The Frames - Biography
Glen Hansard is one of the rare musicians to make a bigger name for himself as an actor playing a musician than as the frontman for his real life band, The Frames. The talented Hansard spent more than 20 years with the Dublin-based band, making a name in his native Ireland with critically-acclaimed alternative rock albums. The Frames were largely ignored in America, however, until Hansard’s played the familiar role of a poor Dublin busker in the small budget indie flick, Once. The film not only showcased his acting chops but earned him and his co-star Marketa Irglova an unlikely Academy Award for their original song “Falling Slowly.” The massive international success of Once not only catapulted Hansard to stardom, but filled the world in on something Ireland already knew about—The Frames.
Hansard’s life parallels the role. He quit school at the age of 13 and began busking on the streets of Dublin, beginning down his long road as a musician. When he wasn’t playing for change, the teenager was fixing his friends bicycles for free, littering his parent’s garden with so many old bike frames that the house became known in his neighborhood as “the house with the frames.” By age 17, Hansard had recorded 50 copies of a demo tape, and one of them eventually made its way to Denny Cordell of Island Records. In story-book fashion, the demo struck a chord with Cordell, and Hansard signed to the label shortly thereafter.
Eager to broaden his live sound, Hansard formed The Frames in 1990 with Dave Odlum (guitars), Noreen O’Donnell (vocals), John Carney (bass), Colm Mac Con Iomaire (keyboards/violin), and Paul Brennan (drums). The band quickly made a name for themselves throughout Dublin for their intense live shows, but postponed recording their debut album when Hansard was asked to play the guitarist in the Irish film, The Commitments, even though he had no prior acting experience. Hansard would later regret making the film when the success of The Commitments overshadowed his full-time job with The Frames.
The debut single, “The Dancer,” finally appeared in early 1992 and piqued the attention of long-time Pixies producer Gil Norton, who agreed to produce The Frames first full-length. The raw, disjointed stadium rock of Another Love Song (1992 Island) wasn’t the critical or commercial success Hansard was hoping for, although it did garner the band a cult a following throughout Ireland. North American sales also suffered when the band was forced to cancel their first US tour after Carney abruptly quit the group and Colm Mac Con Iomaire became seriously ill.
The band absorbed another hit when Island Records, disappointed by sales, dropped The Frames later that year. The group would end up adding bassist Graham Downey to the mix as it soldiered on, eventually landing a deal with the ZZT label. In 1995, The Frames released their sophomore effort, Fitzcarraldo (ZZT), under the name The Frames DC, in order to avoid confusion with an American band of the same name. Bolstered by tighter songs that highlighted Hansard’s signature rock-meets-Irish-roots sound, Fitzcarraldo was a critical success. It established The Frames as a buzz-worthy band throughout Europe, yet they still struggled to make ends meet and the toll was too much for Downey and Brennan. They departed the group in 1996.
After taking on bassist Joe Doyle and drummer Dave Hingerty, The Frames recorded their third LP—the honed in Dance the Devil (1999 ZZT)—which only served to fuel their passionate following in Ireland, yet did little to expand the audience overseas.
The Frames sojourned to Chicago to record with legendary art-rock producer, Steve Albini, for their next album. Straying off of their signature rock sound, Hansard and company turned toward sparse, melancholic acoustic songs on For The Birds (2001 Overcoat), which featured elegiac violins, mandolins and brushed drums over the folkier numbers. The album earned The Frames the strongest reviews of their career, which by this time was a decade old.
Longtime guitarist Dave Odlum amicably left the band soon after the release of For the Birds, and he was replaced by Simon Goode. Against the band was confronted with obstacles, as they had to cancel another North American tour when Hansard’s longtime friend and part-time writing partner Mic Christopher—of the band The Mary Janes—abruptly passed away. Hansard was instrumental in finishing Christopher’s posthumous solo album, Skylarkin’ (2002 LOZA) and has since dedicated every Frames’ release to the memory of his friend.
The live album Breadcrumb Trail (Plateau Records) was released in 2002, followed by the b-sides and outtakes compilation, The Roads Outgrown (Overcoat) in 2003. Yet it wasn’t until signing with the American label, Anti-, that the band finally developed a modest U.S. following on the strength of their second live album, Set List (2004 Anti-). The Frames added elements of post-rock to their oeuvre for Burn the Maps (2004 Anti-), but despite increased media buzz and further European success, the album failed to produce a hit single in the US market.
Hansard put The Frames on a brief hiatus in 2005 to focus on a collaborative album he had been intermittently recording with Czech vocalist and pianist, Marketa Irglova. Recording as The Swell Season, the duo’s intimate acoustic tracks of the eponymous The Swell Season (2006 Overcoat) showcased Hansard’s softer side. Many of the tracks would be featured prominently in the aforementioned film, Once.
The lead role came about serendipitously for Hansard. When original Frames’ bass player-turned-film director John Carney lost his first leading man, Cillian Murphy, he turned to his old friend Hansard to star in his debut film. Hansard had already agreed to write the music for the film but was initially reluctant to act in it. Since he was still in the process of recording The Swell Season, Hansard suggested the 17-year-old Irglova—his collaborative partner on the album—to play a similar role in the film, both of them as unnamed entities. Carney agreed, and the film was shot guerilla-style on the streets of Dublin over the course of three weeks for a meager $160,000. Once finally saw an international release nearly two years later and became a box office hit that culminated in an Oscar win for both Hansard and Irglova.
The timing was right for The Frames, as their sixth full-length effort—The Cost (2007 Anti-)—was released around the same time as the film, making it the most popular globally-embraced album of the band’s career. The Frames subsequent international tour was also wildly successful, and Hansard would end up splitting time between tours with The Frames and short acoustic appearances with Irglova.