Source: Brian Wise
Usually most interviews take place under strict time limits and within certain parameters. We might be trying to get information for a profile piece or fill in the gaps of a record company press release. In a phone interview it can be difficult to establish any rapport with the interviewee or get them to say anything other than what they might have said to a dozen other journalists. 
So it was refreshing to talk to Glenn Hansard, lead singer and founder of Irish band The Frames who are currently wrapping up their latest American tour on their way to Australia. 
Hansard and I have discovered that we have a mutual dislike of producer Trevor Horn (ex-Buggles, Yes) - nothing personal, of course, we just hate his production - and this is enough to establish a rapport between us and encourage some straight talking from the musician. 
"I can't stand any record he's ever made!" asserts the voice down a phone line from New York. 
"I can't think of any record that he's ever made that I like," he adds. Off hand, neither can I. 
Horn has been responsible for some of pop music's worst aural atrocitiies and he ranks even higher in my Top 5 List Of Producers Who Should Be Banned From The Studio than Jeff Lynne (and he has set the bar fairly high). 
"He kept saying to us, 'Admit it, you're Hootie & The Blowfish' and I kept saying 'We're not f**king Hootie & The f**king Blowfish'," says Hansard confirming the impression that Horn is definitely not on his Christmas card list. 
"He is perfect for singer-songwriters who don't have a vision but we already had a career and a vision," he adds. 
Hansard tells how he had wanted to work with Steve Albini (Pixies and Nirvana) but that Horn had conspired against the band and told Albini that they had another producer. You can imagine what Hansard has to say about that. 
"It was just constant fighting after that," says Hansard, "at the end of the day I told Trevor he had to let us go otherwise I was going to get sick." 
Hansard gives Horn some credit credit for at least letting the band out of their deal but you wonder about what might have been the results of the unhappy recording sessions anyway. 
"At the time we were morose," Hansard explains, "but I said 'let's just roll with it' and that is what we did." 
The original version of the Frames made its debut at an Irish music festival back in 1990 after which Hansard co-starred in Alan Parker's film The Commitments. The band released its first single in 1992 and has since then released four albums. 
The latest Frames album, For The Birds, quite different to anything that the band has done before, was in fact produced by Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana) who they finally got after the fall out with Horn. Albini's touch can be heard in some of the more dramatic moments as the music creates some interesting moods. 
Hansard and his colleagues - bassist Joe Doyle, guitarist Rob Bochnik, drummer David Hingerty and violinist Colm Mac Con Iomaire on violin - self-financed the album and recorded it at Albini's Chicago studio and in Kerry, Ireland. 
The influences of the band members range from Led Zeppelin, to indie rock and folk but they all agree that they are fans of 'avant-grunge' band Deus, the first Belgian band ever signed to a major international label. The eclecticism of the influences can be heard in Albini's atmospheric production. 
"Steve's got the best studio I've ever been in," marvels Hansard, "I've been in a lot of studios but Steve's place pisses on them all. He built it himself. He also has the greatest collection of pre-World War 2 Neumann microphones in the world." 
Albini's self-contained studio allows him to spend inordinate amounts of time in seclusion working on the music. 
'We went out to see The Exorcist with him one night and it was the first time he had left the building for three months!" 
"Steve was the right producer for us," adds Hansard, "he says, 'Trust your own music, you're the boss. I can't believe that, after all these years and all the listening to what others told us, we were right all the time!" 
Hansard admits that he thought that the new musical direction taken by the band might have some consequences on its fans. 
"I thought we would lose seventy per cent of our audience," he admits, "but the fact is that we have actually gained more fans than we've lost." 
Like many albums these days, For The Birds, has different distributors for different territories but Hansard is hardly worried about not being with a major label any more. 
"It's done well, despite the fact that we don't have a major label deal," he says, "We've been with a major and didn't sell a f**king copy. We don't need a major label." 
The Frames Australian tour begins in Adelaide on October 16. 

From the current darlings of Ireland's indscene,
 The Frames' latest release is their first 
live album, recorded before an intimate 
audience in the Czech Republic. The majority 
of the 12 tracks are taken from their last studio 
effort, For the Birds, with most of the 
arrangements having slightly more of a folk 
bent to them. There are some louder moments 
(and beautifully so) such as when Czech 
violinist Jan Hruby sits in on their epic number 
"Fitzcarraldo." Hruby's haunting eastern 
European style brilliantly compliments Frames' 
fiddler Colm Mac Con Iomaire, while the 
emotion in Glen Hansard's voice is almost 
palpable. The album clearly illustrates the 
band's incredible musicianship and their 
passion for their music. Breadcrumb Trail is a 
must have for any true Frames fan, or 
alternatively, a great introduction for those who 
have yet to discover their rich talents. [DK]

Ontario, Kanada

BAND LINKS
www.theframes.ie
The official Frames site. Music, images and news. Go get some Irish lovin'!
PUBLICITY CONTACT
Gaynor Crawford Publicity
Email: Gaynor Crawford
Ph: (02) 6655 092

The Frames had tried to set up working time during the making of Dance The Devil with Steve Albini who has produced Nirvana, Bush and The Wedding Present as well as a host of lesser-known artists. This time around, and without the interference of label management, the band finally found this opportunity, through a chance meeting between Glen and Steve at a gig Glen was playing in Chicago. The forthcoming album, For The Birds was originally to be co-produced in its entirety by dEUS member Craig Ward, but when the offer came from Albini the band relocated to his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago to complete further recordings. 

Glen "This time... this time on this record it's the first time we've actually had an opportunity to make decisions for ourselves and be smart for ourselves, so therefore yes of course we'll do as much press as possible, yes of course we'll do as many gigs. We'd never refuse to do anything like that and of course we'll be smart about what songs we release as singles and we'll try our best to try promote them and if we get a video made we'd love it to be played, you know. Em, so all the things that we were known to resist against... like even radio edits, of course we'll cut a song down if it's five and a half minutes, we'll try cut it down to four or three and a half to get it on the radio but once we decide that, once it's our, you know... because we've never had say in our creative..." 

Dave "Yeah, great to have all the decisions." 

Do you feel in any way jaundiced now, not about making music, but about the whole practice of putting it out there? 

Glen "Well, the weird thing about this album is for the first time there's noone to fight, so it's a weird one. I mean it really is, I have to admit. It's bizarre" 

The Frames are in unmapped territory now. But the experience would seem to be a liberating one. They have bagged an admirably catch-free distribution deal with Sony in Ireland for distribution of For The Birds, under their own label, Plateau Records, and they are in the process of negotiating similar deals to distribute the album elsewhere. It must be a strangely exhilarating if somewhat disorientating (even frightening) scenario for them to face. Like a prolonged outpost to the desert after years in the city, having never been aware of this spiritual sand plain's existence. Still, they have pointers because they are not the first to negotiate this terrain. And they have good friends.

So, what was it like then to finally work with Steve Albini?

Glen pauses to look at his cohort. 

Dave answers, in a way, for him, paving the way for an effusive description of the working process in Steve's studio, "He's a hero, for you, isn't he?"

Glen "Steve was amazing. You know what's happened... the great thing about Steve was we spent most of the time talking. Steve couldn't believe it, he was like, I can't believe it. Tell me another story. 'Cause he doesn't deal with major label bands that much. " 

Dave "Yeah. He was eating up the stories 'cause he hates major labels. Devouring the stories and sharing his own stories. And there was a lot of banter. He's really into sort of doing a bit of a mix or recording a band and making sure everybody has a sonic break, like having a break for their ears. So... he sits, turns his chair around, gets everybody to have a bit of a chat for a while. He was really into that wasn't he?"

Glen "Really into that."

Dave "So everybody could take a break before they listened again or before they recorded again."

