Culture That Made Me: Paul Linehan of the Frank & Walters
Paul Linehan of the Frank & Walters. Picture: Darragh Kane
Born in 1967, Paul Linehan, grew up in Bishopstown, Cork. In 1989, he co-founded the Frank & Walters. He is the band’s singer and songwriter.
In 1992, the group released their debut album Trains, Boats and Planes. It includes the single ‘After All’, which they performed on Top of the Pops, becoming the first Cork band to appear on the iconic BBC show.
The Frank & Walters will perform the entirety of Trains, Boats and Planes at Whelan’s in Dublin (Saturday, 16 December) and Cork’s Cyprus Avenue (Friday, 22 December).
- See: www.cyprusavenue.ie
The first album I bought – probably in Golden Discs on Patrick’s Street in Cork – was Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout. Hearing ‘When Love Breaks Down’ spurred me to want to do music. I was moved by it. They’re still one of my favourite bands. They are a huge inspiration. They were the path into music for me. The bass was the first instrument I got; I learnt the bass lines from that album on it. I wasn't moved by music until I heard them. Around that time, I probably had my heart broken by some girl. That's when music means more to you – when there’s a love interest, it speaks to you louder. I’ve got all their albums ever since.
When we first started the band, we did Joy Division covers. We did ‘Transmission’, ‘Shadow Play’, ‘They Walked in Line’ and ‘She's Lost Control’. Joy Division were easy songs to cover. We could barely play our instruments at the time. Their music is primal and minimalist. It's atmospheric and deep. They use a nice combination of colours in the music, with synths and guitar. Ian Curtis was a great singer. He sang with conviction. He meant what he was saying. It's dark, serious music, and it touches you.
When I was young, I pestered my dad to stay up and watch Match of the Day on TV, as it was on late at night. It was a magical moment of being allowed to watch it, a special feeling – to be with him. I love soccer. I still watch it. When I hear that theme music, it takes me right back to the Seventies, late on a Saturday night watching it with my dad. It's a great bit of music, a great tune. You’d never think it, but there’s a country beat to that music – the bass guitar in it is country, and it's a country rhythm.
As teenagers, we used to go to Mojos, a venue in Cork. It was a live blues bar down George’s Quay, which would hold 60 or 70 people. There were a lot of Cork bands, too, playing there in the 1980s. I remember we used to go see Cypress, Mine!, an up-and-coming band, the alternative Cork band at the time. They inspired us to be in a band. There was something about them. They were brilliant. We loved them.
Obviously, we went to Sir Henry's in Cork as well. The main band for us there was Blue in Heaven. We were big fans. Every time they played in Cork, we’d go to see them. Shane O'Neill to us was like a God. They wouldn't have been a musical inspiration, but they were an inspiration in a “want to be in a band” kind of way.
My favourite film is Amélie. It’s pure genius. I love the cinematography, the acting. It's very clever – the whole story. When the girl gets the cut-up photographs and she tries to piece them together; how she gets to meet her love; and how she plays little tricks with him, love games. It's romantic and mysterious. It captures pure magic. It captures Paris, too, which is such a romantic city. I look at it every couple of years. I love it.
Another band we went to see in Sir Henry's around that time was the Wedding Present. They were a big influence. Their music was brilliant. They created a lot of power. The songs were good. At the time, with bands, it was all about the music. The voice was low. Maybe David Gedge was unsure of his voice. His voice was a bit low in the mix, but it didn't matter because the music was really powerful. Great music. They had a very fast drummer. We loved his right hand. He created great rhythms.
Leonard Cohen is unique. His lyrics are phenomenal. It's all poetry, almost religious. I love the song Suzanne. I love its imagery: “And she feeds you tea and oranges/That come all the way from China… And the sun pours down like honey/On our lady of the harbour”. You can see them, the images he conjures up. Then he has the line: “All men will be sailors then/Until the sea shall free them”. Lyrically, I don't think there's anyone better. Bob Dylan is a good lyricist, but he's flippant. Sometimes he rhymes for the sake of rhyming. Some of the stuff I cringe at, but I never cringe at Leonard Cohen.
Around 2000, I was living in Athy, Co Limerick. I had split from my wife at the time. My brother left the band and we lost our record deal. I was hit hard. My spirits were dipping. Someone recommended Norman Vincent Peale’s book The Power of Positive Thinking. It changed my life. What I learned from that book is you have to feed your brain with positivity to tip the scales in your mind from the negative to the positive side. It’s like shovelling coal in on top, to bring yourself back. It almost doesn't matter if you don't believe it, you have to keep shovelling, to harness a higher power – almost like faith – to give you positivity and hope, and to get you out of a jam.
The Kinks’ lyrics are brilliant. Waterloo Sunset is one of the best songs of all time. Back in the Sixties, they didn't have the great recording facilities we have now. I don't know how they did it, but they managed to capture an atmosphere with that recording. I love every bit of the song’s production. I love the sound of the drums and the guitar. When you go back and listen to even some of The Beatles songs recorded at the same time, there might be a dodgy drum or cymbal, sounding a bit amateur. In Waterloo Sunset, the sound is perfect. The lyrics by Ray Davies are amazing. It hits you every time.
