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It's been nearly a year since Sunderland's finest Frankie & The Heartstrings started making a name for themselves. In that time they have come on leaps and bounds without losing their irresistible fun loving charm.
Now the band finally release their anticipated debut 'Hunger' this week. Gigwise caught up with band members Frankie Francis and Michael McKnight to talk about working with Edwyn Collins and their love for Travelodges.
How was last year for you all?
Michael - It was amazing, the best year of my life. Before that I worked in a school for children with behaviour problems and Frankie worked at Oxfam so as you can imagine signing a record deal and going on tour was quite a contrast.
You did a lot of small gigs and some unusual venues last year – how was that?
Frankie – All the gigs we did last year were amazing. The Salford Lads Club gig was good, it's amazing that something like that still exists in a community. Bethnal Green was cool, the venue really suited our band.
Your debut 'Hunger' is out this month, has it been a long process?
Frankie – Making the album has been an on going thing for the band. I think it would have been finished earlier if we hadn't gone on tour with Edwyn Collins for a while. It took us about six weeks over three sessions to get the album done. We only created one song in the studio, all of the album we has before we even thought we'd get signed.
How have to found the move to a major label?
Michael – Well our first release, which was recorded as a demo, came out on Rough Trade.
Frankie – We were still working in our normal jobs till last April. When we signed to Wichita they said your freed up now so carry on doing what your doing but do more of it. They never told us what to do or how to do it, they just gave us the right people to work with for the album.
What's the inspiration lyrically behind the album?
Michael – I think the deep down inspirations are kind of auto biographical of love, lust and heartbreak. It's kind of accounts and events that have happened to us.
Frankie – It kind of tells the story of wanting a girl, getting the girl, then losing the girl. That's just life really and a lot of people can relate to that.
Michael – The main inspiration for us was probably poetry and films. I really like romantic poetry and 50s kitchen sink dramas.
You worked with Edwyn Collins on the album – how was he to work with?
Michael – He's got his own studio in Hampstead. Since 'A Girl Like You' came out I think he's being doing alright for himself. He set up his own studio so he could record his own material without having to approach a record label or ask for money.
Frankie – He was so easy to work with. It was a little weird, it was just like going to someone's house and chilling out. Him and Seb the co-producer are two of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. Because they made us feel so relaxed it was a great environment to work in.
Frankie & The Heartstrings - 'Ungrateful'.
Did his own musical influences have a large impact on the record?
Frankie– He sings on the record, he would suggest ways of doing things. Really he just wanted it to sound how we wanted it to sound. If we said we wanted it to sound like Joe Meek, he would go and get Joe Meek's compressor out of his backroom and stick it on the record.
Michael – It's funny he reminds me of Joy Division producer Martin Hannett. They way he says 'Do it faster but slower'. Edward is like that, he would say 'can you do it again tight but loose'.
Some journalists have put a lot of attention on your style as a band – how do you find that?
Frankie – I like to take it as a compliment. To us the music is the most important thing, so if it draws attention to our music and leads people to us who wouldn't of necessarily known about us.
Michael – You know Frankie is the thirty ninth best dressed man in the UK according to GQ magazine.
Frankie – Okay I don't mind taking that one.
What's planned for this year then?
Frankie – We are just really eager to get the record out and more people will show an interest and come and see us live. I'm really looking forward to doing all the festivals this summer. The only one we've got confirmed is Bestival. We're just trying to convince ourselves that people will want us to play.
Michael – I love touring, id play live for the rest of my life if I could get away with it. I think it's the best thing about being in a band, travelling and meeting new people.
Frankie – We must have stayed in every travel lodge in the country and I love it.
Michael – All of them are exactly the same. So when you walk in it's like being at home; they all smell the same, the teas all set out in the same place, you know how to use the remote for the telly.
Are you still enjoying all the exposure?
Frankie – We've still got a lot to prove, we have to show people what we can do. To consider what we've achieved without even having an album out is class.
Michael - It's like a dream come to be in a band as a job. I hate to say its a job because I never think of it as that. A job Is like working in an office, a job is something you don't enjoy doing. It's more a pain in the arse being at home than touring and recording.