Glen "And he was really enjoying the luxury 'cause we booked 10 days with him. Most bands book two 'cause most bands he deals with only have like 1,100 quid to make an album. And he says, this is a great luxury... being able to spend ten days hanging out. It was really great actually. We got a lot done as well."

Do you have any extra tracks? 

Glen "I think we recorded something like 30 backing tracks and then basically, just coming up towards the end of the session we realised that there was absolutely no way we were going to get through all that because we'd been chatting so much. So, eh, we broke it down to 15 or 16 and that's kinda' where we left it. But there's a lot of stuff sitting there waiting to be finished, which again, Steve's been like 'when can you come back over and let's work more?' " 

"So the stuff that didn't work with Steve... 'cause the way Steve works it's very, it's very Jackson Pollock. You basically just fuck audio at tape, you know. You just keep on throwing it until something really good happens. He's not about rehearsal, he's not about tuning or timing, it's all about performance." 

Dave "Atmosphere." 

Glen "Yeah. Just vibe. So, whatever songs didn't come out, 'cause there was a lot of paint just (laughing) falling off, you know, just chunks, and what didn't work out we used the stuff from Kerry, so it's a great... it's a great marriage. "

The band put the finishing touches to For The Birds, in the same French studio they hired for the making of Dance The Devil. The end result will see them splicing together recordings from Albini's studio (mixed by the man himself) and some of the anterior recordings from a session in Kerry with Craig Ward. 

The new songs heard in recent live performances bode well for the forthcoming album. The Frames will soon be providing us with crackers like 'Lay Me Down', 'So What Happens When the Heart Just Stops' and 'Disappointed', amongst others. At their core would seem to be a sparseness and fragility, borne of a difficult year that prompted much soul-searching. But the songs have developed in performance and further in the recording process. 

Glen "Well I think with any, like with any artistic work, you sorta'... you get the idea, you immediately run out and throw out the first draft. And then you sorta' sit with it... if you're lucky you get to sit with it for a few weeks and consider what it's about. And I'm really glad we've got to where we are now 'cause my attitude toward this record has swung 180 degrees from the time we started making it, to the actual... being in the middle of making it, to now." 

"So, eh, I'm really glad it's taken a while because I think if we had released this album two months ago I'd probably be unhappy with it now." 

What do you mean when you say your attitude has turned 180 degrees? 

Glen "Well I mean, personally speaking, from my own point of view, I kinda' saw the album as a very small, intimate, unassuming, eh, record. Something that didn't wave its arms around at all. Like, our last three records have been records that, in their design, wanted attention. They've sorta' stuck their hands up gone, you know, 'we're good songs please listen to us, check this out.' But I wanted to make this record something that would just come out and be completely ignored, not necessarily ignored by the press but ignored by... something that could be, you know, to use a Dave word, very 'furtive'. To put out a record that just gets away. Something that just escapes into the... and so that we could go work on another record. So, in a way, this record was about getting all those quiet songs, all those little songs that didn't really finish themselves properly, get them out of the way so that we could go work on another record."

"And what's ended up happening is I've sorta'... sorta' fallen in love with some of them and now want them to be... wanna' dress them up in good clothes and send them out into the world and say, 'Go make your dad some money'. Give them a chance to really go and be something. So, from wanting it to... from sorta' wanting it to slip through the back lane, to now wanting it to actually be heard."

They have come a long way, these musical journeymen. When later I recount having seen their first ever gig supporting another set of Dublin stalwarts Lord John White (currently to be seen in their present-day incarnation as Sack) in the since-defected Baggot Inn*, he agrees, 'A very different band'.

They have lost a few members along the way and gained a few good heads too.

Drummer Dave Hingerty has lent a supple muscularity to the sound. Bass-player Joe Doyle adds sweet vocal harmonies as well as strident bass melodies; David Odlum brings subtle ears to the band's production and teases subtle textures and hooks from his guitar. Violinist, Colm MacConIomaire, brings emotion to the proceedings as well as supplying that crucially imaginative top-end range to the overall sound. Then there are Glen's songs, more of which later. In a live context, The Frames' Irish audience is a devotional animal. At times Glen treads a thin line in performance. Innately charismatic, his generosity toward members of the audience leads him to indulge them on occasion. Still, he is aware of this, preferring to be an authoritative performer rather than an entertainer. In the end he is only beautifully flawed and he is loved for it. 

And the band has worked hard to overcome foregone hurdles, employing a lateral logic that, by Glen's description, is wont to take them all around the world just to arrive at the next point. Where it might be construed as dogged determination, the true impetus behind the band's long innings can be better understood with even a single exposure to the songs. Glen's ingenuous nature is supported by a solid musical ideology and this is the lynchpin that holds the operation together. An intense passion for his craft is evident in both performance and in conversation. 

Still, though the songs have a deeply emotive resonance, there is more at work here than intuition. The will to deconstruct, reinvent and challenge artistic presumptions is also strong. In recent years the band has developed an edgier, sparser sound that marries Will Oldham's medicine man to the progressive punk-pop of dEUS - two of their most strident influences at present. This drive to evolve has kept them from splintering or stagnating despite all recent difficulties. Also significant is the band's ability to maintain a sense of humour throughout. What makes a Frames gig so special is that tendency to oscillate between emotional extremes. Hilarity followed by hopeful sadness. These are just some of the emotional truths that Glen strives to explore in his songs. In the end, to return to the beginning, all they want is an honest shot. 

Later Glen tells us that he wants to approach his music as a tradesman. Like a carpenter. Well, why not? Kurt Wagner still lays floors when he is not taking sabbaticals to tour and record. Glen spends enough of his own time hoofing it abroad, in America especially, (playing solo shows when the band is otherwise occupied or when the financial implications of bringing a full band on tour are too great) that he might well don a cap and call himself a minstrel. He regales us further with some on-the-road tales: including a near-miss naked hot tub experience for one. 

But he has always come safely home with, as he puts it, "a story in me bag". And as long as he is collecting stories for his bag, we can expect many more such songs of carven beauty. 
Footnote: 

* Eponymously named after its Dublin street location and latterly purloined by football doyen Jack Charlton, The Baggot Inn was once a ramshackle home for Dublin's finest (and worst) musical exponents. As a live venue it possessed admirably contradictory traits: both atmospheric and aesthetically deficient, it foregrounded art over artifice. It is much missed by those who remember and fondly recalled by many who now frequent Whelans, its nearest contemporary cousin. 

"It was eerie," singer Glen Hansard told Dig. "There is a lot of emotion
here this week."

The band are on their latest American tour but this time around it is a
little more elaborate and far-reaching than in the past with a month of
coast to coast gigs line up.

Reaction to their latest album, For The Birds, has been positive - which,
according to Hansard, is also the way the band is feeling about its career
after a turbulent few years and some unhappy experiences in the recording studio working with famed producer Trevor Horn (also a former member of the Buggles and Yes).

"I can't stand any record he's ever made," says Hansard of the band's now former producer who allowed the Frames out of their contract with his record company. 

"He kept saying to us, 'Admit it, you're Hootie & The Blowfish' and I kept saying, 'We're not f---ing Hootie & the f---ing Blowfish'", adds Hansard who at least gives Horn credit for letting the band out of their deal. 

"He is perfect for singer-songwriters who don't have a vision but we already had a career and a vision."

The original version of the band made its debut at an Irish music festival back in 1990 after which Hansard co-starred in Alan Parker's film The Commitments. The band released its first single in 1992 and has since released four albums.

For The Birds was produced by Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana), whom they actually wanted for the last album Dance The Devil. However, according to Hansard, Horn conspired against them and told Albini that they already had a producer. 

