Frenship Details the Long Road to Mutual Songwriting Satisfaction and the Making of ‘Truce’

Matt Matasci

James Sunderland and Brett Hite only recently came together to form electronic pop group, Frenship, but have already experienced significant success. Their single, “Capsize,” features vocals from Emily Warren and has hit number one on Hype Machine thanks to tens of millions of online streams. Frenship just released an EP titled, “Truce,” last week and is now in the midst of a national tour. Sunderland and Hite spoke with Entertainment Voice about the band’s foundation and making this record.

How did the two of you come together to form Friendship?

Hite: Before we knew each other, we worked on different projects and were at wits end with both of them. Then we both got jobs at Lululemon and that’s where we met. We just enjoyed each other’s company and we’d go hang out—which got old and was very unhealthy, night after night—and eventually we decided to try and make a song. The first one [“Kids”] got a cool reaction from our friend so we decided to keep going for it and found a name, Frenship, and stuck with it.

How did you come up with the name? Is there any significant meaning behind it?

Sunderland: Not a ton of meaning. Honestly, I don’t know where I learned it, but when I was a kid, we’d yell “Big ships, little ships, the best ship is friendship!” That was kind of our mantra for that time period when we started making the music. And Frenship just kind of fit the whole vibe and the sound.
Hite: Lighthearted at first and a joke at first, and now we’re stuck with it (laughs). We tend to get worn out by the hipster-cool band names and we thought that one a little more lighthearted than your typical band name.

Your single “Capsize” has done very well, entering the Spotify Top 30. How does it feel to have a song blow up like that?

Hite: It’s crazy; we literally had our parents listening to our music before we put it out. Even those moments of walking around a strip mall or something like that and you hear it come on. It’s just been cool and validating more than anything. We’ve both been trying to do this for a really long time and to have the ball roll your way—I don’t know, that’s not a saying. It’s just really humbling.
Sunderland: I think we knew we had a special one a while back and we finished it a half a year ago and were sitting on it for a while. We almost kind of forgot about it so to see it come out and take off is really rewarding.

What can fans that discovered Frenship through “Capsize” expect from the rest of the “Truce” EP?

Hite: I hope they can expect something new. We tend to get bored with sounds and songs and what’s typically out there. Once we’ve tried something we try to do something else, all the while still keeping it genuine to who we are, which I think is a common thread throughout all the songs. There’s very much an electronic vibe but we also try and keep it organic sounding.

What is your writing and recording process and what roles do the two of you play in those processes?

Sunderland: It’s a pretty ‘throw-shit-against-the-wall’ process. Sometimes I’ll start an idea or a track—a melody or a line or two—and Brett will come in and put it together, or vice versa. We usually start separate and send an idea to each other and then we finish it together. That’s what has worked best for us. We typically re-write stuff a lot, maybe 50 to 100 times, though not for every song. We just keep going until we are both happy. We have differing tastes, so I’ll be leaning in one direction and Brett will have his, and we try to find a common ground where we are both happy. There’s a lot of good, creative tension until we land on that collective choice.
Hite: Ultimately, we are committed to staying on this path of going until we are both happy and we never get latched onto one idea. Obviously if it’s something good we are going to fight for it.

Is there any song that was particularly difficult to complete?

Hite: All of them. Some of them were a bitch to get done.
Sunderland: There’s so much thought in every little thing. But yeah, they all had their moments.

Has it been an easy to take these songs into a live setting?

Hite: That’s also a challenge. I always say that I don’t think we’re the most talented, the smartest, the most educated musicians or artists out there. But we have a standard that we just try not to ever be under so we just keep going until we hit it. We definitely have help from our band, we are a five-piece and we play live. We sit there and we’ll hammer things until it feels right, just the same as if we were writing it. That may mean suggesting some backing tracks or our guitarist plays a different part or something like that. But we hit these things pretty hard before we take them to the stage.

Can fans expect a full-length album in the near future?

Sunderland: Very soon! We are working on some songs now and we hope to put an album out next year.
Hite: Late spring is the target.

Friendship’s “Truce” EP is available Sept. 9 on Apple Music. Catch the duo live at Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right Sept. 19 and LA’s Fonda Theatre (opening for Cherub) Nov. 18.