The Frank and Walters are an
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s...
band from
CorkCork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster...
,
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
. The band was founded in 1990 by Paul Linehan (vocalist/
bassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
), his brother Niall Linehan (
guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitars, electric guitars, classical guitars and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :...
) (replaced by Kevin Pedreschi in 2004) and Ashley Keating (
drumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of...
s). They took the band name in honour of two eccentric Cork characters.
Signing to the Setanta
labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
in 1991, the group debuted with
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
EP1, and the lead track "Fashion Crisis Hits New York" became an
indieIn popular music, independent music, often generally abbreviated as "indie", is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
hit.
The Frank and Walters are an
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s...
band from
CorkCork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster...
,
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
. The band was founded in 1990 by Paul Linehan (vocalist/
bassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
), his brother Niall Linehan (
guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitars, electric guitars, classical guitars and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :...
) (replaced by Kevin Pedreschi in 2004) and Ashley Keating (
drumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of...
s). They took the band name in honour of two eccentric Cork characters.
Signing to the Setanta
labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
in 1991, the group debuted with
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
EP1, and the lead track "Fashion Crisis Hits New York" became an
indieIn popular music, independent music, often generally abbreviated as "indie", is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
hit. The follow-up EP
EP.2 was released soon after. Shortly after signing to the
Go! DiscsGo! Discs Records was a Hammersmith, London based record label, launched in 1983 by Andy MacDonald and Lesley Symons. With artists like Billy Bragg, The Housemartins and later The Beautiful South, it became a prominent label. Go! Beat Records was launched as a subsidiary for dance artists like...
label,
The Franks partnered with
producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
Edwyn CollinsEdwyn Collins is a Scottish musician.-Career:He formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which became Orange Juice in 1979. Critically admired within independent rock circles, Orange Juice are perhaps best known for their No 8 hit single, "Rip It Up", their only UK Top 40 single and biggest...
to record the
Happy Busman EPA gramophone record, commonly known as phonograph record, vinyl record, or simply record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc...
. They found success in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, and following a tour in support of
Carter USMCarter the Unstoppable Sex Machine were a British indie rock band formed in 1987 by singer Jim "Jim Bob" Morrison and guitarist Les "Fruitbat" Carter. They made their name with a distinctive style of power pop, fusing samples, sequenced basses and drum machines with rock 'n' roll guitars and...
, an
Ian BroudieIan Broudie is an English musician and producer, best known for his 1990s band The Lightning Seeds.- Life and work :...
remixA remix is an alternative version of a song, different from the original version. This name is also used for any alterations of medias other than a song ....
of the LP
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
, "After All" reached the top twenty in the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
, where it peaked at # 11. The group appeared on
Top of the PopsTop of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC...
in support of the single; it went as high as #5 in the Irish chart.
After a long sabbatical, the group returned with
Grand Parade (with contributions from
Gus DudgeonGus Dudgeon was an English record producer.- The tea boy :Gus Dudgeon was born in Surrey, England. After being sacked from eleven jobs he became a tea-boy at Decca's Olympic Studios in Baker Street, London. He was able to answer the right questions about using and repairing a tape recorder...
), and the
Indian Ocean EP in 1997. This was followed with
Beauty Becomes More Than Life in 1998 and
Glass in 2000. Setanta released a well received "Best of" in 2002.
In 2004, Niall Linehan left and was replaced by a friend of the band, Kevin Pedreschi. The band signed a new deal with FIFA Records in Ireland, and released a retrospective triple album,
Souvenirs, in October 2005. The band released its most recent album,
Renewed Interest In Happiness, on 27 October, 2006.
External links