"It was just constant fighting after that," says Hansard, "at the end of the day I told Trevor he had to let us go otherwise I was going to get sick."

Hansard and his colleagues -bassist Joe Doyle, guitarist Rob Bochnik, drummer David Hingerty and violinist Colm Mac Con Iomaire on violin -self-financed their fourth album and recorded it at Albini's Chicago studio and in Ireland.

"Steve's got the best studio I've ever been in," says Hansard, "He built it himself. He also has the greatest collection of pre-World War 2 Neumann microphones in the world. We went out to see a movie with him one night and it was the first time he had left the building for three months!"

"Steve was the right producer for us," notes Hansard, "he says, 'Trust your own music, you're the boss.' I can't believe that, after all these years and all the listening to what others told us, we were right all the time!"

Like many albums these days, For The Best, has different distributors for different territories but Hansard is hardly worried about not being with a major label any more.

"It's done well, despite the fact that we don't have a major label deal," he says, "We've been with a major and didn't sell a f---ing copy. We don't need a major label."

The Frames Australian tour begins in Adelaide on October 16.

(Dig Radio, Australia
5/02

The Frames Get Their Career On Track
13/9/2002
Irish band The Frames, touring here in October and their song 'Fighting On The Stairs' can be heard on DiG, were in New York this week and found themselves in the midst of the ceremonies commemorating September 11. In fact, one of the band members found himself called upon to read a dedication while taking a stroll.

"It was eerie," singer Glen Hansard told Dig. "There is a lot of emotion
here this week."

The band are on their latest American tour but this time around it is a
little more elaborate and far-reaching than in the past with a month of
coast to coast gigs line up.

Reaction to their latest album, For The Birds, has been positive - which,
according to Hansard, is also the way the band is feeling about its career
after a turbulent few years and some unhappy experiences in the recording studio working with famed producer Trevor Horn (also a former member of the Buggles and Yes).

"I can't stand any record he's ever made," says Hansard of the band's now former producer who allowed the Frames out of their contract with his record company. 

"He kept saying to us, 'Admit it, you're Hootie & The Blowfish' and I kept saying, 'We're not f---ing Hootie & the f---ing Blowfish'", adds Hansard who at least gives Horn credit for letting the band out of their deal. 

"He is perfect for singer-songwriters who don't have a vision but we already had a career and a vision."

The original version of the band made its debut at an Irish music festival back in 1990 after which Hansard co-starred in Alan Parker's film The Commitments. The band released its first single in 1992 and has since released four albums.

For The Birds was produced by Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana), whom they actually wanted for the last album Dance The Devil. However, according to Hansard, Horn conspired against them and told Albini that they already had a producer. 

"It was just constant fighting after that," says Hansard, "at the end of the day I told Trevor he had to let us go otherwise I was going to get sick."

Hansard and his colleagues -bassist Joe Doyle, guitarist Rob Bochnik, drummer David Hingerty and violinist Colm Mac Con Iomaire on violin -self-financed their fourth album and recorded it at Albini's Chicago studio and in Ireland.

"Steve's got the best studio I've ever been in," says Hansard, "He built it himself. He also has the greatest collection of pre-World War 2 Neumann microphones in the world. We went out to see a movie with him one night and it was the first time he had left the building for three months!"

"Steve was the right producer for us," notes Hansard, "he says, 'Trust your own music, you're the boss.' I can't believe that, after all these years and all the listening to what others told us, we were right all the time!"

Like many albums these days, For The Best, has different distributors for different territories but Hansard is hardly worried about not being with a major label any more.

"It's done well, despite the fact that we don't have a major label deal," he says, "We've been with a major and didn't sell a f---ing copy. We don't need a major label."

The Frames Australian tour begins in Adelaide on October 16.

(Dig Radio, Australia

It's 10:30 p.m. and I'm in a smoke-thick bar in Philadelphia nursing a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon and trying in vain to screen out the screaming noise of the local opening act in the room next door, when the woman seated to my left suddenly leans in close and yells into my ear: "Which band are you here to see?" 
"The Frames," I holler back. Her eyes go saucer shaped, and she grips my shoulder. 
"They're so good," she says, leaning hard into the last two words. 
It turns out that the woman lived for six months in the group's native Ireland and fell in love with their music almost instantly. When I explain that I am at the show because I'm writing about the band, her tone changes from enthusiasm to consternation. 
"You'd better say nice things about them," she admonishes, knitting her brow and wagging a maternal finger at me. I smile a polite affirmative, and she leaves. I'm about to return my attention to the sweating bottle in front of me when I feel a tap on my other shoulder and so swivel to face the young lady sitting on my opposite side. 
"Were you guys talking about the Frames?" she asks. I nod, and she lays a hand over her heart. 
"They're so good." 
THIS IS HOW it works with the Frames, the deft Irish pop group who've ballooned in stature by getting smaller and more personal in sound. After a three-record run as Bono-fied anthem grinders, the Frames reinvented themselves with last year's stunning For the Birds, a brittle folk masterpiece full of regret and raw longing. Courageously abandoning their dependence on big, obvious dynamics, the Frames hang their hearts on the elemental: a single weeping violin line, an arpeggio that flutters down like snowfall. At a time when indie pop is peopled by heartbreaking twerps and swaggering geniuses, the Frames have won affection through nuance and restraint. 
To hear frontman Glen Hansard tell it, though, the whole thing was a terrible mistake. 
"Two weeks after we released it, I thought it was the worst record we had ever made and I wanted no part of it. The band talked me back in. The public's reaction was a genuine revelation-people really seemed to connect with this record." 
Which is a colossal achievement for a band that had gone 10 long years without earning so much as polite applause. 
Hansard's career began at age 13, after he arrived at the sobering realization that school held no promise for him. 
"I really wasn't cut out for it," he says. "My principal was a DJ, and whenever I got sent to him--which was often--we would sit and talk about Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Eventually, he said to me, 'You should leave school, Glen. It's not for you.' So that day, I left for the last time and went straight out busking." After burning four years banging out Cure songs at busy intersections, Hansard took a loan from his mother and recorded a primitive demo. The tape attracted the interest of an Island Records exec, and Hansard quickly assembled the Frames to record a powder-keg debut, Another Love Song, with Pixies producer Gil Norton. 
"It was not a great record," Hansard flatly admits, "and I blame my love of the Pixies. If I hadn't discovered Surfer Rosa, it may have been a country-folky sort of record. When it didn't make money, we were dropped from the label." 
The group recorded two independent follow-ups, 1996's Fitzcarraldo and 1999's Dance the Devil, but neither of them cohered for more than a handful of songs. Exhausted and quickly growing cynical, the group signed with Chicago's Overcoat Records in 2001 and set to work on their fourth attempt. But rather than fall back into routine, Hansard approached the situation pragmatically. 
"We spent years knowing there was something wrong with the way we were doing things. For a long time, we had trusted an industry that's only interested in one thing: cash. Ten years of not seeing any ourselves made us realize we need not listen to anyone anymore." 
And so the Frames set to work on For the Birds, a record that coolly inverted everything the group had done to that point. 
"We set out to make the album as small as possible," Hansard says. "It became a lesson in what not to play, an exercise in resistance. We found the best notes are the ones that are suggested." The result is deeply, genuinely moving. Hansard's quivering voice instills his desperate lyrics with a sense of yearning and brokenness. Whole songs pivot on his evocative phrase turns: "What Happens When the Heart Just Stops" doesn't fully open up into its glorious mezzo-forte conclusion until Hansard wails, "There is a lie that drags us beating and bawling into disappointment." 
It's as if Glen Hansard finally found a way to make the music mine the depths of his passion--by turning everything down. 
At the show in Philadelphia, the crowd sways as if Hansard's got them in a trance, and the whole room is crackling with anticipation as the band prepares to deliver the crushing crescendo that concludes "Headlong." Out of the corner of my eye, I spot one of the women I talked to earlier. She catches me looking and nods, and as the two of us return our attention to the stage, a single thought emerges, crystallizing just as the final bars kick in and the whole place erupts in spontaneous applause: 
She was right. The Frames are so good. 
info@seattleweekly.com

