Frankie And The Witch Fingers – Data Doom

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · Published August 26, 2024 · Updated August 30, 2024

I first came across this band in the summer of 2023. I saw something about them on social media and listened to their first single “Empire” before the release of the record. I was very intrigued by the song and would periodically listen to it, and it started growing on me. I decided to dig deeper into the band and listened to their more recent records 2020’s Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters and 2019’s ZAM. I liked what I heard and couldn’t wait for the release of Data Doom which was coming out in a couple of months.

Frankie And The Witch Fingers formed in Indiana in 2013 and then relocated to Los Angeles, California. The band is composed of founding members Dylan Sizemore (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Josh Menashe (vocals, lead guitar, synthesizer), as well as Nikki Pickle (bass, vocals) and Nick Anguilar drums.) Data Doom is the band’s seventh full length album and was released on September 1st, 2023. The record has nine tracks and is about 41 minutes long.

The opening song “Empire” starts with a high hat and a distorted guitar riff that builds up into a very cool psychedelic jam. The synthesizer adds a nice texture to their sound and they have a progressive rock twist about them. The guitar riffing has a fluid jazz like feel to it and the drums are rocking all over. They transition back into the opening riff to end the song and then fade it out. They speed things up with the next couple of songs “Burn Me Down” and “Electricide.” The frenzied rhythms and angular drumming are nice and tight and they keep the songs moving at frantic intervals. They explore their punk rock influences on these tracks and they sound great. The fourth song “Syster System” starts with a very grooving rock riff and rolls into a psych-rock style chorus. After a couple of repeats through they break into a sprawling rhythm of cyber type jazz rock goodness. They introduce some saxophone and speed up the tempo and then kick back into the main rhythm. Awesome song! “Weird Dog” and “Boom Doom” are next and both have a funky groove element to them. The proggy syncopation on each is a nice touch too. “Boom Doom” has a warped sounding rhythm to start which makes it very original sounding as well. Bassist Nikki Pickle sings lead vocals on this one.

“Futurephobic” and “Mild Davis” combine some electronic sounds and more punk elements to them. The rocking chorus of “Futuephobic” is great and the lyrics state “system has no way to connect (X3) no connection!” The underlying theme of Data Doom is how technology and artificial intelligence are advancing so rapidly and the potential dangers of them taking over. “Mild Davis” has an off kiltered feel about it but it’s awkwardly awesome. They end the record with “Political Cannibalism” in which both Sizemore and Pickle trade off on the vocals.

Frankie And The Witch Fingers are a hard to describe band. They incorporate many different styles of music into their repertoire and also retain a garage/ indie rock flavor to their songs. The guitars are not overly distorted and the synthesizers work very well with the songs. Sizemore’s singing has an 80s vibe about it too, which is very original in this day and age. The cover artwork for Data Doom is excellent and helps depict what the songs are all about too.