Revenge Is Sweet
For a man who has watched many of his colleagues become rich and famous, Dr. Frank isn't as jaded as you might think. Having witnessed the rise of fellow Bay Area punks Green Day and Rancid into million-selling megastars, the singer and guitarist for Berkeley's Mr T. Experience says he's quite content with his smaller-scale music career. "My main goal was never to become a pop star," says Dr. Frank, who is also the main songwriter for the pop-punk band with a sharp sense of humor. "I want to work with whatever limited resources I have and continue to make records." Although the 12-year-old band has gone through its share of ups and downs -- from lineup changes to a disastrous European tour -- Dr. Frank says the band's stress level is substantially lower than that of its major-label counterparts. "If you don't have a hit right away, the major labels don't want to have anything to do with you. We're trying to do it the way we want to do it." And MTX -- which plays the Republik tonight -- has always done it independently. Its latest CD, Revenge Is Sweet And So Are You, was released last year on the Berkeley-based Lookout! Records label. "We never got to the level that some of the other punk bands did ... but we've done alright. We've always just carved out our own little niche."