The Frames
Encyclopedia
The Frames are an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season...

, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 scene. The group has released six albums. In addition to Hansard, the band's current lineup includes original member Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Colm Mac Con Iomaire is from Blackrock, Co. Dublin. He plays violin and sings vocals with the Irish Rock group The Frames. Mac Con Iomaire has been involved with The Frames since 1990 and has been a member of the Swell Season since 2006 .Previously, Colm was a founder member of Irish folk group...

, Joe Doyle
Joe Doyle (musician)
Joe Doyle is the bassist and backing singer for Irish rock band The Frames and the Swell Season. He has been a member of The Frames since 1996, appearing on six albums to date...

, Rob Bochnik
Rob Bochnik
Rob Bochnik is a musician, audio engineer, singer and songwriter. He is currently the guitarist with The Frames, The Swell Season , The Butcher Shop Quartet and records as a solo artist...

 and Graham Hopkins
Graham Hopkins
Graham Hopkins is an Irish drummer. He is the drummer in The Swell Season, The Frames, and former drummer for the hard rock/punk rock band Therapy?.- Early years :...

.

History

The band began in 1990 and consists of survivors of Dublin's prolific early 1990s rock-and-roll scene. The band was central to the development of many emerging Irish rock bands of the time, including Turn
Turn (band)
Turn were an Irish band. They formed in 1998 when lead singer/guitarist Ollie Cole and drummer Ian Melady joined forces with Dublin bass player Gavin Fox, who they met at a local recording studio...

. They also toured together with other Irish artists. In December 2004, Hansard appeared on stage to collaborate with Paddy Casey
Paddy Casey
Patrick "Paddy" Casey is an Irish singer-songwriter from Dublin. Paddy was discovered by Sony A&R Scout Hugh Murray at the International Bar in Dublin, while performing at the singer/songwriter night hosted by Dave Murphy...

 and The Dublin Gospel Choir
Dublin Gospel Choir
The Dublin Gospel Choir are an Irish gospel choir that have been performing in Ireland since 1996.-History:The choir was originally founded as a school choir in Dublin's inner city in 1996, and perform frequently, including at corporate and charity events...

. In 2007 The Frames toured Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 as the support act for Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

.

The name The Frames arose from Hansard's habit of fixing bicycles 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."

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
Kíla
Kíla are an Irish folk music/World music group, originally formed in 1987 in the Irish Language secondary school, Coláiste Eoin in Co. Dublin. Kila's blend of Irish traditional music and World Music with a modern rock sensibility is generally credited with breathing new life into contemporary Irish...

. Graham Downey, son of Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...

 drummer Brian Downey
Brian Downey (drummer)
Brian Michael Downey is an Irish drummer.Downey is the drummer and a founding member of the rock band Thin Lizzy, and a friend from childhood of co-founder and frontman Phil Lynott. Along with Lynott, Downey was the only constant member of the pioneering hard rock group until their break-up in...

, played bass for the band between 1993 and 1996.

The Frames have always collaborated closely with other groups that emerged from the buskers
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...

 on Grafton Street, Dublin, where Hansard started his music career. Among these groups were the aforementioned Kíla, and Mic Christopher
Mic Christopher
Mic Christopher was an Irish singer-songwriter, best known for his posthumously-released debut album Skylarkin.-Early life:...

. 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
Redemption Song
The song urges listeners to "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery," because "None but ourselves can free our minds". These lines were taken from a speech given by Marcus Garvey in Nova Scotia during October 1937 and published in his Black Man magazine:...

" by Bob Marley, "Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire (song)
"Ring of Fire" or "The Ring of Fire" is a country music song popularized by Johnny Cash and co-written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore. The single appears on Cash's 1963 compilation album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash...

" by Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

, "Lilac Wine
Lilac Wine
"Lilac Wine" is a song written by James Shelton in 1950. It was introduced by Hope Foye in the short-lived theater musical revue, "Dance Me a Song." It was covered by Eartha Kitt , by Judy Henske on her first, self-named album , by Nina Simone on her album Wild Is The Wind , was a solo hit by...

