The Frank and Walters - Greenwich Mean Time.

The Frank and Walters are one of the most recognizable alternative rock bands hailing from Cork, Ireland in the past 2 decades. The band: Paul Linehan (Lead vocal & bass), Ashley Keating- (Drums) Rory Murphy (lead Guitar) Cian Corbett (Keyboards) took the band name in honour of two eccentric Cork characters. Two decades on from the release of their very first record, and the Franks continue to defy expectations. With Indie hits such as ‘Fashion Crisis Hits New York’ & ‘After All’ (which reached the top twenty in the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at 11. The group also appeared on Top of the Pops in support of the single; it went as high as 5 in the Irish charts). Their music today is as relevant as any of the new pretenders on the block and only a handful of bands anywhere in the world can lay claim to such longevity of popularity. Each year, the Frank and Walters perform sell out venues across the UK, Europe, and the US and their records, both new and classic, continue to sell across the world.

My first experience of the Franks, as we called them back then, was at the Escape club in Brighton on their first tour, these guys walked on stage in orange boiler suits and started playing some great poppy indie tunes with big smiles on their faces, almost tongue in cheek.
 Obviously they didn't take themselves too seriously which was refreshing in amongst the flocks of "too cool for school" bands that were treading the boards back then, I mean the orange boiler suits and the bowl haircut that Paul Linehan was sporting back then kind of suggested that, but that combined with the songs endeared them to the audience almost immediately, the in-between song banter from the band was almost impossible to understand with their broad Irish accents, this didn't matter, I loved them, the crowd loved them and during the last song, there were more people on the stage than there were in the audience, everyone was dancing and having a good time and the band seemed to enjoy it to, I spent half that song talking to the drummer, I couldn't understand him of course!
By the end of the evening my face was hurting from smiling, I imagine that was like many of the other peoples faces in the audience, great songs and a great fun band and the beauty of the Franks, is that they have never gone away, they have always been there like a light in a window that shows you the way home, when many of the other lights have been turned off.   Now they are back with another album of infectious, smile enticing gems, the orange boiler suits have been replaced with a more grown up orange tie and the bowl haircut has gone, but the great song smithery, the smiles and the fun remains.  Lets hope that the Franks will never go away and save the world one song at a time as they suggest and I believe they will!

The Frank and Walters new single.

Would you walk for miles and miles....you don't have to, they are probably coming to a town near you!

March 16th Leeds. The Northern Monkey

March 17th Liverpool. Zanzibar.

March 23rd Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms

March 24th London. Borderline.

March 30th Tullamore. The Thatch.

March 31st Dublin. Workman’s Club.

April 12th Cardiff. Buffalo Bar

April 14th Brighton Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar

April 20th Clonakilty, Co. Cork De Barra’s,

April 27th Galway, Roisin Dubh

April 28th Limerick,  Dolans Warehouse

 I believe there will be European dates added too! (Which is good because I am in Sweden now...hint hint!) 

The Frank and Walters FACEBOOK

New album now available to download iTunes  and soon available in stores and across the internet soon.