Donavon Frankenreiter

Tue 9th Dec, 2008 in Features

Donavon Frankenreiter lives something of a perfect life. The 35-year-old husband and father-of-two gets to make magical music, travel the world and is paid by Billabong to promote surfing: not competitively, but as a lifestyle.

After slipping into daydream mode because I’ve been waiting on hold for Donavon for a good 20 minutes, I return from my thoughts to hear him apologising profusely. He immediately sounds genuine, which is reinforced when I hear him use my name several times. Donavon says he’s currently in Amsterdam and thought our interview wasn’t for another hour. After confessing he’d had a rather busy morning with radio and press, he doesn’t at all seem bothered by the fact he has yet another interview to do. In fact, his relaxed disposition is evident over the phone, regardless of the thousands of miles between us.

We briefly discuss what a cool place Amsterdam is, before turning the conversation to all the amazing places he gets to travel to. When I ask him if life can’t get much better than this, he chuckles and agrees, before adding that there’s only one thing missing. “I mean I love what I do and to be on the road and making music really is a dream come true. The only downfall is you have to travel a lot, and having a wife and two kids it can be really difficult to leave them for several weeks. It’s a brutal existence and lifestyle, because I don’t want to miss moments with my children as they are growing up.” Donavon pauses as if he’s weighing this all up in his head. “I’m doing to things that are incredible passions of mine, but it is a lot of work.”

Having released his third album in September, Pass It Around, I was interested to find out what the whole experience was like. “All my records were a growing experience – but also an experiment. The first record sounded one way, the second was definitely a different way and then this one was produced by Joe Chiccarelli (who’s worked with artists such as U2, Bon Jovi – and more recently The Shins and Beck). When you record an album, it captures a moment you’re at in your life. Joe transformed my music, and a lot of people came round to play, (G-Love, Jack Johnson and Ben Harper to name a few) which was heaps of fun.”

And if he could collaborate with any five people, dead or alive, he’s quick to answer, “Bob Dylan for sure.” He takes his time with the rest. “Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin.” I tell him that’d definitely make for one of the greatest records of all time. “Ha, that would be fun, try to hook that up for me will ya?” he laughs. I wish.

The man’s music communicates simple yet meaningful advice. Donavon agrees that most of his songs have a story behind them. “Some stuff is emotional, but other stuff’s about experience. I want to sing about things I’ve lived through. When I sing about my life, it’s a reflection of everything that comes through the music. It is an open thing that people can interpret anyway they want.”

At the same time, Donavon says he doesn’t want to preach to people, but hopes his music helps them view life from a better angle. “You have to be fortunate with every moment,” he says, more serious now. “I see people running around just moving real fast, trying so hard to work towards future goals that they kind of forget you really have to enjoy the journey. – œCause if you don’t, and you ever get to that place where you want to be, what are you going to do once you get there, ya know?” Yeah, I know, and agree entirely. “It’s really just about the moments…enjoying all of them and everything you can about it.”

On a lighter note, Donavon is surprised to hear that I’ve spotted him in the background of Jack Johnson’s film-clip Taylor and that I know about his not-so-significant role in Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder. “Hah! How do you know about all that?” he chuckles. “When they were filming Tropic Thunder, Ben [Stiller] called up and said he’d really love to get me in the movie. I was all excited thinking I had an acting role and was going to be in the movie, but after the second night one of the actors said, – œMan, you know 90% off the stuff they shoot right now gets cut out of the movie,’ which sucked. When the movie came out, sure enough I wasn’t anywhere in there!” he laughs.

But would he pursue acting as a career? “Well, at the rate, I’m going I’m not gonna get any roles, they’ll just cut – œem out,” he declares sarcastically. “But it would be something so great to do; I’d love to be a part of a movie. It’s such a fascinating thing to get into character, so I think it would be incredible.”

With the countdown on to Falls Festival, Donavon says he’s really excited to tour Australia. “I haven’t been down to Australia with the band for about two years now. The band sounds as good as they’ve ever sounded. It’s great having three records out cause we have a lot of material to pick from. And I really cannot wait to come down there again.”

Donavon Frankenreiter makes his way down under this New Years period for a string of festival and headline shows.

Mon 29 Dec – The Prince of Wales, Melbourne
Tues 30 Dec – Falls Festival, Lorne
Wed 31 Dec – Falls Festival, Marion Bay
Fri 2 Jan – Southbound Festival, Perth
Sun 4 Jan – Factory Theatre, Sydney
Tues 6 Jan – Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Wed 7 Jan – Beach Hotel, Byron Bay
Thurs 8 Jan – Sunset Sounds, Brisbane