The Frames

Infobox musical artist
Name = The Frames


Img_capt = The Frames
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Dublin, Ireland
Genre = Rock
Indie rock
Years_active = 1990–present
Label = Plateau Records
URL = [http://www.theframes.ie/ Official website]
Current_members = Glen Hansard
Joe Doyle
Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Rob Bochnik
Johnny Boyle
Past_members = Noreen O'Donnell
Dave Odlum
Paul Brennan
Dave Hingerty
John Carney
Graham Downey

The Frames are an influential Irish band based mainly in Dublin. Founded in 1990, the group has released six albums and appeared in numerous music videos. The band's ex-bassist John Carney has become a film director, writing and directing the award-winning 2007 film "Once" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907657/] , which stars the band's singer/guitarist Glen Hansard [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0360598/] , who wrote much of the music for the film.

History

The band has existed since 1990 and consists of survivors of Dublin's prolific early 1990s rock-and-roll scene. It has also been central to the development of the current crop of emerging Irish rock bands, including Turn, and has 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." [ [http://www.playrewind.com/2006/03/interview_with_.html PlayRewind.com (Nov. 17, 2001): Interview with Glen Hansard] ]

The band has had many members over the years, some of whom have also been, or later became, members of other Dublin rock bands. Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Dave Odlum both were founding members of folk group Kíla. Graham Downey, son of Thin Lizzy drummer Brian Downey, played bass for the band between 1993 and 1996. [ [http://www.drownedinsound.com/bands/2697 Drowned In Sound - Listings - Artists - The Frames] ]

The Frames have always collaborated closely with other groups that emerged from the buskers on Grafton Street, Dublin, where Hansard started his music career. Among these groups 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 is 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 [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Set-List-Frames/dp/B00019PDJS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1216332178&sr=8-3] ".

In 1991, Hansard came to public attention after taking the part of "Outspan" Foster in the film "The Commitments". However, 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" [ [http://www.irishmusiccentral.com/theframes/images/fr_pulp_fiction.jpgIrish Music Central: The Frames images] ] . More recently, Hansard has appeared on screen as the principal character parodied by Irish music/comedy Web site Eyebrowy.com. [ [http://www.eyebrowy.com Eyebrowy.com] ] and as the lead 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 2003 and 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 used the name The Frames DC, to avoid confusion with a United States band.

The band released its sixth studio album, "The Cost", on September 22, 2006. They appeared on the setlist at Lollapalooza 2006 just 12 days afterwards.

Recently, the band's song "Dream Awake" was used in the pilot episode of NBC's "Life." Also, "Finally" was prominently featured in the 11th episode of the show, when the title character reaped the rewards of the detective work which he had been doing all season. However, a different song is used in the version of the episode on nbc.com.

On February 24, 2008, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly" from the film "Once".

On May 13, 2008, the US iTunes store released a Deluxe Edition of "The Cost." This edition included three extra songs - "The Blood," "No More I Love Yous," and "This Low." It also included the music videos for "Falling Slowly," "Sad Songs," and "The Side You Never Get To See."

Members

*Glen Hansard: vocals, guitar (1990-present)
*Colm Mac Con Iomaire: keyboards, vocals, violin (1990-present)
*Joe Doyle: bass guitar, vocals (1996-present)
*Rob Bochnik: guitar, vocals (2002-present) * [http://myspace.com/robbochnik myspace.com/robbochnik]
*Johnny Boyle: drums, percussion (2003-present)

Former

* Noreen O'Donnell: (1990-1996) (vocals)
* Dave Odlum: (1990-2002) (guitar, Odlum later co-produced album "Burn the Maps" with Bochnik)
* Paul Brennan (Binzer): (1990-1998) (drums, percussion)
* Dave Hingerty: (1998-2003) (drums, percussion)
* John Carney: (1990-1993) (bass guitar, vocals)
* Graham Downey: (1993-1996) (bass guitar)
* Graham Hopkins: (drums) (was never a member, but played drums on the albums Dance the Devil, Burn the Maps and The Cost)

Discography

Albums

* "Another Love Song" (1991) (Out of production, though available for download from iTunes)
* "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)

ingles & 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 EP" (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

References

* [http://www.theframes.ie The Frames] (official site)
* [http://www.shakenstir.co.uk/feature.php?a=458 "Shakenstir" magazine: "One of the World's Best Bands That You Don't Know"]
* [http://www.threemonkeysonline.com/threemon_article_glen_hansard_interview_the_frames.htm "Three Monkeys" magazine: Interview with Glen Hansard]
* [http://www.myspace.com/robbochnik myspace.com/robbochnik]

ee also

*Glen Hansard
*"The Stars Are Underground"

External links

* [http://www.theframes.ie/ The Frames official Web site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/theframesofficial The Frames official Myspace]
* [http://anti.com/artists/view/3 The Frames at ANTI-]
* [http://www.littlebigmusic.com/frames.html The Frames at Little Big Music]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/TheFrames The Frames collection] at the Internet Archive's live music archive
* [http://www.fabchannel.com/the_frames Fabchannel: The Frames Live] (Nov. 21, 2006, Amsterdam concert)
* [http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/04/17/theframes/ Glen performs at The Current]
*Ian Peel: " [http://www.zttaat.com/article.php?title=172 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