The Fratellis

The Fratellis

The Fratellis performing in Birmingham, August 2015
Background information
Origin Glasgow, Scotland
Genres Indie rock, garage rock, post-punk revival, alternative rock
Years active
  • 2005–09
  • 2012–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website http://www.thefratellis.com/
Members Jon Fratelli
Barry Fratelli
Mince Fratelli

The Fratellis are a Scottish rock band from Glasgow, formed in 2005. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli (born John Lawler), bass guitarist Barry Fratelli (born Barry Wallace), and drummer and backing vocalist Mince Fratelli (born Gordon McRory). Their singles "Chelsea Dagger" and "Whistle for the Choir" were both top ten hits in the UK charts.

The Fratellis have released four albums; Costello Music (2006), Here We Stand (2008), We Need Medicine (2013) and Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied (2015).

History

2005–06: Beginnings and The Fratellis EP

The band's name came from the criminal family in The Goonies. They played their first show on 4 March 2005 in the O'Henry's bar in Glasgow across the road from the Horseshoe bar, and received their first radio playing in 2005, on central Scotland's Beat 106 (later XFM Scotland, now Galaxy Scotland) Beatscene show hosted by Jim Gellatly. They were signed by Fallout Records.

The Fratellis EP was released on 3 April 2006, featuring the tracks "Stacie Anne" and "The Gutterati?". "Creepin' Up the Backstairs" was never a single released by the band, even though a video was made for it. It was not eligible for the charts. The first single released by the band was "Henrietta", which was released on 12 June 2006 and charted at number 19 on the UK Charts.

2006–07: Costello Music

Costello Music was the debut album for the Fratellis and was released on 11 September 2006. It charted at number two in the UK album charts for three weeks.[1] The success of the album led to the Fratellis winning the Brit Award for British Breakthrough Act in 2007, an award that was voted for by BBC Radio One listeners.[2]

The Fratellis perform in Scotland.

The Fratellis supported Kasabian in December 2006 on their UK tour before playing 10 dates by themselves in February and March 2007. The locations included Nottingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London.[3] Following the release of the album, the Fratellis embarked on a tour of the UK festival circuit, playing at Glastonbury and headlining at festivals such as NME's Rock 'n' Riot tour, OXEGEN 2007 and T in the Park 2007, amongst others.[4][5][6] They also opened for The Police Reunion Tour in the summer of 2007 in some of the North America dates. The Fratellis also recorded some cover songs during the year including "All Along the Watchtower" for Radio 1's 40th Anniversary Double Album, Radio 1: Established 1967, and "Solid Gold Easy Action" for the soundtrack of the film Hot Fuzz, which also included the single "Baby Fratelli".

The band released their first live DVD, Edgy In Brixton, in the UK on 1 October 2007, which was recorded at the Brixton Academy in London. The DVD contains a full live performance of the debut album Costello Music, B-sides from various singles and a new song called "Pretty Like a Girl". Extras on the DVD include the band being asked questions by members of the Fratellis' website, and on the deluxe edition, highlights from the T in the Park 2007 festival. It was released in the United States on 30 October 2007.

On 10 February 2009, three songs from the album Costello Music- "Creepin' Up the Backstairs", "Flathead" and "Henrietta"- were made available as downloadable content (DLC) for the video game Rock Band 2.

2007–09: Here We Stand

The band's second album, Here We Stand, was first mentioned in November 2007 on the Fratellis' official website, which stated that work had begun on the album in a rehearsal space in Glasgow. The band said that they were self-producing the album and had their own studio to record in. Recording finished on 13 January 2008.[7]

On 22 February 2008, they played a small show for fans at Queen Margaret Union to debut new songs from the upcoming album. About eight new songs from their new album were played, including "Mistress Mabel", "Acid Jazz Singer", and "Look Out Sunshine!".[8] This performance introduced two new touring members, a guitarist, Robin Peringer and a keyboard player, Will Foster. However, after the Teenage Cancer Trust show in 2008, Robin departed the tour for unknown reasons. Will Foster subsequently played both keyboard and guitar during live performances.

