Sometimes, (not often mind), you go to see a band with a vague sense of expectation, born from nothing more than early releases and odd pieces of press, only for, by some twist of fate, this band you considered “fairly decent” until now to prove one of the most impressive you have possibly seen since having the good fortune to witness an early Strokes gig. Know what I mean? When they literally suck you into their world from the opening bars of their set, until the sweaty finale brings the curtain down and you walk away thinking “fuck me, I didn’t expect that?!”  The poignantly named Frankie & The Heartstrings had this exact effect on me, a rather “tired and emotional” writer at the end of a fairly soulless stint at this years’ Great Escape, Brighton.  

Sunderland, North East England, (for those of you who don’t know your way out of London ), was the birthplace for this indie-romantic five-piece in early 2009, bonding over cocktails and music in the local boozer run by front man Frankie Francis. Too many cocktails, as the story goes, meant one thing led to another and they formed a band, which quickly lead to huge support slots, glorification from every aspect of the music press and the ultimate accolade of being signed to Wichita recordings in April this year.  

Fast forward to today, and they are clutching a collection of songs that encompass the best bits of contemporary credible pop and the nostalgia of vintage indie bands, all tied up with a heartstring. A welcome and anthemic alternative that will see them move up the bill to headline slots by next summer.  

You could say the foundations for ubiquity in that case have already been set in stone, despite the only releases to date being physical limited edition vinyl and nothing within the digital remit. But while the ultimate dream is to become a household musical name, these are 5 working class lads with their feet firmly on the ground and, most importantly, utterly devoid of the pretentious nature that many bands masquerade as talent.

Debut single, the earnest ‘Hunger’, was released on Rough Trade as a limited run of 777 7" vinyl, each one lovingly stamped by the band and each one duly selling out. This perfectly placed introduction paved the way for follow up ‘Tender,’ while the boys keep the dream alive by writing and recording sessions for their debut album, due for release later this year. 

In the meantime, taking influence from Factory Records and establishing their own means of endearingly documenting their journey through their site Popsex, they are the epitome of creative enthusiasm.  Recognizing early on the need to go that little bit further to engage properly with their fanbase, their enthusiasm for interaction is contagious and all the while playing live shows to rave reviews at every opportunity posed. 

This brings us nicely back to their live shows, where the true Frankie & The Heartstrings experience exists. Frenetic, passionate, and sing-along anthemic, (having now seen them 3 times I can confirm each show has surpassed its predecessor), they will no doubt have the girls swooning and the boys emulating them, and we will have our newest and most sustainable darlings of the mainstream music scene up there in lights and putting Sunderland well and truly on the map. Again. 

I spoke with Frankie before their Wichita show as part of this year’s Stag & Dagger festival, where we had an enjoyably candid chat about where they have come from, where they are going and how hard they are prepared to work for it. 

4or The Record: Apparently, Frankie & The Heartstrings begun over cocktails, true story?

Frankie Francis: [Laughs] It did yeah, I was working as the landlord of a pub in Sunderland where like minded people would go and hang out and put gigs on and stuff but on a Sunday it was pretty quiet and Dave and Michael would come in and we’d just get talking really about films, music and literature we liked and found we had a lot in common.  At the time there wasn’t really much musically happening in Sunderland we found interesting so we decided to go start a band and before we knew it we had like 3 or 4 songs.  It happened really fast and here we are just over a year later set to do all the festivals in the summer so you could say its going really well. 

4TR: Wichita showed an interest in F&THS from a very early stage, was it an easy decision for you guys to decide to work with them?

FF: Yeah we had been playing for like 2 months and Wichita came to see us in Newcastle and said they wanted to help us out and initially they just managed us.  I think it’s very important for a band to get the right people around them and I don’t think there are any better people than them really.  The music comes first plus they’re really great people

4TR: Would you say they have allowed you to develop naturally, seeing as you are very much still in the early development stages of the band?

FF:  Oh yeah, we had a lot of interest actually but we weren’t interested in majors because we wouldn’t be able to do things the way we have done it.  Wichita said do you want to do this as a career because if you do then we will free you up full time. Obviously we said yes and now have only been full time as a band after quitting our day jobs recently.  But nothing has changed at all they are just letting us grow and take the opportunities that are offered to us.

4TR: Your first single was released on Rough Trade, how did that opportunity arise?

FF: Geoff Travis from Rough Trade was like I really love you guys so if you need any help let me know and we said actually you can put our record out if you want.  He just said consider it done and so they put out 777 7”’s.  We did that in November and then we released ourselves a 10” of a live recording and then we also released the last single we did ourselves on our label Popsex.

4TR: Let’s talk about Popsex as its really garnering you guys a lot of attention.

