Tom Dunne: The magic of Glen Hansard, The Frames and the talented souls in their orbit
Glen Hansard of The Frames. Picture: Darragh Kane
Time was you couldn’t get the Frames off my radio show. It wasn’t just the albums, all of which needed to be promoted via on air sessions, it was the gigs too. Gigs needed publicity and radio sessions were the best way to do that. The Frames were in studio more than I was.
This got you access to Frames World. The Frames weren’t so much a band as a universe. They bring friends in, the likes of Turn, Bell X1, Mic Christopher, Interference, David Kitt, Mundy, Damien Dempsey or Rosie.
This gave the sessions a circus-like atmosphere. “Wait ‘til you hear this guy” Glen would say, and he was never wrong. I trusted him so if suggested the newbies do a session too, we’d make it work. It was as easy to record two as one.
Most of these connections Glen made through busking. He believed strongly in busking. Busking was the coalface of music, the equivalent of stand-up to comedians. The audience, if they didn’t like you, could walk away.
Thus, I got to meet a young Josh Ritter. Wild-eyed and bushy-tailed, in Ireland, more or less, on spec. The Frames gave him some opening slots and I got him to record a few sessions. One day he brought a stray with him too, a young Erin McKeown. That session, to this day: AMAZING!
Outside of our radio station, Frames World centred on late nights in Whelan’s and long, drawn-out pots of tea in the Coffee Inn opposite McGonagle’s. Here, one of the waitresses, Sharon, a music fan, would slip the bands extra cups and the occasional plate of chips. The talk was of music and plans and dreams.
I believed in The Frames, and I thought daytime Irish radio was ignoring their albums through a mixture of stupidity and begrudgery. “If they were American” I told anyone who’d listen, “they’d get played off the radio.” But they were Irish, so… meh!
But the albums, three of which are reissued on vinyl this week via the Record Hub, were spectacular. Another Love Song (1991) had come and gone the way of many Irish debuts, but Fitzcarraldo (1995) had, to my mind at least, established them as a band of real depth. 'Revelate', the title track, and 'Angel at My Table' were serious works.
Dance the Devil followed in 1999. It too bristled with intent and amazing songs: 'Pavement Tune', 'God Bless Mom' and 'Star Star' simply leapt from the radio. Fitzcarraldo had seen them sign to ZTT records; the label owned by Trevor Horn who in the 1980s had produced Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
However, by the time Horn sat opposite me in 2000 to promote the Art of Noise album, The Seduction of Claude Debussy, The Frames had been dropped. I had to ask. He seemed defensive. “The Frames just need to find their audience,” he said. But that was proving difficult.
Subsequent albums marked a move away from the harder-edge rock direction. For the Birds, Burn the Maps and The Cost were more reflective, more folky. But Set List (2003), a live album, captured The Frames at the height of their powers. The live ‘Star Star’ with Colm Mac ConIomaire’s fiddle on the ‘Pure Imagination’ segue is a moment of unadulterated magic.
In 2006, as Glen recorded yet another session, he told me a little of his ex-bandmate, John Carney’s new career direction. “When he was leaving, we bought him a film camera,” he told me “That’s his thing now. I’m going to be in his film,” he told me. “Brilliant!” we all agreed.
That film became Once and Glen won an Oscar for his song ‘Falling Slowly’ that featured in it. The next time we met he was telling me Hollywood stories. “Has the album sold well?” I asked. He eyed me sheepishly: “That figure every boy dreams he of,” he said cryptically.
I’m guessing that’s a number with six zeroes in it.
It’s an amazing success story but it’s worth noting how well the others have done too. The posthumous Mic Christopher album – finished by Glen and friends - is one of the best Irish albums ever. Bell X1 are on album number eight. Damien Dempsey is an institution. Bob Dylan just covered a Josh Ritter song.
Sharon, the waitress in the Coffee Inn, did well too. Ms Horgan's most recent TV series, Bad Sisters, has just won her two Baftas. Yep, that was one serious vein of talent.
- The Frames play Live at the Marquee, Cork, on June 2-3
