Singer/Songwriter Gary Frenay

He has made music professionally for more than four decades — and just won a SAMMY award at age 71

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

“The kid with the guitar” was how many people who grew up with lifelong Syracusan Gary Frenay remember him.

A gift from his mother after Frenay became obsessed with the Beatles (and honestly, who wasn’t?), the guitar and the accompanying love for music stuck with Frenay for life.

At age 71, on March 8 he won a SAMMY award with the group he founded, The Flashcubes, for Best Rock Album for “Pop Masters.”

“We got to go up on stage and make a speech, basically crowing about our age and that we’re the same four guys and still playing together since the 70s,” Frenay said.

His band mates are contemporaries: guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin and drummer Tommy Allen. Frenay plays bass in the group.

“It’s remarkable because of our age, that’ were being considered from among people half our ages,” he said. “We’re the same four guys who started playing together in 1977 and we’re all still friends.”

With a great-grandmother who was a concert pianist and siblings who also played instruments, music is part of Frenay’s heritage and family. He became a professional, full-time musician in 1982 at the age of 29. A lot has changed since then, including the medium, transitioning from records to cassettes to CDs and now streaming.

“The attention span of people has changed,” Frenay said. “You say it about all the arts, but it’s a TikTok world. We’ve shortened our attention span, but we also have so many choices. When I was starting out, there were hundreds of people turning out for the club scene because that’s all there was to do. Now people can sit home and stream TV and video games.”

Before the pandemic — which Frenay said “retired” him from playing at clubs — The Flashcubes played 150 gigs a year. Now it’s more like 30 to 40. Most of these gigs are at restaurants or parties. These days, Frenay focuses more on recordings.

In addition to rock, pop and oldies — his current genres — he has also played acoustic guitar with folk and has played standards in a vocal jazz trio.

When The Flashcubes started, they opened for The Ramones, U2, Pat Benatar and other big names in the industry.

“We were considered a power pop band and new wave band,” Frenay said.

Although others he has known in the music industry “made it big” in New York City, Nashville or Los Angeles, he doesn’t regret he stuck with Syracuse.

This year, he another band mate will form The Half Cubes to release a few singles. Frenay is also working on a new solo album.

If all this seems ambitious for a septuagenarian, it’s not for Frenay. He’s a prolific songwriter who has always expressed himself musically. He views his songs as a musical journal of his life, such as love songs chronicling his relationship with his wife, Jackie Lewis-Frenay, who recently retired from Syracuse University’s International Programs Office.

Their children, Nicholas and Robert, followed in their dad’s footsteps of working creatively. Nicholas is a professional musician and Robert is a filmmaker.

A new revenue stream for Frenay has been selling songs for use in television shows and films. Frenay said that currently, 400 episode TV shows are in production and many of these have settings in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

“They want music that sounds like that time,” he said. “They get our music for $4,000, not $40,000 for U2.”

The band also receives royalties for the songs when episodes are streamed.

“That’s been a great, late-in-life bonus,” Frenay said.

The Flashcubes’ songs have been part of shows like Young Sheldon, Slenderman and Firefly Lane.

Streaming songs, however, hasn’t been nearly as lucrative.

“I think the average public doesn’t know how little you make streaming,” Frenay said. “The amount I make on Spotify is less than a buck. The whole business model when you sold CDs there was a chunk of money. Now it’s pennies.”

Still, Frenay wouldn’t continue making music if he didn’t love it. He even manages his own career.

“It’s rewarding if it’s something you love,” he said.