Franks Talking

Talk about pop music? Beauty Becomes More Than Life, the third album from Cork's finest sons, The Frank And Walters, is glorious, singalong, hummable pop. They've incorporated loops and samples into the mix on what is their strongest set of songs yet, while proving that they can still write catchy hooks and glorious melodies. The sound is certainly a progression.

"We could have made another album like Grand Parade if we'd wanted, but we would have just been bored," explains drummer Ashley Keating. "When we made both Grand Parade and Trains, Boats And Planes, we went into the studio with every lick, every lyric already written. This time we went in without everything done and we just let the songs breathe in the studio."

"We were ready to experiment," adds Paul Linehan, vocals/bass. "Out of boredom, we were ready for change and we embraced all the technology that we could at the time. We're trying to avoid boredom at all costs."

They've certainly achieved that objective. The listener may be enthralled, enlivened, entertained, but will never be bored. The Franks aren't about to rest on their laurels, however. They've too much experience for that.

"We're actually starting to demo the next album already," explains Ashley. "We decided that it's pointless hanging around when we have some time on our hands. The gap between the first and second album was so long that we fell into the trap of just hanging around. This time we're on a roll and we're excited about the music. We got our zest for it back."

It's been a funny old rollercoaster ride for The Franks. Their first album, Trains, Boats And Planes was a huge hit, with singles like "After All" and "Fashion Crisis Hits New York" bringing their brand of quirky pop into the top ten. Then it all went pear-shaped. Record company troubles over that difficult second album led to the band relocating from Go! Discs to their spiritual home with Setanta, where they eventually released Grand Parade, critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful, relative to its predecessor.

"Our first album was received better than our second album, even though the second was as good, if not better," muses Paul. "But then, this is the music business and you have to accept whatever comes your way and say 'you win some, you lose some'."

"It was our own fault in one sense," admits Ashley, "in that we left the gap so long. But in another sense, after the success of the single and stuff, we were running around with our heads in the clouds. We were young, we had money and we were being invited to parties and all that. We just weren't ready for it.

Suddenly, you're living a life you're not used to and it all became too much. We said, 'fuck this, we have to get out of it'. We were living in London at the time and we just decided to move back to Cork because we were emotionally and physically drained from the whole music business. 'After All' was the culmination of three years touring, writing and recording, and we had to refresh the batteries."

Now though, as Iggy would say, The Franks have their lust for life back. If there is any justice, The Franks will have another hit album on their hands (as yet there are no plans to release a single) but they don't want to go back on the publicity roundabout.

"All I want in my life is a bit of peace," smiles Paul. "I'd be happy to dig a hole out in the fucking countryside, get into it and chill out. I don't want to go to pretentious parties where nobody gives a fuck about each other, all they care about is what you are, your position in society: whether you're a famous actor or you're in a successful band. It's all a cool thing and it means nothing at the end of the day."

"If we do have another hit, I think we're a lot better equipped to handle things now than we were," opines Ashley. "We've seen that side of it and we didn't like it. You can opt out, but at the time we were naive and we were basically being told what to do. We had become a product. We weren't three individuals any more: we were The Frank And Walters, and our press officer would ring up and say, 'Paul, you have to go here', and Niall [Linehan, guitar] has to go there. We had to spread ourselves round and it was crazy. Now, we'd just tell our press officer to fuck off."

Previously, The Franks have been dismissed as quirky, catchy pop merchants, with songs as immediate as a slap in the face, and with a shelf-life as low as the chances of Daniel O'Donnell having a number one death metal album. Beauty Becomes . . . should change all that, though. It's more of a grower, with the end result that it lasts much longer than previous outings, which Paul attributes to the technique they used to record.

"Before, we were very direct with our recording, and we used to play all our cards as soon as possible. We kept that in mind during this recording, trying to hold the tension because, musically, you can give it all away too quickly, and once the listener has the message you want to get across, he's bored immediately and the song is throwaway."

"We tried to create a mood within each song," adds Ashley. "With some songs we waited until the middle of the night, when the mood was right, to record. Songs like 'Take Me Through This Life' or 'Simple Times' you couldn't record in the morning because it would have been the wrong vibe. But late at night, when you're more relaxed and maybe a bit more fragile, was perfect. Before, we'd always arrived at the studio at 10 o'clock, lashed it down as fast as we could and left. This time, we were basically locked into the studio for three or four weeks. If an idea was right at five o'clock in the morning, that's when we recorded it.

