Eugene Francis Jnr is an British musician, most famous for fronting the alternative rock bands The Fantastic Super Foofs, Kaptain Black, Dirty Perfect. Today, he is a solo musician, fronting the band Eugene Francis Jnr and The Juniors.
Biography
Early life
Eugene Francis Jnr was born in Cardiff, Wales on March 8 1977, and raised mainly in and around South Wales. During his youth, EFJ had gravitated towards such influential '90s grunge outfits as Nirvana and The Lemonheads.
The Fantastic Super Foofs, Kaptain Black and Dirty Perfect
Along with school friends Nav Verghese and Baz Hall, he formed The Fantastic Super Foofs at Brynteg School in Bridgend circa 1994 playing under the name 'Eso Burst'. At this stage they played punk rock, and were briefly known as "Mister Puss" (after his cat), until Verghese penned a song called 'The Fantastic Super Foofs' in his side-project Lesters Lovechild and hence resulted in a name change in 1996. Their first recording as a group was a Ltd EP release on "Russboy Records" titled "Gliptus."
By this point EFJ had enrolled at University College London studying Planetary Science. It was here he found himself in the same halls of residence as Coldplay and My Vitriol. Whom he quickly befriended. After graduating and spending time in Australia, The Fantastic Super Foofs released the singles "Bilo Boss", "Devan Endo" and "Timmy Zuckermann" on the independent labels Floating Toast and Fuzzbox Records. These singles were met with positive reviews in the NME and were played by Steve Lamacq and the late John Peel.
However, the larger labels whom had initially shown an interest fell by the wayside. And the band broke down.
EFJ returned to Wales and spontaneously took a trip to Chicago to see his friends Mclusky who were recording there third album with Steve Albini. It was this trip that inspired EFJ to reform the band, with the same line-up. Only this time they were to combine the styles of blues, punk and country music and honour his hero Frank Black by naming the new project Kaptain Black.
The album "In Fertility" was released in 2004 on the Mighty Atom label. They toured with Mclusky, and released the single "Drone the Queen Bee". But the album received mixed reviews
Much to the disappointment of EFJ. He started working two jobs in a Bank and a bottle-shop. During this time in 2005 he agreed to write and perform music with the Weezer-like Cardiff band Dirty Perfect under the name "Kip Armstrong." They released one EP entitled "Lines, Opiates and the demented operation" on Fuzzbox Records and one single Quarterback Hairdo on Sound Foundation Records
The name "Eugene Francis" can be seen credited for all artwork on these releases.
It was on the video shoot for "Quarterback Hairdo" that EFJ met David Legion a director and graphic artist who had directed the video "Recover" for the band The Automatic. EFJ and Dave Legion would later form the Record and Motion-Graphics company Legion Presents in 2007.
After signing to Sony publishing in late 2005 and being pressed to "make music for the majors and the mainstream." EFJ packed his little junior guitar and headed back to America on a kerouac. Promising never to return until he had "ridden his soul from the torment" of playing in a "processed pop band."
Solo career
Time spent in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York staying on friends floors and playing impromptu shows at The Hotel Cafe and Barbes Bar. EFJ started experimenting with folk, storytelling songs coupled with electronica.
The story goes "during a late lock-in at The White Horse Tavern, New York City under the watchful eye of Dylan Thomas a friend told him to continue with what he had been doing, and create an album based on the demo's he had loosely recorded." Up to the challenge he returned back home to Wales to start work on the proposed concept-album "The Golden Beatle."
During 2007 he started posting songs on his myspace, playing solo shows in London and Cardiff and formed the "Harmonious, beatnik supergroup" - The Juniors which was made up from the "cream of the Welsh indie scene." These bands and individuals included Vito, Llion Robertson, Broken Leaf, Lindsey Leven, and Lianne Francis.
EFJ was invited to open for the Canadian twins Tegan and Sara and released the Limited Edition Vinyl double A-side "Poor Me / Kites" to strong reviews. Coupled with this release was a cinematic adventure video which he co-directed and produced with Dave Legion. The single and video found their way onto VH1, MTV2, Radio 1, Radio 2, XFM and Radio 6 it also picked up numerous plays Stateside on college radio stations KEXP "artist of the week" and KITS.
Eugene Francis Jnr and The Juniors also played the mainstage at The Greenman Festival and it became their trait to throw rattles into the audience during the last song "Hobo Occupation" to unify the musicians with the crowd.
The Golden Beatle and 2008
The album "The Golden Beatle" was completed on Christmas Eve with numerous instruments making up its refined sound. And is due for release in April 2008.
Discography
- 1999 "Gliptus"
- 2001 "Bilo Boss"
- 2002 "Devan Endo", "Timmy Zuckermann"
- 2004 "In fertility", "Drone The Queen Bee"
- 2005 "Lines, Opiates and the Demented Operation", "Quarterback Hairdo"
- 2007 "Poor Me / Kites"
- 2008 "The Golden Beatle"
External links
1977 birthsLiving peopleAlternative musiciansBritish male singersPeople from Cardiff, WalesWelsh musical groups
Eugene Francis Jnr