" by James Shelton (as made popular by Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...

 / Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...

) and "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...

, all of which are captured on the live album Set List.

In 1991, Hansard came to public attention after taking the part of "Outspan" Foster in the film The Commitments
The Commitments (film)
The Commitments , the soundtrack for the film, was released on 13 Aug 1991. "Mustang Sally" was released as a single. Most of the songs on the album are performed by the cast band, but two are by Irish singer Niamh Kavanagh.-Track listing:-Chart positions:-The Commitments, Vol...

. 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
Bronagh Gallagher
- External links :*...

, one of Hansard's colleagues, can be seen wearing a Frames t-shirt in her appearance in the film Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...

. Hansard appeared on screen as the principal character parodied by Irish music comedy Web site Eyebrowy.com and in 2007 as the lead in the movie Once
Once (film)
Once is a 2006 Irish musical film written and directed by John Carney. Set in Dublin, this naturalistic drama stars musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová as musicians...

which featured his songs.

As of 2007, the band consisted of Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season...

, Joe Doyle
Joe Doyle (musician)
Joe Doyle is the bassist and backing singer for Irish rock band The Frames and the Swell Season. He has been a member of The Frames since 1996, appearing on six albums to date...

, Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Colm Mac Con Iomaire is from Blackrock, Co. Dublin. He plays violin and sings vocals with the Irish Rock group The Frames. Mac Con Iomaire has been involved with The Frames since 1990 and has been a member of the Swell Season since 2006 .Previously, Colm was a founder member of Irish folk group...

, Rob Bochnik and Johnny Boyle
Johnny Boyle
Johnny Boyle is the former drummer of Irish band The Frames. He first came to the attention of the Irish music scene when he joined Picture House before the release of their second album, Karmarama. He left the band shortly after the third studio album, Madness, Sadness, Gladness to join Marianne...

. Various people played drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s during 2003 and 2004, including Graham Hopkins
Graham Hopkins
Graham Hopkins is an Irish drummer. He is the drummer in The Swell Season, The Frames, and former drummer for the hard rock/punk rock band Therapy?.- Early years :...

 who drummed Dance the Devil, Burn the Maps, and the band's latest album The Cost. On one version of the album Fitzcarraldo, the band used the name The Frames DC, to avoid confusion with a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 band.

The band released its sixth studio album, The Cost
The Cost
The Cost is the sixth studio album by The Frames, released in Ireland on Plateau Records on September 22, 2006. The album was released worldwide on ANTI- on February 20, 2007. The album exhibits a sound more like that of For the Birds than their more recent album Burn the Maps...

, on September 22, 2006. They appeared on the setlist at Lollapalooza 2006 just 12 days afterward.

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. The band's song "Seven Day Mile" was used in the season six premiere of House on Fox.

The band's ex-bassist, John Carney
John Carney (director)
John Carney is an Irish film and TV writer/director who specialises in low-budget indie films. He is best known for his award-winning 2007 movie Once. He is also a co-creator of the Irish TV drama series Bachelors Walk.-Life and career:...

, is now a film director, best known for writing and directing the film Once
Once (film)
Once is a 2006 Irish musical film written and directed by John Carney. Set in Dublin, this naturalistic drama stars musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová as musicians...

, which stars Hansard, who wrote much of the music for the film. Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Markéta Irglová
Markéta Irglová is a Czech songwriter, musician, actress, and singer. As of 2010, she resides in New York City.-Early life:...

 won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly" from Once.

On May 13, 2008, the US iTunes store released a Deluxe Edition of The Cost
The Cost
The Cost is the sixth studio album by The Frames, released in Ireland on Plateau Records on September 22, 2006. The album was released worldwide on ANTI- on February 20, 2007. The album exhibits a sound more like that of For the Birds than their more recent album Burn the Maps...

. 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."

