Los Frankies Photo credit: Kalie Pontes
A new strain of rock-and-roll debauchery is brewing in Los Angeles, and at its center stands Los Frankies — a four-piece built for noise, danger, and disruption.
Formed by guitarist and vocalist Frankie Clarke (of Frankie and the Studs) and frontman Frankie Salazar, the band steps forward with a raw, untamed swagger that cuts against the polish of modern rock. Clarke supplies the grit and glam, channeling the sharp-edged guitar heroics of Johnny Thunders, while Salazar’s voice — raw, serrated, and startlingly loud — pushes every track to its breaking point. Behind them, drummer Miles Deiaco hits with near-mythic ferocity, and bassist Davide Cinci grounds the chaos with unflappable precision.
Today, the band announces its debut album, D.E.D. City, a collection that captures their filthy, fearless, and no-bullshit approach to rock. Recorded at Hollywood’s Sound Factory, the LP pulls from the unbridled energy of 70s punk, the grit of alternative rock, and the swagger of indie sleaze, fusing them into a sound that feels less like nostalgia and more like detonation. If there’s a thesis here, it’s that rock music still has the capacity to be feral, unruly, and defiantly alive.
Leading the release is the first single, “I’m on Drugs,” a blistering 70s-inspired punk burner that dives headfirst into long nights, altered states, and fractured identities. Pushed forward by vintage Marshall and Fender amps, the track’s chorus — “Can you fill my appetite?” — howls with feral urgency. Rather than simply revisiting punk’s golden age, Los Frankies detonate it, sounding like The New York Dolls or The Heartbreakers resurrected under the flicker of a Hollywood streetlight in 2025. Its accompanying video captures the band at full voltage, distilling their live-wire energy into three unrelenting minutes.
Across D.E.D. City, Los Frankies move between euphoria and existential dread with breakneck ease. The album veers from raucous party anthems like “I’m on Drugs” and “Gunna Wanna” to darker, heavier moments such as “Kick the Stool” and “Company Man.” The throughline is the band’s chemistry — tight, volatile, and impossible to fake. Every riff snaps, every drum hit lands like a small explosion, and each track arrives sharpened by the kind of songwriting that favors instinct over polish.
With D.E.D. City, Los Frankies aren’t interested in safety or subtlety. They make a case — loud, messy, and convincing — that rock music can still feel dangerous, defiant, and deeply, deliriously human.
Your debut album, D.E.D City, has been described as, “channeling the pure energy of 70s punk, the grit of alternative rock, and the swagger of indie sleaze.” Can you elaborate on that description? Who were your influences for this project?
LOS FRANKIES: We wanted to return to the music that first got us playing in garages. There is something about the simplicity and primal instinct of old punk bands like the Dead Boys and the Damned, that still hits us in the chest. At the same time, we were listening to a lot of Era Vulgaris era Queens of the Stone Age and that first White Stripes record. I think this album ended up sounding like a collision between those early versions of the White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age, but with the heart of a 1979 NYC punk band running through it.
We also love bands like Thee Headcoats, The Gories, and all things John Dwyer, all of that finds its way in there too. And we have to mention that one of the tracks, Sugar Town, is a cover of a band we adore that is sadly no longer around: ShitKid. If you have not checked out ShitKid, you definitely should.
Frontwoman Frankie Clarke is also known for her work with Frankie and the Studs. Do you see Los Frankies as a continuation or evolution of that project, or does this band represent something entirely new for her creatively?
LOS FRANKIES: Los Frankies and Frankie and the Studs are all part of the same universe. That’s the best way I can describe it. In the Studs, I’m the frontwoman, but in Los Frankies I get to go back to my guitar roots and just focus on playing guitar and shouting some background vocals here and there. Guitar was my first love, before being a front person I only played guitar in bands. I put the guitar down for half the Studs set, so I love being able to reconnect with the guitar again in Los Frankies… guitar was my gateway into music. when I write songs it always starts with a riff or stems from one.
The album covers a solid range of emotions and moods, moving between themes like euphoria and existential dread. Was that an intentional choice or something that happened more organically?
LOS FRANKIES: I write what I see and feel, which is ultimately just my experience. A song like “I’m on Drugs” is pretty simple. I was on drugs. I was gacked out on the corner of Post and Polk in San Francisco, and in my head the riff was playing and I was humming the melody.
A song like “Kick the Stool” or “Company Man” comes from reading so many active shooter headlines. Mass shootings feel like they have become as much a part of American culture as baseball and apple pie. Those songs are us trying to process the stories we are reading every day.
I guess you could say it all happened organically. I never sit down and decide to write a song about a specific subject or try to force a certain emotion. I just pick up a guitar and start singing gibberish until something comes out that feels true, or something that sticks, however you want to interpret that.
There is always this balance between wanting to party and have fun making loud punk songs, and then waking up the next morning, looking at your phone, and seeing all the chaos in the world and wondering where we fit in all of this. The album reflects both sides of that.
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