Submitted photoParty-blues rocker Andy Frasco (fourth from left) and his band The U.N. will perform at Volcanic Theatre Pub on Sunday.

Andy Frasco could use a break.

Luckily for the self-proclaimed “party blues” singer and keyboardist, he was in the middle of one when he spoke with GO! Magazine recently from his home in Los Angeles. He and his six-piece band The U.N. had just returned from a December tour in China, bringing his total performances for 2015 to at least 250.

But the reprieve would be short-lived. The very next day, Frasco and The U.N. kicked off a 2½-month U.S. tour in support of their fourth studio album “Happy Bastards,” due out Feb. 26. That tour will bring the band to Volcanic Theatre Pub on Sunday before wrapping at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, in mid-March. Then it’s off to Europe. Then China again.

“I’d like to have at least 10 more days off, or maybe 25 more days off,” Frasco said, laughing. “But you know, I’m cool with doing 200 (shows) a year; I’m 27, so I’m still figuring out how to … do it, you know. But I love it; it’s a process.”

After nearly 10 years of hard touring like this with The U.N., Frasco has at least figured out how to survive the rigors of the road.

“It’s like the little things — you’re basically married to seven dudes and you can’t have sex with them, so you have to go through the little things that’ll make you happy and realize that home is where you make it, not where you put your things,” he said. “And if you have that perspective, you can make it through a lot more years of touring than you really think you can. I didn’t think I’d make it 10 years with these guys.”

It’s easy to understand Frasco’s doubts. Ten years ago Frasco didn’t even play an instrument; his musical aspirations were focused on the business side of the industry. At age 14 he worked for California indie label Drive-Thru Records, folding T-shirts for New Found Glory. Eventually the label’s owner Richard Reines took Frasco under his wing.

“I didn’t start till I was 18 or 17, so I was just managing my friends’ bands, DJ-ing bar mitzvahs and stuff,” Frasco said.

His knowledge of the industry and experience managing groups such as Hello Goodbye allowed him to hit the ground running with The U.N. For the first five years of the band’s existence Frasco served as booker, establishing the strong do-it-yourself ethic that still permeates the band’s music and attitude.

That all comes full circle on “Happy Bastards,” which finds Frasco ruminating on his experiences on the road as he grapples with maturity in the digital age. This comes through clearest on mid-album barn-burner “Mature as F***,” a punked-out, cheeky anthem for 30-something millennials grappling with growing up.

“I wanted to write a punk song about how being an individual and maybe your way of growing up isn’t what the norm is, but who cares?” Frasco said. “As long as you’re doing it and you’re happy about it and you’re being genuine with yourself, then who cares if you do all these crazy things in life that aren’t accepted by the norm? Because you’re mature as f***, you do what you want to do.”

The rest of the album also finds Frasco branching out from his blues-rock roots, integrating elements of reggae, soul, gospel and funk across 12 high-energy tracks recorded mostly live in-studio with producers Rick Parker (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Scott Weiland) and Oingo Boingo’s John Avila.

“I’m not chasing any rabbit tail, I’m just gonna do what I want. That’s why I put a punk song and a reggae song on it,” Frasco said. “I wanted this album to be — I wanted to write better lyrics on this album and I wanted to write stuff where it is a party, and then there’s some songs where you can hear a theme and tone (of) just growing up, being a millennial and having everything essentially given to you, and then you have to grow up.”

Frasco wrote the songs with guitarist Shawn Eckels and longtime friend and singer-songwriter Kenli Mattus. The three holed up for a month, writing a song a day for 30 days, then whittled the list down to the 12 best to record. The sessions allowed Frasco to focus on the songwriting process for the first time, he said.

“I’m normally making an album on the road, not taking the time and just finding a groove — ‘Oh, that’s cool’ — and then writing lyrics in the studio,” Frasco said. “This time I really thought out the lyrics and tried to fine-tune my songwriting so I’m not just a crazy frontman; I want to be a songwriter, too.”

Success and happiness, and specifically how the two relate to each other, are also key themes on the album (something Frasco also addressed in a recent blog post on his website).

“Basically, I think success is just a mind state of how happy you can be every day of your life,” he said. “… All we’re trying to do is show people you can fulfill your dreams if you just try. I didn’t know how to play an instrument; I just had this drive that nothing was gonna stop me. If I can teach that to my fans and have them fulfill whatever dream they have, I did my job.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7814, bmcelhiney@bendbulletin.com