Frankly speaking
The Frank & Walters are the most successful of Cork city’s frequently madcap musical outfits and have recently celebrated ten years together with a 'Best Of' album
Sam Healy
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Frank And Walters evaporated after their hat-trick of superb singles (‘This Is Not A Song’, ‘After All’ and ‘Colours’) in the mid-’90s. Those tracks were so absurdly catchy, so informed by a world-class pop sensibility and so memorable that few would begrudge the Franks a little downtime afterwards.
In fact they’ve been going strong ever since, selling out venues throughout Europe and flitting between guitar rock and electronic pop with grace and ease on their last album, Glass. And they’ve just released an eponymous Best Of album which, besides reminding us of the ominously accelerating passage of time, offers a representative slice through the career of an excellent and deeply underrated band.
Because their music is so youthful in essence, it’s a surprise when singer/bassist Paul Linehan reveals that the compilation also marks the band’s 10-year anniversary. “It’s aimed at people who maybe bought the first or second album and then ‘left’ the band, and also people who know the stuff off Glass and want to hear older material.”
Remarkably, there was no disagreement about the track listing. “We all knew which ones to go for,” says drummer Ashley Keating. “We’ve always been able to recognise the stand-out tracks, the ones that stand the test of time. Some of the singles didn’t make the compilation, whereas some album tracks did.”
None of the band pretends to understand the fickle beast that is the European music scene, but as their fanbase extends from Finland to Spain and includes France, Germany, the Low Countries and Eastern Europe, they’re not complaining either. “In ’97 or ’98 we were playing in Paris in a 1,500-seater venue,” Paul remembers, “and on the same night Blur were playing down the street in a 100-capacity club. We were thinking, ‘Hang on, this is completely wrong!’
“Recently in Cologne, 1,000 punters were singing along to our songs”. Time to start planning the next decade.
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