Dreams, 1000 Songs, and Madison Square Garden: A Conversation with Daniel Bateman

Photos by Jarod A. Walker 

An interview with Daniel Bateman by Isabel von Mende on February 21, 2025.

New York based indie rock duo Frog is composed of brothers Daniel and Steve Bateman.Their newest release 1000 Variations on the Same Song premiered this recent Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2025. It marks their sixth project since their formation in 2012. 

Daniel talks dreams and hallucinations, his next project, balancing music and work, Prince, and Frog’s upcoming tour. They start their tour March 8th at Cornell University and finish at Dartmouth College April 11th.. Tickets can be purchased here. 

The interview was originally broadcasted on WZBC Newton, Boston College’s alternative radio station, having just celebrated its 50th anniversary and raised $33,000+ for its biannual fundraiser. Isabel von Mende hosts Mood Swings every Thursday, 5-6pm EST.

Isabel von Mende: Today I'm ecstatic to share that we have special guest Daniel Bateman from Frog here for an interview. I personally play your music so frequently on my show, and other DJs at WZBC are also huge fans of your work. How would you introduce your music to new listeners? How would you describe your work, and what is the first project you would encourage new fans to listen to?

Daniel Bateman: Um, that's a good question. Let's just say indie rock, because it's simple. As far as the first thing to listen to, I can't tell you what to listen to. You just have fun with it if you want to. I think my best work is what I'm going to put out right next.

Isabel: Are you already working on a new project?

Daniel Bateman: I'm like, 12 songs in.

Isabel: Oh my gosh. I'm so excited! I can't wait for it to come out. But I would love to talk about your latest release, 1000 Variations on the Same Song, your latest release since Grog in 2023. What's the reception been like? I saw Pitchfork today reviewed your album. How does it feel to have that critical reception?

Daniel: Feels great. Feels very nice. You know, they don’t write about that many albums a year, so it’s nice that they wrote about yours. Twice.

Isabel: But it's also a testament to your work too, and just how amazing it is that the music that you're putting out.

I heard that you get some of your inspiration from your dreams. How do dreams influence your music?

Daniel: Great question. What a good question. Well, there were periods–you know, I was going through, like, kind of a stressful time–and I would just, on certain nights, I would fall asleep, maybe for a little bit, or not even at all, and just lie there awake, and I'd be hallucinating music. And it would last for hours and hours and hours and hours, and the music that I heard on those nights is definitely the best music I've ever written. And I'll never get there. I want to, though. If you do something for long enough, it starts to do you. So that's what happened to me. Maybe it's craziness, but I'm having a good time with it.

Isabel: When that happened, when you had these hallucinations, did you stop what you were doing and immediately, write it down, the music that you were hearing, or did you like let it marinate for a little?

Daniel: I was trying to sleep. If  you get up and like…I didn’t want to be doing that, even though it was fun. I had to work. I woke up at 4:30. No, it happens too much at a certain point. It’s all the time, usually, like I’ve always had a song in my head at all times, but now it's more intense than that. I am writing a song in my head most of the time. But I think that's a good thing. Then I do it more than anyone else, which is how you get better at it. …It’s hard to describe. You ever get a song in your head, you just start singing it all the time?

Isabel: Yes, yeah. Something I was talking about with my friends is when you wake up with a song in your head, like a song you've been hearing. I always listen to it as soon as soon as I wake up. If I'm thinking of a song, I listen to it immediately – it's like your subconscious saying something to you. But what does it mean? What does the song mean? Where is it coming from?

Daniel: It's beautiful. That's a beautiful moment. That's when you know a song is really good. That's when it catches you. It starts to take hold of you. You know, you have to listen to it.

Isabel: Also you have to like, honor it, the fact that you've gotten this subliminal message from inside your subconscious. You need to honor that feeling. And follow that through.

