Rick Froberg biography, songs, awards, family, net worth
Eric Rick Froberg, also known by the aliases Rick Fork and Rick Farr, was an American musician and visual artist who lived from January 19, 1968, to June 30, 2023.
He was raised in Brooklyn and Encinitas, California, and was born in Los Angeles. He performed with fellow San Diego musician John Reis in the bands Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, and Hot Snakes during his musical career as their singer and guitarist. Froberg also collaborated with the Obits, Thingy, and the Last of the Juanitas.
For all of his bands, as well as for Rocket from the Crypt and Reis’ Swami Records label, he developed album art, promotional artwork, and product designs during the course of his career as a visual artist and illustrator.
On June 30, 2023, Froberg passed away.
| Year | Act | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Pitchfork | Saturn Outhouse | lead vocals, album art |
| 1990 | Eucalyptus | ||
| 1991 | Drive Like Jehu | Drive Like Jehu | guitar, lead vocals, album art |
| 1992 | “Hand Over Fist” / “Bullet Train to Vegas” | ||
| Rocket from the Crypt | Boychucker | album art | |
| 1994 | Drive Like Jehu | Yank Crime | guitar, lead vocals, album art |
| 1998 | Rocket from the Crypt | RFTC | album art |
| “Break it Up” | |||
| 2000 | Hot Snakes | Automatic Midnight | guitar, lead vocals, album art |
| 2002 | Suicide Invoice | ||
| 2003 | Beehive & the Barracudas | In Dark Love | album art |
| 2004 | Hot Snakes | Audit in Progress | guitar, lead vocals, album art |
| “This Mystic Decade” | |||
| 2005 | Peel Sessions | ||
| 2006 | Thunder Down Under | ||
| Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects | Listen Up | album art | |
| 2008 | Obits | “One Cross Apiece” / “Put It in Writing” | guitar, lead vocals, album art |
| 2009 | I Blame You | ||
| “I Can’t Lose” / “Military Madness” | guitar, lead vocals | ||
| 2011 | Moody, Standard and Poor | guitar, lead vocals, album art | |
| 2012 | “Let Me Dream If I Want To” / “The City Is Dead” | guitar, lead vocals | |
| “Refund” / “Suez Canal” | guitar, lead vocals | ||
| 2013 | “Refund (Live)” / “Talking to the Dog (Live)” | guitar, lead vocals | |
| Bed and Bugs | guitar, lead vocals, album art | ||
| 2018 | Hot Snakes | Jericho Sirens | guitar, lead vocals |
It was in Hot Snakes, however, where Froberg’s vocals reached their zenith. It was Froberg and Reis’ third major collaboration.
Gone were Reis’ long, winding, guitar leads from Drive Like Jehu — songs were shorter, sped up, more garage-rock influenced, straight to the point. It was aggressive punk but smarter. Time signatures opted for the occasional skipped or extra beat. The guitars interplayed with abrupt staccato leads and rhythms.
Froberg’s vocals — now harsher with a higher pitch — had found the music to match.
It was evident on “If Credit’s What Matters I’ll Take Credit,” the opener on Hot Snakes’ first album, 2000’s Automatic Midnight.
Hot Snakes released two more studio albums in their original run in the early 2000s, a mellower Suicide Invoice followed by an up-tempo Audit in Progress.
The band re-formed to release their first album in about 14 years in 2018. NPR described Froberg’s voice as “high and serrated.” When it came to his lyrics, reviewer Andrew Flanagan put it at the time: “Froberg’s lyrics aren’t comprehensible most of the time; they operate as a kind of expressionist splatter of spittle, a fragmentary philosophical rage, across the band’s relentless, bubbling-hot canvas.”
Aside from his bands with Reis, Froberg’s most notable music came with Obits, a more bluesy take on punkish garage rock. His “vocals strain with bitterness,” NPR said, even as the music took on a more subdued hue. The band released three studio albums between 2009 and 2013.
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