Frank the Baptist is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 gothic rock

Gothic rock

Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...

/alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band founded in San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 by frontman Frank Vollmann.

History

Strobelight Records

Strobelight Records

Strobelight Records is a record label and mail-order seller based in Götzis, Austria. The label specializes in gothic rock and death rock music....

 was founded to release their first album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Different Degrees of Empty, in 2003, and all of the band's following albums have been released by the record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. In 2004, the band toured Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 for the first time to support their second album, Beggars Would Ride. The band played at the Wave Gotik Treffen

Wave Gotik Treffen

Wave-Gotik-Treffen is an annual world festival for "dark" music and arts in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds play at several venues throughout the city over 4 days...

 music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

 in May 2005.

Frank Vollmann relocated to Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 in 2006, joining long-time comrades Fez Wrecker (Bonniwell Music Machine, Fuzztones) and Benn Ra (Hatesex, ex-Diva Destruction), both of whom had coincidentally played in early incarnations of Frank the Baptist in San Diego in 1997-1998. East Berliner Phantomas joined on drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s, and the new line-up debuted at The Villa in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 on Friday 13, 2006.

In November 2006, the band went into Studio Wong in Berlin-Kreuzberg

Kreuzberg

Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...

 and recorded the band's latest album, The New Colossus.

The band maintains a headquarters of sorts at a bar run by Frank and Fez, called "The Speakeasy Berlin".

Current members

• Frank The Baptist - Vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
   and Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s
• Benn Ra - Bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Fez Wrecker - Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s
• Phantomas - Drum
  Drum
  The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
  
  s

Discography

• Different Degrees Of Empty (2003)
• Beggars Would Ride (2004)
• The New Colossus (2007)