To Be Frank With You

Returning to The Whale on Saturday, May 11th, are The Frank & Walters Cork’s finest ever manic pop thrill…?

Right from the very first jingle-jangle guitar intro, The Frank And Walters were a band merrily out of time.

Which wasn’t drummer Ashley Keating’s fault, of course, this Cork foursome simply delivering the kind of power pop that sweetly cruised somewhere between mid-’60s Beatles and late ’80s working class zeroes such as The Proclaimers and Billy Bragg.

Which is a somewhat crappy description of The Frank And Walters’ music, but, feck it, for the uninitiated, it’ll have to do. All you need to really know is, hey, they’re one of Cillian Murphy’s favourite bands.

Having signed with Setanta in 1991, and scoring a hit with their economically-titled EP1, it was moving to Go! Discs and working with former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins that gave the boys that One Great Song That Never Fades Away.

So great, in fact, that After All was voted Cork’s Favourite Song in 2020, beating out the old chestnut, My Own Lovely Lee, and such much-loved local artists as John Spillane, Jimmy Crowley and Mick Flannery.

Heck, it even beat The Sultans Of Ping F.C.’s Where’s Me Jumper?. We reckon a mighty chart rebirth after being used in Cork-based sitcom The Young Offenders may have just swung it, After All reaching no.2 in the iTunes download charts in March 2018.

Over the last 35 years – and despite a few years in semi-retirement (due to, say the band, a “fear of music”) – Paul Linehan and the gang have continued writing and recording new music, all the while marking each new anniversary as the band and their fans grow ever more nostalgic, and fonder, of one another.

And now Greystonians can join in the group hug, as Paul Linehan comes back to town as part of a stripped down acoustic duo version of the band.

He’s just not sure yet who the other member will be on any given night, given that The Frank And Walters are having a little fun on their current unplugged tour playing mix’n’match.

“All I can say is,” deadpans Linehan, “is that it’s always my favourite fellow band member on that particular night.”

Playing The Whale on Saturday, May 11th at 8pm, you can grab your tickets for The Frank & Walters Acoustic right here: https://whaletheatre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873643560