FF: The Popsex thing has really started to catch on yeah; we just wanted somewhere to document what we were doing and our influences and so we kind of nicked the Factory Records idea and started cataloguing things.  The Guardian did a piece on it which was kinda weird, I mean is that really newsworthy?  Anyway it’s not an image thing for us but it’s like a band motto to do interesting things and I think as long as we are finding it interesting, people will find us interesting.  

Certainly the artwork and all other creative aspects of what we do is important, but we don’t make everything as accessible as every other band tends to do because that’s quite boring.  I mean we’re not stupid we have to play the game, so we have a MySpace for example, but there’s no music on there, it just says if you want some music email us here.

4TR: So you made a conscious decision to hold things back while you were slowly introducing the band to people?

FF: Yeah well we still are really; I mean there are no digital releases or anything like that and no plans to do any.  I don’t think we have to yet.  But then if someone takes the time out to approach us we will send them songs because I remember being a fan of bands and just to talk to a band would be amazing, regardless of how big or small they are.  We are very romantic about music, and want to inject some passion into pop music.  Stuff like Ellie Goulding and stuff like that is kind of generic its bland and there’s no soul you know, so we just want to put our passions across through the things we do and the things we are documenting on Popsex and hopefully that will continue forever.  

4TR: I follow you guys on Twitter and I think its fair to say you interact more than most other bands with your fans through that medium.

FF: A lot yeah, because I think it’s also very important.  I love the fact someone will tweet us and ask what I had for my tea for example, in the same way I would love it if my favourite bands were able to do that.  I don’t think most bands use their twitter as much as they could; like they might document things but they don’t interact publicly which is the beauty of twitter.  There has always been a middle man between the music and the fans but with us we are trying to get rid of that and say come direct because you can get so much more back from us 

4TR: I wanted to talk about your lyrics which all seem to stem straight from the heart, sitting very nicely with your band name and the romantics tag you have been labeled with.  

FF: That’s absolutely right I mean I wouldn’t be happy about singing about something I hadn’t experienced or singing songs that someone else give us. I couldn’t sing words that didn’t mean anything because music for me is an expression of feelings and stuff like that.  I mean I haven’t got an instrument to play on stage so I’m hiding behind my words in a way and I want them to come across as sincere as they can because they are. I love doing that.

4TR: So lyrics are your role within the band when it comes to song writing?

FF: Yes, my job kind of comes last because our band is very much a band.  Pop bands like Florence and the Machine or Marina and the Diamonds that’s just basically her, but we are a band, so for example Michael will come in with an idea and will give it to Dave the drummer who will put the drums on it, then Dennis will put bass on it and Pete will come in with the guitar and piano and maybe some backing vocals and then its up to me to come in and match the vocals up to the mood of the song.  

I’ve got like loads of lyrics written down that don’t necessarily work until you get the feel for the song you know, so my job comes last.  [Laughing] I get quite an easy ride actually.

4TR: Had you sung at all before F&THS?  Being a frontman seems to come very naturally to you, especially during the live show and vocally you are very strong!

FF: Nah I’ve never sang, I‘ve never even been in a band before in fact at our first practice I tried to play bass [laughs].  We literally just went to practice and Michael turned up with a guitar, Dave had a guitar and I turned up with a bass, it wasn’t a band really but after I while I just said listen lads I’m not that good so I’ll give singing a try.  Now it’s stupid because someone asked us what I do for a living the other day and I was like I’m a singer [laughs] its weird, especially ‘cos I have never sang before.  But I’m under no illusions that my voice is good, I’m still learning, I’m getting lessons on  breathing and stuff just to enhance me. I never get compliments about me voice man I like this, keep it coming.

4TR: We love your singing voice Frankie, all the girls will love it soon.  Anyway singing lessons is impressive, that’s certainly dedication to your craft!

FF: I think I should do it because all the lads have to go out and buy strings for their guitars, [laughing] they practically wank over their guitars actually and I guess the voice is an instrument in a way; and if I want to do this as a career I really have to look after it.  If it’s going to make it better then great.  .

4TR: You are in the process of recording your debut album, how is this going for you so far?

FF: Its basically recorded but its taking a while especially as we are doing it ourselves, so its being recorded in everything from an attic in a nightclub in Sunderland to Dave’s garage to anywhere on the road   In an ideal world you would go into the studio for a month with a producer and get it all done but we cant do that, so we’re doing it as we can and Pete is producing it so hopefully by the end of festival season it’ll be done.  

After that James Ford is going to mix it which is pretty exciting.  We could have worked with a lot of high profile producers and had some pretty in depth meetings but it just wasn’t right for the band and we’ve proven that because the songs we‘ve done have been done our way.  But again we’re under no illusion, we know because we are really new to this we needed another professional from outside the band to bring it on so much more and I don’t think you can do any worse than James Ford [laughs]

4TR: It’s great that you are not rushing anything out and have creative control over the processes involved.  Too many bands now record an LP of substandard tracks and hurry to push it out, negating all the praise they have had leading up to it.

