Paul Szmal: And FLX Morning continues, it is 7.51, we are at a kind of chilly 41 this morning. And my guest at this time is Danielle, she is with a band called Mood Swing that is playing tomorrow night at the Live at the Vista at Seneca Lake Resorts. Danielle, good morning, how are you this morning?
Danielle Frazzo: Good morning Paul, I'm great, how are you?
Paul Szmal: Good, good, enjoying a morning cup of coffee much like you are.
Danielle Frazzo: Yes I am.
Paul Szmal: And I wanted to start by asking you how the whole musical journey for you started. When did you first decide that you wanted to be a musician and do this musical thing?
Danielle Frazzo: Wow, that takes me back a long way. I think I was about five years old when I picked up a guitar and learned how to play and sing. And then I joined my church folk group and got a little bit better. But then I got to be a teenager and discovered rock and roll and that's where I wanted to be. And my music journey all through high school, that's all I did was music. So I went on to college for music and now I'm a high school music teacher in the North Syracuse District. And I get to teach chorus and jazz ensemble, vocal jazz. I do the fall play and the spring musical. And yeah, my life's full of music. But I've had Mood Swing now for about 26 years. I had been in a few other bands prior to this, but I decided to start the band 26 years ago.
Paul Szmal: Wow. Yeah, we've been around a while.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and I'm fascinated by the fact that you've transitioned your love for music into a full-time career all these years.
Danielle Frazzo: Yes, and it's fun. And a lot of my students come out and see the band and they're very surprised because it's a little different than doing chorus music and stuff. But they see their teacher doing what she loves and that's the same thing that I try to teach them. So it's been a great journey. I'm in my final year of teaching, too. This is my 30th year and I'll be retiring at the end of the year. But not retiring from playing music, though. No, I'm going to bump that up a little bit more, I think, because that's my joy in life. So yeah, we'll continue that on after retirement.
Paul Szmal: So Mood Swing was born 26 years ago. What does Mood Swing play? What kind of music can we expect to hear tomorrow night live at the Vista?
Danielle Frazzo: Well, I like to tell everybody the band name is about the many moods of music. And we do a little bit of everything from the 40s up to now. It's a lot of very happy music, danceable music, slow and fast danceable music. We're all over the board. It's definitely a mood swing if you come out and hear us because we'll do country, we'll do rock, we'll do newer rock, swing, jazz. We do a little bit of everything.
Paul Szmal: Wow. So it's exciting if you're sitting there listening to us and you don't particularly like one song. If you hang out a little longer, I know we'll hit something that you love. So it makes it fun.
Paul Szmal: Who else is in the band besides you?
Danielle Frazzo: My husband is actually in the band, Andrew Frazzo. He's on guitar and sings some lead. I have Dave Truax on drums and percussion. Jim Krimmer from Baldwinsville. He's our keyboard player. Roland Brunet, who is a very well-known local bass player up here in central New York. He's phenomenal. He's played with quite a few people. And he's our resident engineer genius also. So five of us.
Paul Szmal: Hey, that's a decent-sized band. And I'm sure that makes for being able to play a variety of different stuff. How often do you guys rehearse?
Danielle Frazzo: We rehearse a lot through the winter months because our season is more April to November, unless we do Christmas parties or weddings or private parties in the winter. Right. So we at least once a week and three, four hours and get everything all set to go for the summer. We love playing outdoors and we love playing to family-friendly venues. As a teacher, I love the kids and I love having them at the gigs too. That makes it a lot of fun. So yeah, we rehearse, we get pretty polished up and we go for it.
Paul Szmal: And I have to think that you've had a variety of influences considering the fact that you're a music teacher, you're teaching kids about different varieties and genres of music and exposing them to a little bit of everything.
Danielle Frazzo: I do. I get to teach the history of rock and roll class too, which I developed and brought into our curriculum. So yeah, I'm all over the board from, you know, 40s music right up to what the kids listen to now and where it came from and its roots. The influence for Mood Swing though has been more of what kind of music makes people feel really good and wants to want to dance and just enjoy it. I'm always feeling very grateful because people have so many choices of what they want to go out and do every night. And if they choose to come out and hear me and hear the band, I'm always very grateful about that and I want to give them a really good time. I want to interact with the audience and have a lot of fun. And don't ask me what my favorite genre is. I don't know that I have one.
Paul Szmal: I know it sounded to me like you've got a little bit of everything going on and enjoy a little bit of everything. And that's kind of reflected in what the band does. Have you ever had a chance to play here live at the Vista before?
Danielle Frazzo: We have not and we're really looking forward to it. The venue, the Vista, is exactly what we love to do. You know, it's family friendly. You know, we see they have great concerts. They have a whole bunch of wonderful musicians from all over central New York that play and perform there. You know, the fact that they make it very family friendly with the food trucks and the movie night and just a nice night on the lake. I love that. So I'm so looking forward to playing there and I'm really hoping they like us a lot and ask us back.
Paul Szmal: Okay. I didn't know if I lost it. No, no, no. I just had a hiccup there for a second, but that's fine. Does the band have any social media outlets or anything that people can follow along with?
Danielle Frazzo: We do. You can find us at Mood Swing CNY on Facebook or Mood Swing dot net and make sure they put the dot net in or they get to see a lot of strange things. So put that net in there.
Paul Szmal: All right, Danielle, it's been a pleasure talking to you and I think you're going to have an absolute blast tomorrow. The weather is going to be perfect. So it'll be a great night out tomorrow night with Mood Swing live at the Vista at Seneca Lake Resorts. Thanks for joining us, Danielle. We appreciate it.
Danielle Frazzo: Thanks, Paul. Have a great day.
Paul Szmal: It is 7 58 on FLX morning and we will continue after this message.
