Frank Viele Shares “Trainwreck” Single + Video | ‘The Trouble With Desire’ LP Due February 7th, 2025
This year, Connecticut musician Frank Viele — the reigning New England Music Awards’ “Artist of The Year” — has released a handful of tracks, all from his forthcoming album, The Trouble With Desire.
To further introduce the project, Viele returns today with his final single ahead of the Febuary 2025 release of his album, The Trouble With Desire. “Trainwreck” is a toe-tapping Americana tune, driven by a powerful guitar from start to finish. “I wanted one song on the record that was pure unadulterated rock n roll with a slightly swampy country swagger that you can truly only get writing and recording in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. And I think we nailed it,” he says.
“[“Trainwreck”] tells the story of that reckless kind of love that burns bright and fast,” Viele continues. “The kind of love that pushes you maybe a little too far out of your comfort zone but it’s fun while it lasts. The kind of love that feels like you’re in the passenger seat holding on tightly to the handle above your window while your partner with a led foot is driving 100 miles over the speed limit.”
The chaotic nature of the relationship is highlighted by lyrics such as, “Train wreck, what’s next? Running off the rails, what did you expect?”
During the recording of “Trainwreck,” Frank Viele recalls a memorable moment that added an unexpected spark to the track. It was the last song of his initial recording sessions at Muscle Shoals, and just as the band was about to hit record, a man walked into the studio with a guitar on his back. After confirming Viele was “the boy that’s a friend of The Hive,” a reference to his dear friend Christine Ohlman, known as the “The Beehive Queen,” the gentleman asked if he could plug in. To Viele’s surprise, this guitar-toting visitor was none other than Kelvin Holly (Little Richard, Neil Young, Peggi Young, Jason Isbell, The Decoys, Gregg Allman, Bobby Bland, etc.). Holly’s live performance with the band brought an extra spark to the track. “I think it really pushed this tune over the top for me on the record and it is an experience I will never forget.”
The single is shared alongside an animated music video that features level 3 of the running video game theme than Viele has featured across two of his other music videos so far. The video game starts at level 1 in the video for “Mountains We Climb” and continues to level 2 in the video for “Necessary Evil.” In this level, we find our characters fighting monsters on a train.
The Trouble With Desire is currently available for pre-order on vinyl on Frank Viele’s official website. The limited edition vinyl ships on December 15th along with digital bonus tracks available only with the pre-release purchase.
Frank Viele’s newest single, “Trainwreck” is out now via all DSPs. His forthcoming full-length LP, arrives on February 7th, 2025!
FEATURE INTERVIEW:
The animated music video for “Trainwreck” continues the video game storyline from your previous releases. What made you want to carry this concept across multiple tracks, and how does this level of the game tie into the song’s theme?
I decided to carry this across multiple videos because when the album was done, I realized there was not only an individual story being told by each song, but there was also an interwoven story being told throughout the record. A story about that razor sharp line between determination and actually living you life. A story of the discovery of empathy and perspective, along with the fight against human nature and human flaws. Almost akin to the concept found a lot in Greek Mythology known as a tragic flaw where a hero’s singular shortcoming usually becomes their demise.
Since every song on the record seemed to delve into a different side of those emotions and that story, I felt it would be awesome to weave a few of them together with a visual narrative that eventually drives the message home. Specifically, the video for this song starts off with the couple dancing on the moon with the giant heart they discovered in the previous video. To me, this heart symbolizes empathy and the power therein. In this video, the heart is stolen by an evil villain and that leads to a high level of chaos, battles to obtain it back, a crashing train catching on fire, etc. I won’t spoil the ending but basically, the song is about the wild side of a relationship lacking a true connection. The superficial side that can’t last. So it made sense that in this video, the couple loses the giant heart, essentially having a villain, or outside evil, steal the depth of their relationship away, and they have to fight to get it back. And it takes them working together to do it!
You had a surprise guest in Kelvin Holly during the recording. What was it like working with him, and how did his contribution impact the final version of the song?
I’m a record collector and a full on music geek. The kind of guy that memorizes liner notes. So having an absolute legend like Kelvin walk in and play guitar on this track was just mind blowing. He’s such a great guy and an absolute beast of a player. He sat right next to me in the live room down in Muscle Shoals and the whole band played the track together.
I had a hard time doing my guitar parts and kept messing up the vocals cause I couldn’t keep my eyes off his fretboard, but we took three takes of the song as a band and the hardest decision was choosing which one to use because they were all awesome in their own way. He has such a special approach to the guitar that both drives a band and also gives a subconscious laid back swagger to the song. My dear friends, bandmates, and tour mates Anthony Candullo and Tom Barraco were on bass and drums and my co-producer James LeBlanc joined Kelvin and I on guitar. We had been playing together for a week in the studio before Kelvin showed up for this last tune and I think the combination of us gelling in that environment and then Kelvin jumping in at that moment, basically just poured gasoline on the fire! I’m so happy we caught it on wax!
You’ve described “Trainwreck” as pure unadulterated rock n’ roll with a swampy country swagger. Can you elaborate on what inspired this specific sound for the track?
Historically, I tend to write a very specific way but working with Jimmy Nutt and James LeBlanc in Muscle Shoals opened me up to a very different approach as they’re very steeped in knowledge and experience in both country music and that Muscle Shoals brand of soul that I absolutely adore. Making a record in Muscle Shoals was a dream of mine and while I didn’t want to change who I was as an artist, I knew I wanted one song that just had as many of those special elements synonymous with the region as possible.
You know? A little bit of soul, a little bit of country, a little bit of rock n’ roll kind of thing. Trainwreck checked all those boxes so we purposely saved it till the end of the sessions. Lucky me, some great things happened and the stars aligned in a way that could only happen in such a musical mecca like Muscle Shoals and I get to have this track as a part of my catalog for the rest of my days. To say I’m grateful is an understatement.
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