halestorm and Flyleaf while crafting her distinctive brand of rock that occasionally throws in "a breakdown or two" to keep audiences guessing. Though Connecticut's scene leans hardcore, her sound carves its own path, resonating with fans seeking authentic, emotionally-charged rock music.
Behind every great artist stands a trusted team. Producer Christopher Paquette understands Fritz's vision, avoiding the "Disney princess" sound some producers force on female vocalists. Her band members function as true partners rather than hired musicians, each contributing beyond performances – from sound engineering to fan engagement. This collaborative spirit extends to her merchandise design and social media strategy, where covering songs by bands she opens for has proven surprisingly effective at connecting with new audiences.
The modern musician's battlefield includes more than just stages and studios. Fritz navigates the content demands of platforms like TikTok with strategic purpose, seeing past the exhaustion to appreciate genuine connections with fans. When someone approaches her after a show saying "I found you through TikTok and now I love your music," the digital grind suddenly feels worthwhile.
Ready to experience rock music that balances raw power with vulnerability? Catch Gina Fritz at upcoming festivals including Summer Scream Fest and Punk Rock Prom, or dive into her catalog featuring singles like "Chemicals." Follow her journey as she continues proving that authentic artistry can thrive even in today's algorithm-driven music world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tony Scott (00:05):
Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a
behind-the-curtain look at theentertainment industry, with
insights you can't pay for andstories you've never heard.
Now here's your host, JayFranze.
Jay Franze (00:33):
And we are coming at you live.
I am Jay Franze and this isyour source for the latest news,
reviews and interviews.
So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any
questions, please head over tojfrenzycom.
All right, folks get this.
We have a very special guestwith us.
I said it once, I will say itagain we have a very special
(00:53):
guest.
We have a recording artist, notjust any, but a rock and roll
recording artist, hailing fromthe great state of Connecticut.
We have Gina Fritz.
Gina, my friend, how are you?
Gina Fritz (01:05):
What's up?
How?
The great state of Connecticut.
We have Gina Fritz.
Gina, my friend, how are you?
What's up?
How are you?
I am great.
Thank you for having me on.
Jay Franze (01:09):
It is so good to have you here, why don't we just
jump right in?
Let's start off with tell mewhat the music scene is like up
there in Connecticut.
Gina Fritz (01:21):
So the music scene in Connecticut I would say it's
more towards like the harderside, so like more like hardcore
.
There's like some pop artistshere and there, but mostly the
scene is very, very hardcoreover on the side.
Jay Franze (01:29):
Nice.
So how do you fit in with that?
Gina Fritz (01:33):
So a couple years back back in 2017, I was in a
band.
It was like a pop punk styleband, and then after that I
ended up going to like a morelike poppier project.
In that project I met WhitneyPayton, who, if you guys know
anything about me, I'm in a bandcalled Keyed Up as well.
And after I met Whitney, thatwas kind of like when my solo
(01:57):
stuff started taking off alittle bit more and I formed a
band around myself and it'scalled Gina Fritz and I have my
guys who back me every night.
Jay Franze (02:08):
What's it like being in more than one band?
Gina Fritz (02:11):
It's really cool because I get to be very
versatile, like I get to writelike the more rock-based stuff
and actually the stuff thatKeyed Up has coming out I don't
know if I'm supposed to say this, but it's more like rock style
but again, I get to be veryversatile with her rapping and
my singing, so we kind of get togo back and forth on that,
which is pretty cool.
Jay Franze (02:32):
So it gives you two outlets for creativity.
Gina Fritz (02:36):
Absolutely.
Jay Franze (02:37):
Go ahead and describe what your solo project
is like my solo project is morerock based.
Gina Fritz (02:43):
So if you guys like hailstorm, flyleaf, paramore, I
get the reference a lot, um, butif you like any of that style
music, that's where my solostuff kind of falls into that
realm we've been talking on theshow lately about hailstorm
quite a bit oh, they're so goodI've introduced my family to
(03:05):
them.
Jay Franze (03:06):
That came up.
That story came up on our lastepisode, so we've been talking
about hailstorm and it came outthat I just might be a sucker
for female fronted rock bands oh, maybe that's why I'm on here
right now that's what I'm saying, right?
So, yes, I mean your.
Your style of music fits rightinto the groove of what I like
to listen to, but it does havethat reference to Flyleaf and
(03:28):
Hailstorm and Evanescence and soon.
Gina Fritz (03:31):
I try to make it like my own because, like, I
never want to like copy anotherartist but I guess like those
are my like big influences whenI do write my music.
But I feel like I definitelyhave like my own kind of spin on
it.
I like to throw in a breakdownor two every once in a while and
it throws people really off andI love it.
Jay Franze (03:51):
Well, I don't think your music would be considered a
copy of.
I think it just fits alongsidethose.
So if you were to play those ona playlist or play them on the
radio, I think you can go backto back to back with all those
artists, including yourself, andyou would fit right in without
being a carbon copy of eitherone of them.
I think you take the pieces,whether they're the best pieces
(04:11):
of each one of those bands, andput them together and then
establish something of your own.
So I know you have a singleChemicals, so why don't we start
there?
Go ahead and tell us a littlebit about the history of the
song.
Gina Fritz (04:22):
Yeah.
So when I was writing ChemicalsI was going through a really
hard time in my life and I waskind of contemplating, like, am
I still going to do this?
Like I feel like all of us kindof come to like a point in time
where, like, do we still gowith what our heart is telling
us or do we go with what ourhead is telling us, with what
(04:47):
our heart is telling us, or dowe go with what our head is
telling us?
And I went with my heart and,yeah, I feel like chemicals is
talking about like what's goingon in my head.
I kind of just go back andforth on a lot of different
things.
Jay Franze (04:58):
Well, before we get too deep into it, why don't you
go ahead and tell us a littlebit more about that?
What was the challenge you werefacing?
What were you struggling withat that time?
Gina Fritz (05:06):
um, just like the music industry in general, I
feel like is just like verysocial media based right now.
So having to like keep up with,like the different content
online and having to keep upwith, you know, the tiktoks and
the social media aspect of ityou kind of have to like.
You kind of have to be both acreative and a businesswoman, so
(05:29):
like I'm trying to be both atthe same time and sometimes it
just gets very tiring and, youknow, you feel worn out after a
little bit.
So like that's kind of where,like my mindset was when I was
writing chemicals, just verylike, like mixed up in my brain
of like am I ever going to getsomewhere with this?
Like?
Am I just going to keep beatingthis horse?
(05:50):
You know.
Jay Franze (05:51):
Do you feel that that feeling comes with the way
the industry is at the moment,where the benefit of social
media is an artist can break anddo things on their own without
the assistance of a label.
The downfall is you don't havethe guidance and the team of
people that a label has, so youend up taking on that dual role,
as you were talking about, withthe business as well as the art
(06:13):
.
Gina Fritz (06:14):
Yeah, absolutely, and like I try, I try my best to
like be on social media and beon TikTok and do all of the
things that like they say thatlike you should be doing on
social media.
And, honestly, the only aspectof social media that I love is
like it connects me to new fans.
So, like people that end upmeeting me are like oh, like I
(06:34):
found you through TikTok or oh,I found you, like you know,
through your Instagram.
Honestly, most of the time it'sTikTok and that's like the
golden aspect of it is like OK,like, even if my stuff isn't
necessarily popping off, if oneor two people come up to me at
my show and they're like I sawthat one TikTok that you did and
you know it brought me here,and like now I love your other
(06:56):
music.
That's the golden aspect ofsocial media is like it
introduces you to new people whonever would have normally known
who you were.
Jay Franze (07:06):
How does that make you feel when that happens?
Gina Fritz (07:10):
It's crazy.
It's always very like whoa.
Like you know, you found methrough social media.
That's crazy and it's reallyit's very nice because it's like
you could follow like so manypeople.
There are so many people onsocial media so you know, for
people to be like I follow youand you know I look at your
videos and your videos help meand your music helps me.
It's a crazy feeling that Istill, to this day, like can't
(07:35):
describe when someone comes upto me and says that it's like
whoa before we get back to yoursingle, can you tell us how you
utilize social media to growyour audience?
Yeah, absolutely so.
Like when I say, for instance,you know, the other night I
actually was up with DeadlandsCasey she's amazing and she
(07:56):
invited me up to sing with themfor one of their songs.
Before that, you know, I didlike a cover on social media to
kind of like connect with herfans and, like you know, try to
get them over to my page.
I feel like with tiktok andinstagram especially, you can do
reels and I noticed reels getlike more traction.
(08:18):
So every time I'm performingwith a new band like today I
just announced that I'll beopening for the funeral portrait
you know I'll find one of theirsongs to cover that way, I'll
post it and hopefully that'llbring their fan base over to my
page and they'll say oh hey, whois this?
That's a cover that she did ofthe funeral portrait.
(08:38):
Let me go look at what she hasand it kind of snowballs that,
which is cool she has, and itkind of snowballs that, which is
cool?
Jay Franze (08:49):
no, it's absolutely cool.
So do you see a jump in yournumbers when you finish opening
up for somebody else?
Gina Fritz (08:52):
it depends because I I do, I try to do lives every
time I perform.
But I feel like, if I am veryactive during the show and I'm
like, hey, here I am at thisshow opening for this person,
you just have to like constantlybe I don't want to say
(09:12):
constantly be online, but, likeyou constantly have to be active
because, say, like you put itaway for like five days, people
are constantly on their phones.
Like, the more content that youput up, the more chance that
you're going to have someone seeit, whether it be a video from
like months ago, because thealgorithm is so strange, so like
(09:34):
a video could pop up frommonths ago that you posted and
people will be like oh, that'sthe one that I found.
But when I'm specifically likeat a show, I try my hardest to
not be on my phone because Iwant to be in the moment and I
want to meet people.
When they're coming up to me,it's afterwards is I'll go on
and I'll repost stuff.
(09:55):
If people tag me in likecertain videos, like, I'll try
my best to like respond to allof them because they took the
time to come out and buy aticket to either see my show or
a show that I was opening andthey took the time to say, hey,
I really liked your music.
