by Tina Whelski“If you trust in the moment, if you’re willing to be the fool and make the mistake and get it wrong, then you’ve great potential to get it absolutely right,” says The Frames’ Glen Hansard (vocals/guitar). And for the record, The Frames “get it absolutely right.”
Dublin’s acclaimed rock quintet Colm MacConlomaire (violin/keyboards/vocals), Joseph Doyle (bass/vocals), Robert Bochnik (guitar), Johnny Boyle (drums), and front man Hansard use that risky philosophy to create brilliant albums, like Burn The Maps released via Anti- Records early last year and when it comes to live shows, that’s “a completely different animal.” The band hits a place with audiences that can only exist when everyone throws caution to the wind.
“When it really breaks down to it, people generally go to a concert, not necessarily to hear the album or because they like the sound or whatever, but I suppose to be touched by something that is some kind of energy,” says Glen Hansard. “When a band is in the right headspace and you’re present and you’re living the sound, then there’s an alchemy that can take place sometimes. Something can transcend for both the audience and the band. I think that magic can only happen at any concert, in any situation, if both sides are completely willing to allow the moment to be the leader, or the guide if you like. So at a gig for instance, if we’re standing there playing our music and the audience is there, it’s almost like all I need to do is be absolutely present, then whatever’s going to happen, will happen. If I’m not present, we go through the motions, nobody experiences anything great. Everybody leaves saying, ‘Yeah I heard the songs. I recognize the songs that I know. The band was ok.’ Nobody leaves that situation feeling in any way uplifted or that they’ve experienced anything new…Where the real magic is in any gig is in the audience’s experience. If the audience is experiencing it in a really good way then the atmosphere can only build and whatever energy is in that room can only grow.”
The Frames find commonality with their audiences by understanding that music is more conversation than show.
“It’s a discourse rather than a performance,” says Hansard. “The whole idea of ‘entertainer’ sort of denotes this trickery, this idea that there are certain things that you’ll do. If I do ‘x’ and ‘y’ it will result in action ‘a’ and ‘b.’ Often that can be a thing that people can fall back on, but for me the most interesting gigs are those where no one in the audience knows your band and there isn’t any expectation. Somehow we all catch each other in a moment…I love playing for strangers because that’s where I started, playing music on the street for people who walk by, so there’s definitely an excitement about playing in front of a few thousand people who don’t know who you are.”
The Frames performing "Star Star."
Dublin’s acclaimed rock quintet Colm MacConlomaire (violin/keyboards/vocals), Joseph Doyle (bass/vocals), Robert Bochnik (guitar), Johnny Boyle (drums), and front man Hansard use that risky philosophy to create brilliant albums, like Burn The Maps released via Anti- Records early last year and when it comes to live shows, that’s “a completely different animal.” The band hits a place with audiences that can only exist when everyone throws caution to the wind.
“When it really breaks down to it, people generally go to a concert, not necessarily to hear the album or because they like the sound or whatever, but I suppose to be touched by something that is some kind of energy,” says Glen Hansard. “When a band is in the right headspace and you’re present and you’re living the sound, then there’s an alchemy that can take place sometimes. Something can transcend for both the audience and the band. I think that magic can only happen at any concert, in any situation, if both sides are completely willing to allow the moment to be the leader, or the guide if you like. So at a gig for instance, if we’re standing there playing our music and the audience is there, it’s almost like all I need to do is be absolutely present, then whatever’s going to happen, will happen. If I’m not present, we go through the motions, nobody experiences anything great. Everybody leaves saying, ‘Yeah I heard the songs. I recognize the songs that I know. The band was ok.’ Nobody leaves that situation feeling in any way uplifted or that they’ve experienced anything new…Where the real magic is in any gig is in the audience’s experience. If the audience is experiencing it in a really good way then the atmosphere can only build and whatever energy is in that room can only grow.”
The Frames find commonality with their audiences by understanding that music is more conversation than show.
“It’s a discourse rather than a performance,” says Hansard. “The whole idea of ‘entertainer’ sort of denotes this trickery, this idea that there are certain things that you’ll do. If I do ‘x’ and ‘y’ it will result in action ‘a’ and ‘b.’ Often that can be a thing that people can fall back on, but for me the most interesting gigs are those where no one in the audience knows your band and there isn’t any expectation. Somehow we all catch each other in a moment…I love playing for strangers because that’s where I started, playing music on the street for people who walk by, so there’s definitely an excitement about playing in front of a few thousand people who don’t know who you are.”
Don’t miss The Frames perform August 3 at Central Park Summer Stage.
Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly (8/2/06).
The Frames performing "Star Star."
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