The Frames, 1999 and Me

In 1998 had been working on an one of the first online music shops to which I added a music review magazine. The then unique combination of shop and reviews worked really well (at one point outselling Amazon!). Early in 1999 I was handed an album recorded by a band I had never heard of. The album was DANCE THE DEVIL by the Irish band The Frames. In all my years as music-lover and reviewer I have seldom been totally stunned by an album. For me, DANCE THE DEVIL had that rare combination of beautifully written songs with superb lyrics and melodies, knockout performances and top quality recording/production. It was not only a stunning entertainment experience but a highly emotional one too.

Over the last week I have been obliged to go through all my music photography on CDR and hard drives to find Manchester acts I have photographed for a project. I must have searched through over a thousand collections but during the search I found a CDR of film (as opposed to digital) photos taken of The Frames and Muse back in 1999 and 2000 respectively. I must have scanned the negatives but failed to use the images. As I searched through them I remembered what a fantastic musical year 1999 was…

In 1999 Devon band Muse released their brilliant debut album called SHOWBIZ. I had interviewed them twice and it was at the second gig I attended in Manchester that I took the photos with my old Nikon film camera (that later that year was stolen out of my friend’s car). This also happened to be the year that Moby released PLAY to an unreceptive BBC-led radio market. I loved it so much I went to London to interview him about it a few weeks after release. A year later it flew largely due to the use of many of its tracks by TV advertisers. The BBC finally took note while and in 2000 it became the UK’s biggest selling album and a worldwide best-seller. It was the year I also discovered Macy Gray and her debut hit album ON HOW LIFE IS.

So it was turning out to be rather a special year and weird at the same time. You see, these albums and one other initially received little success but many months later went on to become very major sellers. It was via The Frames that I discovered another artist and a truly superb album…

I interviewed The Frames a few weeks after hearing DANCE THE DEVIL before their performance at Liverpool’s tiny Picket venue. It was a performance I will never forget and remains one of my favourite shows of all time. My photographs from that gig inspired me to become more serious about gig photography while the performance and album set the standard by which I would judge all others. It was a landmark moment for me.

During the interview Glen Hansard told me about the Liss Ard Festival in County Cork, Ireland. It sounded fascinating and so I managed to secure a pass for a festival that lasted no less than 10 days! It was there that Irish music-lovers told me about their favourite singer/songwriter at the time. His name was David Gray. After a quite extraordinary music festival (when I garnered many interviews including Jarvis Cocker, Cornelius (from Japan), Bernard Butler, Handesome Family, Will Oldham, Dirty 3, and many more) I returned to Chester and immediately sought out David Gray’s latest album called WHITE LADDER. Eventually I secured and reviewed it. It too was superb and I couldn’t believe that such a great album had been ignored by  radio and the media in general. Well, many moons later it sold in the squillians. The common thread here with The Frames, David Gray, Moby and Macy Gray was the outstanding quality of the music  which took some time but did ultimately sell by the truckload (although The Frames, for various reasons, took several more years before achieving significant sales). Further, it became clear to me that the UK public is capable of appreciating and investing in serious and great music - although listening to radio now you wouldn’t know it…

Following several performances at Liss Ard, including alongside the most beautiful outdoor pond, I concluded that the Frames has to be one of the world’s best bands led by one of the world’s best lead men. I learnt that the band had actually formed in the early 90s and that lead man Hansard had starred as a band member in that glorious movie The Commitments. I also learned that Jeff Buckley was a roadie for the Commitments band when promoting the movie in the USA. My next experience of the Frames live performance quality came at Dublin’s Witnness Festival in 2001. In a massive tent Hansard & Co  gave a performance which transcended every band I had seen before and after. After several record deals the band had decided to record on their own label and the performance coincided with the release of the first album on the Plateau label. FOR THE BIRDS was the first album from the Frames that went to the top of the Irish album chart and guaranteed an over-populated performance tent!

In conclusion, there are very few artists that have influenced my musical preferences and beliefs. The Frames is a band that has set the bar so very high over its 25 year existence. It’s not been an easy path or one that has been supremely well managed but no other band in that period has been as passionate, skilled, consistent, and has moved me more. The latest album, LONGITUDE, is a timely reminder on why this band has survived and prospered (as a band and Glen Hansard support musicians) for such a long time - in modern terms.

It all started for me back in 1999