Jay Franze (10:15):
so that's when I try to really be on social medias
after the fact and it does ithelps my thought was kind of
like when you're on stage, likebefore you leave the stage,
whether it be before the lastsong or however you choose to do
it, If you announced you know,hey, if you like what you heard
tonight, come join me on mysocials or follow me for some
(10:36):
for future updates.
And then I was just curious howquickly you would see that
change.
Gina Fritz (10:41):
It takes a while.
It's not like an overnightthing, it definitely it takes.
It takes a minute and, like Isaid, like with my reels, like I
really try to take advantage ofthe advertising that Instagram
lets you do and you know, I justput like a tiny bit and
sometimes that tiny bit reallyopens up, like to a lot of new
(11:03):
people.
It's happened to a couple of myvideos where I'm like, well,
but yeah, I try to takeadvantage of, like all of, like
the little tools that all ofthese different platforms give
you and I noticed, when you usethe new tools that they post,
they'll almost reward you forusing the new tools that they
(11:25):
want people to use.
So that's what I've been tryingto focus on.
It's a lot, but, at the sametime, if you like making content
, then it's fun.
Jay Franze (11:37):
Yeah, if you like making content.
If you like making content,then it's fun, Otherwise it's a
job.
Gina Fritz (11:42):
Otherwise it is yeah , and I never, obviously, at the
end of the day, do I view it'sa job.
Otherwise, it is yeah, and youknow I never obviously like, at
the end of the day, like youknow, do I view this as a job?
Yes and no, because I have somuch fun with it, Like I get to
have so much fun, I get to meetnew people and I get to help
people with my songs, which wasreally cool, so I don't really
view it as a job.
(12:02):
But I have to take it seriouslyand I have to be on there
making the content.
Jay Franze (12:07):
But one of the things I would like to
experiment with when it comes tosocial media is when I'm
working with an artist who isopening up for a major artist or
even just an artist that'slarger in general, is
experimenting with.
You know, if we have sidescreens putting QR codes up on
the screen or right before thatlast song, saying, hey, if you
like what you heard, while we'reall pumped up and excited,
(12:27):
let's go ahead and take out yourphones, why don't we all go
ahead and make sure that youfollow me right now on Instagram
you know that type of thing andto see what kind of difference
that would make, just doing alittle bit of promotion from a
stage like that, especially ifyou're on the road with a bigger
artist and you can hit a newcity every night and make that
spike every single night, thenwhat would that do to the
(12:50):
algorithm that we, you know,mentioned here?
Gina Fritz (12:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
Then you know it spikes yournumbers that way.
It's so different, just likeseeing people in person and
having them come over to you andhaving that like actual
interaction.
Jay Franze (13:03):
No, absolutely so.
You'd mentioned, as we buildinto your single, you mentioned
the band that you formed aroundthis.
Let's go ahead and talk aboutthe band.
Why don't we start with justnames and instruments?
Gina Fritz (13:15):
Yeah, so we have Frank Soltis.
He is my lead guitarist, andthen we have Evan Reiki he's my
bass player, and then we haveFrankie Forbes.
He is my drummer, and I met allof them through my producer,
christopher Paquette.
He is incredible and he helpedme form this band, for sure.
Jay Franze (13:37):
So how did you meet Christopher?
Gina Fritz (13:39):
So I met Christopher back in 2017 when I was in my
first band that pop punk bandthat I was talking about and
they fought me on going to Chrisbecause I wanted to look at all
of our options.
I was kind of like let's notjust settle on this one dude
just because he worked with soand so and so and so, and they
were like no, like we have to goto him Like he is the dude.
(14:00):
We have to go to him Like he isthe dude, we have to go.
And I was like okay, and I went.
I met him.
We instantly connected and heinstantly understood like my
vision and he understood how Isang.
Like a lot of the times Inotice with producers, with
female artists, is they like toalmost like make my voice into,
(14:23):
into like a Disney princess sortof voice, and I'm like I don't
sound like that.
You know, like when they putthe auto tune on it and
everything.
I loved the way that hespecifically mixed my voice.
So I had worked with him withthat band Fast forward to that
band not working out.
I came back to him in 2020during the pandemic and I was
(14:47):
like, listen, I want to try torework one of these songs that I
had and I just never put out.
And he said, okay, let's sit,let's rework it.
And he was, he was willing todo that with me, which is
awesome.
You know, you don't?
You don't just go back to aproducer that you went to seven,
(15:09):
eight years ago and they'relike yeah, absolutely, I'll
still work with you, let'srework that song that you wanted
to.
So he's awesome.
I can't say nicer things abouthim.
And he knew I wanted to form aband and I was like I don't know
anybody and he was like well'tknow anybody.
And he was like, well, you know, let me, let me pull some
(15:32):
people for you and see if youknow you connect with any of
them.
Jay Franze (15:33):
All right, Well, one of the things you mentioned
there was you like the way thathe mixed your voice, so does
that mean he also takes on therole of the engineer?
Gina Fritz (15:41):
Absolutely.
Yeah, he's my producer, he's myengineer.
Some of the covers that youhear that I post on my Instagram
.
I'll go to him and I'll say,hey, let's do this one take of a
song and it is, it's a one takeand he'll do little, little
tiny things.
But I always say to him I go,do not put auto-tune.
(16:01):
I want people to hear my rawtakes, you know.
But but a lot of the times,like, I'll send it to him first
and I'll be like you know howdoes this sound?
Jay Franze (16:11):
and he'll be like I just got to tweak it a little,
like you're good so now,christopher, being your producer
as well as your engineer, doeshe have his own personal
home-based studio or does herent a studio?
Gina Fritz (16:24):
he does, so it's called no Boundaries Studios.
It's in North Kingstown, rhodeIsland, which is very close to
Connecticut, so it's a quicklittle drive.
And, yeah, his studio isawesome for bands that are
traveling too.
I honestly don't know if I'msupposed to be talking about
(16:46):
that, but if you follow Keita,we're coming out with an album
soon.
She's going to be flying in andwe're going to be staying there
because he has like a littleit's almost like a little like
apartment, like down, like wherehis studio is Exactly yeah.
So if he has people liketraveling from out of state,
like really far out of state,like they can just stay there,
(17:10):
and yeah, well, that that'sgonna be pretty cool.
Jay Franze (17:12):
so the studio itself , is it at his home?
It's at his home can you kindof describe it to us a little
bit?
Gina Fritz (17:20):
I'm gonna be honest, I don't know what any of that
stuff does.
I try watching him and he'slike a.
Jay Franze (17:26):
He's like a wizard how big of a room is it?
Gina Fritz (17:29):
um, it's like I would say like it's like a
regular size room, like it's notlike anything like very, very
large, but it definitely.
It gets the job done.
He has like his piano in there.
There is a separate room forvocals uh, everything is
isolated.
And he has like double doors,so like he has a sliding door
and then there's anotherconnecting door, so like you are
(17:51):
isolated once you're in thatroom.
Yeah, which makes it very easyfor me, because I like to belt
when I sing and I'm like I don'twant to bother anybody, but
since it's just him, he's like Idon't care.
Jay Franze (18:03):
Right, of course.
So when you go in there to sing, when you go in there, how do
you make it your own, how do youmake it so you're comfortable?
Gina Fritz (18:12):
I bring in my either hot tea or my water.
I set it up right on the littletable.
I kind of do my warm ups.
But, like I said too, we justhave fun when I go in the booth,
like it's just a fun time, likethere's no pressure ever, like
if I can't hit a part, he's notlike oh, like drilling me to get
(18:36):
it.
He's like, all right, come backout, take a little breather.
Once you're good, go back in,so it's, it's.
It's very relaxing and it'svery nice.
It's not like I never feel likepressured when I'm over there,
(19:01):
which there have been like somecases where like I'll go in and
like I'll be like oh, no, liketo other studios and I just feel
very comfortable at his, at hisplace in a studio.
Jay Franze (19:07):
Well, that's what it's all about, right?
The?
Gina Fritz (19:08):
producers there to make you feel comfortable.
Got Gotta be comfortable, youhave to yeah.
Jay Franze (19:11):
I know you mentioned not wanting to use auto-tune
and I can understand that.
I mean singer prides themselveson being able to sing and when
you have to take a tool tomanipulate your vocal to hit a
pitch that you probably couldhave hit on your own is probably
discouraging right so do youever find a time where maybe you
(19:32):
might pitch shift not not tune,but actually pitch shift your
vocal?
Gina Fritz (19:38):
yeah, yeah, there's definitely times where we have
to like pitch shift and thereare some times, too, where, like
the newest song that we justdid, I was like I don't like how
I'm singing in this key, solike we'll switch the key of it.
But yeah, there's definitelytimes where we have to use the
auto-tune or we have to like dolike the pitch correcting, but
(19:59):
it never goes super far off.
I'm always like able to likehit it live.
You know, like no, like I haveto be able to like hit it live,
and if I can't, then you know wedrop it down and I say yeah, no
, I can't go that high well, Imean that's, it's part of the
creative process of just goingthrough all these steps.
Jay Franze (20:20):
You want to be in this for the long haul yep, yep.
Gina Fritz (20:23):
I don't want to destroy my voice if you.
Jay Franze (20:25):
If you put it up too high, then it's yeah 10 years
from now, you're gonna becursing yourself right, right no
I can understand all that.
So the musicians that you playwith on a regular basis they
don't go in the studio at allwith you then this is totally
christopher in the studio andthen your band when you play
live yeah, this is completely meand chris, and you know I've
(20:48):
been.
Gina Fritz (20:49):
I've been in studios with my bands prior and
sometimes when there's too manyopinions, it takes a little bit
longer to reach the finalproduct not sometimes my friend,
I would say all the time allthe time.
(21:11):
So I'm like you know what, atthe end of the day, they're my
songs.
You know it's gina fritz onthat screen.
So these are what I want, theseare my songs.
The guys, whenever I show themthe finished products, sometimes
they're like well, maybe youshould change this lyric and
like they give me like littlenotes and I will go back in the
(21:31):
studio and sometimes fix certainparts.
But because it's just me andchris in the studio, we're just
like.
We're kind of like racketeeringoff of each other, just like
boom, boom, boom, like ideasback and forth, back and forth.
There's not like a third orfourth party that's like oh, how
about we do this, how about wedo this?
(21:52):
It's literally just bing, bang,boom and that's it.
