Frankie Goes To … erm … Bath

Frankie And The Heartstrings, Moles Club, Bath

Thursday 18th October 2012

The best gigs are the squeezed-in gigs that you only find out about on the day they happen.

Frankie And The Heartstrings playing twenty minutes away? Yes please!

Never mind that this is Bath city centre we’re talking about, where everybody is so rich they have three cars each, and they all make a point of parking them all by the side of the roads of an evening, on the double yellow lines, in the disabled spaces, up trees, the lot.

I decide that I don’t want to give Bath City Council sixty quid so find a proper car park and ascend the mountain to where Moles Club is situated.

Haven’t been here in a very long while – the last time was a comedy gig circa ’96. My Gran had just died and my mate persuaded me to go out to cheer me up. One of the acts (Mike Gunn) dressed as an undertaker and did a whole routine about shagging his dead grandmother.

To be fair, it did make me laugh. Don’t judge me.

Didn’t really feel like I could go up to him afterwards to say thank you though, for fear of traumatising him into retirement. He’s still going strong on the circuit now, so I feel vindicated and not a little proud that he was able to continue his career thanks to my sensitivity.

Sorry that was a bit of a downer. Its OK, my Gran had a good long life, she was in her late eighties and didn’t suffer.
Frankie And The Heartstrings’ first elpee was one of my faves of 2011, came out of nowhere, 34 minutes of short, superbly crafted pop songs that reminded me at least of how Dexys Midnight Runners would have sounded as a pop band with no horns.

Singer Frankie Francis’ yelping delivery is pure Kevin Rowland and the band are exactly right – no huge solos, everything perfectly tailored for the needs of the song.

Check this Blue Peter style video for “Hunger” too.

And the new album’s only produced by Bernard smegging Butler, that’s all!
And they’ve just dropped a new free taster track from their new album (out in the noo year) –

They do four new numbers this evening, all instant classics – it says quite a lot when people sing along to a song they’ve never heard before.

The club is more than half-full, a great time is had by all.

People dance. And not just girls.

Setlist (courtesy of http://lilmissmosher.wordpress.com/ – thanks Miss Mosher. Great blog btw, you should all check her out)

This band is a bit special, and indeed about the time I write this they will be going onstage in Cardiff supporting The Cribs on their nationwide tour, which should give them the exposure they deserve.

All together now – “I’ll be yours – you’ll be mine – I’ll feed you milk – I’ll bring you wine”