In late 2009, the band appeared on The Swell Season
The Swell Season
The Swell Season is a folk rock duo formed by Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová. "The Swell Season" name is derived from Hansard's favourite novel by Josef Škvorecký from 1975 bearing the same title...

's album, Strict Joy
Strict Joy
Strict Joy is the third album by The Swell Season . It was released in Ireland on October 23, 2009, the rest of Europe on October 26, and on October 27 in North America on the ANTI- record label...

. On March 24, 2010, the band announced their first concert in three years at Electric Picnic
Electric Picnic
The 2005 festival took place on Saturday 3 September and Sunday 4 September. It is best remembered for Arcade Fire's performance which came before their subsequent mainstream success...

 to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
.

The Song "Rise" from the Album The Cost
The Cost
The Cost is the sixth studio album by The Frames, released in Ireland on Plateau Records on September 22, 2006. The album was released worldwide on ANTI- on February 20, 2007. The album exhibits a sound more like that of For the Birds than their more recent album Burn the Maps...

was featured at the end of season 3, episode 13 of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 series "Castle
Castle (TV series)
Castle is an American comedy-drama television series, which premiered on ABC on March 9, 2009. The series is produced by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. On January 10, 2011, Castle was renewed for a fourth season...

".

Members

  • Glen Hansard
    Glen Hansard
    Glen Hansard is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season...

    : vocals, guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

     (1990–present)
  • Colm Mac Con Iomaire
    Colm Mac Con Iomaire
    Colm Mac Con Iomaire is from Blackrock, Co. Dublin. He plays violin and sings vocals with the Irish Rock group The Frames. Mac Con Iomaire has been involved with The Frames since 1990 and has been a member of the Swell Season since 2006 .Previously, Colm was a founder member of Irish folk group...

    : keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

    , vocals, violin
    Violin
    The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

     (1990–present)
  • Joe Doyle
    Joe Doyle (musician)
    Joe Doyle is the bassist and backing singer for Irish rock band The Frames and the Swell Season. He has been a member of The Frames since 1996, appearing on six albums to date...

    : bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , vocals (1996–present)
  • Rob Bochnik
    Rob Bochnik
    Rob Bochnik is a musician, audio engineer, singer and songwriter. He is currently the guitarist with The Frames, The Swell Season , The Butcher Shop Quartet and records as a solo artist...

    : guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

    , vocals (2002–present)
  • Graham Hopkins
    Graham Hopkins
    Graham Hopkins is an Irish drummer. He is the drummer in The Swell Season, The Frames, and former drummer for the hard rock/punk rock band Therapy?.- Early years :...

    : drums, backing vocals (2008–present)
  • Juli de Mott: backing vocals (present)

Former

  • Noreen O'Donnell: (1990–1996) (vocals)
  • Dave Odlum
    Dave Odlum
    David Odlum is an Irish guitarist, drummer and producer who has dated, worked and played with Academy Award winners and Mercury Prize nominees...

    : (1990–2002) (guitar, Odlum later co-produced album Burn the Maps with Bochnik)
  • Paul Brennan
    Paul Brennan
    The Irish artist is a teacher at Willow Tree Primary School located in West LondonPaul Brennan is a traditional musician from County Down, Northern Ireland who has lived in London for a number of years.Brennan co-founded the Belfast School of Piping...

     (Binzer): (1990–1998) (drums, percussion)
  • Dave Hingerty: (1998–2003) (drums, percussion)
  • John Carney
    John Carney (director)
    John Carney is an Irish film and TV writer/director who specialises in low-budget indie films. He is best known for his award-winning 2007 movie Once. He is also a co-creator of the Irish TV drama series Bachelors Walk.-Life and career:...

    : (1990–1993) (bass guitar, vocals)
  • Graham Downey: (1993–1996) (bass guitar)
  • Johnny Boyle
    Johnny Boyle
    Johnny Boyle is the former drummer of Irish band The Frames. He first came to the attention of the Irish music scene when he joined Picture House before the release of their second album, Karmarama. He left the band shortly after the third studio album, Madness, Sadness, Gladness to join Marianne...

