Tag: get frank

New Blinginnings

I’ve recently moved into East London and am quite stunned to find how close in proximity I am to some of the favourite stores of my teens.

The other day, by way of – ahem – crucial experiment, I timed my walk to vintage warehouse, Beyond Retro. It was approximately several minutes. Now, I should be overjoyed at this geographical revelation but, I have to admit. I’m scared for my finances!

Another happy discovery made earlier today was that Tatty Devine, who I thought were based purely in Covent Garden, also have a store at the top of Brick Lane (5 minutes away on foot) and had just launched a sample sale. Needless to say I practically ran there after I got back to London post driving lesson in Kent.

Dress by Zara, shoes by Schuh (donated by mum) and necklace, £30 (sale ptice) by Tatty Devine

In the shop I picked up a present for someone (and it’s so cool, but unfortunately I can’t discuss as I’ll spoil the surprise) and couldn’t resist buying the necklace pictured above. I got it for £20 (hypnotised  on the spot by the shiny-ness and sheer scale of the thing) but when I looked it up online it seems that they’re selling it for £30 (reduced from £90).

I’ve been far busier than I expected to be since moving hence the reason for my lack of recent posts but I’ve recently completed the second of my Get Frank podcasts.

I’m going to write about the bands and the show in more detail very soon, but I have to say a huge thanks to Vets in Hong Kong for meeting up with me and chatting for the show – but again, more on the guys and the other contributing artists very soon!

I’m going to go and unpack another suitcase…

The all new Get Frank podcast!

I have just finished uploading my very first Get Frank podcast!

I may no longer be working for Amazing Radio, but I want to continue to support new and emerging artists, and I thought that producing and presenting my own podcast would be a good way of doing it.

I’m intending to produce a 30-40 minute episode every 2-4 weeks (depending on the response to the pilot episode). The idea of the podcast is that it will feature a mixture of acts that I have seen live (or am planning to) and will centre around a featured artist who will guest on the show by way of an interview.

The first episode features Wylam five-piece Vinyl Jacket who are currently promoting debut single Painting Stations. The single, which has been released by new Newcastle-based label The Calico Print, has found a home on many a radio station, including BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and Amazing Radio, and should see the boys recruiting a strong fan base. The guys make fantastic interviewees, and I really couldn’t think of a band I’d rather have helping me out on my first episode.

Alongside Vinyl Jacket there’s also mentions for Pandas and People, Let’s Buy Happiness, Grandfather Birds and Pilots, plus plays for Craig Wosahlo, Baskin’s Wish, The Carpels, Toodar and Mammal Club (as remixed by Mr Blazey).

The real challenge I’m currently struggling with is the editing process. This isn’t because I’m inexperienced in using sound editing software, but because I don’t have a professional program intended for the task on my computer. (I miss Adobe Audition greatly!) Currently I’m editing interviews and preparing song extras (with fades/transitions) in Audacity, loading into iTunes and multi-tracking it all together in Garage Band. For the links themselves I’m recording with a Zoom H2 microphone straight into Garage Band. When I was editing the pilot I kept having to rerecord ins and outs because, unbeknownst to me, the clips kept cropping. Once I’m safely back in employment I’ll save up and invest in a copy of Logic Express, and then I can think more about audio imaging and the concept of the podcast itself.

If you have any comments, questions or would like to be featured on the next Get Frank podcast then drop me a line at frankiepromotes@gmail.com. Find out more about the podcast and how to subscribe here.

The Truth behind the Fiction?

I’m working on some more stripped back tunes away from the big, bold pop themes of Get Frank right now.

When I lived in Birmingham I spent a lot of time gigging with just me and my guitar. It was terrifying, I lacked confidence in my ability to play and I was desperate for a band.

Awake, Not Drifting by Get Frank

Since working with Get Frank in Newcastle I’ve decided that sometimes I’d like to be a bit more selfish and play music totally as I envisioned it – or at least certain aspects of it. Sometimes listening to a band can be overwhelming, and you forget that the music you’re listening to is rooted in themes and feelings. Get Frank songs used to be all about the emotions that I felt when writing them – and to some extent still are – but some of them are from a different, past writer and I feel the need to breakaway and do something different.

It can be quite scary to take lyrics to a band and practice them. Playing solo I get to skip this step, and move onto the even scarier stage of playing them straight to an audience. At first I didn’t think I was ready, but if I get some practice in with my guitar, who knows?

