Frenchy and the Punk is an American post-punk duo based in New York City, formed in 2005 by punk guitarist Scott Helland, formerly of hardcore bands Deep Wound and Outpatients, and singer Samantha Stephenson. The group was originally called The Gypsy Nomads,Digitalis, Raven: "Goth Craft", page 14. Llewellyn Worldwide, 2007 but adopted the name Frenchy and the Punk ahead of their first European tour in 2011.Block, Jordan: "Sepiachord Interview", http://www.sepiachord.com/index/interview-frenchy-and-the-punk/ 2013
The band's sound has "elements of post-punk and dark folk". They were listed in the top 25 duos in May 2012 by Yahoo Music Blog's List of the Day.
History
Stephenson was born in Lyon, France. Her autobiographical song "Yes! I’m French" includes the line "When those jokers served up freedom fries / I saw Lady Liberty rolling her eyes." They released the all-French album Eternal Summer in 2008, with Stephenson described as "crooning sultry, original French pop tunes in a classy cabaret fashion."
In the 1980s, guitarist Scott Helland was a founding member of the Massachusetts hardcore punk bands Deep Wound (with J Mascis and Lou Barlow),Cogan, Brian: "The Encyclopedia of Punk", page 74. Sterling Publishing, 2006 and Outpatients. He was also a member of the New York hardcore bands School of Violence and Darkside NYC in the 1990s. He began releasing solo instrumental records in 1996, and launched the all-instrumental surf-themed project Guitarmy of One, which released two albums in the late 2000s.
The duo has been touring year-round since 2005. In 2014, after the release of their 4th full-length album, Bonjour Batfrog, Frenchy and the Punk performed at Scotland's Edinburgh Fringe festival. In 2016, they performed in England, Canada and across the United States. In 2019 they performed in Grand Lahou, Ivory Coast.
In January 2019 they released a video for the song Lanky Bell Bottoms from their forth-coming album Hooray Beret. The 10-track album was released in April 2019, with three music videos for the songs "Sing", "Wah", and "Lanky Bell Bottoms", and two lyric videos for "Monsters" and "Fastball".
Discography See also Scott Helland
Albums YearTitleNameLabel 2007 Thread & Stone The Gypsy Nomads Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2008 Eternal Summer The Gypsy Nomads Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2008 At the Carnivale Eclectique The Gypsy Nomads Exotic Aquatic Recordings 2010 Happy Madness Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2011 Live at Bube's Brewery DVD Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2012 Hey Hey Cabaret Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2013 Elephant Uproar Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2014 Cartwheels EP Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2014 Bonjour Batfrog Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2016 Batfrog Tracks Lyric & Photo Book Frenchy and the Punk Paris Punk Press 2019 Hooray Beret Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2020 The Storm is Call for Rebuilding (Single) Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2021 Hanging on the Telephone (Cover) Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2022 Zen Ghost Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2023 Cities in Dust (Cover) Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2024 Midnight Garden Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2025 Dark Carnivale (Hi-Fi Hillary Remix) Frenchy and the Punk EA Recordings 2025 Not Under Your Spell (Single) Frenchy and the Punk Distortion Productions 2026 War on War (Single) Frenchy and the Punk Distortion Productions
References
External links Frenchy and the Punk website