Sometimes when you talk about getting moods across in songs, you sound like a bit of a spacer," he says. "But the one thing that proves to me that moods can be got across was when we did an interview with a Japanese journalist, who didn't have a word of English. He listened to a song and, through an interpreter, he asked us what it was about. We asked him what he thought it was about and he got it exactly right."

The Franks' new zest for making music has been helped in no small part by the addition of an extra member, primarily for live shows at the moment. 21-year-old former One Dove member Sarah de Courcy has been added to the line-up on keyboard and piano duties.

"This album has so many keyboards and piano bits on it, and to do the songs justice live, we really needed a keyboard player," explains Ashley. "We've been playing as a three-piece, just bass, drums and guitar, for eight years and you get bored of it. It's exciting for us to play with a keyboard player. It will add a new dimension for people who have seen us over the years as well."

The Frank And Walters have always had a good live reputation. But the addition of Sarah into the band has reportedly fleshed out their sound and strengthened their live show. You can judge for yourself when the quartet take to the highroads and byroads for a mini nationwide tour at the end of May, prior to the album's worldwide release in July. Then it's a case of leaving the Hiace at home and heading for foreign shores. America, in particular, holds plenty of potential for the band as they built up a loyal following there following the release of Grand Parade.

At the time of that album's release, Britain's music press was obsessed with the Blur-Oasis debacle and, while Grand Parade was reviewed favourably, there was no follow-up interest. Disillusioned, The Franks headed across the Atlantic.

"Rather than hang around and mope, we thought, 'let's go and conquer somewhere we haven't been', so the States was the obvious choice," explains Ashley. "It breathed new life into the band. We went over to a friend's place, slept on the floor and literally built it up from zero. When we arrived there, we had nothing, no agent, no publicity person, no record company. By the end, we had built it up into something which we were quite proud of. In the major cities, we were able to play to between 500 and 1000 people. That gave us the confidence to go and do this album."

Beauty Becomes . . . is released on the Setanta label, which may not have the same money as the Sonys and Polygrams of this world, but has the attitude that the band love.

"Keith (Cullen, Setanta MD) gives us the freedom that we want. He lets us make the videos we want, have the artwork we want and make the record we want. You really need that freedom because you get suffocated otherwise."

"A major label takes the fun out of being in a band," says Ashley. "What dance music has done, the way guys can write and record number ones in their bedroom, is filtering in to the music industry as a whole. Everyone is starting to realise that you don't need these big corporate conglomerations to produce good music. It's as if a punk attitude is creeping in of late, and people are turning down major label deals, which is about time. Major labels have such a hold on music now that Boyzone are number one, and they're the biggest load of tripe in the world. The charts are a laughing stock.

Music is so corporate now that it is one big machine," adds Paul. "They can take whatever band they like, put it through the machine and it will come out the other side successful. It's a money machine and it's not about music any more. It's about selling an attitude or a culture of a band."

They're on a roll now.

"It's an embarrassment to be in the charts now," says Ashley. "But the ability to sell music on the internet is going to be a big kick up the arse for the big corporations."

"Thank God," agrees Paul, "because corporate control of music is just scary. We've seen it in America when we were living there. The whole country is destroyed by the hold that corporations have on it. People are just totally brainwashed by corporations. It's the Coca-Cola, McDonald's world, and the people don't know any better. It's grand here, but in America, you really see people so controlled by the media and the media is controlled by the corporations and it's so sad. It's a machine and there's a guy at the top playing God and it's just too much."

The Frank And Walters don't want to make corporate music. Beauty Becomes . . . is certainly a progression from their previous two albums and is their strongest to date. This is not the end of the road for their creativity, however.

"We're going in this week to demo our next album," says Paul. "We have a vision for that which is way out there. We're not going to reach the vision but we will get half-way, and half-way is very far. We're excited about going in and making that. If someone told us to go in and make another album like Grand Parade, I'd get sick. We want to make something that's different and exciting for us."

"We know we can make a Grand Parade so why bother?" says Ashley. "Even if we try something new and it's crap, at least we tried to do something new."

"The minute you start getting bored making music, it's time to get out," says Paul. "You just become like a cabaret version of yourself like Status Quo."

Beauty Becomes More Than Life is out now on Setanta and The Frank And Walters are playing a nationwide tour from May 26th. See Gig Guide for details.