Escapology by Truth Fiction

The song above is my first rough demo from my ‘solo venture’ as Truth Fiction. There’s a loose (and musically common) concept to the name of the ‘project’ (if you like that term), as some songs will be true to my life and some inspired by fiction. Others will be a mixture. I learnt a lot about song writing from my very valuable time providing supplementary vocals and instrumentation for The Union Choir, from the image-packed lyricism of the songs, to the emotive construction of the music itself. They are one of the best bands I’ve ever known so I’m lucky to have been a part of it, if only for a little while.

For now I’ll continue to record with just me and a guitar performing live in my room. It’s tempting to build up recordings by doing everything closed microphone style, layering with various bits of precussion, but whilst I’m still playing these songs on my own I’ll keep things raw.

Please listen/download Escapology, and let me know if you’d like to hear more.

The first photos…

We have photos!

They were taken by the lovely Faye Green (guitarist Todd’s sister.) She’s currently studying art at the University of Newcastle. I don’t know if she has a blog but if you’d like to get in touch with her, leave a comment and we’ll pass it her way!

Yours truly: Frankie Ward
David Mabbott (bass)
Mark Edwards (drums)
Neil Andrew Smith (keys)
Todd Green (guitar)
Get Frank

If you’re interested in seeing us live please check out our Facebook page. You can get in touch about gigs by emailing me at frankiepromotes@gmail.com.

Awake, Not Drifting

Here’s our first EP, Awake, Not Drifting!

Awake, Not Drifting by GetFrank

I’m still wondering how we should release it so it’s currently set to stream online. If you have 79p spare and would like to help reimburse recording costs then you can grab Vacant from our amazingtunes.com profile page.

My friend and very talented illustrator/graphic designer/musician/legend Brendan Kearney has kindly offered to help us out with the artwork for the EP. You can see his artwork for his band Broken Boat over on their myspace. It’s all rather lovely! Hopefully I’ll pop some stuff on here soon – the stuff he’s done so far looks amazing. The illustration below is quite similar to what he’s working on.

http://www.brendankearney.blogspot.com

If you think you’d like a CD copy then please let me know – I think it would be quite nice to create some hard copies. Maybe we’ll do one of those ‘official EP launch’ things… Our first gig is Thursday 25th November so please do come check us out in the flesh. I’m hoping we’ll get offered some support slots – if you’d like to book us then just email me; frankiepromotes@gmail.com.

Hope you like it!

The perfect LBLD?

I’ve always dreamed of finding that ‘perfect Little Black Dress’

I thought I found it for a mere £9.99 in H&M today but when I got to the dressing room it just didn’t fit right.

I had places to be so had to leave the strapless, shiny black pleated bargain behind with the shop assistants. Feeling down I moved to leave the shop but stopped in my tracks near the exit… By Jupiter! I had found it!

It was wrinkly, not in my size and made of fake leather! I had to buy a size up but it means it will be perfect for casual winter layering (for the Amazing Radio office) whilst not being a too tight and ‘fetish’ looking. Once off the hanger and on my body the wrinkles disappeared and gave an almost smooth look.

Faux leather dress, £14.99, white shirt both by H&M
Faux leather dress, £14.99, white shirt both by H&M

It’s the perfect day-to-night dress too. Here I toughen it up a little with my Peacocks grey hiking boots.

Boots £20 by Peacocks

I quite like it with my red heels too; there’s plenty a pair of shoes that would work with this dress which is why I adore it so.

I have a gig with The Union Choir in support of The Winter Hill Transmission’s single launch next Friday (19th November) and I’m not sure if I should wear this or the Primark dress below…

Dress £15, by Primark

The flash of my camera has made the underskirt of this dress look a lot shinier than it actually is. It reminds me of a Peacocks dress I saw in a magazine (but it’s a lot nicer in the lace detailing department and £8 cheaper.) I have to wear it with a belt because the empire line design into the full skirt is so unflattering I was tempted to take it back. The swift addition of the belt made me have a sudden change of heart.

I think that the leather look dress might be better for The Union Choir gig, and the crochet dress for my first Get Frank gig on the 25th November – but again, I’m not sure.

Help me out? Which one for which occasion?!

Anchors and flowers

I’m having a bad face and hair day today…

There are some reasons why this is extremely bad timing, but I won’t bore you with those.

I seem to be having a great run of bad luck recently – like the world has said to me “right, we’ll let you record with Get Frank after two and a half years of desperately trying to organise something, but we’re going to have to compromise on everything else.”

For example, last Saturday morning at approximately 2am (I went to bed before 11pm in the hope of being ‘refreshed’ for my Halloween gig with The Union Choir), I woke up with severe stomach ache which was followed by vomiting etc… I got food poisoning on the morning of the night of the gig I’d been looking forward to for six weeks! And I’d missed the previous gig with tonsillitis. Wonders never cease.