D Clay, ManUnderStress, and myself took to the town on Saturday night to check out a highly recommended band called The Frames at the Echo Lounge. After two better than average opening acts, said band did not disappoint. How did I not hear of this band before? Plenty of kids in the audience were evidently tuned in and the Irish lads played with confidence and enthusiasm. They were obviously stoked to have a decent sized crowd in attendance. 
It just so happens that Coldplay was scheduled to play a soldout show at the Masquarade Music Park (capacity 4000) but the incliment weather forced the band to cancel. So their lead singer as well as opening act Ash headed down to East Atlanta. After a short, liquored up conversation about the cancelled show, Chris from Coldplay (i think thats his name) offered to buy me a drink. What a nice guy. 
A few minutes later I noticed him handing out liquor drinks to a group of cute Dubliners behind me and basically called him a wanker and told him I wasn't going to be purchasing his next album. He then turned to me, handed me my drink and said "Here's your *%$%ing Jack and Coke, mother&%%*er." I thanked him, we had a few laughs about it, and then talked for a few minutes about music. 
It was interesting talking to him about his album. This is a guy who has the #5 album in the nation, has sold a million plus copies and he's talking like a friend who just loaned me a cd for the weekend. "Give it two or three listens, it'll grow on you. I like tracks 1, 4, and 5 the best. They're my favorites." 
Minutes later he's onstage, playing with The Frames and Ash. To the delight of the 40 or so people who made it until 2:30 AM, the show went on and on, Coldplay pleasing a crowd one-one hundredth the size of that intended. The boys from The Frames were all smiles, the kids from Ash taking requests until 3:00 or so, and the dwindling crowd all figuring their $8 was well spent.  [9/15/2002]

... and a bit more about it... by milli
i believe it is Ash that are touring with Coldplay at the moment in America, altho they did play onstage with the Frames... Here's a post Claire put up earlier this week: " Ash and Coldplay Play Atlanta Despite Cancelled Show On Saturday last, September 14th, Ash and Coldplay were scheduled to play the Masquerade Music Park, an outdoor music venue in Atlanta, Georgia. Inclement weather, however, led to the show's cancellation. Horizontal rain and high winds damaged Coldplay's equipment during the band's afternoon soundcheck. Approximately 4000 people had tickets to the show, but no alternate venue could be found in time to move the show. As a consolation, Coldplay's Chris Martin and Jon Buckland performed an impromptu acoustic set in the venue's parking lot. In addition, Ash agreed to do a free show inside the Masquerade nightclub that evening. After Ash's set, the band and Coldplay's Chris and Jon raced across town to check out The Frames, who were headlining a show at The Echo Lounge in East Atlanta. Upon recognizing Tim Wheeler and Chris Martin in the audience, The Frames' lead singer, Glen Hansard, invited Ash and Coldplay to join them onstage. Ash performed a quick set which included "Kung Fu" and "Shining Light", featuring Chris Martin on vocals. Eventually members of all three bands took to the stage to form a supergroup coverband. Highlights of the 90-minute set included Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind," The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind," The Pixies' "Debaser," the Monkees' "Daydream Believer" and an acoustic version of "Burn Baby Burn" with Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley on drums and Ash drummer Rick McMurray on guitar"...

Interview with Glen Hansard, 26-th August 2002, after the gig in town Roznov, Czech republic, in the end played with John Janečka and Jiri Petrek from  czech band RAUS (full hall for 250 people).

So Glen, how was the gig tonight? Have you enjoyed it?

Yeah, very much. I really like a room where you can take every dynamic, you know, it was really really quiet and at some points it got really really loud, and at the end when the band played with me, it sounded really full and I really enjoyed it... My best concerts are those where you can go to both extremes, so the room really allowed it, so it was good... 

Did you like the audience tonight?

Very much. It's a thing with audiences that don't know our music very well that really I enjoy because it gives me an opportunity to introduce all different styles of what we do and I really enjoy that. So I very much enjoyed tonight's audience. 

Why do you still like to play solo gigs?

Yeah, very much, because when I play on my own, it reminds me of where I started... And playing in a band all the time, you can sometimes get lazy, you can sort of sit back a little bit too much sometimes with the band, and then when it comes to playing a song on your own with a guitar, sometimes it's really difficult. So, if I play gigs on my own, it helps me to remember where I began, which, I hope, keeps me not sharp but hopefully keeps me on my toes. Because I think a good song is a song that can be played, actually a good song is a song that needs no music, it's just a song without any instruments or maybe just one guitar and voice. And if I can sing song that way, then with the band they can only be better. Sometimes a band can kill a song, sometimes the song sounds better with just a guitar. So I enjoy interpreting the music.
 

Are your gigs often inspired by the audience or by the venue you play at?

Yeah, it's one of those... there's an old Japanese saying that says, 'you choose the ground to do the battle on', and it's a very important saying because if you choose a room where it's just a bar, like when I'd be playing in a bar tonight, in a local bar, people wouldn't probably listen because they go there all the time, and for me it would be a really hard gig with one kind of music - loud. Whereas tonight's gig was good because I chose a room, where I could be quiet and loud. It's really important. An audience will always dictate how the gig goes, very much. Sometimes when an audience is loud, there's nothing you can do, you can't win, so you're better off not trying to. And sometimes when an audience is quiet it gives the opportunity to reach every dynamic. So yeah, I think it is important - an audience is a huge part of it. 

In Dublin, where you were playing at the castle, there was a huge crowd of people. They all love you and your band, your music, you are very popular there. So, how does it feel to be famous and popular?

It's funny - the word 'famous', erm, my skin crawls a little bit when I hear the word because I don't... I just think of myself as somebody who just works. And if I do my work well the rewards are that people would come and hear us and then we can sustain the work for another year. I never think about the idea of being famous, I always like to think that it's not about the people in the band, it's more about what the band do. If the music is famous, I'm very proud, if the songs are famous, I'm proud, but I don't really  want to...

Do you still like to play your big hits, like 'Revelate, for example?

Yeah, I do. There was a time, a period of time, when I didn't enjoy it. I think, like every song you play a song over and over and over and sometimes you play it too much and the song maybe loses its meaning for you. And 'Revelate' - for a long time I din't enjoy playing it and now I'm enjoying it again because I haven't been playing it for a long time, so it's good. But I think, each song has a life. 

You said that when you are playing with The Frames and you are playing some covers, it's just for fun. Is it different when you are playing solo?

No, I think it comes from busking, because when I was busking I used to play other people's songs all the time, so when I'm in the band, sometimes we just get excited and we just play a song that is not ours. Sometimes it can get so boring playing your own songs all the time and sometimes we do it for fun. But what I don't like is when a cover becomes a set part of our set. Then I don't really like to play it. There are some covers we do for fun but when people expect them of us, generally speaking, that's when I don't play them. So it's only done for fun. 

Are there any bands or songwriters you really admire? I mean, you were playing a song by Mic Christopher, 'Heyday' - can you tell me who was he? He's not known here.

Mic was here, not in Rožnov but actually in Czech Republic a few years ago. Mic was my best friend. We began to play on the street together when we were about fourteen and we were just best friends. And he wrote some great songs and sinc Mic has passed on, I feel I should play his music, which I really enjoy, and it brings him closer to me. So yeah, I really enjoy it. 