Jay Franze (21:56):
Right, you guys can try things as quick as you think
of them.
Gina Fritz (21:59):
Exactly, exactly, like.
If I'm like, oh, let's try this.
All right, gina, go get in thebooth, go sing it, let's see how
it sounds.
You know like it's?
I wouldn't say it's a quickprocess, but we definitely have
a certain process that we'vebeen doing since 2020 now, and
every time we go in, I'm like,well, I have two songs, like I
(22:20):
came with, like two songs that Iwant to try to get done.
He's like, all right, let's doit in two days, let's see if we
could get it done two days, andI'll book a two-day session and
we'll get it done and it'll.
You know, it comes out awesome.
He's insanely talented becausefor him to be able to do the
drums, he has, like um, he haslike a pad, like a drum pad, so
(22:42):
he'll do everything on like thedrum pad.
But then all of the guitars heplays plays every single one.
He'll play the bass, the rhythm, the lead.
It's crazy.
I just sit there sometimes andwatch him and I'm like you're
insane.
Jay Franze (22:56):
Well, he does have talent, probably too much talent
.
Christopher, we're going toneed you to dumb it down a
little bit.
Gina Fritz (23:02):
Dumb it down, chris, dumb it down.
Jay Franze (23:04):
You're making the rest of us feel bad.
All right, as we talk aboutyour band and not going in the
studio, and it is your name onthe marquee, so let's take that
a step further.
What is the businessrelationship between you and the
band?
Gina Fritz (23:18):
Oh they're, they're my best friends Whenever we're
together.
It's you know you have to havea good connection with your band
because if you don't, thenyou're kind of just like going
in and being like, okay, you'replaying this part, you're
playing this part, and I knowsome bands do operate like that
when there's that head person.
But for me, being in a bandmeans these are your friends,
(23:41):
you know, you're playing showswith them, you're going out to
places with them, you're doingvideos with them.
Like I need to have aconnection with them and in the
past there were people thatdidn't make it through because
there just wasn't thatconnection.
I've met really solid guys andI'm very, truly lucky because at
(24:05):
this point in the game, I wantpeople that are focused.
I want people that are on thesame page as me.
I want people that will workjust as hard as I'm working.
I want people that aren'tafraid to go on social media.
I want people that aren'tafraid to shake people's hands.
When we're in a room withcertain people and I found those
(24:26):
guys I really did Shout out,shout out to you guys.
Jay Franze (24:31):
So these guys?
Are they the traditional hiredgun or are you making them truly
an equal partner in the banditself?
Gina Fritz (24:41):
We're equal partners .
So, even though it says GinaFritz, we are equal partners and
they understand like they getit.
They know my past and they knowthat I haven't been treated the
best sometimes in my pastprojects and they're there for
me and they are equally aswilling to make this work as I
(25:02):
am.
Jay Franze (25:03):
All right.
So, with that said, what kindof participation do they do to
earn their equal parts?
Like you mentioned shakinghands, you mentioned social
media, do they go on socialmedia.
Do they help and promote yourmusic as well?
Gina Fritz (25:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
They go on.
They promote every show wecollaborate with, on every
single post.
Evan, my bass player.
He is also my sound guy when weare doing shows.
It's always the bass player,it's always the bass player.
He, yeah, he knows everything.
So, like you know, when thesound guy comes over to me and
(25:39):
he's like talking to me aboutstuff that I really am not too
certain on, I'm like you knowwhat.
Go see, see my bass player.
He knows exactly what's goingon.
You know he, he has the rig andwe have our in-ear setup and he
helps everything run smooth.
He's also my personal therapiston the road, so when I am like
(26:03):
feeling a certain type of way,he'll bring me over and he'll be
like Gina, stop worrying,everything's gonna be fine.
You're up in your head rightnow.
You're good.
But yeah, they, they all playequal parts.
Frankie, my drummer, is amazing.
He goes over uh, we have kidsthat sometimes will come to our
shows and at a recent show thatwe just did at launch, we had
(26:23):
this family come uh with theirkids and the one kid he goes.
I want to be a drummer when Iget older and Frankie was like
oh, let me show you, you know acouple, a couple little roles
that you can do like they're,they're all just such good guys.
And yeah, like I said, bringingit back, like I'm just very
lucky because they do all playtheir part and it works.
(26:47):
It really does, because youcould.
You could have that one personthat just like slacks off, that
doesn't do anything, and like I,I don't have that I have like
all these guys want to be there.
Jay Franze (26:58):
We all genuinely want this to work out sure, and
that's what matters is findingthe right group of people to be
around.
Yeah, I want to mention realquick the importance of a
well-placed pause, because whenyou say Frankie and I, we have
kids, and then you go on to sayat the shows, no, I'm just
(27:20):
saying yeah, not that.
Don't pause for too long, that'sall All right.
So while we're talking aboutbusiness, let's talk about your
merch, because you even gotmerch for your single.
So can you tell me how you goabout creating merch?
Gina Fritz (27:35):
off of one another and I like to keep my brand kind
of on the purple side, you know, hence the purple hair.
And he gets that.
(27:55):
His name is Evan, but mostrecently I actually had a design
made through Kaylee of Rivals,kaylee Wolf, and she's an
incredible designer herself, andso I have a new shirt coming
out for my new song,disassociate, which will be out
next month Fingers crossed, butyeah, I have my guy.
Evan is normally the one who Ido go to for most of my designs
(28:19):
and he understands the brandingof how I want everything branded
, and I've been working with him.
I think it's been like at leasttwo years, maybe three years,
but he's my dude.
His name is Evan Middleton andhe's in a band they're called
Sync With Me.
They just came out with a newsong too, so go check that out.
Jay Franze (28:40):
Very nice.
Give props where they're due.
Gina Fritz (28:43):
Absolutely.
Jay Franze (28:43):
Well, let's take the branding piece.
You mentioned your brand, solet's take that a step further.
Can you tell us what your brandis?
Gina Fritz (28:52):
I would say that it is Feminine Power.
Honestly, I do everything kindof based off women and female
and empowerment, and I also liketo go into the metal.
You know how people have thelittle metal logos you kind of
like can't read it sometimes.
Jay Franze (29:13):
Well, yeah, the real heavy stuff.
Gina Fritz (29:15):
Yeah, yeah, and it's like I love doing that, because
it kind of throws people offsometimes because I'm like I'm
not, I'm not metal, like that,but I just think it's so fun and
like I wear shirts like that.
So like, whenever I seesomething that like you know,
another band like put out andI'm like I really like that, I
try to incorporate it somehowwith my brand, even though I'm
(29:37):
more like I would say my stuffis more like almost like pop,
rock, ish, I don't know.
I don't know what my genre isanymore, to be completely honest
, but I love doing like the more, like heavier designs.
Jay Franze (29:52):
It comes across as more of the hard rock style.
I would say.
Gina Fritz (29:56):
I guess Thank you.
Jay Franze (29:58):
I mean, if you're, if you're in the same vein as
Hailstorm and Evanescence andFlyleaf, I would say that's hard
rock.
Gina Fritz (30:09):
It's so funny because, like, sometimes people
come up to me at and they'll belike beforehand, before I go on
stage, and they'll be like,what's your genre?
And I'm like, honestly, I don'tknow anymore.
So when I go up there and youhear me, you come back over to
my merch table and you tell mewhat genre it is.
Jay Franze (30:26):
And what do they tell you?
Gina Fritz (30:28):
I get a lot of Paramore.
I get a lot of paramore.
I get a lot of paramore.
But some people do say it'slike more on, like the heavier
side.
They're like you're kind oflike metalcore and I'm like sure
I'll go with it.
Jay Franze (30:40):
That's hard well, talk more about the brand itself
.
So we know the style of music,we know the color of purple.
What other identifying featuresare there to the brand itself?
Gina Fritz (30:53):
I do a lot of like.
If you notice my shirts, like Ihave like a lot of even the
newer one it has like a lot oflike people almost on the shirts
, like stuff, like either likethey're floating up like in
space or like they don't have aface, like it's very like um,
abstract, I guess you could callit.
(31:14):
I like doing a lot of abstractmerch things that make people
kind of question Like I don'twant it to be like too much in
your face of like you look at itand like you know what it is.
I kind of like having peoplequestion where I'm going with it
.
I don't like it to be like astory told.
(31:34):
I kind of like people to comeup with their own story for my
branding because it makes itmore fun.
Jay Franze (31:43):
So when you talk about some consistent factors
like people and so forth in yourbranding?
Do you have any logo that youkeep consistent throughout there
?
Is there any fonts or anythinglike that that you keep
consistent?
Gina Fritz (31:57):
Not really, not really.
I.
I almost wish I did, but I'mkind of glad that I don't,
because every single thing thatI put up is different, and
that's what I like about mymerch is everything is kind of
different.
I did have a heart at one pointwith like an x going through it
and that was for my singleremedy.
But pretty much for everysingle I do something different
(32:19):
and the only thing that's reallykept the same is my actual logo
of Gina Fritz and it's justlike a standard print that
you'll see like on the flyers.
And you know a lot of people arelike, oh, you should change the
logo, you should do, and I'mlike, maybe eventually, but I
kind of like it, especially likewhen it's on a poster.
(32:41):
I do like it that people canread it and like, know, like, oh
, gina fritz is on this andthey're not like wait a second,
like who is that?
Like, which is cool, but like II don't know for like that type
of logo, I'm like I'll justkeep it like as is, like
standard, that type of logo.
(33:01):
I'm like I'll just keep it likeas is like standard.
It's just very like to thepoint.
Like there it is like on top ofone another.
My brother actually designedthat for me because we were
downstairs one night and I waslike I'm like I don't really
know, like what I want like fora logo, but I want people to
know that it's me like.
I don't, you know, I don't wantit to like, be like something
crazy.
And he's like, and we weregoing through like different,
like fonts and I forgot the nameof that font, but it very just
(33:24):
like.
There you go, right in yourface, big Gina Fritz.
Jay Franze (33:30):
Well, when we look at something like that, I think
that's a very important thing toconsider.
Are you going to stand out?
Is it going to be easy to read?
Is it going to be easy to readat a small size, and so on those
, are just things that weconsider at all times, so I
think it's a good choice.
I like the logo thank you.
