Frank Laufenberg doing doubletime with WURK & Old Oaks on Max Ink Radio

If it's local music from Wisconsin, it's heard here.

This is Maxing Radio.

We are local music tonight.

We have Frank Lofenberg in the studio.

He runs two bands, old Olks and work.

Each band has new music out and shows coming up.

It's a lot to chew on, but chew we will.

Frank, welcome to Maxing Radio.

Hey, always a pleasure.

I was a pleasure to be here, folks.

Good to see you.

You know, you were in like a class earlier, earlier today.

Yeah, you could say it was a class.

I was like more like a bunch of folks getting together and making making kimchi,

which I had never made before.

And it was a great experience.

Honestly, just a bunch of nice people getting together.

What is kimchi?

It's like, yeah, it's like fermented cabbage.

It's similar to sauerkraut, but with more ginger and garlic and it's like beer.

It's not like beer.

It's more close to sauerkraut.

You can make recipes with it.

We're a super spicy, too.

Yeah, yes, definitely.

Oh, yeah, it's got chilies in it.

I probably should have said that.

Oh, yeah, that's where the spice comes from.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, so that was cool.

That was my, my, my educational experience today.

Frank Lofenberg, tell us your break story.

I mean, you play a lot, a lot of stuff here.

How did you get your started music and become the leader of two bands?

Yeah, well, I would say for work, I'm, I'm a kind of just one of the talking heads of the band,

but that, that group worked does not really have a leader.

It's like, maybe I'm the spokesperson often enough, but the drummer max, he's leading the groove.

That's why the groove is so insatiable in that band, you know, and I do a lot of the,

the business work with Daniel.

And obviously, if you've ever seen a work show, Daniel Hashkey on the saxophone,

certainly a leader and entertainment.

Yeah, so that group is totally just a group.

I'm happy to be up in the front of it.

Well, plus you're a SpongeBob fan, too.

So that all works out.

Yeah, it all works out totally.

How'd you get started?

Yeah, yeah, my background, I got really into it in like middle school,

but growing up in the countryside with some kind of hippie parents,

always listening to really good songwriters.

And I was told that I've been an entertainer since birth.

I've always liked to just talk and make people smile.

So it's a birth.

An entertainer first, songwriter second, a musician third.

So yeah, I was really into singing in middle school and I had a really awesome teacher,

Miss Dolman kind of cultivate that and get me really into performing and singing.

My uncle, I'm here in Madison.

It out of Mount Horib.

Mount Horib.

So not too far away.

And then my uncle Bill was always a singer, songwriter,

who kind of took me under his wing and showed me guitar stuff.

And you know, just kind of showed me like, oh, yeah, you can do this.

It's fun.

Then a huge experience for me was seeing fish at Alpine Valley in like 2008.

I guess it would have been after eighth grade going into high school,

where I was like, whoa, people really do that.

Like, I, you know, I want to, I want to play guitar like that.

Oh, yeah.

So that was a big experience for me.

So that's it in a nutshell, I would say.

Well, now tell us about the band, Old Oak.

So I mean, it features another work member, Daniel Hashkey, on sax.

And bassist Claire Canapel and she sings too.

Yes, yes.

So that Alexander was actually a clear tune.

That's the first one that we've released of hers.

And she's actually a great friend of ours,

but she's actually stepping away from the group.

So in the future, it'll just be Daniel and I.

But for this Tuesday, we will be performing Alexander

and we're going to have Claire on the bass.

At least this Tuesday, maybe sometimes in the future,

we're all pretty good friends still.

Where's Claire moving off to?

She's staying here, but she's just very, she's a very busy person.

There's a lot, it's a hard thing when people are so good.

It's so many things to spend a lot of time on a project like music.

Yeah, when did Old Oak start?

It's been around for a while now, right?

Yeah, like late 2018, I started Old Oak's

because I was booking for work and people are asking us to play like coffee shops and stuff.

And I was like, our seven piece funk fusion band

is not going to be able to play in a coffee shop.

We'd all go deaf.

No one would have a good time.

There's no room for the horns.

Right, but I was kind of realizing like,

hey, but I could show up and play some songs from my childhood like Neil Young

and just like kind of classic rock or classic singer songwriter songs.

And some of my music that I write that wasn't appropriate for work,

that was more like chill, I guess more like indie folk music.

And so that and I started doing this other project, Old Oak's,

because I just figured it's pretty different than work.

It's a lot more intimate sounding.

Still has some elements of rock,

but the songwriting is a lot more chill, less of a party.

Well, that song is fun.

Now, you have a new album and release coming up at the Burr Oak in Madison on November 12th.

You said that's this Tuesday and work.

Tell us about work and the holidays party that's coming up on Friday, December 27th,

also at the Burr Oak.

Yeah, so yeah, double-hunter at the Burr Oak.

This Tuesday, we're releasing no one has nothing to do.

That's our new album, which Alexander that sang you just heard is on that EP.

It is currently available on Spotify and our band camp and stuff.

So you can head out and listen to that or just come see us play live Tuesday night at the Burr Oak.

We got Dana Perry, an amazing folk artist from Madison,

opening the night up for us.

It should be a beautiful night and then work.

The holidays DAZE is going to be playing some funky jams at the Burr Oak on December 27th,

right between some winter holidays and it is the Friday night before New Year's Eve.

So you can kind of start the party out, right?

That sounds like a great time.

Perfect because like everybody's home and they're like done with Christmas,

right? They're like, what are we going to do?

All right, let's get down.

It's a weekend.

Holiday is the holiday ham tangover.

Yes, come handle it.

Tell us about the new song.

We're going to hear in just a moment.

It's called Songs for Squares.

It's brand new work.

Yeah.

And where can we keep up with work?

Yeah, worktheband.com, our website.

And we're also on Facebook.

You can find work, W-U-R-K, the band, and Instagram.

You can get our music on Spotify, all those places.

This new one is kind of works first take on playing like rock, scaw.

And of course, as I mentioned earlier, our drummer is an amazing

soloist, chop heavy drummer.

Really something special.

And so we've got our shortest work song ever.

And we're still featuring a drum solo in the middle of it.

But it's also I'm happy to have a song under three minutes and 40 seconds with this group.

It's all 32 to be exact.

And you're right, that is the shortest song you all have ever released.

Yes, it most definitely is.

And it's an adrenaline rush.

So yeah, it's good.

Well, that's perfect.

Like when we're like, we need a song that's three minutes and 30 seconds.

Work is now available.

Yeah, yeah, we can do that.

You don't have to fade us out anymore.

Oh my gosh, that's awesome.

Well, let's see, you know, Frank,

thanks for coming down tonight to tell us about work and old Oaks.

We really appreciate it.

Let's get out the new work.

This is Songs for Squares, Maxing Radio.

We are local music.

You are here, there, everywhere.

I'm a square.

Trying to be round unfair, but you don't care.

Catch your stare.

Tell everyone it's going down.

It's going down.

Just like some instincts to steal.

We've hardened over time.

Eating rest.

Sippin' boats.

Dream of straw, berry wine.

Where were you?

Where was I?

When we saw the end of time?

Where were you?

Where was I?

When there was nowhere left I'd.

No, where left I'd.

No, where left I'd.

Bear, everywhere.

Life's a bear.

Trying to slim down.

Cool, then light the flare.

Hot enough to burn.

Burn it to the ground.

Be good.

Watch it burn.