You are sometimes compared to Jeff Buckley and The Frames, I mean especially their sound, to Pixies. Do you think it is appopriate?

I'm very impressed by that, yeah. It's a great compliment. It's always good to be compared to someone you really respect.

To what extent there is belief in God portrayed in your lyrics? 

I have a belief but not a set one. I'm not a deeply Catholic or Hindu or like. I think religion is really fascinating. If there is one thing I wish I'd do apart from music, it's theology. Because I love the study of God, the question if God exists - so yeah, it's a big question and I'm very curious. And I definitely believe there is a God, I definitely believe that my job on this Earth is somehow to do his work but I don't know what exactly that is. 
And it influences my lyrics because lot of the way that I write is I just open my mouth and something is delivered, something is just delivered through me. And if what I sing has some sort of potent message that's maybe a bit ambiguous, about Christ or God, I shouldn't change it, because it came out. I should always trust it. I think you should always trust what come out of your mouth. I don't avoid it. 

And a bonus question: at your Irish website there is the itinerary for your autumn US tour and it seems very dense. Are you afraid of it? I mean, playing seven nights in a row...

No, it's work. It's gonna be a lot of work. Hopefully we're gonna be able to do it. It's very tiring, especially when you're trying to reach some sort of emotional point in your music, it can be very exhausting. But I hope that will be okay. In America, we'll be in need of working every night because it's very expensive to be there. If you're not gigging, it's costing money just being there. So we'd be better off playing all the time...
Radim Zetka, photo PhDr. Vladimír Pitron

The Frames: a pure jewel- The Frames shouldn't be long before they seduce & conquer our regions, always in love with beautiful influences- The Waterboys get drowned by the Frames- Convinced & convincing, Mister Hansard blew away the 1700 festival goers. His duet with Mike Scott showed the charisma & the talent of the young man: he took the stage & he was the only one to be seen! - The Frames are with no doubt the revelation of the 2002 vintage- Who was playing support for who?- The ardour of the Frames gave everyone the opportunity to witness the coming to maturity of a future big irish pop band- The Frames set the stage on fire before the Waterboys set.

french reviews-lorient Telegramme, art.1
Message: THE FRAMES - DROWN - THE WATERBOYS It's nothing to say that the Waterboys were impatiently awaited by their Lorient fans, who have been faithful to the good impression made during the band's previous visit to the Lorient Interceltic Festival. This excitement however flopped like a soufflé after a short performance that won't go down in history. Luckily the passion of the Frames did more than rescue the evening, it gave everyone the opportunity to witness the coming to maturity of a future great Irish rock band. THE FRAMES STAND OUT Nothing new...the Waterboys and their leader Mike Scott have surely been able to set crowds on fire in the past, however last Wednesday under the Espace Marine big top, only the Irish fans who travelled and the convinced "Waterfans" were satisfied. Keyboard solos taken from the (good) Supertramp sound, very static stage presence and "hits" that smelled of formol. Not to mention a waltz as much unexpected as inappropriate. The pill was easier to swallow with the Frames performance. The pleasant surprise of the evening. Glen Hansard's band is full of energy and it's obvious, encapsulated in a style that doesn't fail to remind us of the glorious Pixies era. Convinced and convincing, mister Hansard gave it all and blew away the 1700 festivalgoers. His acoustic duet with Mike Scott during the Waterboys only encore showed the charisma and the talent of the young man: on stage, you could only see him! G.R
AND SPLOSH! With the Waterboys, the Interceltic Festival let the water in (1700 tickets sold for a capacity of 5000). It should have been a great night: the band didn't introduce its return as a simple 80's come-back. No, a new record in their bag, Mike Scott's men announced a revival. Alas! Even carried by the restless and engaging Irishmen of the Frames -with no doubt the revelation of this 2002 vintage- a doubt: who was the headliner and who was the supporting act? O. Seaglia 

At one point, a beaming Glen Hansard urges everyone to "engage with the mud" if we're to really enjoy the weekend. To prove his point, he leaps from the stage into the security area between band and punters, and proceeds to roll around until his t-shirt is a lovely shade of shite-brown. Then, still smiling, he bounds back on stage for a rousing finale, including a stunning take on 'Fitzcarraldo'. Brilliant.
The Frames are nothing if not industrious and immediatley make their way to the TV Tent, where David Kitt's young brother, Robbie joins them for a tune or two, the band eventually breaking into an impromptu version of 'Robbie Wonderland', before a suitably storm-laden 'Santa Maria' sails into view.

You said many times you feel very good in CR. Do you say it in every 
country you play in? Could you describe, what is so good in CR, 
audience, feeling of music or what?

Like most things that are real, it's hard to put into a digestable 
phrase, what it is i like about this country, it seems that the irish 
and czech sensibilitys are somehow in tune, in harmony if not the same, 
there is a pessimism and a humour in czech that i know.. i was never 
here during comunism and i wonder what it would have felt like..  it
seems that czech is going through something, some kind of growing pain, 
and it's interesting as an irish man to whatch.. ireland has gone 
through changes recently where we have become more prosorous and more 
confident, but there is a deep sadness in this change, for every thing 
we gain we lose a thing.. and i feel there is a loss of innocence in 
ireland, greed has become more acceptable.. and the devil wins a little 
more each day.. and maybe it will reach a point where as a nation we see 
that it's gone too far and we begin the long process of healing and 
humbling.. i feel the same subtle wave when i'm in czech.. i hope it
doesnt gain the velocity it has in ireland..

Do you belive in blood or genes connections between Czechs and Irish 
like many people here do?

I don't know about blood or genes.. but i believe that we are all the 
same people the world over, cultures shape us and give us boarders to 
identify us.. im am only irish because im not english or czech.. we are 
identified by everything we are not, i believe that the same emotional 
responses to life are experienced worldwide. we are people and that's 
the connection..

Frames had during one year three tours in CR. You dont make any money 
here, czech market is not big enough to be interested from marketing point of view, to break through you need more to play in a big countries like GB, Germany, USA.  So, what do you expect from gigs in CR?

The reason we have come here so often is simply because when we came the 
first time we liked it so much. we decided to come again when we had a 
free time.. czech is not a place to make the kind of money that bands 
demand, however, we are an independant band we can travel light and need 
no great riches,we can earn good money in other countries, the czech 
trips are more about the enjoyment of being in a country that has such a 
rich culture and great artists and great love of art.. and also i have 
good, good friends here that i want to be with.. and playing here allows 
me a visit..

Frames gigs are different then Frames CDs. Many of your big fans 
found you just because of your gigs. Some people say you are transmiting 
from a stage a special kind of energy. Do you believe in sending and 
receiving energy like that?

When music is at it's best it stops time and evokes the dream state, the 
concert is a place of direct connection, i feel we can be a better band 
before an audience, because we lean on them and them on us, it's not a 
seperate experience like making a record.  the audience are at least 50% 
of the magic.. we allow the music to be influenced by the rooms we play, 
and so sometimes it's pure and wild and other times it's a fight from 
start to finish.. the moment is the boss and what the moment demands we 
must do.. only in this way can the magic happen.. if we fight it we are 
just a band on a stage and nothing special happens.. if we let go.. then 
the possibiliy of magic is there.. and the energy can flow from stage to 
room and from room to stage..

Why did you decided to make live record in CR? To make one with irish 
audience, who knows all songs, sing them during gigs and make this 
special atmospehre would be maybe much easier?

We had an offer from friends to record two gigs in Brno, we did it on a 
muti track system and it came out sounding very good..when they offered 
to release it we agreed.. it was an experiment in a way.. the experiment 
has worked and we will now make one in ireland and include songs from 
lost records and hopefully it will capture the band in the way we have 
hoped..

