Newsletter

"the past few months have no doubt been the most memorable and positive days in our recent history, getting out from under the thumb of another stormy relationship with a major, and finding once again that we're back at the wheel and between ourselves and claire, the road seems more navigable than ever, which is where our deepest thanks goes to you good people for keeping us afloat, with your endless support and good will, the shows are getting better, the new songs are getting braver, and all in all we're moving onward into a new place, and it feels good.. there's no consolation in regret, and no reason to stop now.. we weild a mighty sword that cut's through bone and lays the liars down.. wish us luck in chicago.. and keep fighting for metal!! glen.."

hi all, keyboard back under my fingers, so hows everyone? it only seems like yesterday that i was booking the end of the millenium gig at the tivolli and here i am already worrying about where to play this new years eve. i cant beleive that we are staring autumn in the face already........i must be getting older quicker or something cause the time is just a-flyin'.......but we're all having fun nevertheless. firstly, a big HELLO to all the new names that i've aquired over the last couple of months - and beleive me, there are a goodly bunch of you - welcome/wilkommen and bienvenue to the ebase. an equally big HELLO to all you stalwarts who have been with us for the past couple of years - good to still have you onboard. so, the lads are, as i write packing their songs in a sturdy holdall, slinging their guitars/drums/fiddles/harmoniums round their necks and seriously looking forward to heading off to chicago early in the morning on the 9th september to go and record some with mr steve albini. excuse the double up on the news if you already know it, but a) to refresh your memories and b) to enlighten the new boys/girls/men/women i may repeat myself from previous missives. as you may or may not know, the frames have been working on a bunch of exquisite new songs with craig ward (nice bloke from dEUS and ever so slightly musical) over the past couple of months. craig has been acting as co-producer with the band and he will also be going with them to chicago to generally oversee the project and see that they dont get into any mischief. they already have a goodly amount of the album recorded, but with the albini opportunity arising, there was just no saying 'no' to the idea of working with someone of his calibre - so thats why theyre going westward to add to/finish recording. they have 10 days in the studio after which they will be staying in chicago at friends houses various and doing some gigs (see below for dates and venues). i must just say here we owe a BIG THANKS to the very altruistic mr zoran orlic for a) welcoming them into the bosom of his home town and b) for setting up some fantastic shows. one of these days zoran ill get to meet you and i think i owe you a beer or seven.......thank you so much. the plan from there is that they return with a further holdall with other tracks in on the 1st october. they then go straight down to dingle to hole up in a lovely part of the planet, un-zip the various bags, get the songs out for a bit of west country air and start mixing them into what is commonly known as an album................their final date in this house is the 17th october, so by that date we should all be more aware of where we stand in terms of releasing the album/an ep/a single etc. we have this plan. its ours. WE ARE GOING TO EXECUTE IT AND EVEN MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!! the working title for the album at this stage is 'for the birds'. this could change..... now, if all of the above comes together, and in theory theres no reason why it shouldnt, then we will probably be looking at releasing a track backed with goodies at the arse end of november and the album to follow shortly after that. i know that youve heard other dates and stuff as to when to expect this record, but interesting left balls have come into the picture in the shape of albini etc which kind of threw our initial plan off course. suffice to say - we want something out sooner rather than later, but even when the record is finished we have to build in time to manufacture the thing, release a track to radio, do some promotion etc etc which im sure you understand takes time. as we are now record company-less (horray!!) we are setting up our own label - plateau records - and we have just done a deal with one of the nicest and most decent a&r men on the planet (usually this last sentence would be a contradiction in terms - 'nice', 'decent' and 'a&r man' dont usually sit well in the same sentence) who works at sony towers. we have done a deal in which basically sony will be distributing plateau recs throughout ireland and there was no clause in it which meant we had to sell our souls at all, or even give them the copyright to the record - which is truely a first for the frames and it feels good. so - thats the big news for us. i will of course be telling all and sundry the release dates of any records as they happen, and ill send out an update mid october cause thats kind of when i know where we'll be in terms of recordings. other stuff to say - some great gigs have happenned over the past couple of months and thanks again to everyone who came out and supported the band - so seriously - THANK YOU. it was amazing to play 5 shows in 4 days at whelans at the back end of july. i was lucky enough to be over for all of those shows and it was great to see the place so rammed on all of the nights and watch 5 very different sets. bit like a sauna at times, but a good sauna with all your mates if you know what i mean. the saturday afternoon show was pretty special too, not only cause the audience were so fresh-faced and youthful, but seeing