{"id":18500,"date":"2020-08-10T18:22:35","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T01:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000013518"},"modified":"2020-08-13T17:02:26","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T00:02:26","slug":"getting-let-go-at-work-allowed-veteran-musician-frank-meyer-to-let-go-creatively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/getting-let-go-at-work-allowed-veteran-musician-frank-meyer-to-let-go-creatively","title":{"rendered":"How getting let go allowed veteran musician Frank Meyer to let go creatively"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Be the hardest working person in the room: advice from veteran musician and filmmaker, Frank Meyer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/knVOp5Lo7eI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Whenever Long Beach musician, writer and filmmaker Frank Meyer ruminated on the fantasy of what he could accomplish if he had all the time in the world to work on his art, he never imagined that his dream would ever become a reality.<\/p>\n<p>The necessary evil of keeping a day job was something the guitarist and frontman of the veteran punk-rock outfit, the Streetwalkin\u2019 Cheetahs, always endured. Even when the gigs were fun, like working as a writer and producer at NBC\u2019s G4 and Esquire networks, he had always daydreamed about what life would look like if nothing pulled him away from his passion projects.<\/p>\n<p>But then, he was furloughed from his latest day job as a content producer on an app for guitar manufacturer Fender that taught people to play guitar,\u00a0and suddenly, he had all the time in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Holed up in his two-bedroom apartment since March, Meyer has written and released nine songs and two music videos, edited a feature length documentary about the history of freestyle rap, all while scoring an in-the-works documentary about the Suicide Girls for Showtime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of sitting home and binge-watching TV\u2014although I&#8217;ve binged a fair amount of TV\u2014I decided I&#8217;m going to get up earlier than before, work harder than before, work later than before, work on more stuff, just grind, grind, grind,\u201c the 49-year-old musician said. \u201cI would not have wished a worldwide pandemic to get here, but I was like, you got some lemons, let\u2019s make lemonade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new tunes span over a multitude of projects. His solo eponymous project just released \u201cRepetition Repeat,\u201d a pandemic-inspired anthem about the all-too-familiar feeling of enduring a quarantine-prompted Groundhog Day. The video, filmed and edited by Meyer\u2019s former Fender colleague, Aubrey Mayne, encompasses the mania brilliantly.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FxO2zGzjRvE<\/p>\n<p>Music videos from The Streetwalkin\u2019 Cheetah\u2019s newest single, \u201cWarzone\u201d along with \u201cCalifornia Sound\u201d from Meyer\u2019s Long Beach punk band, Blind House, which includes frontman Brian Coakley from Cadillac Tramps and former Social Distortion drummer Derek O\u2019Brien, were edited at Meyer\u2019s home studio\u2014that studio being the desk in his living room supporting his MacBook Pro, mini keyboard, a microphone, and a couple of amps. (The crown jewel, though, would be his collection of some 26 guitars amassed throughout the years.)<\/p>\n<p>Meyer believes his most &#8220;notable&#8221; release thus far\u2014and by notable Meyer means it\u2019s the most press he\u2019s ever received for anything he\u2019s ever produced in the last 10 years\u2014is the pandemic-themed jam \u201cFlatten the Curve,\u201d that features an all-star cast of musicians such as Cherie Curry of The Runaways, Tony Reflex of the Adolescents, Eddie Spaghetti from The Supersuckers, the Melvins, Mike Watt and a host of other renowned musicians that would take the better part of this article to list entirely.<\/p>\n<p>The song, produced and organized by Bruce Duff, Streetwalkin\u2019 Cheetahs guitarist, thought it would be a fun way to help raise funds for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetrelief.org\">Sweet Relief<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jubileeconsortium.org\">Jubilee Consortium<\/a> (all proceeds from the song will be donated) while giving all the home-bound musicians something to do. Meyer, who you can spot in the video playing guitar with his dog, Mojo, wrote the song and directed the video which features cobbled together clips of the musicians jamming from their homes.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FTC &quot;Flatten the Curve&quot; Music Video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T7uadgElbk8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There is a multitude of reasons why those who\u2019ve worked with Meyer return to the musician to collaborate. Inarguably talented, a \u201ccrazy evil genius of rock-and-roll\u201d as Blind House\u2019s Coakley put is. But Meyer\u2019s is also an exceptionally prolific songwriter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s got so many tools in his play chest,\u201d the 57-year-old Coakley noted. \u201cHis adaptability. I\u2019ve seen people bring an idea to him, and I mean everybody from big-name metal guys to big-name punk rock guys and all these other people he works with and helps [write] and finish songs for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was Meyer\u2019s gruff, tumble bluesy voice that caught James Williamson\u2019s attention after Meyer, in a serendipitous twist of fate, performed in Williamson\u2019s all-star Stooges concert at the Bootleg Theater, five years ago. But what solidified Meyer as a member of Williamson\u2019s new band, James Williamson and the Pink Hearts\u2014besides the fact that Streetwalkin&#8217; Cheetahs take their name from a line in the Stooges&#8217; song &#8220;Search and Destroy&#8221;\u2014<span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'segoe ui', Roboto, 'helvetica neue', Arial, 'noto sans', sans-serif, 'apple color emoji', 'segoe ui emoji', 'segoe ui symbol', 'noto color emoji';font-size: 1rem\">was his songwriting. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'segoe ui', Roboto, 'helvetica neue', Arial, 'noto sans', sans-serif, 'apple color emoji', 'segoe ui emoji', 'segoe ui symbol', 'noto color emoji';font-size: 1rem\">Sitting in his favorite spot at The Good Bar, Meyer remembered the day when he received a text from Williamson asking if he\u2019d be interested in working together. Williamson asked him to fiddle with one song idea out of the two he had sent his way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd because my work ethic is fairly ridiculous, in the next 24 hours I\u2019d written both songs and sent him the demos, and he was like &#8216;These are great!\u2019\u201d Meyer recalled. \u201cSo we wrote two more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From an outsider\u2019s perspective, it might be difficult to believe that one person has pulled off the ridiculous roster Meyer has amassed over the last five months, until you meet him. Perhaps his brother, Breckin Meyer, the actor who played Jon Arbuckle in &#8220;Garfield\u201d and Travis in \u201cClueless,\u201d explains it best.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrank is like an octopus. He&#8217;s happy to have eight things going on. He likes spinning a bunch of plates. I know people who are definitely more like, alright, I did 25 minutes of work today. That&#8217;s my day. Yeah, that&#8217;s not Frank.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10000025590\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10000025590\" style=\"width: 696px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-10000025590\" src=\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/10181057\/Breckin_and_frank_meyer-1110x1633.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"696\" height=\"1024\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10000025590\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Breckin Meyer (left) and Frank Meyer (right) as children. Photo courtesy Frank Meyer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With no intention of slowing down, except to walk his dog and spend some time with his 16-year-old daughter, Bella, Frank said he\u2019ll be pushing on through 2020, enjoying this time he has working on anything and everything that excites him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel unchained,\u201d he said. \u201cThere&#8217;s nothing right now that I don&#8217;t have the ability, the means, the time, and the energy for, which is really exciting place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nine songs, two music videos and a documentary film\u2014all in five months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":71190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17831,30],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[8767],"class_list":["post-18500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-coronavirus","tag-local-music","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18500"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=18500"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}