Maybe at some point it'll change, but for right now I'm keeping
(33:53):
it as is you want somethingthat's going to be easy to read,
but something that's also goingto show the vibe of what you're
putting out.
Gina Fritz (34:01):
Absolutely.
Jay Franze (34:02):
All right.
Well, let's go ahead and takeit a step further.
One of the things that we keeptalking about is these upcoming
shows, so why don't you talk tous a little bit about the shows
that you got coming up?
Gina Fritz (34:14):
May 25th I will be with the Funeral Portrait which
I'm so excited about.
They just announced they're onlike a full.
They're on a full tour.
It just got announced, likemaybe a week ago.
Thank you very, very much forreaching out to me.
I'm so excited.
So that's May 25th.
Jay Franze (34:30):
That's Hartford, Connecticut.
Gina Fritz (34:32):
Yeah, and then May 31st it's in Milton,
pennsylvania, it is Punk RockProm.
Then I'm in the studio.
Then I'm in the studio for thefirst week of June and then July
12th I have Summer ShorelineFest, which is also in
Connecticut, it's in New Haven.
And then I have Summer ScreamFest.
(34:53):
Doing a lot of festivals, we'rekind of like doing like little
spot ones, and Summer ScreamFest is in Brooklyn, new York,
at the Meadows, nice.
So very excited for all thefestivals coming up.
And I do have one more showthat I'm announcing.
I just don't know when I canannounce it yet, but it's in
June, if I can say that.
Jay Franze (35:13):
So now I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit
Out of all the festivals thatare coming up.
Which one are you lookingforward to most?
Gina Fritz (35:20):
The one that I didn't announce yet.
Jay Franze (35:24):
So why don't you tell us a little bit more about
that one then?
It is with people that I haveyou don't have to tell me, that
was just me joking.
Don't get yourself in troubleover this.
Gina Fritz (35:33):
I don't want to get myself in trouble, but the one
that I'm also very, very excitedabout is Summer Scream Fest.
Just because the lineup alreadythere are so many amazing
female artists specifically thatare on that one.
My friends in Wavebreak are onit.
The lineup is very, very good.
Go check out the lineup forSummer Scream Fest.
(35:54):
And also Shoreline Fest I'mvery excited about because
that's in Connecticut and lastyear it sold out.
It's going to be very fun.
I always like outside festivals.
It's always a good time.
Jay Franze (36:05):
All right, you mentioned earlier covers, yes,
so again, that's utilizingsocial media.
We're doing covers to get theattention of not only new people
, new potential fans, but alsothe attention of the artists
that are coming around, so thatway, they might see you and
consider you as an opening act.
It's very smart, very strategicway of doing things, however,
(36:29):
and you also take some creativelicense when you use some of
these.
So can you tell us a little bitabout your?
Sabrina Carpenter.
Gina Fritz (36:37):
Thank you.
So again, that was with Chris.
I went to his studio and I waslike I kind of want to do like a
pop cover.
And he's like All right, well,who do you want to do?
I was like Sabrina Carpenter Ilove listening to her songs,
like I'm a fan.
So I was like let's just do itlike more like metal-esque, like
kind of like rockish.
And he was like all right,let's try it out and see what we
(37:05):
could do.
And I went in, I sang over likejust like her track.
But then I I was the one thatkind of took the initiative and
I was like let's do it this way.
Like I'm kind of hearing itlike this and he's great for
that too like when I'm like I'mhearing it a certain way and he
plays it and he's like how aboutthis?
And I'm like no, like more,like no, no, no, no, no, like
I'll, I'll, like I'll sound itout which is so crazy, but like,
and he'll get it, but yeah, no,that was so much fun and I love
(37:28):
taking like pop covers likethat and like making them rock,
like I just think it's so fun tolike kind of make them a little
bit different yeah, that's.
Jay Franze (37:38):
My favorite is when, if someone's going to do a
cover, I want it to be prettydifferent and I like it when
people take songs that are notintended to be done that way and
do it that way.
So I mean there's a lot of them.
I mean one of my favorites iscindy loppers time after time I
think everybody and their motheris covered.
It's probably one of the bestsongs out there, and then to
hear all the different versionsof that song is pretty cool oh,
(38:01):
yeah, I'm sure.
Gina Fritz (38:03):
Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of versions of
that one, but it's cool because,like you can take a song like
that and do like a hundreddifferent versions of it,
because it's a very like I don'twant to say basic song, but I
feel like you can take any songand make it sound like how
you're thinking of it in yourhead.
Jay Franze (38:24):
Another one you did, and can you tell us the reason
that you chose Linkin Park?
Heavy is the Crown.
Gina Fritz (38:31):
Okay, obviously I love Linkin Park and I think
Emily is such an insane vocalist.
And funny story is, after Ichose that song because I was
doing it with Whitney, that waslike the cover, that like we had
decided like, oh, like, let'sdo this one.
And I didn't realize that shelike had like a very elongated
(38:55):
scream in that song where it'slike is what you asked for?
She holds that note.
I don't know how long she holdsit, but she holds it for so
long that I like I was gonnapass out.
I was like I called whitney andI was like whitney, are you
sure you want to cover this song, are you sure?
(39:16):
And she was like you're the onethat wanted to.
And I'm like all right, yep,you're right, you're right, so I
just have to do it.
But no, it came out really good.
But oh, my god, when I tell youthat took me so many tries and
yeah, no, emily is just aninsane vocalist, yeah, she's so
crazy the last one I want tobring up is your Butcher Babies.
Jay Franze (39:40):
That is a duet, yes, so when we say duet, I mean a
social media duet, notnecessarily a vocal duet.
So can you tell me why youchose that song and the
recognition you got from it?
Gina Fritz (39:56):
So I love the Butcher Babies and I love when
artists do duets like that ontiktok, because it allows you to
essentially do a duet with themwithout doing a duet with them.
So I was like I might as welljust give it a try and I
(40:17):
recorded it.
And then, uh, I I posted it,not not thinking that like
anything would happen with it,but uh, heidi saw it.
She saw it and uh, she was like, oh my god, I love it, it's so
good.
And I was texting my guys thatday.
I was like, oh my god, look atwho just commented, sending it
(40:38):
in the group chat.
But yeah, that was, that wascrazy, that was crazy to get
that notification.
And um, but your babiesactually followed me after that,
which is again crazy and verymind-blowing, uh, to say the
absolute least.
And they did pick a winner forthat, because I think there was
like a winner afterwards.
(40:59):
But they might be doing otherthings with it.
That's all I can say on that.
But yeah, it was very humblingand very like crazy that they
even took notice of it can youtell us how you recorded it?
I'm gonna say his name again thegoat, the myth, the legend,
(41:21):
chris paquette.
I I went to his studio and Iwas like listen, like I just
want to do like this 30 second,like little cover.
And he was like do you want meto put the auto tune out?
And I was like no, I was like Iwant it to be like very like
raw, like it's a one take, it'sessentially a one take.
I recorded it at my house first,just kind of listening to it
(41:42):
over and over and over again,because I have to put my own
lyrics to it and I want to makesure that it fits with the song
and that it sounds good in myear first before I go into the
studio.
And I sent it to him over avoice memo.
I was like how does this sound?
And he was like oh, it actuallysounds really really good.
He's like so yeah, he's like,just come through the studio,
(42:04):
it'll be really quick, we'llrecord it and that'll be it.
So I was like okay, and I did.
And then what I do is, once Iget like the recorded version
back, I essentially like willlike look into a microphone and
like you lip sync it like that'show like you do, like after you
record it is like youessentially like make the video
for it, make the content for itand yeah, and I I kind of
(42:27):
cropped it and made it look likeall all good for social media
and then I posted it and yeah,and then after that it kind of
just like took a life of its ownand other people, like their
fan base, was finding me, whichwas really cool that I ended up
essentially connecting withtheir audience because of that.
So thank you to the ButcherBabies for recognizing that and
(42:52):
for recognizing all like theywent through like everyone's
videos and they were likerecognizing like everyone, which
was so cool, like that's socool well, you mentioned a
couple things in there I want todiscuss just a hair deeper.
Jay Franze (43:07):
Um, one of the things is that you actually took
it into the studio, so you'renot just singing into your phone
and recording a duet with thatperson.
At that time you take that songinto the studio and then you
take it home and you put thoughtinto the video and you lip sync
to that song that you created.
Gina Fritz (43:23):
But the other thing is you said you had to write
your own original lyrics is thata surprise to you um, so when
they, when they posted the openverse so open verse is
essentially like you write yourown version, like your own verse
.
So everybody's verse wasdifferent and I went through
(43:44):
other people's like just to likekind of see like what other
people were doing, because somepeople had posted theirs already
.
And then I just sat with itlike on loop, like I had it on
loop on my phone and I just hadit playing over and over and
over again and I was writinglike little things down like in
my notes and luckily no one washome because like I just kept
(44:05):
like kind of like singing likewhat I was thinking like out
loud and then it kind of justlike all like fell together,
like the pieces of it cametogether and I was like this
sounds really good, let meswitch these words around and I
essentially created like a versewhich was really.
It was fun.
It's a fun thing to do, whichis why I love when artists do
(44:28):
that and because then you get toshow like your creativity and
you get to show like how youwould sing the song.
Jay Franze (44:36):
That is very cool, all right.
Well, we do this thing here wecall Unsung Heroes, where we
take a moment to shine the lighton somebody who's worked behind
the scenes or somebody who'ssupported you along the way.
Do you have anybody you'd liketo shine a little light on?
Gina Fritz (44:49):
Absolutely my brother, anthony Fritz.
He's an amazing singer, whichis funny because both our mom
and dad don't sing.
My dad, he like used to drumbut there's like no, there's no
singing ability.
Like me and aunt, we just likekind of like watched YouTube
videos like growing up and likeyeah, but no, he's, he's awesome
(45:10):
.
So shout out Anthony Fritz.
He's always been verysupportive of me.
Jay Franze (45:15):
All right.
Well, we have done it.
We have reached the top of thehour, which doesn't it?
We have reached the top of thehour, which does mean we have
reached the end of the show.
If you've enjoyed the show,tell a friend.
If you have not, tell two, youcan.
Also, you can reach out to bothof us over at jfranzycom.
