BRUNSWICK, Ohio — With the March 24 launch of his newest album, Subsequent Purple Mild singer-songwriter Tom Frietchen is focusing decidedly on the long run. In reality, there are some elements of his musical previous that also elicit an uncomfortable chuckle when broached.

“Oh, you imply that Priscilla stuff?” Frietchen requested rhetorically, referring to the late Eighties hair metallic band that the Strongsville native minimize his enamel in as a teenage guitarist. Whereas that band had a high 10 hit on Z Rock and was featured in Billboard Journal, Frietchen is pretty ambivalent concerning the function it performs in his life at this time.

“Folks all the time deliver that up; it was enjoyable whereas it lasted,” he stated.

However as his days of being approached on the mall by women wanting his autograph pale into wistful historical past, music remained entrance and middle for Frietchen, 54. After beginning a household and his personal residential and business portray enterprise within the late Nineteen Nineties, a pair many years later Frietchen discovered himself again on the charts considerably by probability.

Whereas on a portray job in Hinckley Township, a consumer confirmed Frietchen his house recording studio. Frietchen was quickly recording tracks there, together with the tune “Simply You and Me.” The instantly hooky country-rocker went to No. 1 on iHeart radio, reaching 350 stations throughout the nation upon its launch, shocking Frietchen himself as a lot as anyone.

The aptly titled 2012 album It’s Been Too Lengthy adopted, as did the formation of The Tom Frietchen Band and an earthier onstage persona the singer now jokingly describes as “my Halloween costume – the tight T-shirts, the vest, the hat.” For the following 5 years, the band performed reveals domestically and in New York Metropolis, the place a efficiency at The Chopping Room caught the eye of Grammy-nominated producer Jimmy Bralower, who started working with Frietchen in 2019.

Bralower edited, blended and mastered Subsequent Purple Mild in his New York studio. Practically 4 years and one worldwide pandemic after assembly Bralower, the album represents an enormous leap ahead for Frietchen in each manufacturing and materials.

Recorded in Ohio and produced by Robb Colbrunn, Subsequent Purple Mild is a glossy, punchy assortment of brand name new songs and up to date recordings of Frietchen’s older materials, together with “Simply You and Me.” The 11 tracks embody parts of each his country-rock leanings on tunes just like the title monitor and “Horny Denims,” and all-out area rock power on others like “Tonight” and “You Make Me Really feel Alright.”

Frietchen stated the step up in manufacturing values is due largely to Bralower’s recommendation about slicing the fats within the recording studio.

“Jimmy stated my stuff was generally too cluttered,” Frietchen stated. “He confirmed me how much less is extra.”

A revamped web site at tomfrietchen.com is ready to launch quickly and the Subsequent Purple Mild album launch present will likely be held at 7 p.m. April 6 at Membership Impulse, 6001 Rockside Highway, Independence, contained in the Vacation Inn. Frietchen stated extra reveals with a reformed model of the Tom Frietchen Band are additionally deliberate and he and Bralower are exploring alternatives resembling music licensing.

“I bear in mind seeing Kiss on TV after I was 4 or 5 years outdated, so it goes that far again,” Frietchen stated of his practically lifelong musical journey. “I’ve an uncle who lived in Parma, off Tuxedo Avenue, and I can bear in mind asking him one time ‘how do you play this Ace Frehley half?’ He informed me, ‘man, you must hearken to this’ and he confirmed me stuff like Clapton and Zeppelin. So that’s the place it began.”

With two grownup daughters and a just lately bought house in Brunswick, Frietchen’s rock-n-roll dream remains to be alive, though it could be a little bit tougher to acknowledge lately.

“Now I do know it doesn’t matter if 40 million folks such as you in case you are writing songs that individuals relate to,” he stated. “That’s actually what I need to do; be a songwriter. You could be 100 years outdated and try this.”

Learn extra information from the Brunswick Solar.