Moving back to your latest release, I was so excited when you had a Christmas song, because I feel like Christmas songs aren't made as often as they should be, and yours was so fun. What compelled you to make “DID SANTA COME VAR. IX”?

Daniel: My son, he'd wake up every day after Christmas when he was two or three. “Did Santa come?” and it was like every single day for an entire month. And I loved it, you know? It stuck with me,

so I made a song out of it. But, yeah, you know, making a Christmas song, lots of Christmas songs are made. In fact, I think it's probably the most common song. It's just none of them stick.

Isabel: No, I would argue that there are Christmas songs being made. It’s just none of them are very good, or that I want to keep listening to throughout the year. There's only like a handful that are good. I always try to do a Christmas show, and there's only a handful I want to pick from. I didn't get to do a Christmas show this year, but I would have played your song.

Daniel: H**l yes! Like Mariah Carey, you know, make a million dollars every Christmas!

Isabel: Exactly, gotta do it for the investment.

What’s the song writing process like, and also working with your brother?

Daniel: It just happens. Steve comes over–it's always more fun with Steve there. Like a lot of the joy of the band is I get to hang out with Steve. He's the best, by far, the best brother. And, you know, we just sit down. I go to the piano, he goes to the drums, and we turn the song on, the recorder, on and off to the races. It's really not more than that. You know, most of the record I would improvise, and then maybe I would do it again. Or I would use just the improvised version, and maybe double the guitar or whatever because I don't have a lot of time to make records, so I gotta do it right now. And if you have that energy, you get a lot done. You just press record and you go, and you can make a whole record in an hour. How do you think I am going to get to 1000 if I spend time on it? I'm never going to get there.

Isabel: Is that the goal, 1000 variations?

Daniel: Oh, yeah, you think I'm joking?

Isabel: No, I am excited. I am excited for what, 100 more albums? How involved are you in the production side of your music creation?

Daniel: It’s all me. I track it. I play most of the instruments, sometimes all the instruments. I arrange it, I mix it, and I master it, then you can hear it.

Isabel: What’s it like being so involved in that process and having full artistic autonomy over your music?

Daniel: I'm not that good at explaining myself sometimes, especially about this kind of stuff, where, like, I know what I want. And it's either like, not what I want, or I'm being annoying to the person doing it until they do what I want, so it's easier for me to do it, and I mean, for everyone. And it's cheaper and faster.

Isabel: What music have you had on repeat recently?

Daniel: I love Prince. I’ve been listening to a lot of Prince. He's so great not even just the records. There's all this on YouTube of seven inches. He made so much music that he released on his 90s version of a Patreon. He had a lot of albums he only released to them. He had instrumental music. He had so much music. All of it is good. All of it. He's the greatest. Love him.

Isabel: What is your dream venue to perform at?

Daniel: Madison Square Garden. Trying to sell it out, like Billy Joel. You know, you play one concert every month, and that's your only working day. You know, it's pretty cool. You got to admire the style, right? Selling out Madison Square Garden every single month for like, so like, 50 or 60 months is straight, and that’s your only job.

Isabel: Amazing. I think if you get to 1000 variations you’ll get there.

Daniel: Oh, I am going to get to 1000 variations and I will be there. 

Isabel: And I'll be there too. In the crowd, if I can get there!

Daniel: Come through!

Isabel: Have you heard of the term the y’allternative?

Daniel: No.

Isabel: This is a word my friend put me on to. Basically this is the definition, if you look it up, “a fun soul subculture that blends traditional country and cowboy style with emo goth and alternative edginess.” I thought it fits you perfectly. There are also lots of other artists right now that have been popping up that are kind of fitting into this word. Do you think that it fits your style?

Daniel: I see what you're saying. I think you don't want to know what I think. This is for you. You guys get to say what this music sounds like in whatever way you want. I like that. If that's what you want, then I love it. I'm down.

Isabel: Cute. So now that you're going on tour, do you have any goals for your upcoming tour? Anything you want to accomplish?