We will be happy to keep theconversation going.
We will talk to you all nightlong.
Gina has already said thatshe's good for another five or
six hours absolutely I got mycoffee there.
Gina Fritz (45:38):
Coffee.
Jay Franze (45:39):
All right, Gina, my friend, I would like to leave
the final words to you.
Gina Fritz (45:44):
Thank you so much for getting me into your
schedule.
I feel like this has been likea long time coming.
Jay Franze (45:51):
All right, folks on that note, have a good night.
Tony Scott (45:56):
Thanks for listening to the Jay Franzi show.
Make sure you visit us atjayfranze.
com.
Follow, connect and say hello.
Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a
behind-the-curtain look at theentertainment industry, with
insights you can't pay for andstories you've never heard.
Now here's your host, JayFranze.
Jay Franze (00:33):
And we are coming at you live.
I am Jay Franze and this isyour source for the latest news,
reviews and interviews.
So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any
questions, please head over tojfrenzycom.
All right, folks get this.
We have a very special guestwith us.
I said it once, I will say itagain we have a very special
(00:53):
guest.
We have a recording artist, notjust any, but a rock and roll
recording artist, hailing fromthe great state of Connecticut.
We have Gina Fritz.
Gina, my friend, how are you?
Gina Fritz (01:05):
What's up?
How?
The great state of Connecticut.
We have Gina Fritz.
Gina, my friend, how are you?
What's up?
How are you?
I am great.
Thank you for having me on.
Jay Franze (01:09):
It is so good to have you here, why don't we just
jump right in?
Let's start off with tell mewhat the music scene is like up
there in Connecticut.
Gina Fritz (01:21):
So the music scene in Connecticut I would say it's
more towards like the harderside, so like more like hardcore
.
There's like some pop artistshere and there, but mostly the
scene is very, very hardcoreover on the side.
Jay Franze (01:29):
Nice.
So how do you fit in with that?
Gina Fritz (01:33):
So a couple years back back in 2017, I was in a
band.
It was like a pop punk styleband, and then after that I
ended up going to like a morelike poppier project.
In that project I met WhitneyPayton, who, if you guys know
anything about me, I'm in a bandcalled Keyed Up as well.
And after I met Whitney, thatwas kind of like when my solo
(01:57):
stuff started taking off alittle bit more and I formed a
band around myself and it'scalled Gina Fritz and I have my
guys who back me every night.
Jay Franze (02:08):
What's it like being in more than one band?
Gina Fritz (02:11):
It's really cool because I get to be very
versatile, like I get to writelike the more rock-based stuff
and actually the stuff thatKeyed Up has coming out I don't
know if I'm supposed to say this, but it's more like rock style
but again, I get to be veryversatile with her rapping and
my singing, so we kind of get togo back and forth on that,
which is pretty cool.
Jay Franze (02:32):
So it gives you two outlets for creativity.
Gina Fritz (02:36):
Absolutely.
Jay Franze (02:37):
Go ahead and describe what your solo project
is like my solo project is morerock based.
Gina Fritz (02:43):
So if you guys like hailstorm, flyleaf, paramore, I
get the reference a lot, um, butif you like any of that style
music, that's where my solostuff kind of falls into that
realm we've been talking on theshow lately about hailstorm
quite a bit oh, they're so goodI've introduced my family to
(03:05):
them.
Jay Franze (03:06):
That came up.
That story came up on our lastepisode, so we've been talking
about hailstorm and it came outthat I just might be a sucker
for female fronted rock bands oh, maybe that's why I'm on here
right now that's what I'm saying, right?
So, yes, I mean your.
Your style of music fits rightinto the groove of what I like
to listen to, but it does havethat reference to Flyleaf and
(03:28):
Hailstorm and Evanescence and soon.
Gina Fritz (03:31):
I try to make it like my own because, like, I
never want to like copy anotherartist but I guess like those
are my like big influences whenI do write my music.
But I feel like I definitelyhave like my own kind of spin on
it.
I like to throw in a breakdownor two every once in a while and
it throws people really off andI love it.
Jay Franze (03:51):
Well, I don't think your music would be considered a
copy of.
I think it just fits alongsidethose.
So if you were to play those ona playlist or play them on the
radio, I think you can go backto back to back with all those
artists, including yourself, andyou would fit right in without
being a carbon copy of eitherone of them.
I think you take the pieces,whether they're the best pieces
(04:11):
of each one of those bands, andput them together and then
establish something of your own.
So I know you have a singleChemicals, so why don't we start
there?
Go ahead and tell us a littlebit about the history of the
song.
Gina Fritz (04:22):
Yeah.
So when I was writing ChemicalsI was going through a really
hard time in my life and I waskind of contemplating, like, am
I still going to do this?
Like I feel like all of us kindof come to like a point in time
where, like, do we still gowith what our heart is telling
us or do we go with what ourhead is telling us, with what
(04:47):
our heart is telling us, or dowe go with what our head is
telling us?
And I went with my heart and,yeah, I feel like chemicals is
talking about like what's goingon in my head.
I kind of just go back andforth on a lot of different
things.
Jay Franze (04:58):
Well, before we get too deep into it, why don't you
go ahead and tell us a littlebit more about that?
What was the challenge you werefacing?
What were you struggling withat that time?
Gina Fritz (05:06):
um, just like the music industry in general, I
feel like is just like verysocial media based right now.
So having to like keep up with,like the different content
online and having to keep upwith, you know, the tiktoks and
the social media aspect of ityou kind of have to like.
You kind of have to be both acreative and a businesswoman, so
(05:29):
like I'm trying to be both atthe same time and sometimes it
just gets very tiring and, youknow, you feel worn out after a
little bit.
So like that's kind of where,like my mindset was when I was
writing chemicals, just verylike, like mixed up in my brain
of like am I ever going to getsomewhere with this?
Like?
Am I just going to keep beatingthis horse?
(05:50):
You know.
Jay Franze (05:51):
Do you feel that that feeling comes with the way
the industry is at the moment,where the benefit of social
media is an artist can break anddo things on their own without
the assistance of a label.
The downfall is you don't havethe guidance and the team of
people that a label has, so youend up taking on that dual role,
as you were talking about, withthe business as well as the art
(06:13):
.
Gina Fritz (06:14):
Yeah, absolutely, and like I try, I try my best to
like be on social media and beon TikTok and do all of the
things that like they say thatlike you should be doing on
social media.
And, honestly, the only aspectof social media that I love is
like it connects me to new fans.
So, like people that end upmeeting me are like oh, like I
(06:34):
found you through TikTok or oh,I found you, like you know,
through your Instagram.
Honestly, most of the time it'sTikTok and that's like the
golden aspect of it is like OK,like, even if my stuff isn't
necessarily popping off, if oneor two people come up to me at
my show and they're like I sawthat one TikTok that you did and
you know it brought me here,and like now I love your other
(06:56):
music.
That's the golden aspect ofsocial media is like it
introduces you to new people whonever would have normally known
who you were.
Jay Franze (07:06):
How does that make you feel when that happens?
Gina Fritz (07:10):
It's crazy.
It's always very like whoa.
Like you know, you found methrough social media.
That's crazy and it's reallyit's very nice because it's like
you could follow like so manypeople.
There are so many people onsocial media so you know, for
people to be like I follow youand you know I look at your
videos and your videos help meand your music helps me.
It's a crazy feeling that Istill, to this day, like can't
(07:35):
describe when someone comes upto me and says that it's like
whoa before we get back to yoursingle, can you tell us how you
utilize social media to growyour audience?
Yeah, absolutely so.
Like when I say, for instance,you know, the other night I
actually was up with DeadlandsCasey she's amazing and she
(07:56):
invited me up to sing with themfor one of their songs.
Before that, you know, I didlike a cover on social media to
kind of like connect with herfans and, like you know, try to
get them over to my page.
I feel like with tiktok andinstagram especially, you can do
reels and I noticed reels getlike more traction.
(08:18):
So every time I'm performingwith a new band like today I
just announced that I'll beopening for the funeral portrait
you know I'll find one of theirsongs to cover that way, I'll
post it and hopefully that'llbring their fan base over to my
page and they'll say oh hey, whois this?
That's a cover that she did ofthe funeral portrait.
(08:38):
Let me go look at what she hasand it kind of snowballs that,
which is cool she has, and itkind of snowballs that, which is
cool?
Jay Franze (08:49):
no, it's absolutely cool.
So do you see a jump in yournumbers when you finish opening
up for somebody else?
Gina Fritz (08:52):
it depends because I I do, I try to do lives every
time I perform.
But I feel like, if I am veryactive during the show and I'm
like, hey, here I am at thisshow opening for this person,
you just have to like constantlybe I don't want to say
(09:12):
constantly be online, but, likeyou constantly have to be active
because, say, like you put itaway for like five days, people
are constantly on their phones.
Like, the more content that youput up, the more chance that
you're going to have someone seeit, whether it be a video from
like months ago, because thealgorithm is so strange, so like
(09:34):
a video could pop up frommonths ago that you posted and
people will be like oh, that'sthe one that I found.
But when I'm specifically likeat a show, I try my hardest to
not be on my phone because Iwant to be in the moment and I
want to meet people.
When they're coming up to me,it's afterwards is I'll go on
and I'll repost stuff.
(09:55):
If people tag me in likecertain videos, like, I'll try
my best to like respond to allof them because they took the
time to come out and buy aticket to either see my show or
a show that I was opening andthey took the time to say, hey,
I really liked your music.
Jay Franze (10:15):
so that's when I try to really be on social medias
after the fact and it does ithelps my thought was kind of
like when you're on stage, likebefore you leave the stage,
whether it be before the lastsong or however you choose to do
it, If you announced you know,hey, if you like what you heard
tonight, come join me on mysocials or follow me for some
(10:36):
for future updates.
And then I was just curious howquickly you would see that
change.
Gina Fritz (10:41):
It takes a while.
It's not like an overnightthing, it definitely it takes.
It takes a minute and, like Isaid, like with my reels, like I
really try to take advantage ofthe advertising that Instagram
lets you do and you know, I justput like a tiny bit and
sometimes that tiny bit reallyopens up, like to a lot of new
(11:03):
people.