FF: Well the thing is the average Joe on the street hasn’t heard of us yet; but we are doing things like the Great Escape and Radio 1 Big Weekend and people were walking away going who the fuck are Frankie and the Heartstrings.  We know we need to keep our feet on the ground especially as we’ve only released 2 vinyl singles. 

4TR: But even with a limited edition run of vinyl it’s still hard for any new band to sell out these days because of over saturation of the market place.

FF: I know its amazing and having people like daytime Radio 1 play us is ridiculous, like Scott Mills played us recently at 6’o clock drive time and we were like what the fuck this?  It was never intended for things to get this big.  But as I said before we’re not stupid, in the same way like Franz Ferdinand who write really good arty indie hits, I don’t think there is such a thing as selling out because if we want to make pop music, you have to be popular.  And I’m sure they are quite happy sitting in their Jacuzzis now [laughs].

4TR: As long as you are doing your own thing and that just happens to become mainstream in terms of your audience then who cares?

FF: Exactly, Wichita are just giving us time to grow and they’ll never turn round and go that’s bad, can you do that again which happens to so many bands.  It could have happened to us, we could have been sucked up within like a month of forming by a really big major because it’s really tempting when they’re putting thousands on the table.  At the time we had lots of arguments about it because the money was there, but we had to think about whether we would be happy.  We know a band that were with a major on a 3-album deal, but when it came to the 2nd single they were summoned to London for a meeting in a boardroom where all these singles were piled on a table and the label basically said why haven’t you sold all these?  And that was it they were dropped.

This happens to so many people, if someone writes you like a blank cheque you know you’re going to take it.  There’s a lot to be said for saying no to things and I think we have stood out because we have said no to a lot of people we probably shouldn’t have said no to; but people want what they cant have.  Remember when pubs used to close at 11 o clock and would jam packed because people always wanted more? Now pubs are open all the time pubs are shit.  It’s the same with everything though isn’t it?

4TR: The trend seems to be when something is too accessible it becomes uninteresting. 

FF: Exactly it’s too accessible and too easy, and it’s lazy as well.  Like you can just go to MySpace and listen or download tracks easily, but if you make yourself desirable which hopefully we’re trying to do then people will go out and hunt down the record or email us and try and get one of the Popsex catalogue numbers to have and to hold and cherish.  

You know we love nothing more than going to record shops and getting a record and reading every bit of the cover and putting it on and thinking wow this is amazing, because it’s a piece of art really.  We are just really romantic and passionate about that and will always be so.

4TR: I think at the risk of annoying potential fans who want the music easily, by making them seek it out you could potentially be creating the kind of fans that used to exist for bands, plus they might just appreciate it a little bit more.

FF: And I think when they do finally come to see us live I hope we deliver much more than they were expecting.  I think on paper people might think of they are just a twee indie band but Sunderland is a punk town, so I’d like to think there’s an unexpected punk element when you see us; like a harshness and some proper rock.

4TR: OK having seen you 4 times live and witnessing the energetic presence you collectively as a band deliver it makes for a nice change to see a band literally giving it everything and enjoying it.  What does the live environment mean to you?

FF: We’re very high-energy people and I personally feel if I’m not giving a million percent from every part of my body, if I’m not absolutely fucked at the end then I haven’t done a good gig.  I believe if you give everything you get so much back off the crowd, it’s an energy thing and we’re just so excited to play all the time. 

We went on tour with Florence in December and were first on and treated every one of those gigs as though it was our headline gig at Brixton academy.  You’ve got to have that mentality when you’re going into any gig to make it your fucking gig.  Its no disrespect to other bands, I think that the other bands will respect you more for it.  So many indie bands hide behind the microphone trying to look cool; we’re not cool, we are just who we are and we put a million percent into any show we do. When we play at Glastonbury at 4 o’clock in the afternoon on the introducing stage we are just going to play like we are headlining the pyramid stage [laughing].

4TR: Glastonbury’s obviously a big deal for any band at any stage in their career. And you are pretty much on the bill of every other festival this summer. Excited?

FF: Fuck yeah, I’ve never even been to Glastonbury so the first time I‘m going I’m playing it, its fuckin nuts.[laughs].  We're opening the NME stage at Reading and Leeds as well, and the ridiculous thing is like LCD Soundsystem is 5 bands after us; we’re just like what the hells that all about its mad.  We just need to play to as many people as possible and that’s what we want to do, so when the album finally drops everyone will go out and buy it [laughing]; that’s the idea anyway.

4TR: I think the idea in that case is well under way.  Anything you would like to add? 

FF: I just want to encourage people to approach us and hit us up by email or on twitter if you want songs because we love it.  We genuinely love replying to emails and giving people songs, it’s the best feeling ever especially when they reply and say thanks, its classic.

There you have it.  If you like your pop sexed simply send Frankie & The Heartstrings an email.

http://popsexltd.com/

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