ny notes by Tina Whelski
Transcript of ny notes by Tina Whelski
www.theaquarian.com ARTS WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 (ECR-9) 21
by Tina Whelski
Bob Dylan was so taken byThe Frames’ recent Coachellaperformance that he askedthem to open his Australia andNew Zealand tour dates lastmonth. And if you check out theband’s Webster Hall show on Sept.10 you’ll be similarly smitten.Frontman Glen Hansard (vocals/guitar), Colm MacConlomaire(violin/keyboard/ vocals), JosephDoyle (bass/vocals), RobertBochnik (guitar), and JohnnyBoyle (drums) put on one of thebest live rock shows I’ve everseen. Hansard talked to meabout The Cost and hisSundance award-winning film.What makes The Frames sucha successful live band?
The members, the history, thepersonalities. We’re comingup on 20 years as a band soon,and our existence has been builton performing. We aren’t atricky studio band who goes intothe studio and comes out withDark Side Of The Moon. Imean, I wish we could. Thatwould be great. But at the endof the day we’re a folk rock ora rock folk band, depending onwho’s asking, and we write,rehearse, perform and repeat.We also have played an insanenumber of shows over the years,and the main reason we can stillbe together performing with suchregularity is the fact that we enjoyit. We enjoy each other andmore importantly we enjoy thechallenge of sparring with theaudience. Whether it’s a showwhere we take the audience ona journey or they take us on one,the beauty of that journey isgetting to the destination.The Cost was recordedcompletely live.What inspiredthat and how did you pull itoff?
It was a reaction to the lasttwo records which were longerstudio affairs. We had thematerial, but we got into thestudio and just went ’round and’round with ourselves. Werecorded at various places andwith various people and while Ilove those two records (For TheBirds, Burn The Maps), we really
wanted to work in reverse thistime. So we rehearsed thesongs, went in and tried tocapture the live aspect of ourshow along with doing it in twoor three weeks as opposed totwo or three months. Plus wefound that we oftentimes cameback to the first or second takesof a song. So logically it madesense to give it a try. For thisrecord we also worked withStephen Fitzmaurice, whohelped us with Dance The Devil.He was a great foil to ourinstincts.The Cost is a dark, rawrecord. How did youapproach songwriting?
I went to a dark, raw place.But seriously, a lot of the songswere written over the last yearwhere I spent a lot of timetraveling. The title track refersto the idea that we have chosento live this life as musicians, andit’s come at a cost for ourfamilies, friends and ourselves.It’s not a bitching and moaningthing, but ultimately it takes itstoll on relationships and yourpersonal life.Talk about one of the songs?
‘Sad Songs’ is our FleetwoodMac song and the one I’m leastattached to. It’s a nice song,and I think people like it ’causeit doesn’t sound like anythingelse we’ve done up to this point.Lyrically it’s about our love ofsad songs and how we can listento them over and over, relatingor, in some cases, prolongingour love of the tragic. It’s kindof how the bad things will almostalways be remembered beforethe good things, which seemsridiculous, but I’m guilty of itas well.You recently starred withCzech musician MarketaIrglova in Once, which wonthe World Cinema AudienceAward at Sundance. Youplayed a busker, which isactually how you started as amusician.Will you talk aboutthe role?
The idea of the movie camefrom The Frames’ former bassplayer, John Carney. He wanted
to do a movie called Busker andwanted me to write the songs.I was excited about thisprospect, and when he neededsomeone in the female role Isuggested Mar. The male rolewas supposed to be CillianMurphy. Unfortunately hedropped out, and John was leftwith nothing days away fromshooting. My initial reactionwas, ‘No way,’ given that it didmirror parts of my life. Plus Ididn’t want it viewed as a vanityproject. However John is verypersuasive, and I took the leap.In taking the leap Mar and I didwork with John on making thescenes as real and as authenticas possible. John had askedfor a handful of stories initially,but after I became the busker inthe movie we really starteddeveloping certain aspects ofthe story. So what you see inthe film are things that have eitherhappened to me personally orI’ve seen happened to fellowstreet musicians.Bob Dylan personally pickedyou to open his August tourdates. What does that feellike?
It’s amazing. Bob is at thetop of the mountain and thereason I wanted to be a musicianso it’s a real honor. I heard thatwe got picked ’cause he saw ourperformance at Coachella, whichequally blew my mind.Are you writing new material?
Constantly, though it’s toughat the moment. There’s verylittle down time.What is one of your mostpowerful musical memories?
In my house growing up, theHoly Trinity was Dylan, VanMorrison and Leonard Cohen.So I guess hearing any of thosefor the first time and figuring outthat’s all I really needed.Thankfully my mom impartedthree of the greats on me. Thethree I keep coming back to.
ny notes
the frames
The Frames perform atWebster Hall on Sept. 10.
Visit theframes.ie for more info.
PHO
TO B
Y DA
RAG
H M
CD
ON
AGH