Psychedelic rocker Neal Francis plans to celebrate the release of his third studio album, the funk-heavy “Return to Zero” (ATO Records), later this week by fielding a merciless onslaught of insults courtesy of the profane cashiers at Lincoln Park staple The Wieners Circle. The Oak Park-raised piano prodigy attributes this perverse desire to his expansive love of the city and its famous encased meat.
“I’m unabashedly a fan of Chicago-style hot dogs. My fiancé is a little bit worried about my consumption, probably deservedly so,” he said over a video call from his Pilsen home, flanked by gear and musical doodads.
In addition to playing an all-vinyl DJ set, the 36-year-old will “lay my Chicago accent on really thick and just generally ham it up” while “humbly” working the line like a regular employee. And he has the fast food bona fides to back the publicity stunt up — he used to man the register at a little grill in Diversey Harbor while parlaying the mentorship of local boogie-woogie piano legend Erwin Helfer into full-fledged gigs at blues and jazz clubs around the city.
For this afternoon of returning to his day-job roots, Francis will trade in the sleek, chest-baring jumpsuit and eyeliner look from his “Francis Comes Alive” concert film and accompanying double album — recorded in 2023 over two nights at Thalia Hall (and blessed by the father of the live album himself, Peter Frampton) — for something a little less chic.
“I have a hot dog suit that I’m going to wear during the whole thing that just came in the mail. We got it from Chicago Costume,” he said with the excitement of a kid on Halloween.
Francis and his band (drummer Collin O’Brien, bassist Mike Starr and guitarist Austin Koenigstein) will preview tracks from “Return to Zero” on the eve of the album’s release for concertgoers who sign up for a chance for entry through his social media pages at Lincoln Park club aliveOne, a place the songwriter knows inside and out after playing there weekly when he fronted instrumental funksters The Heard. (“It was a very formative time in my life,” he said.)
After the last year of winning over crowds at festivals such as Bonnaroo in Tennessee, New York’s cavernous Carnegie Hall and a late-night spot on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, returning to aliveOne takes on the quality of a “This Is Your Life” TV episode. It’s going to be a “laugh riot” Francis predicted. “It’s going to be so much fun. I think I’ll just feel really free in that space.”
Despite having more in common sonically with New Orleans haunt Tipitina’s than defunct dive bar CBGB in New York, Francis said there’s a “punk energy that I’m trying to tap into” for his upcoming 35-date spring tour.
Going out there and rocking out seems like the best way to combat the rampant restlessness in the world. “There’s so much noise in the world right now — some of it is really scary for me,” Francis said. “That’s my mission — to let everybody else let go and feel something.”
The disco-fringed, Dr. John-influenced 2019 album “Changes” felt like a quintessential debut in that it encompassed the entirety of Francis’ experience up to that point in his burgeoning career — years of preparation and musical calisthenics, rigorous touring with the likes of Mud Morganfield, the son of Muddy Waters, and the personal fumbles someone in his early 20s not beholden to a strict 9-to-5 schedule is apt to fall into.
For 2021’s dreamy, jam-heavy “In Plain Sight,” Francis put his struggles with the isolation of the lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sting of love gone wrong and the hurdle of maintaining sobriety all on tape at the former St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood while he was also living in the congregation’s parsonage.
The difficult story of “Return to Zero,” recorded mostly in Los Angeles with frequent collaborator Sergio Rios co-producing, lies within Francis’ inner critic. “I keep meeting my shortcomings on the field,” he said. “I learned a lot of ways not to make a record on this one.”
His main hangup? “Just me,” he said. “There’s this voice inside me that’s like ‘You better do it perfectly.’ And my whole life is built around telling that voice to chill. It’s just like this competition I’m in with myself and I want to outdo myself. In trying to do that, I really didn’t leave a lot of room for having fun in this endeavor.”
Despite these proclamations of dread, the album slaps. “Dirty Little Secret” bounces with a slinky Eurythmics vibe while the sashay of “150 More Times” could make Elton John sit on his hands and donate his Yamaha. “What’s Left of Me” chugs like a whimsical train on its way to the stars and if “Back It Up” soundtracked “Saturday Night Fever,” maybe anti-disco sentiment would have never gained traction.
“Need You Again” shoots out of a cannon with no-nonsense backing vocals courtesy of Brooklyn trio Say She She and a parade of guitar from Soulive’s Eric Krasno. The lyrics recount the feeling of romanticizing a love interest to the point of addiction.
Even as Francis prepares to unleash this batch of songs onto the public, his mind wanders to the next collection. “I want to work on writing songs that aren’t always autobiographical,” he said when asked if his growing success and engagement to his “wonderful” love, Piper, will impede his muse.
Then again, “there’s an infinite well of sadness to draw from,” he said. “That was supposed to be sarcastic, but also a little bit true. I don’t know where art is supposed to come from, but historically for me, it’s come from suffering. I keep wondering if that’s required. I hope it’s not.”
Janine Schaults is a freelance writer.
Neal Francis on March 13 at aliveOne, 2683 N. Halsted St., doors open at 7 p.m. with Birds of Prey opening; free, reserved entry via @nealfrancismusic on Facebook and Instagram, plus limited admission at the door. Then serving hotdogs at 6 p.m. on March 14 at The Wieners Circle, 2622 N. Clark St., followed by a 7 p.m. DJ set, first 50 customers receive a free T-shirt or trucker hat.