It's happened to a couple of myvideos where I'm like, well,
but yeah, I try to takeadvantage of, like all of, like
the little tools that all ofthese different platforms give
you and I noticed, when you usethe new tools that they post,
they'll almost reward you forusing the new tools that they
(11:25):
want people to use.
So that's what I've been tryingto focus on.
It's a lot, but, at the sametime, if you like making content
, then it's fun.
Jay Franze (11:37):
Yeah, if you like making content.
If you like making content,then it's fun, Otherwise it's a
job.
Gina Fritz (11:42):
Otherwise it is yeah , and I never, obviously, at the
end of the day, do I view it'sa job.
Otherwise, it is yeah, and youknow I never obviously like, at
the end of the day, like youknow, do I view this as a job?
Yes and no, because I have somuch fun with it, Like I get to
have so much fun, I get to meetnew people and I get to help
people with my songs, which wasreally cool, so I don't really
view it as a job.
(12:02):
But I have to take it seriouslyand I have to be on there
making the content.
Jay Franze (12:07):
But one of the things I would like to
experiment with when it comes tosocial media is when I'm
working with an artist who isopening up for a major artist or
even just an artist that'slarger in general, is
experimenting with.
You know, if we have sidescreens putting QR codes up on
the screen or right before thatlast song, saying, hey, if you
like what you heard, while we'reall pumped up and excited,
(12:27):
let's go ahead and take out yourphones, why don't we all go
ahead and make sure that youfollow me right now on Instagram
you know that type of thing andto see what kind of difference
that would make, just doing alittle bit of promotion from a
stage like that, especially ifyou're on the road with a bigger
artist and you can hit a newcity every night and make that
spike every single night, thenwhat would that do to the
(12:50):
algorithm that we, you know,mentioned here?
Gina Fritz (12:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
Then you know it spikes yournumbers that way.
It's so different, just likeseeing people in person and
having them come over to you andhaving that like actual
interaction.
Jay Franze (13:03):
No, absolutely so.
You'd mentioned, as we buildinto your single, you mentioned
the band that you formed aroundthis.
Let's go ahead and talk aboutthe band.
Why don't we start with justnames and instruments?
Gina Fritz (13:15):
Yeah, so we have Frank Soltis.
He is my lead guitarist, andthen we have Evan Reiki he's my
bass player, and then we haveFrankie Forbes.
He is my drummer, and I met allof them through my producer,
christopher Paquette.
He is incredible and he helpedme form this band, for sure.
Jay Franze (13:37):
So how did you meet Christopher?
Gina Fritz (13:39):
So I met Christopher back in 2017 when I was in my
first band that pop punk bandthat I was talking about and
they fought me on going to Chrisbecause I wanted to look at all
of our options.
I was kind of like let's notjust settle on this one dude
just because he worked with soand so and so and so, and they
were like no, like we have to goto him Like he is the dude.
(14:00):
We have to go to him Like he isthe dude, we have to go.
And I was like okay, and I went.
I met him.
We instantly connected and heinstantly understood like my
vision and he understood how Isang.
Like a lot of the times Inotice with producers, with
female artists, is they like toalmost like make my voice into,
(14:23):
into like a Disney princess sortof voice, and I'm like I don't
sound like that.
You know, like when they putthe auto tune on it and
everything.
I loved the way that hespecifically mixed my voice.
So I had worked with him withthat band Fast forward to that
band not working out.
I came back to him in 2020during the pandemic and I was
(14:47):
like, listen, I want to try torework one of these songs that I
had and I just never put out.
And he said, okay, let's sit,let's rework it.
And he was, he was willing todo that with me, which is
awesome.
You know, you don't?
You don't just go back to aproducer that you went to seven,
(15:09):
eight years ago and they'relike yeah, absolutely, I'll
still work with you, let'srework that song that you wanted
to.
So he's awesome.
I can't say nicer things abouthim.
And he knew I wanted to form aband and I was like I don't know
anybody and he was like well'tknow anybody.
And he was like, well, you know, let me, let me pull some
(15:32):
people for you and see if youknow you connect with any of
them.
Jay Franze (15:33):
All right, Well, one of the things you mentioned
there was you like the way thathe mixed your voice, so does
that mean he also takes on therole of the engineer?
Gina Fritz (15:41):
Absolutely.
Yeah, he's my producer, he's myengineer.
Some of the covers that youhear that I post on my Instagram
.
I'll go to him and I'll say,hey, let's do this one take of a
song and it is, it's a one takeand he'll do little, little
tiny things.
But I always say to him I go,do not put auto-tune.
(16:01):
I want people to hear my rawtakes, you know.
But but a lot of the times,like, I'll send it to him first
and I'll be like you know howdoes this sound?
Jay Franze (16:11):
and he'll be like I just got to tweak it a little,
like you're good so now,christopher, being your producer
as well as your engineer, doeshe have his own personal
home-based studio or does herent a studio?
Gina Fritz (16:24):
he does, so it's called no Boundaries Studios.
It's in North Kingstown, rhodeIsland, which is very close to
Connecticut, so it's a quicklittle drive.
And, yeah, his studio isawesome for bands that are
traveling too.
I honestly don't know if I'msupposed to be talking about
(16:46):
that, but if you follow Keita,we're coming out with an album
soon.
She's going to be flying in andwe're going to be staying there
because he has like a littleit's almost like a little like
apartment, like down, like wherehis studio is Exactly yeah.
So if he has people liketraveling from out of state,
like really far out of state,like they can just stay there,
(17:10):
and yeah, well, that that'sgonna be pretty cool.
Jay Franze (17:12):
so the studio itself , is it at his home?
It's at his home can you kindof describe it to us a little
bit?
Gina Fritz (17:20):
I'm gonna be honest, I don't know what any of that
stuff does.
I try watching him and he'slike a.
Jay Franze (17:26):
He's like a wizard how big of a room is it?
Gina Fritz (17:29):
um, it's like I would say like it's like a
regular size room, like it's notlike anything like very, very
large, but it definitely.
It gets the job done.
He has like his piano in there.
There is a separate room forvocals uh, everything is
isolated.
And he has like double doors,so like he has a sliding door
and then there's anotherconnecting door, so like you are
(17:51):
isolated once you're in thatroom.
Yeah, which makes it very easyfor me, because I like to belt
when I sing and I'm like I don'twant to bother anybody, but
since it's just him, he's like Idon't care.
Jay Franze (18:03):
Right, of course.
So when you go in there to sing, when you go in there, how do
you make it your own, how do youmake it so you're comfortable?
Gina Fritz (18:12):
I bring in my either hot tea or my water.
I set it up right on the littletable.
I kind of do my warm ups.
But, like I said too, we justhave fun when I go in the booth,
like it's just a fun time, likethere's no pressure ever, like
if I can't hit a part, he's notlike oh, like drilling me to get
(18:36):
it.
He's like, all right, come backout, take a little breather.
Once you're good, go back in,so it's, it's.
It's very relaxing and it'svery nice.
It's not like I never feel likepressured when I'm over there,
(19:01):
which there have been like somecases where like I'll go in and
like I'll be like oh, no, liketo other studios and I just feel
very comfortable at his, at hisplace in a studio.
Jay Franze (19:07):
Well, that's what it's all about, right?
The?
Gina Fritz (19:08):
producers there to make you feel comfortable.
Got Gotta be comfortable, youhave to yeah.
Jay Franze (19:11):
I know you mentioned not wanting to use auto-tune
and I can understand that.
I mean singer prides themselveson being able to sing and when
you have to take a tool tomanipulate your vocal to hit a
pitch that you probably couldhave hit on your own is probably
discouraging right so do youever find a time where maybe you
(19:32):
might pitch shift not not tune,but actually pitch shift your
vocal?
Gina Fritz (19:38):
yeah, yeah, there's definitely times where we have
to like pitch shift and thereare some times, too, where, like
the newest song that we justdid, I was like I don't like how
I'm singing in this key, solike we'll switch the key of it.
But yeah, there's definitelytimes where we have to use the
auto-tune or we have to like dolike the pitch correcting, but
(19:59):
it never goes super far off.
I'm always like able to likehit it live.
You know, like no, like I haveto be able to like hit it live,
and if I can't, then you know wedrop it down and I say yeah, no
, I can't go that high well, Imean that's, it's part of the
creative process of just goingthrough all these steps.
Jay Franze (20:20):
You want to be in this for the long haul yep, yep.
Gina Fritz (20:23):
I don't want to destroy my voice if you.
Jay Franze (20:25):
If you put it up too high, then it's yeah 10 years
from now, you're gonna becursing yourself right, right no
I can understand all that.
So the musicians that you playwith on a regular basis they
don't go in the studio at allwith you then this is totally
christopher in the studio andthen your band when you play
live yeah, this is completely meand chris, and you know I've
(20:48):
been.
Gina Fritz (20:49):
I've been in studios with my bands prior and
sometimes when there's too manyopinions, it takes a little bit
longer to reach the finalproduct not sometimes my friend,
I would say all the time allthe time.
(21:11):
So I'm like you know what, atthe end of the day, they're my
songs.
You know it's gina fritz onthat screen.
So these are what I want, theseare my songs.
The guys, whenever I show themthe finished products, sometimes
they're like well, maybe youshould change this lyric and
like they give me like littlenotes and I will go back in the
(21:31):
studio and sometimes fix certainparts.
But because it's just me andchris in the studio, we're just
like.
We're kind of like racketeeringoff of each other, just like
boom, boom, boom, like ideasback and forth, back and forth.
There's not like a third orfourth party that's like oh, how
about we do this, how about wedo this?
(21:52):
It's literally just bing, bang,boom and that's it.
Jay Franze (21:56):
Right, you guys can try things as quick as you think
of them.
Gina Fritz (21:59):
Exactly, exactly, like.
If I'm like, oh, let's try this.
All right, gina, go get in thebooth, go sing it, let's see how
it sounds.
You know like it's?
I wouldn't say it's a quickprocess, but we definitely have
a certain process that we'vebeen doing since 2020 now, and
every time we go in, I'm like,well, I have two songs, like I
(22:20):
came with, like two songs that Iwant to try to get done.
He's like, all right, let's doit in two days, let's see if we
could get it done two days, andI'll book a two-day session and
we'll get it done and it'll.
