FRANKIE AND THE HEARTSTRINGS

Sunderland five-piece Frankie & The Heartstrings are bringing Northern soul to the rock n roll world with their distinctly heartfelt lyrics and gritty sound. Having played Glastonbury last summer and gigged across the country since, the band have thrilled crowds and also generated nods from the fashion world for their sharp appearance - with front man Frankie Francis making the cut for the recent GQ 50 Best Dressed Men list. With their debut album, Hunger, released today, WONDERLAND thought it a good time to Q&A Francis about playing live, musical influences and what makes him cry.

Describe your sound in five words.
Romantic, Emotional, Relevant, Engaging, Honest.

Your album is called “Hunger” - what are you hungry for?
We are always striving to be creative, to be able to express ourselves. Your never more creative than when you have the hunger and desire to prove to people what your capable of and show other people that know you can how right they were.

What are your inspirations when making music?
We take inspiration from lots of things, not just our record collections, books, poems and even brithish television. Not to mention our hometown and the people of Sunderland.

Who are your music icons?
We have many, Orange Juice, Dexys Midnight Runners, les savy fav, Belle and Sebastian, The Fall, Girls, Billy Childish, The Futureheads, Adam Green, Scott Walker, The Housemartins…….we all have huge record collections.

You’ve been described by The Guardian as “One of the best live bands in Britain” - how do you feel about this?
Confident, as we treat every single gig exactly the same whether there is 10 people there or 10,000 your gunna get the same show, all of us leave the stage feeling emotionally and physically drained every time.

What has been your best live performance experience for you to date?
So many Reading/Leeds, Glasto, we have always had good gigs in Manchester and Leeds venue’s too, it might be our next gig.

What is your pre-performance ritual?
We normally have a big pre gig group hug and tell each other good luck and have fun, and rock out of course.

Is there a difference from playing shows ‘up North’ compared to the rest of the UK?
Well I see it as my role sometimes to break down any audiences that seem to enjoying it but not showing it, so in the end they all are the same, singing along and clapping, I love that as a challenge, were from the North and love playing up here, but a trip down south especially to london is always exciting.

What is guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and make you cry?
I’m not sure, I guess it just happens. Crying can be a happy thing too though. Who cares, we do wear our hearts on our sleeves though we cant help that.

Frankie “The Saturdays” Sanford, Frankie Boyle or Frankie Goes To Hollywood?
I’d marry Frankie Sanford, go for a drink with Frankie Boyle and then spend a summer in Hollywood working on Frankie and the Heartstrings the movie, starring Russ Abbott.

[Originally published on wonderlandmagazine.com/blog, February 2011.]