long time no write to...

kind of... but a lot has been going on since i last wrote and here's the scoop... studio album no. 5 is nearly there. now, i know im biased, but it is sounding rather lush and beautiful in a moody kinda way. its scheduled for release in ireland for the 17th september AND i might even be able to get a new single out in ireland for the 20th august if we get the finger out. thats more than likely going to be a track called 'finally' - so, hopefully you might hear that on a radio station near you soon enough. i will be scheduling releases in other parts of the globe once we are out in ireland...you gotta start somewhere, and the hometurf seems as good a place to start as any. id say australia will follow shortly afterwards with hopefully more dates to coincide and america and european releases will be at the front end of the new year as record companies like a good lead time to do the set up with a new record and they dont like christmas as a time for new releases. will obviously keep you posted.


the life of an indie rocker is a tough one, beleive me. i couldnt keep up with the schedule that these men put in, especially that lead singer who as you probably know, is out on the road the day after coming home from a full on 3 week session in france mixing the record. but, if you love it and youre good at it - then why not go for it! glen i know is tucked up snoring in bed somewhere as i write (possibly dreaming of nick drake - very funny jim carroll!) - after 2 shows in dublins vicar street. i know from talking to him that he loved playing them and getting a chance to air some of the new songs with just him and his guitar and a very intimate crowd of a thousand people :0)


he still has a few dates left to do (he's having a day off today) and i think there are still some tickets left in glor, but im not so sure... 25th an grianian letterkenny, 26th glor ennis, 27th town hall galway, 28th opera house cork and 30th dolans limerick.


so - from there - the frames as a unit of men, rejuvenated after a week 'off', fly to new york on the 1st july to start mastering the new record and the singlet. on the 2nd july they play a gig:

JULY 2ND NEW YORK CITY

Seaport Music Festival
Pier 17 / South Street Seaport
on Lower Manhattan's historic waterfront

they are on at 7pm and its a free show so no tickets are required. the kennedys are the support act and they go on at 6pm.

3rd july theyve got to do a photo shoot in nyc and then they fly home on the 4th july to finish off the record.


next thing to announce gigs-wise is

AUGUST 21ST SATURDAY

we are very pleased to announce that we will be headling a gig in marlay park, dublin.

the very special guests kicking off around 4.30 will be halite, bellx1, idlewild and supergrass.

tickets are 38.50 euros and will be available from july 2nd at ticketmaster and all usual outlets.

i hope the weather holds out... but just in case, i recomend you bring a pak-a-mac or bin bag and a packed lunch if you dont want to spend 17 euro on a mangey hot dog... you know the score... and if you were in limerick on the 'sunny' bank holiday may weekend gig, then you will also know how handy a bin bag can be in a down pour...

dave mcgee, fair play to him, is organising a bus from waterford for 30 people up to the gig on the 21st aug - so if youre interested in taking him up on this offer, then email him at idislikewally@hotmail.com

if anyone else is out there thats doing similar, then let me know and ill get the word spread.

itll be great to be able to do a good full, buxom set in an outdoors setting with the sun going down (and hopefully no rain)... and i think i can safely say the lads will be putting together a set of shiney new, wizened old, bolshy teenaged and considered middle-aged songs for the day... i shall be the proud but tired looking manager type in a crumpled heap at the side of the stage on the day :0)


GLEN HANSARD SOLO SHOWS TOO IN :

28 July - folk festival Namest nad Oslavou - castle CZECH
30 July - open air cinema Novy Jicin CZECH
31 July - http://www.kuland.org Berg & Tal Fest; place is Berg im Drautal, its in the South of Austria in Carinthia. AUSTRIA
7 August - folk festival Telc, castle CZECH


few other things.

if any of you have a lovely shot of yourself displaying a frames tshirt, then if you want to, you can send it into images@theframes.ie and we'll put em up on the tshirt page as examples of how decent you can look in a frames t. (or how shoddy you can look i suppose - depending on the photograph!) might hand out some spot prizes for the most inventive/amusing/gorgeous/manky lookin ones!

donal has asked me to ask you to send em in thus
file format: JPEG (.jpg), GIF (.gif) or PNG (.png)
largest pixel size: 600 x 400
largest file size: 150kb

and dont forget to send us your name and email addy so we can credit you or get in touch. i dont want to see no arses, knobs or nipples either - we're a sensitive bunch here you know and i get enough porn in the spam mail that comes to me!!!!

other people doing other things around this time too and worth checkin out are:
mr mark geary... he has a rather fabulous new album out on august 27th and has a run of dates to coincide thus:
aug 28/29 whelans
sept 9 solo festival, sligo
sept 10 upstairs at dolans, limerick
sept 12 spirit store, dundalk
sept 17 an granian theatre, letterkenny
sept 18 glor theatre, ennis
sept 19 everyman palace theatre cork
sept 20 town hall theatre, galway

brendan oshea is over and playing a few dates around the country in july:
july 25 mcarthys bar, dingle
july 27 whelans
july 28 lobby, cork
july 30 sirius arts centre, cobh

sean needham has independently released his new album 'loosely based on a true story' and fair play to mr edmund enright for getting to the top of the hit parade with raining down arrows... nice one the mundy!!!

take care of yourselves and enjoy the summer. see you somewhere soon enough.
cx