You know, it comes out awesome.
He's insanely talented becausefor him to be able to do the
drums, he has, like um, he haslike a pad, like a drum pad, so
(22:42):
he'll do everything on like thedrum pad.
But then all of the guitars heplays plays every single one.
He'll play the bass, the rhythm, the lead.
It's crazy.
I just sit there sometimes andwatch him and I'm like you're
insane.
Jay Franze (22:56):
Well, he does have talent, probably too much talent
.
Christopher, we're going toneed you to dumb it down a
little bit.
Gina Fritz (23:02):
Dumb it down, chris, dumb it down.
Jay Franze (23:04):
You're making the rest of us feel bad.
All right, as we talk aboutyour band and not going in the
studio, and it is your name onthe marquee, so let's take that
a step further.
What is the businessrelationship between you and the
band?
Gina Fritz (23:18):
Oh they're, they're my best friends Whenever we're
together.
It's you know you have to havea good connection with your band
because if you don't, thenyou're kind of just like going
in and being like, okay, you'replaying this part, you're
playing this part, and I knowsome bands do operate like that
when there's that head person.
But for me, being in a bandmeans these are your friends,
(23:41):
you know, you're playing showswith them, you're going out to
places with them, you're doingvideos with them.
Like I need to have aconnection with them and in the
past there were people thatdidn't make it through because
there just wasn't thatconnection.
I've met really solid guys andI'm very, truly lucky because at
(24:05):
this point in the game, I wantpeople that are focused.
I want people that are on thesame page as me.
I want people that will workjust as hard as I'm working.
I want people that aren'tafraid to go on social media.
I want people that aren'tafraid to shake people's hands.
When we're in a room withcertain people and I found those
(24:26):
guys I really did Shout out,shout out to you guys.
Jay Franze (24:31):
So these guys?
Are they the traditional hiredgun or are you making them truly
an equal partner in the banditself?
Gina Fritz (24:41):
We're equal partners .
So, even though it says GinaFritz, we are equal partners and
they understand like they getit.
They know my past and they knowthat I haven't been treated the
best sometimes in my pastprojects and they're there for
me and they are equally aswilling to make this work as I
(25:02):
am.
Jay Franze (25:03):
All right.
So, with that said, what kindof participation do they do to
earn their equal parts?
Like you mentioned shakinghands, you mentioned social
media, do they go on socialmedia.
Do they help and promote yourmusic as well?
Gina Fritz (25:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
They go on.
They promote every show wecollaborate with, on every
single post.
Evan, my bass player.
He is also my sound guy when weare doing shows.
It's always the bass player,it's always the bass player.
He, yeah, he knows everything.
So, like you know, when thesound guy comes over to me and
(25:39):
he's like talking to me aboutstuff that I really am not too
certain on, I'm like you knowwhat.
Go see, see my bass player.
He knows exactly what's goingon.
You know he, he has the rig andwe have our in-ear setup and he
helps everything run smooth.
He's also my personal therapiston the road, so when I am like
(26:03):
feeling a certain type of way,he'll bring me over and he'll be
like Gina, stop worrying,everything's gonna be fine.
You're up in your head rightnow.
You're good.
But yeah, they, they all playequal parts.
Frankie, my drummer, is amazing.
He goes over uh, we have kidsthat sometimes will come to our
shows and at a recent show thatwe just did at launch, we had
(26:23):
this family come uh with theirkids and the one kid he goes.
I want to be a drummer when Iget older and Frankie was like
oh, let me show you, you know acouple, a couple little roles
that you can do like they're,they're all just such good guys.
And yeah, like I said, bringingit back, like I'm just very
lucky because they do all playtheir part and it works.
(26:47):
It really does, because youcould.
You could have that one personthat just like slacks off, that
doesn't do anything, and like I,I don't have that I have like
all these guys want to be there.
Jay Franze (26:58):
We all genuinely want this to work out sure, and
that's what matters is findingthe right group of people to be
around.
Yeah, I want to mention realquick the importance of a
well-placed pause, because whenyou say Frankie and I, we have
kids, and then you go on to sayat the shows, no, I'm just
(27:20):
saying yeah, not that.
Don't pause for too long, that'sall All right.
So while we're talking aboutbusiness, let's talk about your
merch, because you even gotmerch for your single.
So can you tell me how you goabout creating merch?
Gina Fritz (27:35):
off of one another and I like to keep my brand kind
of on the purple side, you know, hence the purple hair.
And he gets that.
(27:55):
His name is Evan, but mostrecently I actually had a design
made through Kaylee of Rivals,kaylee Wolf, and she's an
incredible designer herself, andso I have a new shirt coming
out for my new song,disassociate, which will be out
next month Fingers crossed, butyeah, I have my guy.
Evan is normally the one who Ido go to for most of my designs
(28:19):
and he understands the brandingof how I want everything branded
, and I've been working with him.
I think it's been like at leasttwo years, maybe three years,
but he's my dude.
His name is Evan Middleton andhe's in a band they're called
Sync With Me.
They just came out with a newsong too, so go check that out.
Jay Franze (28:40):
Very nice.
Give props where they're due.
Gina Fritz (28:43):
Absolutely.
Jay Franze (28:43):
Well, let's take the branding piece.
You mentioned your brand, solet's take that a step further.
Can you tell us what your brandis?
Gina Fritz (28:52):
I would say that it is Feminine Power.
Honestly, I do everything kindof based off women and female
and empowerment, and I also liketo go into the metal.
You know how people have thelittle metal logos you kind of
like can't read it sometimes.
Jay Franze (29:13):
Well, yeah, the real heavy stuff.
Gina Fritz (29:15):
Yeah, yeah, and it's like I love doing that, because
it kind of throws people offsometimes because I'm like I'm
not, I'm not metal, like that,but I just think it's so fun and
like I wear shirts like that.
So like, whenever I seesomething that like you know,
another band like put out andI'm like I really like that, I
try to incorporate it somehowwith my brand, even though I'm
(29:37):
more like I would say my stuffis more like almost like pop,
rock, ish, I don't know.
I don't know what my genre isanymore, to be completely honest
, but I love doing like the more, like heavier designs.
Jay Franze (29:52):
It comes across as more of the hard rock style.
I would say.
Gina Fritz (29:56):
I guess Thank you.
Jay Franze (29:58):
I mean, if you're, if you're in the same vein as
Hailstorm and Evanescence andFlyleaf, I would say that's hard
rock.
Gina Fritz (30:09):
It's so funny because, like, sometimes people
come up to me at and they'll belike beforehand, before I go on
stage, and they'll be like,what's your genre?
And I'm like, honestly, I don'tknow anymore.
So when I go up there and youhear me, you come back over to
my merch table and you tell mewhat genre it is.
Jay Franze (30:26):
And what do they tell you?
Gina Fritz (30:28):
I get a lot of Paramore.
I get a lot of paramore.
I get a lot of paramore.
But some people do say it'slike more on, like the heavier
side.
They're like you're kind oflike metalcore and I'm like sure
I'll go with it.
Jay Franze (30:40):
That's hard well, talk more about the brand itself
.
So we know the style of music,we know the color of purple.
What other identifying featuresare there to the brand itself?
Gina Fritz (30:53):
I do a lot of like.
If you notice my shirts, like Ihave like a lot of even the
newer one it has like a lot oflike people almost on the shirts
, like stuff, like either likethey're floating up like in
space or like they don't have aface, like it's very like um,
abstract, I guess you could callit.
(31:14):
I like doing a lot of abstractmerch things that make people
kind of question Like I don'twant it to be like too much in
your face of like you look at itand like you know what it is.
I kind of like having peoplequestion where I'm going with it
.
I don't like it to be like astory told.
(31:34):
I kind of like people to comeup with their own story for my
branding because it makes itmore fun.
Jay Franze (31:43):
So when you talk about some consistent factors
like people and so forth in yourbranding?
Do you have any logo that youkeep consistent throughout there
?
Is there any fonts or anythinglike that that you keep
consistent?
Gina Fritz (31:57):
Not really, not really.
I.
I almost wish I did, but I'mkind of glad that I don't,
because every single thing thatI put up is different, and
that's what I like about mymerch is everything is kind of
different.
I did have a heart at one pointwith like an x going through it
and that was for my singleremedy.
But pretty much for everysingle I do something different
(32:19):
and the only thing that's reallykept the same is my actual logo
of Gina Fritz and it's justlike a standard print that
you'll see like on the flyers.
And you know a lot of people arelike, oh, you should change the
logo, you should do, and I'mlike, maybe eventually, but I
kind of like it, especially likewhen it's on a poster.
(32:41):
I do like it that people canread it and like, know, like, oh
, gina fritz is on this andthey're not like wait a second,
like who is that?
Like, which is cool, but like II don't know for like that type
of logo, I'm like I'll justkeep it like as is, like
standard, that type of logo.
(33:01):
I'm like I'll just keep it likeas is like standard.
It's just very like to thepoint.
Like there it is like on top ofone another.
My brother actually designedthat for me because we were
downstairs one night and I waslike I'm like I don't really
know, like what I want like fora logo, but I want people to
know that it's me like.
I don't, you know, I don't wantit to like, be like something
crazy.
And he's like, and we weregoing through like different,
like fonts and I forgot the nameof that font, but it very just
(33:24):
like.
There you go, right in yourface, big Gina Fritz.
Jay Franze (33:30):
Well, when we look at something like that, I think
that's a very important thing toconsider.
Are you going to stand out?
Is it going to be easy to read?
Is it going to be easy to readat a small size, and so on those
, are just things that weconsider at all times, so I
think it's a good choice.
I like the logo thank you.
Maybe at some point it'll change, but for right now I'm keeping
(33:53):
it as is you want somethingthat's going to be easy to read,
but something that's also goingto show the vibe of what you're
putting out.
Gina Fritz (34:01):
Absolutely.
Jay Franze (34:02):
All right.
Well, let's go ahead and takeit a step further.
One of the things that we keeptalking about is these upcoming
shows, so why don't you talk tous a little bit about the shows
that you got coming up?
Gina Fritz (34:14):
May 25th I will be with the Funeral Portrait which
I'm so excited about.
They just announced they're onlike a full.
They're on a full tour.
It just got announced, likemaybe a week ago.