     (2003–2008) (drums)
  • Seoirse Doherty (Bass)

Albums

  • Another Love Song (1991) (Out of production, though available for download from iTunes) (Re-released on cd in 2010 by Salvo Records)
  • Fitzcarraldo
    Fitzcarraldo (1995 album)
    Fitzcarraldo is the second studio album by The Frames, released under the moniker The Frames DC to avoid confusion with the American band of the same name. Another version of the album would be published in 1996. The album was released on ZTT Records in November, 1995...

    (1995) (as The Frames DC)

  • Fitzcarraldo
    Fitzcarraldo (1996 album)
    Fitzcarraldo is a re-issued version of the second studio album by The Frames, released under the moniker The Frames DC to avoid confusion with the American band of the same name. The album was released on ZTT Records on October 29, 1996...

    (1996) IRL
    Irish Albums Chart
    The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...

     #26
  • Dance the Devil
    Dance the Devil
    Dance the Devil... is the third studio album by Dublin based band The Frames. The album was first released in Ireland on 25 June 1999 on ZTT Records and subsequently in the UK and USA later in the year. On this album the band returned to using their original name in place of the moniker The Frames...

    (1999) IRL #28
  • For the Birds (2001) IRL #6
  • Breadcrumb Trail
    Breadcrumb Trail
    Breadcrumb Trail is the first live album by Dublin based band The Frames, recorded in Stará Pekárna, Brno in the Czech Republic. The album was released on June 2002 on Indies Records in the Czech Republic and the Frames' own indie label Plateau Records in Ireland...

    (2002) (live album) IRL #1
  • Set List (2003) (live album) IRL #1
  • Burn the Maps
    Burn the Maps
    Burn The Maps is the fifth studio album by The Frames, released in Ireland on Plateau Records on September 17, 2004 and worldwide on ANTI- Records on February 8, 2005.This was their first studio album to go to #1 in the Irish Album Charts....

    (2004) IRL #1

  • The Cost
    The Cost
    The Cost is the sixth studio album by The Frames, released in Ireland on Plateau Records on September 22, 2006. The album was released worldwide on ANTI- on February 20, 2007. The album exhibits a sound more like that of For the Birds than their more recent album Burn the Maps...

    (2006) IRL #2
  • Another Love Song (Re-released) (2010) IRL #77

Singles and 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
    The Roads Outgrown
    The Roads Outgrown is an EP released by the band The Frames. It is a collection of B-sides, covers, live songs, and reworked versions of earlier songs. The EP was released solely in the United States on August 19, 2003....

     EP
    (2003)
  • "Fake" (September 12, 2003)
  • "Finally" (August 20, 2004)
  • "Sideways Down" (January 28, 2005)
  • "Happy" (Radio Single Only – 2005)
  • "Falling Slowly
    Falling Slowly
    "Falling Slowly" is a song written and performed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, as well as by Hansard's band, The Frames. It appeared in their 2007 film Once, from which it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 80th Academy Awards....

    /No More I Love Yous" (September 1, 2006)

External links

  • The Frames at Anti-
  • The Frames at Little Big Music
  • The Frames collection at the Internet Archive
    Internet Archive
    The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...

    's live music archive
  • Fabchannel: The Frames Live (Nov. 21, 2006, Amsterdam concert)
  • Glen performs at The Current
  • Ian Peel: Warriors of pop, 21 years of ZTT Record Collector
    Record Collector
    Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...

    , September 2004 (copy at Zang Tuum Tumb and all that) Article on the history of ZTT Records
    ZTT Records
    ZTT Records is a record label founded in 1983 by NME journalist Paul Morley, record producer Trevor Horn, and businesswoman Jill Sinclair. The label's name was also printed as "Zang Tumb Tuum" and "Zang Tuum Tumb" on various releases....

    , contains a paragraph about The Frames
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