We were lucky to catch up with Frank Meyer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Frank thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I have always known I was going to be an artist. When my brother and I were little kids, we would put on these silly plays for our parents, using our pets and stuffed animals as the cast, or lip sync songs and jump around like we were in a music video, and we made short films. We also went to a grade school in the San Fernando Valley with lots of children of show-business people, so were always surrounded by art and the creators of art. Our dad took us on TV sets a few times too, so were were able to see that these things we watched on TV were actually big productions with real people doing real jobs to make it all happen. Like of like much more elaborate school plays. I think that exposure motivated and inspired both of us to become artists very early on. He became a professional actor as a child (Breckin Meyer) and still is, and I have been playing music since I was 12 years old and do it professionally now (along with directing).
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a musician, award-winning documentary film director and digital content producer, and a published author of eight books.
On the music side, I am most known for my vocal and guitar work with Rock n Roll Hall of Famer James Williamson (Iggy and the Stooges), my rock band The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, and my current bands Trading Aces and Highway 61. I also direct a lot of music videos these days for acts like The Dwarves, Eddie Spaghetti, GayC/DC, and most of my own bands.
Behind the scenes, my most recent position was Video Director at digital fitness company Tonal, the weight lifting competitor to Peloton. Essentially I directed high-tech, AI-driven, multi-camera 4K fitness and workout videos. I got to work with lots of top athletes and have the pleasure of directing fitness legend Tony Horton, creator of P-90X, on a pretty regular basis. Good times.
Before that I was on staff as Sr. Content Producer at Fender Musical Instruments, where I was key in launching and creating the production of the Fender Play app. In addition to building the production staff and workflow to feed this content beast, I personally directed over 3,000 pieces of the app’s digital tutorial content plus many, many marketing videos. Previous to Fender, I was Sr. Interactive Content Producer at NBC’s Esquire Network and G4TV, I fine-tuned my skills as a director of TV commercials (Dyson, Sonic), promotional spots (Jurassic World, State Farm, Little Caesars) and campaigns (American Ninja Warrior, Knife Fight), while racking up multiple Telly, Webby and W3 awards along the way. I also morphed into an ace digital content producer, creating the award winning web series Freestyle 101, as well as digital shoulder programming for TV shows like Friday Night Tykes, Best Bars In America, Attack of the Show and X-Play.
I am also a published author, penning rock ‘n’ roll non-fiction such as On the Road with the Ramones (Bobcat/Omnibus) and When The Wall Of Sound Met The New York Underground: The Ramones, Phil Spector And End Of The Century (Rhino/WB), and Van Halen: A Visual History 1978 – 1985 (Chronicle). My latest books, Diaper Dude and From Dude to Dad: The Diaper Dude Guide to Pregnancy were published through Penguin/Random House).
Additionally, I directed the documentary Risen: The Story of Chron “Hell Razah” Smith, a feature film about a Wu Tang Clan affiliate rapper who suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm and his road to recovery and the upcoming documentary film Freestyle 101: Hip-Hop History, narrated by Chuck D and starring Ice-T.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My mission is to leave a giant legacy of art behind that is like a puzzle that other creatives will get inspired trying to solve. I’ve played on over 100 albums, written well over a thousand songs covering virtually all genres of music, directed and produced 3 films with more on the way, produced more digital content than I can even keep track of anymore, scored several films, and written 8 books. Even I have trouble keeping up with it all. Those that care to explore will find there’s so much art out there that I’ve been involved in, and that the quality is generally consistently high (in my humble opinion). I’m trying to give Frank Zappa (R.I.P.) a run for his money in terms of volume, quality, and diversity of the body of work.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
As a writer of both books and songs, it is very frustrating that there’s not a better, more accurate and accountable way to collect royalties and get paid off digital sales and streaming. We are really beholden to the labels, distributors and/or book publishers to collect the money, do the accounting, and break us off what they believe is out share. How you gonna have the same person that owes you money being the one whole collects and distributes it without any third party or mechanism in place to check the work. Right now, there’s a writers strike because they are having the same issues essentially. There needs to be a way for songwriters and book writers to also get paid and check the accounting. Snoop said it best recently, “If you can get a billion streams, why can’t you get a million dollars?”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thefrankmeyer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefrankmeyer
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frankmmeyer
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankmmeyer/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyvSIb8Vvl5K2DTLwQuAb1w
- Other: www.highway61la.com IG @thefrankmeyer IG @tradingaces_band IG @streetwalkincheetahs IG @highway61la FB @frankmmeyer FB @tradingacesband FB @thestreetwalkincheetahs FB @highway61la
Image Credits
Jason Valdez, Heather Harris, Ginger Kuroishi, Steve Allen