damien rice get up with the band and sing the jackson 5 classic 'i want you back' was one to remember. witness, well what can i say about witness - i wasnt there, but talking to the band that was one show that they pre-decided would be a diffiucult one to play sound-wise (usually festie sound is pretty dodgy at the best of times), but they just went out, rocked out and came off stage to quote glen "feeling like absolute GIANTS".......a feeling that they could definatly get used too. an amazing experience for everyone in the band. i think they felt truely loved that day. the wicklow beach extravagansa was well worth all of the ulcers it caused me by the sound of it. some beautiful reveiws on the messageboard which i personally always like to read, as do the lads. it is always interesting to get peoples personal perspectives whether good or bad. thanks to mr conor hipwell for all that he did that couple of days previous to set it up - only you knows what was involved conor... and you really are the man when it comes to beach parties. in fact all around the country the band have had a good time. limerick was a full on ROK night by all accounts and an interview with glen can be read at http://www.limerickfirst.com/street/ for anyone thats interested. galway was a gorgeous venue and a beautiful crowd, vicar street was amazing and i even had to turn punters away at the door which i just HATE doing....next time hopefully theyll buy in advance. oh, and glens solo gig in whelans sounds like it was one that shouldnt have been missed, with the world and his mother getting up with glen and generally having a good old sing-song. i hear that paddy casey, mundy, mic christopher, jamie lawson, damien dempsey and david kitt all got up at various stages in the evening and played til the bouncers threw em all out at 2am. bugger! i wasnt there....i must just say one thing too about belfast. this was the first time that they came away with a really positive feeling after doing a gig in belfast. to quote dave odlum on that one "we all had an 'at last' vibe in the van home after that gig. good crowd and a good gig from our perspective" there is another site at www.allirelandmusic.com which has been very active in promoting the band and is definatly worth a look. i think they have just posted the star star video so, if you want to - check it out. in answer to some of the postings at the plateau - t-shirts. yes, yes, yes i hear you. i want to get some new t's printed too,and do a further run of the horse t-shirt as thats a winner. its just a cash flow thing at the moment. ALL the money that we have spare goes into making this record at the moment and keeping the band on the road and there just isnt a spare £500 around to spend on getting them done right now.........soon though....i promise. likewise with the live album/video front. its something that we really want to do and i even tried to get all the whelans shows recorded for that very purpose - its just the A-dats that we were using decided to go all wobbly on us and didnt format properly, so it was bolloxed basically and not a note was recorded. we will get there, but as priority no. 1 until it exists, is going to be 'for the birds', then the live stuff has to take a bit of a back seat just for now. i have had quite a few queries about maybe setting up a 'fan club' officially, where you would be asked to pay to join and get things in return. i have said that i will ask the e-base (ie. you lot) what you reckon........a)if you would be interested in something like this, and b) what would you really want out of it?? im guessing music of a rare nature for fan club only would be top of the list - but it would be interesting to find out if there are enough people out there that would be into the idea - so if you think its a good, bad or ugly idea - let me know at this address and ill have a collation of ideas and have a think about it. GIGS LIST OVER THE NEXT WHILE THEN: SEPTMetro 3730 N Clark St Chicago, IL 60613 (773) 549-0203 http://www.metrochicago.com The Frames Tuesday - September 26, 2000 Opener of “The Gloria Record” Verify times with Metro Hideout 1354 W Wabansia Ave Chicago, IL 60622 (773) 227-4433 http://www.hideoutchicago.com/ The Frames Wednesday - September 27th 2000 10:00pm Uncommon Ground 1214 W Grace St Chicago, IL 60613 (773) 929-3680 http://www.uncommonground.com Glen Hansard solo… Saturday - September 30th 2000 Headliner 10:30pm OCTOBER 17th Galway College NUIG the frames with the national prayer breakfast and steve fannagan somewhere hopefully beautiful within the college.....venue tbc 18th Cork IT the frames with the national prayer breakfast and steve fannagan at a canteen at lunch time near you...tbc 19th limerick UL the frames with the national prayer breakfast and steve fannagan at a lecture theatre near you...confirmed 26th glen solo at 33:45 club 27th the frames vicar street (non-seated show for a change) pulzsar from belfast and jack mc keever from NY supporting 28th the frames vicar street (seated show, cause they like it like that....) jack mc keever and a.n.other supporting when they get back to me..... 29th the forum, waterford. West End Live Festival. NOVEMBER 3rd crossing borders festival amsterdam. (theyve switched us from the 4th to the 3rd) 6th cambridge anglia su 7th london spitz club 8th sheffield cassbah 9th peterbourgh park 10th glasgow king tuts 12th york fibbers 13th liverpool su 17th music of the rivers festival in florida check it out at www.musicoftherivers.org 18th motr florida 19th motr florida 20th glen to chicago - watch this space for more solo shows and i reckon thats enough to be going on with....dont you? we are at www.listen.at/theplateau if you need to know. sorry if ive gone on a bit there.....my fault, i should write more regularly, then i wouldnt have so much to say. night night everyone.......be well, claire