THE FRAMES

'The Frames' is an influential Irish band based mainly in Dublin. Founded in 1990, the group has released six albums and appeared in numerous music videos. Their ex-bassist John Carney has become a film director, who wrote and directed the award-winning 2006 film ''Once'', which stars the band's singer/guitarist Glen Hansard, who also wrote much of the music for the film.

Contents

History

Members

Former

Discography

Albums

Singles & EPs

Footnotes

References

See Also

External links

History

The band has existed since 1990 and is a survivor of Dublin's prolific early 1990s rock and roll scene. They have also been central to the development of the current crop of emerging Irish rock bands, including Turn, and have toured with other Irish artists as support, including Damien Rice and Bell X1. In December 2004, Hansard appeared on stage to collaborate with singer songwriter Paddy Casey. In 2007 the Frames toured Australia and New Zealand as the support act for Bob Dylan.
The name ''The Frames'' arose from Hansard's habit, at a young age, of fixing the bicycles of many of his friends. The large number of bicycle frames lying around his house led neighbours to dub it the "house with the frames". In a 2001 interview, Hansard said, "I worked in a bicycle shop for a little while, but the name came from... my back garden was so full of frames, my house became known as The Frames house, much to my mother's distaste, she hated it. But my garden was full of frames, old bikes, I would make up bikes for my friends out of all the old bikes. So it sort of became known if anybody found a bike up on the hill on the way home they would throw it into my garden, a graveyard for old bikes".^[1]
The band has had many members over the years, some of whom have also been members (or went on to be members) of other Dublin rock bands. For instance both Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Dave Odlum were founding members of folk group Kíla. The Frames always collaborated closely with other groups that emerged from the buskers on Grafton Street, Dublin where Hansard had started his music career. Among these were the aforementioned Kíla, and Mic Christopher. When Christopher died in 2001, Hansard and his band were heavily involved in organising the Skylarkin' concert to commemorate his life and release the album. The Frames still occasionally perform Mic's songs - chiefly ''Heyday'' - as a tribute. The band are also known for interspersing snippets of songs by other artists into their own as a form of homage; notable examples are ''Redemption Song'' by Bob Marley, ''Ring Of Fire'' by Johnny Cash and ''Pure Imagination'' from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, all of which are captured on the live album ''Set List''.
In 1991, Hansard came to public attention after taking the part of 'Outspan' Foster in the film ''The Commitments''. Hansard regretted this role as he felt it distracted from his music career. Mac Con Iomaire also had a cameo in the movie as a violinist auditioning for the band. Bronagh Gallagher, one of Hansard's colleagues can be seen wearing a Frames t-shirt in her appearance in the film Pulp Fiction^[2]. More recently Hansard has appeared onscreen as the principal character parodied by Irish music/comedy website Eyebrowy.com.^[3] and as the Guy in the 2007 movie ''Once'' which featured his songs.
As of 2007, the band consists of Glen Hansard (vocals, guitar), Joe Doyle (bass guitar, vocals), Colm Mac Con Iomaire (violin, keyboard and vocals), Rob Bochnik (lead guitar) and Johnny Boyle (drums). Various people played drums during 2004, including Graham Hopkins who drummed on ''Dance the Devil'', ''Burn the Maps'' and the band's latest album ''The Cost''. On both versions of the album ''Fitzcarraldo'' the band went by the moniker "'The Frames DC'", to avoid confusion with a United States band.
The band released its sixth studio album, ''The Cost'', on September 22, 2006.
The Frames will touch down in the United States in September 2007 for a series of select dates. The September dates follow The Frames' personal invitation to open for Bob Dylan on the American rock legend's August 2007 tour of Australia and New Zealand.
The Frames' U.S. dates:
9/3 Bumbershoot, Seattle, WA
9/5 Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
9/6 Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA
9/8 The Hideout, Chicago, IL
9/10 Webster Hall, New York, NY

Members

★ 'Glen Hansard': lead vocals, electric guitar (1990-present)

★ 'Joe Doyle': bass guitar, vocals (1996-present)

★ 'Colm Mac Con Iomaire': violin, keyboard, vocals (1990-present)

★ 'Rob Bochnik': lead guitar (2002-present)

★ 'Johnny Boyle': drums (2003-present)

Former

★ Noreen O'Donnell: (1990-1996) (singer)

★ Dave Odlum: (1990-2002) (guitarist, Odlum later co-produced album ''Burn the Maps'' with Bochnik)

★ Paul Brennan (Binzer): (1990-1998) (drums)

★ Dave Hingerty: (1998-2003) (drums)

★ John Carney: (1990-1993) (bass)

★ Graham Downey: (1993-1996) (bass)

Discography

Albums

★ ''Another Love Song'' (1991) (Out of production, though available for download from iTunes and The Frames website)

★ '' Fitzcarraldo'' (1995) (As the Frames DC)

★ ''Fitzcarraldo'' (1996)

★ ''Dance the Devil '' (1999)

★ ''For the Birds '' (2001)

★ ''Breadcrumb Trail'' (2002) (Live Album}

★ ''Set List'' (2003) (Live Album)

★ ''Burn the Maps'' (2004)

★ ''The Cost'' (2006)

Singles & EPs

★ "The Dancer" (1991)

★ "Masquerade" (1992)

★ ''Turn On Your Record Player EP'' (1992)

★ ''Picture Of Love'' (1993)

★ ''Angel At My Table'' (1994)

★ "Revelate" (1995)

★ "Monument" (1996)

★ ''I Am The Magic Hand'' (February 15 1999)

★ ''Pavement Tune'' (1999)

★ ''Rent Day Blues EP'' (1999)

★ ''Come On Up To The House'' (1999 - Compilation featuring "Star Star" by The Frames)

★ ''Lay Me Down'' (2001)

★ ''Headlong'' (2002)

★ ''The Roads Outgrown'' (2003)

★ "Fake" (September 12 2003)

★ "Finally" (August 20 2004)

★ "Sideways Down" (January 28 2005)

★ "Happy" (Radio Single Only - 2005)

★ "Falling Slowly/No More I Love Yous" (September 1 2006)

Footnotes

1. [PlayRewind.com (Nov. 17, 2001): Interview with Glen Hansard
2. Irish Music Central: The Frames images
3. Eyebrowy.com

References

★ The Frames (official site)

★ ''Shakenstir'' magazine: "One Of The World's Best Bands That You Don't Know"

★ ''Three Monkeys'' magazine: Interview with Glen Hansard

See Also

Glenn Hansard
The Stars are Underground

External links

★ The Frames at ANTI-

★ The Frames at Little Big Music

★ The Frames collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

★ Fabchannel: The Frames Live (Nov. 21, 2006, Amsterdam concert)

★ Glen performs at The Current

★ Ian Peel: ''Warriors of pop, 21 years of ZTT'' Record Collector, September 2004 (copy at ''Zang Tuum Tumb and all that'') Article on the history of ZTT Records, contains a paragraph about The Frames