Top by Gap £7.99, Shoes by H&M £14.99, Capri pants £19.99 by Zara, Bag £16.99 by Interacionale

Yes, in this picture I look distinctly unhappy with the universe. I’ve decided to try and cheer myself up by wearing red heels in the daytime. I’m not standing very well here and something distinctly nappyish is going on with the trousers… I attempted to iron them. (It’s not my strong point, ironing.) The trousers are a bit big on my legs but they’re one of the best fits I can find. I really love the Gap t-shirt though. Gap t-shirts are the best quality I’ve found on the high street, with a nice comfy fit.

Hair flowers £1.99 a pair by H&M, 'Frankie necklace' bespoke by ladyluckrulesok.com

My mum gave me the cherry earring after one of her many fancy dress events (she’s a fancy dress genius, and I do not use those words lightly! She is incredible.) I only have one ear pierced so always get people being ‘helpful’ and telling me I’m missing one etc… The necklace is from Ladyluckrulesok.com. I followed the site for seven years before designer Leona Baker decided to move onto a new project. The shop was hugely successful so maybe she wanted to feel more independent again – who knows?

The light is deceptive in this picture too (thank you attic sky lighting!) My hair and face are both messy today. I appear to have developed acne at the late age of 21. The flowers are a desperate attempt to look like my hair is deliberately big and ‘fizzy’ (I hate that word but feel it’s appropriate here. Vogue may get away with it, I do not.) ‘Rah’ girls spend ages backcombing, hairspraying and boofing up their roots to get ‘just out of bed’ hair to match their uggs and jogging bottoms. Again, they and their Jack Wills jumpers are part of an exclusive club that I just don’t get.

Thank goodness I’m off to the cinema, at least!

Also, Get Frank recordings are just having final touches and changes made and will be online very soon. Our first gig in Newcastle is at the Northumberland Arms on the 25th November. Hope to see you there (details to follow.)

Behind the scenes of Awake, Not Drifting

This weekend was spent in the studio at the University of Newcastle with the rest of the Get Frank guys recording our debut EP Awake, Not Drifiting.

I realised after looking at the track listing that three out of the four tracks are connected to the theme of ‘bed’ so it seemed apt to name the EP after the line ‘When I’m awake/Not Drifting’ from one of our quirkier numbers, Next Door.

Here’s a short ‘behind the scenes’ video of us in the studio. It was shot on my Kodak Zi8 and my new Casio Exilim camera (final shot only). You can occasionally hear my voice, but I’m the one behind the camera.

We recorded the EP live with me singing guide vocals behind the screen in the control room. I then rerecorded the vocals the next day. The trickiest track was Next Door as it features a variety of tempo changes – unlike the rest of the band however, most of the vocals used in the final mix were done in one take (which can’t be said for the other tracks!) We only used a click track to record ‘1 minute 20 second wonder’ It’s Not You.

We haven’t got an order yet but the EP will feature.

1. It’s Not You

2. Bedspread

3. Next Door

4. Vacant

I think one of the biggest surprises about working with the new lineup is that Vacant (formerly known as Untitled), which was the first song I wrote as ‘Get Frank’ back in Summer 2008, has become a firm favourite to play with the band. Having a real piano (and an expert musician in Neil Andrew Smith on keys) makes a real difference to the sound. Neil and Todd Green (guitar) both have solos at the end of the track and they both sound gorgeous.

The guys with Producer Rob

There have been multiple incarnations and lineup changes of Get Frank (I still feel that core member James Chester from the last couple of Birmingham lineups is present in the form of his friend, bassist David Mabbot), and it’s quite surprising that our current group has only been together for about six weeks.

More studio pics over at http://www.facebook.com/getfrankmusic

I always feel slightly overwhelmed when I hear what other people bring to my songs. I love that feeling of realisation – when you hear the track as you imagined it, with extra flourishes (such as David Mabbot’s ‘sensual bass-line’ in Next Door that felt like the natural progression from the ‘orgasma-bass’ of former player Richie B Brookes in Brum). Our last Brummie lineup felt quite ska in nature, whereas in Newcastle we’re heading towards a more organic, acoustic jazz feel. The unmixed recordings sound chaotic, but very much alive – hopefully our producer Rob Blazey will have an idea of what to do with them!

It was always a dream to record – I don’t think it’s set in that we’ve done it yet!

Now we need to find some Newcastle based gigs…

Leather bum

Apparently it was all about winter shorts on the front row of the recent ‘fashion month’ which got me wondering… what makes a pair of shorts ‘wintery’?