What did you expect from this album? Are you satisfied with it? Do 
you miss there any songs or something? Why do you want to sell it just 
in CR?

We expect that will introduce the Frames to a wider audience and 
hopefully people will listen to it and make copys for friends and most 
of all, hopefully enjoy it.. once the music is out there its no longer 
ours, it travels in its own way.. the reason it's only available in 
czech is because thats where we made it..

Three songs on the album are played with a second violin of Jan 
Hruby. What special on this connection? What new did bring to this songs?

Jan is a great player and he didn't know the songs before we played 
them, he has the sesnsibility to sit into any music, a great gift.. we 
would bring him tiger hunting anytime.. i know he would whatch our 
backs..

You played six gigs during five days, Frames saw more then six 
thousand people. Are you satisfied with such a big czech tour? What gig 
was the best for you?

I think the best gig for me personally this time was the Planetarium in 
Brno.. it was a very special atmosphere, with visuals and restraint on 
our behalf.. i feel we got to a place in the music that day where we 
really suprised ourselves.. the tour was intensive and exhausting.. but 
we did good work and came home satisfied and a little hung over.. Valmez
was also a highlight, cristianing the Raus c.d. was very special for 
us.. we love those guys, they are a great band..

At the gigs you play also cover versions - could you mention some of 
them and explain why? You also use just parts of other artists songs, it 
is quite special - why do you do it?

It is something that i suppose comes from my days as a street musician, we would allways throw different songs together and mix up the way we 
played.. most of the time the covers are just fun.. unrehersed moments 
that make it more enjoyable for us.. if there is no risk on stage there 
is no fun..

Six gigs, but each one so different. This is so special about Frames - 
nobody knows (included musicians), what will come next. Why? You risk 
misunderstanding on stage, is it worthwhile?

Yes it's worthwhile.. this is the thing i enjoy most about being in the 
frames.. when we take a risk and go somewhere with the music were not 
sure of.. there is a great risk of failure and also a great risk of 
embarrasment.. but when it works out, it's so special.. we dont write a 
list of songs to play, we dont reherse for hours before a gig, we are 
musicians and our only real duty is to allow the music to come when the 
time is right.. sometimes we are on the trapese, there is no net and i'm 
unsure where the band is.. but i let go of the rope and spin through the 
air.. and 9 times out of 10 my friends catch me in the air and we soar.. 
and one time i fall and break some bones and make a slow recovery.. this 
is a very important part of being in a live band.. without the risk of 
failure there is no risk of greatness..

After announcing FTB as the best irish record of 2001 is everybody 
waiting for a  new record with big expectations. What kind of record it 
will be and when? Will be this record for the band more important than 
any other?

Records are documents left by musicians moving through a life os songs.. 
it really doesn't matter what is said about them at the time.. our next 
record will be another installment in a long line of songs.. i hope it
evokes an emotional response that's all.. because a record that sells 
millions and bring great riches is not worth a thing if it doesnt move 
anyone.. all we can do is make a record that we will be proud of.. the 
rest is in the lap of fate.. awards are useless.. friends are the best 
meter..

Next step of Frames activity is not only new album, but also big 
tour. Where will you play and  what is your position in USA and 
Australia now?

In america we have worked hard over the past two years and the rewards 
are beginning to show.. we have sold a good number of records and people
are filling our gigs.. it will be a long road, but every time we go 
there it gets better.. so work will bring reward.. austrailia is going 
to be fun.. the record is doing well on radio and selling great.. we 
will try get there twice this year..

When will be The Frames world famoust group, your songs played every 
day on radios, your videos on MTV, when will you play in Wembley for 100 
000 people? Or easily said - when you will be a millionairs? And do you 
want all of this, sometimes doesnt seems so...

There is a belief that in popular culture, there is only room for one at 
the top.. that golden position held for moment, before your knocked off 
by the next big thing.. this  philosophy has us all scrambling for the 
limelight.. trying to suck any praise and good press we can get.. to 
somehow secure the endorsement of buisness that cares about one thing.. 
money.. mans only true duty on this earth is to fight the devil.. and 
yet we lick the bowl clean when he offers us a morsel of fame.. popular 
culture is wrong.. and the frames will never again trust the ways of the 
rock star.. the only way to win is to walk the other way.. when faced by 
an unscalable wall.. sometimes the best thing to do is.. turn 180 
degrees and walk around the whole world untill your on the other side..

Mr. Kevin Zemrowsky was good enough to transcribe this entire interview which he did with Glen Hansard for Wired FM 96.8 & 106.8. Glen is the lead singer of irish rock band, The Frames 
The interview took place in the University of Limerick in February 2002, just before the Frames played a gig inthe Jean Monet lecture theatre. The gig was the third last before guitarist Dave Odlum left the band. Also on the bill that night were Josh Ritter and Bell X 1. 

Kev : What effect do you think Dave leaving the band will have on you? 

Glen : Well right now its a matter of urgency in terms of finding a guitar player that we're comfortable with. We've decided as a band not to get upset about it and not to panic, so what were doing is in America we've hired a friend of ours who records with Steve (Albini) to come and play guitar with us for that tour. When we come home we're gonna take it easy, we're sort of hoping someone will turn up. I remember when John Carney left Graham Downy just appeared within a few days, we never had to do auditions which was great. Then when Graham left Joe had been coming to the gigs he was a fan of the band and he just happened to be with us the night Graham left. So we've always been very fortunate when people leave, people just step in. I don't want to get into an audition scenario because I don't know how you would judge. If the person feels good then that's gonna be it no matter how well they play or badly they play. At the moment we're all upset.

Kev : Did Dave announcing he was going to leaving come as a shock?

Glen : No. That's the thing; we're upset but not in shock. Dave's been recording the band for a long time and he's been moving more towards just being the engineer in the band. In the studio he doesn't really pick up a guitar any more. It's got to the point now where he's been offered a couple of big things. He's just been offered Gemma Hayes' album. So its up to him now to say "do I wanna be a guitar player in the frames? or do I wanna follow my own career and maybe make a name for myself?". No one could ever blame him for leaving but that doesn't mean we're not going to be disappointed to see him go.

Kev : You worked with Steve Albini on the last album (For The Birds). How did that come about?

Glen : Yeah that was amazing. We had been speaking to him for years about doing something and then two years ago I was touring with this band Songs Of Ohio, they had made a record with him and they lived around the corner. They said you should record with Steve he'd be really good for your band. so I went around we had a cup of tea, talked and he had ten days free in September, which was a month away. He had ten days free cause The Breeders were booked in to do an album but they'd been canceling on him all year so he pretty much guaranteed we could have those ten days. I called the band and everybody was in full agreement we come to Chicago and make the record there. We ended up using half the material we recorded ourselves in the house and half the stuff we recorded with Steve. I thought the result was really nice.

Kev : On For The Birds there are no real out and out rock tracks. The likes of Revalate and Pavement Tune just aren't on this record. Was that a conscious decision?

Glen : Yeah it was a conscious decision. you see for years we've been advised and shepherded into making decisions we didn't want to make and when we got free my gut reaction was to make an album full of quiet songs. The idea behind that was to pear down the people who liked the frames and the people who had a passing interest in the frames. I think we did that. there is a lot of people who like Dance The Devil a lot more and think For The Birds is really depressing and that's ok. I needed to make that record exactly as it is, to put an instrumental first, to play very quite songs and for it to be very small and subtle. A lot of my favorite albums in history has had one mood, frames albums to date have had four or five different moods and I wanted to make an album with one mood. To be honest with you I much prefer our quite songs to our rock songs. The rock songs are alright for being on stage but when I go home I never want to listen them.

Kev : With that said you never drop any of your more popular rock songs when your on stage. 