Thank you very, very much forreaching out to me.
I'm so excited.
So that's May 25th.
Jay Franze (34:30):
That's Hartford, Connecticut.
Gina Fritz (34:32):
Yeah, and then May 31st it's in Milton,
pennsylvania, it is Punk RockProm.
Then I'm in the studio.
Then I'm in the studio for thefirst week of June and then July
12th I have Summer ShorelineFest, which is also in
Connecticut, it's in New Haven.
And then I have Summer ScreamFest.
(34:53):
Doing a lot of festivals, we'rekind of like doing like little
spot ones, and Summer ScreamFest is in Brooklyn, new York,
at the Meadows, nice.
So very excited for all thefestivals coming up.
And I do have one more showthat I'm announcing.
I just don't know when I canannounce it yet, but it's in
June, if I can say that.
Jay Franze (35:13):
So now I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit
Out of all the festivals thatare coming up.
Which one are you lookingforward to most?
Gina Fritz (35:20):
The one that I didn't announce yet.
Jay Franze (35:24):
So why don't you tell us a little bit more about
that one then?
It is with people that I haveyou don't have to tell me, that
was just me joking.
Don't get yourself in troubleover this.
Gina Fritz (35:33):
I don't want to get myself in trouble, but the one
that I'm also very, very excitedabout is Summer Scream Fest.
Just because the lineup alreadythere are so many amazing
female artists specifically thatare on that one.
My friends in Wavebreak are onit.
The lineup is very, very good.
Go check out the lineup forSummer Scream Fest.
(35:54):
And also Shoreline Fest I'mvery excited about because
that's in Connecticut and lastyear it sold out.
It's going to be very fun.
I always like outside festivals.
It's always a good time.
Jay Franze (36:05):
All right, you mentioned earlier covers, yes,
so again, that's utilizingsocial media.
We're doing covers to get theattention of not only new people
, new potential fans, but alsothe attention of the artists
that are coming around, so thatway, they might see you and
consider you as an opening act.
It's very smart, very strategicway of doing things, however,
(36:29):
and you also take some creativelicense when you use some of
these.
So can you tell us a little bitabout your?
Sabrina Carpenter.
Gina Fritz (36:37):
Thank you.
So again, that was with Chris.
I went to his studio and I waslike I kind of want to do like a
pop cover.
And he's like All right, well,who do you want to do?
I was like Sabrina Carpenter Ilove listening to her songs,
like I'm a fan.
So I was like let's just do itlike more like metal-esque, like
kind of like rockish.
And he was like all right,let's try it out and see what we
(37:05):
could do.
And I went in, I sang over likejust like her track.
But then I I was the one thatkind of took the initiative and
I was like let's do it this way.
Like I'm kind of hearing itlike this and he's great for
that too like when I'm like I'mhearing it a certain way and he
plays it and he's like how aboutthis?
And I'm like no, like more,like no, no, no, no, no, like
I'll, I'll, like I'll sound itout which is so crazy, but like,
and he'll get it, but yeah, no,that was so much fun and I love
(37:28):
taking like pop covers likethat and like making them rock,
like I just think it's so fun tolike kind of make them a little
bit different yeah, that's.
Jay Franze (37:38):
My favorite is when, if someone's going to do a
cover, I want it to be prettydifferent and I like it when
people take songs that are notintended to be done that way and
do it that way.
So I mean there's a lot of them.
I mean one of my favorites iscindy loppers time after time I
think everybody and their motheris covered.
It's probably one of the bestsongs out there, and then to
hear all the different versionsof that song is pretty cool oh,
(38:01):
yeah, I'm sure.
Gina Fritz (38:03):
Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of versions of
that one, but it's cool because,like you can take a song like
that and do like a hundreddifferent versions of it,
because it's a very like I don'twant to say basic song, but I
feel like you can take any songand make it sound like how
you're thinking of it in yourhead.
Jay Franze (38:24):
Another one you did, and can you tell us the reason
that you chose Linkin Park?
Heavy is the Crown.
Gina Fritz (38:31):
Okay, obviously I love Linkin Park and I think
Emily is such an insane vocalist.
And funny story is, after Ichose that song because I was
doing it with Whitney, that waslike the cover, that like we had
decided like, oh, like, let'sdo this one.
And I didn't realize that shelike had like a very elongated
(38:55):
scream in that song where it'slike is what you asked for?
She holds that note.
I don't know how long she holdsit, but she holds it for so
long that I like I was gonnapass out.
I was like I called whitney andI was like whitney, are you
sure you want to cover this song, are you sure?
(39:16):
And she was like you're the onethat wanted to.
And I'm like all right, yep,you're right, you're right, so I
just have to do it.
But no, it came out really good.
But oh, my god, when I tell youthat took me so many tries and
yeah, no, emily is just aninsane vocalist, yeah, she's so
crazy the last one I want tobring up is your Butcher Babies.
Jay Franze (39:40):
That is a duet, yes, so when we say duet, I mean a
social media duet, notnecessarily a vocal duet.
So can you tell me why youchose that song and the
recognition you got from it?
Gina Fritz (39:56):
So I love the Butcher Babies and I love when
artists do duets like that ontiktok, because it allows you to
essentially do a duet with themwithout doing a duet with them.
So I was like I might as welljust give it a try and I
(40:17):
recorded it.
And then, uh, I I posted it,not not thinking that like
anything would happen with it,but uh, heidi saw it.
She saw it and uh, she was like, oh my god, I love it, it's so
good.
And I was texting my guys thatday.
I was like, oh my god, look atwho just commented, sending it
(40:38):
in the group chat.
But yeah, that was, that wascrazy, that was crazy to get
that notification.
And um, but your babiesactually followed me after that,
which is again crazy and verymind-blowing, uh, to say the
absolute least.
And they did pick a winner forthat, because I think there was
like a winner afterwards.
(40:59):
But they might be doing otherthings with it.
That's all I can say on that.
But yeah, it was very humblingand very like crazy that they
even took notice of it can youtell us how you recorded it?
I'm gonna say his name again thegoat, the myth, the legend,
(41:21):
chris paquette.
I I went to his studio and Iwas like listen, like I just
want to do like this 30 second,like little cover.
And he was like do you want meto put the auto tune out?
And I was like no, I was like Iwant it to be like very like
raw, like it's a one take, it'sessentially a one take.
I recorded it at my house first,just kind of listening to it
(41:42):
over and over and over again,because I have to put my own
lyrics to it and I want to makesure that it fits with the song
and that it sounds good in myear first before I go into the
studio.
And I sent it to him over avoice memo.
I was like how does this sound?
And he was like oh, it actuallysounds really really good.
He's like so yeah, he's like,just come through the studio,
(42:04):
it'll be really quick, we'llrecord it and that'll be it.
So I was like okay, and I did.
And then what I do is, once Iget like the recorded version
back, I essentially like willlike look into a microphone and
like you lip sync it like that'show like you do, like after you
record it is like youessentially like make the video
for it, make the content for itand yeah, and I I kind of
(42:27):
cropped it and made it look likeall all good for social media
and then I posted it and yeah,and then after that it kind of
just like took a life of its ownand other people, like their
fan base, was finding me, whichwas really cool that I ended up
essentially connecting withtheir audience because of that.
So thank you to the ButcherBabies for recognizing that and
(42:52):
for recognizing all like theywent through like everyone's
videos and they were likerecognizing like everyone, which
was so cool, like that's socool well, you mentioned a
couple things in there I want todiscuss just a hair deeper.
Jay Franze (43:07):
Um, one of the things is that you actually took
it into the studio, so you'renot just singing into your phone
and recording a duet with thatperson.
At that time you take that songinto the studio and then you
take it home and you put thoughtinto the video and you lip sync
to that song that you created.
Gina Fritz (43:23):
But the other thing is you said you had to write
your own original lyrics is thata surprise to you um, so when
they, when they posted the openverse so open verse is
essentially like you write yourown version, like your own verse
.
So everybody's verse wasdifferent and I went through
(43:44):
other people's like just to likekind of see like what other
people were doing, because somepeople had posted theirs already
.
And then I just sat with itlike on loop, like I had it on
loop on my phone and I just hadit playing over and over and
over again and I was writinglike little things down like in
my notes and luckily no one washome because like I just kept
(44:05):
like kind of like singing likewhat I was thinking like out
loud and then it kind of justlike all like fell together,
like the pieces of it cametogether and I was like this
sounds really good, let meswitch these words around and I
essentially created like a versewhich was really.
It was fun.
It's a fun thing to do, whichis why I love when artists do
(44:28):
that and because then you get toshow like your creativity and
you get to show like how youwould sing the song.
Jay Franze (44:36):
That is very cool, all right.
Well, we do this thing here wecall Unsung Heroes, where we
take a moment to shine the lighton somebody who's worked behind
the scenes or somebody who'ssupported you along the way.
Do you have anybody you'd liketo shine a little light on?
Gina Fritz (44:49):
Absolutely my brother, anthony Fritz.
He's an amazing singer, whichis funny because both our mom
and dad don't sing.
My dad, he like used to drumbut there's like no, there's no
singing ability.
Like me and aunt, we just likekind of like watched YouTube
videos like growing up and likeyeah, but no, he's, he's awesome
(45:10):
.
So shout out Anthony Fritz.
He's always been verysupportive of me.
Jay Franze (45:15):
All right.
Well, we have done it.
We have reached the top of thehour, which doesn't it?
We have reached the top of thehour, which does mean we have
reached the end of the show.
If you've enjoyed the show,tell a friend.
If you have not, tell two, youcan.
Also, you can reach out to bothof us over at jfranzycom.
We will be happy to keep theconversation going.
We will talk to you all nightlong.
Gina has already said thatshe's good for another five or
six hours absolutely I got mycoffee there.
Gina Fritz (45:38):
Coffee.
Jay Franze (45:39):
All right, Gina, my friend, I would like to leave
the final words to you.
Gina Fritz (45:44):
Thank you so much for getting me into your
schedule.
I feel like this has been likea long time coming.
Jay Franze (45:51):
All right, folks on that note, have a good night.
Tony Scott (45:56):
Thanks for listening to the Jay Franzi show.
Make sure you visit us atjayfranze.
com.
Follow, connect and say hello.
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