Half British, half Swedish quartet The Franklys combine garage rock, punk and surf in one spikey, fiery punch. Drawn to the indie rock scene that emerged from the UK, Swedish Jen Ahlkvist and Fanny Broberg packed up their guitars and headed to London intent on carving out their own vital sound. After crossing paths with bassist Zoe Biggs and drummer Lexi Clark, The Franklys were formed with a determination for creating energetic and powerful performances that stay long in the mind after the last note has faded.
The band threw themselves into relentless touring, steadily building a fanbase throughout the UK, Europe and America. After performances at Isle of Wight and Download festivals, they completed the circuit of O2 venues in the UK, opening up for Crobot and Airbourne.
‘Castaway’, first single from the debut album ‘Are You Listening?’ was touted by Steve Lamacq as being ‘the best thing they’ve done to date’. Following the album’s release, The Franklys completed four European tours, alongside various UK dates, even finding time to feature in an Apple Music advert, exclusively aired during The Brit Awards.
Subsequent years have seen further European and UK tours, including sets at Rebellion Festival, Loud Women Festival and Camden Rocks Festival.
Support from outside the industry grew following the release of EP ‘Framed’, with track ‘Mayday’ being picked up for use by true crime podcast ‘Redhanded’, and actress and comedian Aisling Bea proudly wearing her Franklys’ ‘female is not a genre’ t-shirt during a meet up with Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
The Franklys continued to push forward, and were handpicked by Brix Smith & the Extricated to support at their sold out Lexington show. 2020 began with Franklys again supporting Brix, this time at The 100 Club. Two weeks later, The Franklys would head to Europe for another two week tour.
Then, as is in close memory, everything abruptly stopped. With touring put on hold due to the global pandemic, The Franklys kept the spark alive, writing and demoing songs for what would become their second full length album. The events of recent years have only served to strengthen the resolve of The Franklys to continue making music together. The resulting release, ‘Dogma’ is an energetic, powerful journey from garage rock, to surf to psychedelia and back again.
‘Dogma’ is available to buy and stream on all the usual platforms.
The Franklys are proud artists of Hofner, Dean Markley and Zildijan.
“Fun filled garage rock with a pop twist” – Clash Magazine
“The Franklys come on with a smattering of Hives gusto” – NME
“Punchy, frills-free garage pop/rock” – Classic Rock Magazine
“A gut-punch power-diving slice of no apologies rock n’roll” – Louder Than War