Local favorite Serafino to perform at Easthampton brewery

Date: 9/27/2022

EASTHAMPTON – Chances are you’ve heard Frank Serafino. For more than three decades, the Springfield-born and Chicopee-based singer/guitarist has brought an uplifting mix of 1,500 cover tunes and originals to clubs, restaurants, and festivals throughout Western Massachusetts. “People say I look like I’m having so much fun playing my guitar,” Serafino, who returns to the Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton on Oct. 30, told me when we met in Chicopee, “and I am. Sometimes, I’ll play for three hours without a break. It’s not because I’m trying to impress anybody with how long I can play, but, when I’m playing, and people are enjoying it and having a good time, time seems to disappear.”

Serafino is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his 2012 solo album, “All Over The Road.” One of the era’s unknown treasures, the album is a richly-produced sampling of original songs. “It took me about eight months to write the lyrics and music,” Serafino recalled, “and then I went to Rotary Records in West Springfield. Warren Amerman, the owner, did the production with me. I had previously recorded some things at home, but I wanted to do this project right. You need somebody spinning the dials, somebody objective.”

Packaging was as important as recording. “The cover was a painting that I did,” Serafino said, “and Warren took a photograph of me in the studio for the back cover. They sent it out to be mastered and with the added packaging, we were very happy with the results.”

The album included a wide variety of songs. “There are different styles of music,” Serafino explained, “because I like all kinds of music – rock, folk, pop, blues, and soul music. There’s even a reggae tune.”
A couple of tunes, “If I Had Shot You When I First Met You (I’d Be Out of Jail By Now)” and “Timmy Likes Fire,” remain crowd favorites. For the former, Serafino “used every country music lyric cliche I could, not to make fun of country music, but just to write a funny country song. It’s the one that sells the most at gigs.”

“Timmy Likes Fire” is “darkly funny,” Serafino said. “It’s about a kid that likes to light fires. There was at the time a news story about a kid in Northampton who was arrested as an arsonist. Arson is not funny, but it was an intriguing story. It started me thinking about what caused somebody to be an arsonist, so. I wrote the song. It’s in the style of Warren Zevon.”

Serafino honed his chops with a series of local bands. “Once I discovered the three Kings – Albert, Freddy, and BB, that was it for me, “ he said. “I got into a blues band but finding clubs that booked blues bands at the time was tough. I was in a few great top-40 bands, but I was working a full-time job and the late hours started to get old. I had a family, raising kids. My son was playing hockey and I had to be with him at the rink at five in the morning – after a gig the night before ”

As a soloist, Serafino initially “was just playing what everybody was playing,” he said. “James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, all the singer-songwriter stuff, and old blues.”

Branching out to songwriting, Serafino found his distinct voice. “People ask me if I write the music or the words first,” he said. “Most times I’m just sitting on the couch, with my guitar, playing a melody that I like, and fit in the lyrics later, but sometimes the songs appear all at once.”

“People have been writing down their thoughts for thousands of years,” he continued, “but the ones that stick in your mind are the ones about the human condition. That doesn’t change. People had the same feelings 5,000 years ago. Technology changes, but the human condition doesn’t. There’s love, anger, desire, and jealousy. Those things haven’t changed. ”

Serafino remains exceptionally busy. “I still like playing guitar in bands,” he said. “And I recently did shows with A Ray Of Elvis and a Neil Diamond tribute with Charlie Lask.”

Serafino’s setlists change night to night. “I try to read the audience,” he said, “and give people what they like. I played outside yesterday and did a lot of upbeat stuff. I have a gig at a country club this Saturday and probably won’t do 75 percent of the songs I did then due to the mood in the venue. I’ll keep it more acoustic, singer-songwriter-focused. When you’re a solo act, you have to cover a lot of ground – everything from Sinatra to the Foo Fighters.”