Halovox
Frank J. Freda was born on January 28, 1971 in Mineola, NY. Over the years, Frank’s love of music deepened and his tastes expanded to many different genres. In the early 80s it was mostly top 40 from 95.5 WPLJ and Z-100. MTV also played a large role in introducing him to many new artists that would influence him forever. Bands like Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Peter Gabriel, The Cure and Tears For Fears were in rotation on television and radio, but their full impact wouldn’t be realized until years later. His first interest in synthesizers came courtesy of Genesis. Songs like “Man On The Corner” hit a nerve and sparked a new interest in music. It was around this time that his parents bought him his first Casio keyboard. Frank started out by learning the lead vocal melodies of his favorite songs. Slowly, he began to pick up chord progressions and started playing his own original melodies as well.
In the middle of the decade he became more interested in classic rock including Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Their lush arrangements and production quality were very inspirational. He became more and more interested in how different instruments blended together and how a producer could play a pivotal role in the overall sound of an album. It was also at this time that Frank began writing poetry. Most were either about romantic love or teenage angst. By the end of the 80s, Frank was listening to a wide variety of music, but Metallica and Def Leppard topped the list at this time. For his high school graduation, his parents gave him a more formidable Casio and continued to encourage his interest in music.
As Frank was entering his first year of college in 1989 he was reintroduced to Depeche Mode. Listening through a friend’s collection of Depeche Mode CDs he found a wealth of music, lyrics, production and vocals that completely agreed with his tastes. While everyone else was listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana Frank was seeking out Depeche Mode’s entire catalog of albums and singles. He began listening to 92.7 WDRE/WLIR and fell in love with the best that New Wave had to offer. Morrissey and The Smiths, U2, The Cure and industrial acts Nitzer Ebb, Front 242, and NIN became Frank’s new passion. He began his first attempts at songwriting and one of his early compositions, “Silent Whispers”, would play an important part in Frank’s musical and vocal development for years to come.
Throughout the early 90s Frank attended as many concerts as he could (see Concerts I’ve Attended) and became more and more interested in not only playing the songs he knew and loved, but also writing and singing his own compositions. Frustrated by the limitations of his Casio, Frank started lingering around Sam Ash and dreaming of owning a workstation that would allow him to record all of the tracks he heard in his head. Upon his college graduation in 1993 his parents again encouraged him by giving him a Korg 01/W. Frank now had a tool that would allow him to flesh out his ideas.
Frank collaborated with several people during this time. The most important of which was a friend he met at Sam Ash. Frank originally joined up with Brett L. to play synths after Brett had heard Frank playing in the Sam Ash keyboard department. After their first jam session Brett felt that Frank had the talent to front their duo and they started working on a series of cover songs and a handful of originals. Frank dubbed the band “Stripped” after one of his favorite Depeche Mode songs. The band was short lived, but it gave Frank important lessons in sequencing and his very first performance in front of a large audience of family, friends and strangers.
From the mid to late 90s Frank began writing more and more songs in a variety of styles. He placed several electronic songs on mp3.com under the band name “Deep Freeze”. One of those songs was an electronic rendition of his ballad “Silent Whispers”. A friend and coworker asked Frank for a tape of his music to share with Kris Heireth.
In October of 1999, brothers Kris and Tim Heireth were going to produce Frank’s synthpop ballad “Silent Whispers”. While working on the song the threesome hit it off and Frank was asked to join their band. Frank joined Brand New Idol and became their lead vocalist and also contributed to the band as a synth player and songwriting partner. Brand New Idol’s debut CD “Still Beautiful Falling Apart” was released in November of 2001 and received high praise.
All of the songs on the album charted in the top 5 on the New Wave and Darkwave charts on mp3.com.
New Wave Chart Highlights
#1 The Lonelier You Get
#1 Your Favorite Disguise
#2 Never Again
#2 The Notorious Gentleman
#3 Someone Else’s Eyes
#5 Silent Whispers
#5 Hold Me
Darkwave Chart Highlights
#1 Still Beautiful Falling Apart
The Electrogarden Network Community voted Brand New Idol “Unsigned Artist of the Year” and “Still Beautiful Falling Apart” was voted “Album of the Year” for 2001.
