Arena Hostile

In January 2001, Frankie Sparo toured europe with Silver Mt. Zion. Musicians from that group worked on new arrangements of songs from Mr. Sparo's debut record ("My Red Scare"), adding strings, organ, and electronics to Frankie's guitar & beatbox compositions. Some of the results were captured in a live to two-track recording at VPRO radio in Amsterdam midway through the tour. The four songs on this new EP are all first takes from this radio session, beautifully recorded by the wonderful folks at VPRO. Along with three songs reworked from the debut album, the EP also includes a cover of the Rolling Stones' "i am waiting", which Frankie performed solo a number of times in concert.

"Diminish Me NYC" features an off-kilter minimal electronic arrangement with violin drones, which often served as the opener for Mr. Sparo's live set, and similarly opens this record. "The Night That We Stayed In" is anchored by a walking double bass line, punctuated by dual violin phrases, turning the song into an even smokier affair. "Here Comes the Future" is propelled by radically reworked drum programming and a lush coda of strings & organ while the aforementioned cover finds Mr. Sparo alone with his guitar in a sparse, naked interpretation from the Jagger/Richards songbook.

The whole thing went down in two hours during the afternoon, with Frankie nursing a flu and cursing the previous night spent at Amsterdam's inhospitable Arena Hotel, where a late night request for hot water (in an effort to stir up some soul-saving miso soup) was met with sniggers of contempt. Hence the album title, "Arena Hostile," and what came to be known amongst the band as the fever sessions. In our humble opinion, Mr. Sparo's ravaged, hallucinatory state only added to the magic of these recordings. Frankie Sparo's "Arena Hostile" is a CD-only release in a cardstock jacket.