Glen : Well sure that's because we're a band who care about our audience and they wanna hear those songs. We're not ashamed of them

Kev : Sure but you said you wanted to get rid of part time fan's (would dropping these songs be a way of doing that?)

Glen : No. The idea was, if we tried to make a record that tried to emulate Dance The Devil we would have failed. We didn't make that record, we made a different record. I don't think we failed. We gained a different audience and we lost a bit of the audience that was there before.What I mean is not that you want to get rid of people but its taken a long time to cultivate an audience that will listen to us when we're quiet, rock out when we rock out and that will sing along when we want them to sing along. It takes a lot of energy. Very few bands in the world have that. Pearl Jam have that The Tindersticks have that, they've totally cultivated an audience that knows what there about and that's what we've been trying to do.

Kev : What have the band been up to outside of Ireland. 

Glen : The places where things are good for us right now in America Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco. In Europe certain parts of France all of the Czech republic, Slovakia and Vienna.I certainly don't believe in touring the whole of Europe it's best to concentrate on one small place and then once that builds into a healthy audience you can start to branch out. That's been working thank god

Kev : The frames are known for some pretty amazing live shows, how do the band stay up for it night after night?

Glen : Its kind of a case of three nights your on great form then the foruth night it all falls apart. For us its all got to do with the audience; we entrust at least half the power in the audience. If the audience are a shit audience then generally we'll play bad gig. We don't do the same gig every night but if the audience is bad we'ill slip into safe mode, we get bored they bored and the whole thing falls apart.

Kev : How do you see yourselves at the moment are the frames at the best point they've ever been at.

Glen : Things are diffenatly better than they've ever been thats for sure. but at the same time I feel that there's a pressure on us now either to make a bold move or to split and I think splitting is the only real option we have because we don't want to play The Point. We'll probably end up doing it at some stage. Our last gigs in Dublin were like five or six thousand people over the course of four days and that was without putting up a poster. I sound like I'm bragging but we're really just shocked. It would seem that a band in that position would make the obvious step to the Point. The Problem with the Point is its a big cold barn and people generally don't like going there. I don't like going there anyway.So maybe we need to leave Ireland for a while and then come back. I don't Know what to do.

Frames may not play by the book, but the book wasn't written with the Frames in mind. In a triumphant hometown gig in the Heineken Green Energy Festival, Glen Hansard dismissed the instructions of the "rock star textbook": keep your distance and don't engage with the audience. "It's great to play in front of people who are independently minded," cooed Hansard.
Few other bands could make an open-air concert feel like a jam in your living room. Continuing to shred the industry manual during a set crammed with reason and resonance, Hansard received a letter, flung by a fan (air-mail?), as the mantra of God Bless Mom rang out. He reciprocated by throwing the sender his stage pass. Later, Hansard interrupted a blistering cover of The Pixies' Debaser, to broadcast a message from his mum, summoning his errant younger siblings to the stage.
Meanwhile, songs came from the heart and were performed with passion. Hansard's threadbare telecaster must have seen its share of hard times over the past decade, but its chiming toll reflects the band's inextinguishable optimism. Ample lyrical game play, a Frames favourite, bled Fighting on the Stairs into Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now, where nothing other than a common key and hair-colour seemed to prompt the inclusion.
Tenser moments arrived in an impassioned Angel at My Table, its shuddering vocals urging David Odlum's guitar into dissonant alto. Relieved immediately by a solo acoustic The Blood, where Hansard's falsetto emulated a violin line, harmony and discord finally fused in the throaty prayer of Revelate. Colm MacConlomaire's frenetic bow resolved the tension with a searing violin solo. The dreamy new single Headlong followed a self-deflating and delicate Disappointed. With several encores and lengthy closing jams, the one thing they lacked was a textbook finish. But thankfully the Frames have always managed to avoid those.
Irish Times, 8.5.2002

By now you'll all have read about the winners at the awards ceremony on Thursday night, but here's the stuff you really want to know. Our Session in NI reporters were sniffing about all night for all the really interesting stories from the awards and, more importantly, the party afterwards...

After performing 'Debaser' by the Pixies as the closing song for the ceremony, Tim Wheeler and Glen Hansard were right up for working together again, and a plan was hatched to form a sort of Irish Reindeer Section. It might have been the drink talking, but by the end of the night, David Kitt and David Holmes had also been roped in, as well as various ligger tambourine players and backing vocalists...

Glen also tried to start a bit of a sing-song in the Europa bar at about 3am, but the staff were having none of it. After being told that the police would be called if he continued to make a racket, Glen was heard to say 'I can't believe that if I'd continued singing I would have got arrested! Imagine being arrested for singing!' Everyone tried to persuade the staff to let Glen sing and for a while it was a bit like Woodstock...

David Kitt also enjoyed himself to the extent that he was sporting silver glittery eyeshadow by the early hours. It went very well with his jumper and jeans combo. 

And finally, who was the blonde who took the fancy of Brett from Suede? He may have been off the scene for a few years, but it doesn't seem to have harmed his pulling power, and that's all we're saying...

No news about Bono or The Corrs, as they all cleared off to the private China Club instead of joining everyone else at the proper aftershow. More fool them - they missed a great night.
(Hotpress)

Frames' Magic Charms U of I 
By Janine Schaults
Xavierite Editor 
 

"A kleptomaniac is somebody who finds things just before you lose them" muses an exhausted Glen Hansard. The Dublin-based Hansard and his band, The Frames, are sitting in a nearly empty U of I bar, The High Dive, on a Sunday evening hours before the doors open for tonight's performance. The night is young and there is time to kill.
Hansard sits with his Fender Telecaster sprawled across his lap, tweaking and tuning the ancient-looking instrument. With a few days worth of stubble on his face and blue jeans that are permanently creased from sitting in a van zigzagging through the East Coast and Mid-West, four days on the road look like they have already taken their toll on the singer. Across the table bassist Joe Doyle, in very much the same state, has his head burrowed in his i-Mac. In contrast the others, drummer Dave Hingerty and violinist Colm Mac ConIomaire begin to gear up for the show by greeting close friends that made the long drive in from the city.
Headlining act, The New Pornographers, are in the midst of sound check. Glen is pleased with the Frames' paring with the Canadian band known for their musical prowess, but more importantly for their camaraderie as the two groups will be together for the majority of February.
Later on, Hansard will sit down and talk, but right now there are only two things on his mind: food and the impending performance. Most days on the road seem to be a mixture of sleeping, eating and traveling. Energy is closely rationed in preparation for the show.
Their fatigue fades slightly during their own sound check and some of the exuberant energy normally associated with the band breaks through. The music of the five willowy figures on stage reverberates through the bare venue. The melancholic wail of Colm's violin drifts around the swelling guitars and crescendo of Glen's voice.
The Frames formed in 1991 and released their debut album "Another Love Song" on Island Records. Three years later, dropped from Island's roster, they released "Fitzcarraldo" on the ZTT label and followed up with "Dance the Devil" in 1999. Through their zealous pursuit of getting music to the people that wasn't "contaminated" by a record label, their incessant touring allowed the Frames to gain acclaim over the last 10 years and a devoted following based in Europe and scattered across the Atlantic.
Having been through the mill with record companies, the Frames tried their next endeavor on their own. Last April they released and distributed "For The Birds" throughout Europe. Their most successful album to date, it reached No. 6 on the Irish charts and was named Album of the Year by HotPress Magazine, Ireland's equivalent to Rolling Stone.
Hansard calls "For The Birds" a "reactionary" album. Disgusted with the experience with ZTT during the "Dance the Devil" sessions, he wanted to "make an album that was its opposite- an album that was absolutely silent and slow." The band began recording in Kerry with dEUS' Craig Ward, but in a funny twist of fate, the opportunity to work with famed Chicago producer Steve Albini arose. Years before Hansard had asked Albini to record "Fitzcarraldo." Albini, who has worked with Nirvana, Bush and Hansard's favorite band, The Pixies, agreed, but in what Hansard calls "classic record company intervention" ZTT put a stop to the arrangement.
Fast forward six years and the Frames had a window of 10 days to work with Albini in Chicago. What came out of those few days in early September was a mature, nuanced work that still managed to retain the fervor emblazed in a live performance. Hansard gushes about Albini's role and says he was a "great help and gave us a great confidence."
Albini also hooked the Frames up with Chicago's Overcoat Records. While the album was doing splendidly in Europe, "For The Birds" couldn't get to the U.S. without a distribution deal. Judging from their past history with record labels it is understandable that the Frames would be wary, but Hansard says he "trusted his gut" and Overcoat "made alot of sense." Run by one man, Howard Greynolds, Overcoat works on a handshake agreement, no contracts. Hansard knew at their first meeting that Howard was the perfect guy for the record and the album would be in "safe hands." He explains, "The Frames have never been the kind of band that wants to sell billions and billions of records, if that would happen we'd be happy, but only because it was good music." He goes on further to say "our whole trajectory as a band was to play in front of people and Howard has us playing in front of people. . ." Unlike every other band that touts these remarks prior to stardom, Hansard has a credibility and sincerity that you just can't help but believe him.
Tonight, the Frames are playing in front of plenty of people. This American tour has seen the Frames play to sold-out audiences in Boston and New York and they can even draw a crowd in the middle of nowhere.
Hansard wears a stocking cap, hiding his ginger-colored hair, and situated in the front pocket of his Kelly green canvas jacket is a yellowing book, later to be revealed as a copy of "Lolita." He is flanked by the other members and they start off with a slow tune, "Plateau." Due to the time constraints forced upon opening acts, Glen's stories, which are a hallmark of the Frames' live shows, are in short supply. They run through a searing set in 45 minutes combining old favorites like "Pavement Tune," that find Hansard jumping around singing alongside Joe Doyle, with new masterpieces like "What Happens When The Heart Just Stops" which leaves everyone speechless with its sad beauty.