In early 2002, Frank was invited to collaborate with good friend Ross Beall on his Simulator project. Frank wrote lyrics and provided guest vocals on Simulator’s debut CD “Enter The Unknown” which was released by Cohaagen in the spring of 2002. For more information, please visit the official sites for Simulator and Cohaagen. The CD was positively reviewed and led to several 2002 Electrogarden Network Community Awards nominations in the following categories:
2002 Song of the Year - Divided by Simulator
2002 Album of the Year - Enter the Unknown by Simulator
2002 Artist of the Year - Simulator
Throughout 2002, Brand New Idol played live shows in New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island. In late 2002, after serving as lead vocalist, co-songwriter and synth player with Brand New Idol from 1999-2002 including the release of their award winning debut CD “Still Beautiful Falling Apart”, Frank left to create a project that would take full advantage of his talents and halovox is the result. Heavily inspired by artists such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Eurythmics, A Flock Of Seagulls, Front 242, early Ministry, Nitzer Ebb, early Nine Inch Nails, Ultravox, Camouflage, Cause & Effect, The Cure and Peter Gabriel, Frank set out to create a sound that would honor these influences and also break new ground.
The first official halovox production was a 2003 remix of A Different Drum artist The Echoing Green. halovox contributed “Fall Awake (Catcher in the Rye Mix)” which appeared on the “Fall Awake” single.
halovox released 4 songs over the internet in 2003 that were very well received. Among them, “Deception” received airplay in clubs around the world and gained major support from DJ Tim Cody, host of Subculture Live on the world famous WLIR on Long Island. Those first four songs plus an additional nine original compositions and a breathtaking cover of the Depeche Mode classic “Fly On The Windscreen” made up the 14 track debut halovox self-titled CD released in the summer of 2004. Read the REVIEWS on halovox.com. In support of this release, halovox played numerous dates in the New York, Long Island and New Jersey region.
In 2004, A Different Drum requested another remix, this time for Provision. halovox remixed “Each Second Suffering” which appeared on a limited edition bonus disc bundled with the Provision album “Visualize”. In 2005, “Retrospect” by halovox was invited to appeared on A Different Drum’s massive 6 CD “State of Synthpop” collection. Also in 2005, “Deception” appeared on WSVNRadio Hall of Fame compilation Volume 15. For more information on these releases, please visit the DISCOGRAPHY page on halovox.com
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Since its debut, halovox has received regular prime time radio airplay on shows including The Shape of Things To Come on 89.1 FM, college radio stations including KDIC, KEOS, KGFN (top 20 for 4 weeks), KKFI, KSMR, KTEC, KUPS, WMUC, WPMD, WPRK, WRIU, WSVN, WUSM, WUSR and internet shows such as AmpedOut, ArtistFirst Network, eoRadio, Flashback Alternatives, Lord Litter, The Michael Anthony Show, Muse’s Muse, PittRadio, RadioNonsense, RantRadio, Raw Egg Radio, Regen Radio, SlothRadio, SonicRaider and on internet shows such as Live365 stations such as New Wave Radio, Wintermute and The Dark Zone.
halovox has been played by DJs in several countries and has been contacted by fans, fellow artists, DJs and club owners from all over the U.S. and internationally from Canada, Mexico, Britain, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Japan.
halovox has also participated in some high profile shows, opening for Freezepop at the 2005 New York Synthpop Festival and APB at Subculture in December of 2006.
What sets halovox apart from other electronic bands is the songwriting and vocals of its creator, Frank J. Freda. halovox features intelligent, emotional lyrics and melodic modern music reminiscent of Violator-era Depeche Mode that sounds fresh yet nostalgically familiar to fans of 80s New Wave and synthpop.
Coming soon, the anticipated second album from halovox…
2003 - Present halovox
Frank J. Freda - Vocals, synths, programming, music & lyrics
2002 Simulator (appeared as guest musician)
Ross W. Beall - Music and sound design
Frank J. Freda - Vocals, lyrics, additional production
1999 - 2002 Brand New Idol
Frank J. Freda - Vocals, synths, programming, music & lyrics
Tim Heireth - Synths, samplers, programming, vocals, music & lyrics
Kris Heireth - Synths, samplers, programming, music & lyrics
1994 - 1999 Deep Freeze
Frank J. Freda - Vocals, synths, programming, music & lyrics
1993 Stripped
Frank J. Freda - Lead vocals, synths
Brett L. - Synths, programming, vocals, music & lyrics Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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