Daniel: I want to get to every show, have a good time, and make sure that everyone else does too.

Isabel: That's great. Do you have a crazy tour story? What's the craziest thing that's happened at one of your shows?

Daniel:  I don't know. Touring is a funny thing. I've been doing it for a long time. I used to play shows to zero people. Me and Will would play to zero, one, and then the guy would just leave. It's grueling, if really nobody knows who you are, anybody, and that's how most of the shows were. I think that teaches you a really good lesson to go through that, though. But that's beautiful because you're just doing it for you? There's no one else in f***ing the place. Some of the best shows are like that, you know.

Isabel: And no one was even there to enjoy it besides you! But I'm sure it’s fulfilling to feel that: just have that love for performing and hearing your songs live, even without an audience. It just really brings it out for you personally.

Daniel: This is with a lot of hindsight, in the moment that was pretty bad.

Isabel: Hindsight is an amazing gift.

Daniel: Yeah, wow. You got some good things. You got some very smart things to say tonight. I love it. 

Isabel: Thank you. I mean, I don't know if I believe it. It's one of those things you just tell yourself, maybe the same thing as hindsight. You could tell yourself it later, and you're like, “I don't know if I still believe it.” If there's something that listeners could take away from 1000 Variations on the Same Song, what would you hope that would be?

Daniel: The music doesn't need any other, that's what I want to say. Turn it up if you like it. If you dance to it, if you just like the way it sounds, turn it up. If not, turn it off. But there's nothing else to add to it. There's no subtext that I want to say, besides what I've already said.

Isabel: No more Mixtape Liner Notes for it.

Daniel: Yeah, listen, it's a good joke, you know. You have to have style with every aspect of the song, of the form, of the record itself. I'm getting good at this. You guys should not have let me make music for this long now. I'm, like, amazing at it. 

Isabel: I think we can all hear it though. I think you've been amazing at making music, though. Speaking of having style in every form. How did you decide on the cover for the album?

Daniel: So the cover for the album is me and Steve in front of this prop shop that my friend owns. I was working there at the time, and there was a strike, and we all lost our jobs. Then we turned it into a furniture store temporarily called Stillwell. I wrote a theme song called the Stillwell Theme, with the guys there. We were just having fun with it. It’s the first song on the record. I was hanging out there a lot during this record and making it so it seemed fitting. It’s a meaningful cover to me. Photos of the band are the best covers.

Isabel: Do you have a favorite album cover that comes to mind when you say photos of the band?

Daniel: The Beatles, when they're butchers, is one of the best album covers ever. All of the Beatles album covers are all good. They're all photos of the band, and all of them are amazing. Abbey Road. Paul's barefoot, why? Hall and Oates, like all of those, they're so funny. Oh my god, they look crazy. I love Oates' mustache–it’s the most important part of the band. I like so much music and album covers. What are your favorite album covers?

Isabel: The first one that comes to mind is the My Bloody Valentine, I’m blanking on what it's called, the EP with two people kissing, not Loveless [Glider]. I want that as a poster on and a T-shirt. I love that. I would say that's the first one that comes to mind. I’m also such a visual person. When I think of an album, the way it sounds, it'll also be connected to the way it looks. It will inform how it sounds for me. Do you find yourself thinking the same? 

Daniel: Me too. I love album covers. I love them so much. The tech bro approach to what music should be a four by two, little, tiny thing, and then just press play and it looks really cute. I don't care what the tech bros thinks looks cute. Show me what the artist thinks looks cute.

Isabel: Well, thank you so much for coming on here and chatting with me. I appreciate it! Any other messages you have for listeners tuning in?

Daniel: Much love from New Rochelle, I'll make it back to Boston soon. I love all of you.

Isabel: Can't wait. We'll be there. Thank you so much Daniel for the time. This has been great.

Daniel: Thanks y’all!

Written by: Isabel Von Mende

Edited by: Brooke Olson