Hansard is the primary songwriter for the Frames although the rest of the band contributes to the formation of the songs. Hansard's writing philosophy is that "if you are speaking about your true nature, then you are speaking about the human condition and the human condition is identifiable at every level. The more honest you are, the more connection you are going to have with others." It is evident by the crowd's response that the connection has been made tonight.
After the show Glen Hansard seems calmer, but the high of performing hasn't yet worn off. He leans across the table upstairs where the bands reside instead of a dressing room. We talk and the conversation easily flows from topic to topic. He tells how the first record he ever purchased himself was AC/DC's "High Voltage" and describes his "fanaticism" toward the band when he was younger. (He took his confirmation name after AC/DC guitarist Angus Young) He also remembers that his aunt bought him his first record player and album, David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars." Unaware of how to use the machine, Hansard played the record at 45 speed for about two months before someone finally told him it should be played at 33. He preferred the super fast version with Bowie squeaking like a chipmunk.
He had me imagine him as a very young boy being bathed in the kitchen sink by his mother while a suitcase record player on the counter played Leonard Cohen and there he pinpointed this moment as when he fell in love with music. Transfixed is more like it and Hansard thought little about anything else until he "discovered" girls in his late teens and rock music had to compete with a new hobby. Fortunately they learned to co-exist.
Glen Hansard is a warm, open person willing to share his thoughts and plans. This is only matched by his excellent musicianship. This past year has been filled with extreme highs and lows for the Frames. The latest album has been their most successful but original guitar player Dave Odlum left the band to pursue his dream of producing records (Chicago-based musician, Rob Bochnik, is filling in during the U.S. tour) and fellow Irish-musician and close friend, Mic Christopher, died unexpectedly last November. When asked what he wishes for this new year Hansard looks away and pauses for a while. When he is done contemplating he says "a sense of freedom. I want to make better music. I want the success that we are having to keep on going, it feels really good, it's never felt this good."
 

CONCERT REVIEW
Frames outshine Pornographers

By David Lindquist
david.lindquist@indystar.com 
February 13, 2002
When the New Pornographers played at Radio Radio Monday night (), the power-pop buzz band supplied all the ear candy a listener could crave

(They overachieved in terms of eye candy, too -- modeling a collective explosion of polyester allegedly purchased at a local discount store.)
It was opening act the Frames (), though, that provided memorable flashes of rock 'n' roll genius.
Building from modest singer-songwriter basics, the Frames attached woozy countermelodies and anti-gravity feedback from two guitars and an electric fiddle.
In the process, band mastermind Glen Hansard somehow revitalized the loud-quiet-loud approach that Nirvana perfected but many acts abused during the 1990s.
The Ireland-based Frames conveyed refreshing adoration for American rock, as Hansard slipped lines from the Pixies' Here Comes Your Man and Jane Says by Jane's Addiction into his originals.
And certainly the smiling demeanor of Hansard -- even in the face of technical difficulties at the Fountain Square nightclub -- has a lot to do with the Frames' appeal.
A "lightness of spirit" is the accurate description one concertgoer offered in a post-set discussion.
After the fact, the group's performance raises new doubts about overseas bands that are hyped as the next big thing.
The Frames, equally adept at the tender and torrential, could mop the floor with Coldplay, Starsailor and probably even the current edition of Travis.
A music fan looking to invest major adoration in a new artist could do a lot worse than the Frames.
Canada's New Pornographers are a lark of an indie-rock "supergroup," an intention that was fairly evident during a hit-or-miss performance.
At their best, they gush flower-power rebellion (Breakin' the Law) and swirling confections of garage rock (Execution Day).
The marching overthrow of The Body Says No, meanwhile, is ironically irresistible to minds and, well, bodies that are prone to dancing.
Although the show was marred by a now-you-hear-it-now-you-don't sound system, such fidelity actually symbolizes the fleeting aura of the New Pornographers.
Songwriter Carl Newman sings most of the material, but the group boasts more talented (and dynamic) vocalists in Neko Case and drummer Kurt Dahle.
Case, who's also a rising star as a solo artist, radiated sophisticated charm during Mass Romantic and Letter from An Occupant. In this setting, she conjured a hipster blend of Alanis Morissette and a young Grace Slick.
This might be a bit unsettling to devotees of her insurgent country work. Nevertheless, she excels in both styles and is disingenuous in neither

The New Pornographers with The Frames
Friday, Feb. 15 
Go! Room 4, Carrboro
While a few stragglers inquired about extra tickets outside Go! Room 4 last Friday night, Irish transplants The Frames charmed the sold-out audience inside (a large portion of which had arrived to catch their set). Between the band's strong performance and frontman Glen Hansard's brogue-enhanced between-song ramblings on topics such as the simple joys of a cup of tea, it hardly seems worth mentioning that Hansard appeared in the film The Commitments. The quintet alternately churned out delicate, brooding folk-rock and intricate, full-tilt freakouts, utilizing a quiet-loud dynamic (reminiscent of The Pixies) to considerable effect on the haunting "Santa Maria." Colm MacConlomaire's violin playing contributed significantly to the band's elaborate textures. During the between-band break, you could overhear men and women alike gushing over New Pornographer Neko Case, who also boasts a thriving career as an alt-country diva. On The Pornographers' first number, "The Slow Decent into Alcoholism," singer/sleigh-bell player Case overpowered frontman Carl Newman; her powerful upper-register vocals cut through the mix in a way that, at times, became almost too much as Newman's mid- and lower-register vocals weren't cutting through with the force of his falsetto.