Free Rock

Free Rock is the debut studio album by American rock band The Free Rock Trio. It was released on February 21, 2020 and featured the singles "Head in the Sand," "Bongo," and "Sudafed".

Writing & Recording
The band started production on the album as far back as September 2019, with songs like "Bringing Me Down" originally planned to drive the release. However, around the time of the song's Bootleg Series episode, the band decides to switch gears and focus on the more lengthy jam-oriented songs they had written, catering the album to that dynamic.

The album's stark change in direction from the likes of "Bringing Me Down" and Threadsboro b-side "Everybody Wants to Be Me" was primarily fueled by the crashing of Pink Hat Studios' master hard drives in October 2019. Source sessions for everything pre-Free Rock were lost forever- including New Threads' four studio albums and the majority of Bootleg Series season one. This crash also included the early demos for Free Rock, and the forced re-recordings of the new songs propelled the band into a new direction.

Most of the album, with the exception of the first two songs, was recorded in a single weekend.

Early on, the band decided to turn the album into a concept album that depicted the tale of a mafia man named Rock Anderson on the run. It was an ambitious thought at first, but it is apparent in the album's final lyrics, especially "Bongo," "Sudafed," and "Pogo." The album's cover art features the New Threads logo spray-bleached onto a black t-shirt, with the words 'FREE ROCK' added later. The bleach expanded past the original stencil bounds, and resulted in the explosive, bloated logo that exists there today.

Release
No word of the album was made until the album's lead single "Head in the Sand" was released on January 3, 2020. However, it was only weeks later on January 24, 2020 that full details arrived on the album, with the song "Bongo" being released on YouTube the same day. "Sudafed" was released as the album's second official single on January 31, 2020, and features a lyric video that follows the story set up by the previous singles.

The first three singles- "Head in the Sand," "Bongo," and "Sudafed-" all featured one-shot music videos that are part of a larger, album-length film that takes the viewer through the streets of Boston using POV shots.

"15/16" was released as a promotional single exclusively on Instagram prior to the album's release.

Tracklist

 * 1) Head in the Sand - Jacob Keplinger, Justin Siegel
 * 2) 15/16 - Keplinger, Siegel
 * 3) Bongo - Keplinger, Siegel
 * 4) Sudafed - Keplinger, Siegel
 * 5) Pogo - Keplinger, Siegel, James Siegel
 * 6) Free Rock - Keplinger, Siegel, James Siegel
 * 7) Womble - Keplinger, Siegel

Plot
After killing his brother Russ in the New Threads track "Way Back Home," Threadsboro Mafia leader Rock Anderson escapes town on a whim, embarking on a spree of thievery and murder before ditching the town of Threadsboro entirely ("Head in the Sand," "15/16"). He leaves the country and arrives in Mexico before hitching a ride on a boat to the Caribbean island of Bongo; but little does he know that someone in town has notified authorities of his presence ("Bongo"). As he sneaks through the city, avoiding the police, he manages to just barely escape their grasp and return to the States. Here, he attempts to return to his hideout property in Las Vegas, the Pogo Hotel + Casino, but is ambushed by police and arrested, being sent to death row ("Sudafed," "Pogo"). He spends three days in a high-security prison ("Free Rock") before being broken free by a small trio of rebel mafia members (known as the Free Rock trio). The now-quartet of Mafia rogues trek to the distant portal of Space Jamaica, located deep in the mountains of Womble ("Womble").

The story continues in the album Gone Wild, particularly in the tracks "Racket," "The Law is Goin' Home," and "Bagman." In 2021, the band's official Twitter page stated that an album was in the works "that continues the story told on Free Rock."

Head in the Sand

 * Released January 3, 2020

Bongo

 * Released January 24, 2020
 * YouTube-exclusive

Sudafed

 * Released January 31, 2020

15/16

 * Released February 7, 2020
 * Facebook/Instagram TV-exclusive

Trivia

 * The original album cover shot is actually a photograph from 2018, during New Threads' Felonious Wilma touring cycle. It was a failed merch experiment by the band. When the band adopted the title The Free Rock Trio, the cover was changed to a photograph of the stairs descending into the live room at PINK HAT® Boston.
 * On the artwork for "Head in the Sand," two wine bottles are prominent. They can be found in the exact location as the cover art in Bootleg Series episodes "Calvin Klein," "Peach," and "Head in the Sand."
 * This album was written and recorded in not only the same room as Bootleg Series, but it's also the same room that Keplinger and Siegel wrote the bulk of Death in the Afternoon in back in 2017.
 * Much of the album's plot follows a chain of events set in motion by the Threadsboro track "Way Back Home."
 * Rock Anderson, the album's protagonist, is the fictional brother of Russ Anderson, the character explored on The Russ Anderson Mixtape.
 * This is the first studio album to take place during the Free Rock Saga.
 * Jacob Keplinger's younger brother Jackson is featured on trumpet in "Bongo."
 * The albums' title can be interpreted three ways: "Free Rock," as in the rock equivalent of Free Jazz, nodding to the album's improvisational nature; "Free Rock," as it relates to the narrative concept of jailed mafia member Rock Anderson breaking free; or simply referring to the band itself, The Free Rock Trio, serving as a self-titled release.

Personnel
Jacob Keplinger - Guitar, Keys, Vocal, Engineering, Mixing, Mastering, Co-Producer, Art Design, Photography, Videography

Justin Siegel - Drums, Guitar, Vocal, Co-Producer, Photography

James Siegel - Bass, Vocal

Jackson Keplinger - Trumpet on "Bongo"