Tim Franklin: Cow Certified

Tim Franklin grew up in the small village of Mowersville, PA. Most of his neighbors were Amish and knew nothing about the joys of rock music. Their cows however, would commute the length of their pasture to sit below the window of Tim’s bedroom and listen to his first band rehearse. The band was called “The End” and consisted of a 15 year old Tim on 12 string acoustic guitar, his 13 year old brother James on bass, and his 9 year old brother Peter playing drums. The band began to instantly play originals as Tim discovered an interest in and talent for songwriting. They played at the county fair, Applefest, Chambersfest, in a bank, and at any rec center they could afford to rent out. They once even built a stage complete with overhead lights in the middle of a field so they could perform. As a soloist, Tim also won several high school talent awards, the Louis Armstrong Award, and wrote his class song. His main influences at the time came from The Violent Femmes, Pixies, Nirvana, and The Posies.

Tim left for Boston to attend Berklee College of Music initially to major in songwriting and arranging. Frustrated by the lackluster songwriting he heard there, he decided instead to major in Music Production and Engineering. While at Berklee, he couldn’t escape the influence of jazz music. Instead he embraced it and developed his arranging skills and guitar chops. His big band arrangement of “Mr Brownstone” by Guns N’ Roses was performed at the Berklee Performance Center with Mr. Franklin conducting with a toothbrush. He graduated Summa Cum Laude. His influences at this time were Frank Zappa, Sonic Youth, Ween, and Miles Davis.

While working as an R.A. at Berklee, Tim met Will Kennedy and they started an experimental pop band called Turbine. It featured Will playing trombone through distortion pedals and other processors. Will helped cure Tim’s jazz affliction and helped him realize the beauty of simplicity and repetition. The sound was unique and exciting, but short lived. The band broke up due to college work overload. Around this time, Tim began writing songs that would eventually make it to his debut album, “Hold Still”

After graduation, Tim found work in NYC as an audio engineer. This provided gainful employment and respectable amounts of free time. He wrote many songs and recorded many demos and began recording “Hold Still” with the help of Turbine alumni Will Kennedy and Josh Florian and two other Berklee friends, Marc Lacuesta and Jon Hindmarsh. Click here to read more about “Hold Still”

Tim currently plays rock music with the band Molecule, but he still pursues his more experimental and quirky acoustic music as a soloist. If he were to list his influences now they'd probably be Superdrag, Wilco, The Magnetic Fields, and Neutral Milk Hotel. He is a prolific and inventive songwriter and a passionate performer. See him live, buy his CD and support his art so he can continue to make more.