The Observer’s weekend magazine solved it for me quite quickly just this Sunday as I read their article on dressing for one’s age. Accompanying the article was a page of high street picks (by catagory, i.e boots.) Apparently, as a 21 year old it is my destiny to wear black leather shorts throughout winter (and pay a hefty sum for the privilege).

I decided that if destiny had started making my style choices, I might as well have some kind of influence on how things panned out (without completely ruining what fate had previously decreed via the pages of OM Magazine.) Thus I headed to Zara, where I had seen these shorts on a previous trip.

 

Top £16 by Topshop, Shorts £29.99 by Zara

 

So yes, apologies for the dim photo, but my ‘twist’ on fate was to choose brown shorts (some might say the colour of ‘Leatherface’ from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but that kind of felt relevant due to Halloween being on the cards!) I’ve tucked the slubby breton Topshop top into the shorts in the above pic, although it’s quite short and deliberately oversized which means it particularly goes with slim cut cigarette trousers (I’ve yet to find the perfect pair…sigh).

 

Shirt £7.99 by H&M, Scarf £3 by Primark, Boots £25 by Peacocks

 

Aside from shorts being very much in vogue with the fashion editors at Paris fashion week, they were reportedly worn with bare legs (eek!)

 

 

Vintage jacket from Cancer Research (customised with Tiger Balm logo applique)

 

Ok so there’s a lot of brown in the last outfit, (and it’s not even shade-of-the-moment-camel-shock-horror!), but I do love this jacket. I got it four years ago at a Cancer Research charity shop in Maidstone from their ‘retro rail’. I took out the shoulder pads and stitched on a Tiger Balm appliqued logo that I’d rescued from a hemp tee that had gone wrong in the wash. I might wear this more as a winter-to-spring get up, although time will tell what the seasons will bring weather-wise! On a more realistic side of things I believe I’ll be teaming this shorts up with a creamy opaque pair of tights and these boots, or roughing things up with some tall, woolly tights and my canvas boots (with the bouncy rubber heel that I pray people never notice.)

On a slightly different ‘style’ note I need to find something to wear for a band photo shoot with the new Get Frank lineup – ideas much appreciated!

We’ll be heading into the studio at the end of next week to record our first EP – we’ve made light work of my back catalogue and are ready to go. There’s more of a freeform improvisational feel to some of the tracks and I’m very excited to finally get some proper recordings circulating (I’ve never had any at all so these will be the first). We’re looking for gigs in and around Newcastle too so ideas are again very welcome!



Too young for Mad Men, too old for Rydell High?

I finally have shoes!

My dad and his wife finally made it up to Newcastle so I have shoes and dresses once more… hurrah! Most of the dresses are meant for evening, but there’s a few skirts including the Topshop full circle skirt in the following shots.

Skirt by Topshop, shirt by H&M, belt by Zara
Shoes and socks both by Primark
Headband by H&M, Necklace by ladyluckrulesok.com

I bought the scallop patterned skirt last summer whilst interning at Channel 4 for a bargainous £10. I’ve not worn it too much because I’ve never had a top to wear it with… until now. The full skirt is very much in vogue at the moment, with Mad Men taking the fashion world by storm. I feel the softness of the peasant style shirt and brown belt softens up the look slightly, whilst the just-above-knee length makes the look younger too (more Grease than, say, fifties secretary.)

Although the shoes are difficult to see, they’re a navy bow detailed pair I got from Primark a couple of seasons ago. I wouldn’t necessarily team them with pink socks, but I want to make the most of getting away with summer before it gets truly cold outside. I might really go for colour as it gets colder with this look and go for bright tights (such as a sheer red, or maybe even a yellow),

I’m very excited about my shoes too as my Dad brought a load up. There weren’t as many has I had originally as I had to have a bit of a clearout… I haven’t counted how many I have yet! I did pick up a new pair of amazing Victorian style boots from Peacocks today for £25. When I saw them online it was love at first sight… In the shop today I went dizzy trying to decide between brown and black but went for brown because I think they’ll be wearable right into Springtime that way… although I’m severely tempted to get the black colour too!

Boots £25 by Peacocks, Socks £2 for 3 pairs from Primark

This is really more of a springtime look, but I figured that I could team this with tights, a cardi/jacket and a wooly beret to keep the look cosy. (Roll on springtime!)

The boots fit perfectly so I’m pondering attempting the walk to work in them. My only worry is that I’ll wear into the heel too quickly… most of my shoes need reheeling as the nails are all exposed at the bottom. I must be pretty tough on them!

Shoe porn is on it’s way soon, I promise!