Mike Fredrickson, an enduring fixture of Milwaukee’s East Side music scene, is one of the city’s most prolific recording artists. He’s released five albums with his on-again, off-again band, The Mosleys, and has just issued his ninth solo album, After It’s Over.
Co-produced by Fredrickson and Semi-Twang’s John Sieger, After It’s Over is an easygoing, relaxed showcase for 14 original songs in various styles. The emotionally bitter “Goodbye Old Man” sounds like a stark ballad from long ago. The Latin American-flavored title number comes complete with a muggy trombone solo by Dave Cusma. More characteristic is “You’ve Been Making Eyes,” an airy radio-friendly melody elbowed by Sieger’s crunchy guitar and riding the mid-tempo rhythm set by Fredrickson’s bass and John Carr’s drums.
The usual tone of his lyrics, echoed in his best melodies, is of anxiety or resignation in the face of romantic rejection.
“I was the kid who didn’t get a date in high school,” Fredrickson says. “Those early feelings of rejection stuck with me. But it’s gotten harder to tap into that in middle age. Maybe I should start writing songs about cars that don’t work, friends dying, taxes.”
Chances are he’d write something good on any of those topics. “I have a weird process: I tape everything. In the morning when I get out of bed, I’ll tape a melody or a lyric from a dream,” he explains. “Sometimes a song will come out whole, but they usually change by the time I tape them. Other ideas come as I’m walking outside or taking a shower. When I’m not thinking or thinking about something else—a blank slate is usually when the ideas come.”
Along with his own writing and music, Fredrickson has long been in demand as a sideman for other bands, including The Spanic Boys and, currently, Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound. He even broke out nationally, playing in Robbie Fulks’ band. Aside from music, Fredrickson is known locally as a painter, especially for his realistic scenes in pale sunlight of familiar neighborhoods such as Riverwest.
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“I like NRBQ—they are the high-water mark of American bands,” Fredrickson says. “I always looked to them as the American Beatles. Whenever I make a record, I’m really trying to make a Beatles album,” he adds, explaining his grounding in pop melody. “I fail every time. Making an album on the level of The Beatles is like chasing the Holy Grail. But I keep on trying.”
Fredrickson will perform on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 1001 E. Locust St. He will also perform with The Mosleys on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 9 p.m. at Linneman’s.