The album, was released on 9 June 2008 in the UK and 10 June 2008 in the United States. The band marked the US release of the album with sold-out shows in New York City, Boston, and Los Angeles. The first single from the album,"Mistress Mabel", was released on 26 May 2008. The next single, "Look Out Sunshine!", released on 18 August 2008 and with money going towards the Teenage Cancer Trust. The third single was "A Heady Tale", released on 22 December. The Fratellis released a deluxe edition of Here We Stand internationally on 8 December. The CD included a new song titled "Moriarty's Last Stand" and the accompanying DVD which features "The Year of the Thief" (a documentary of the band on the road in the US), a live show filmed on 18 June 2008 at the Fillmore, San Francisco; performances of "Milk and Money", "Flathead" and "Mistress Mabel" from Abbey Road Studios and the videos for the singles "Mistress Mabel" and "Look Out Sunshine!".

During 2009, the band did a mini-tour of Australia and Japan during February and March.[9] The Fratellis headlined the Island Records 50th anniversary show on 27 May 2009 where they debuted their new track to be included on the Island 50: 50 Years of Island Records which was Bob Marley's "Stir It Up". The band also headlined the Hop Farm Festival 2009 on 4 July, with a gig at the Middlesbrough Empire on 3 July to prepare for the upcoming headline slot.

2012–14: We Need Medicine

The Fratellis played their first show since 2009 to raise money for the Eilidh Brown Memorial Fund on 15 June 2012, marking nearly 3 years since they last shared a stage together. They then went to perform dates in Oxford, Leicester and Sheffield with another date at Loopallu festival, forming a small September tour. During the tour, the band debuted 2 new tracks, "This Old Ghost Town" (previously played by Jon in a solo show) and "Rock 'n' Roll Will Break Your Heart".

The band performed at O2 ABC Glasgow on 26 September 2012 and announced an UK tour in April 2013. During the UK tour, 3 more songs were debuted live; "She's Not Gone Yet But She's Leaving", "Seven Nights Seven Days" and "Whiskey Saga". On 4 February 2013, the Fratellis finished recording their third album, which was to be called We Need Medicine with a release date of 7 October 2013. "Seven Nights Seven Days" was released as a single on 29 September. The album was recorded in Glasgow with Jon Fratelli and Stuart McCredie on production duties.

The band saw out 2013 with a highly successful tour of the US, UK and mainland Europe. With 2014, the band played festivals across the world, returning to the US, UK and Europe and also headed over to Japan before finishing the We Need Medicine album campaign with two shows in Russia in September 2014. The band released a brand new EP in September 2014 entitled The Soul Crush EP, which was released for free on their website.

2014–present: Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied

During the break for Christmas 2013, the band started writing new material, and two of the songs have debuted live in 2014. "Too Much Wine" was played on the early 2014 US tour, with "All the Live Long Day" (later to be known as "Impostors (Little By Little)") turning up later on. Upon releasing The Soul Crush EP in 2014, the band stated they would be heading to LA to record their fourth album,[10] with Barry confirming on Twitter it was once again with Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air), producer-architect of both their debut album and of Jon’s solo album Psycho Jukebox.[11]

News stayed quiet until 1 June 2015, when the band announced their new album would be called Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied and would be released through Cooking Vinyl on 21 August 2015. The band gave away the first song from the album "Me and the Devil" through their website,[10] and later announced the first single "Baby Don't You Lie To Me" on 29 June. Both tracks were made available as instant downloads with your pre-order of the album.[12] The band shared a new video for "Baby Don't You Lie To Me!" on 24 July 2015. [13]

In late 2016, the Fratellis launched a UK-wide tour to mark the 10-year anniversary of Costello Music, playing 16 shows through November and December.[14][15]

In 2017, the band will headline the Vicar's Picnic music festival July 14–15,[16] as well as the Lindisfarne Festival running August 31 to September 3.[17][18]

On May 8, after hinting through several posts since April 30, the band confirmed on Instagram that they were in Los Angeles to record their fifth album with Tony Hoffer once again producing.[19]

Band hiatus and side projects

After the Hop Farm Festival appearance in July 2009, the Fratellis entered indefinite hiatus and each moved on to new bands/projects. Jon formed a new band with singer/songwriter Lou Hickey called Codeine Velvet Club. He released an album with the band in December 2009 and toured during late 2009 and early 2010, before declaring that he will be leaving the band to pursue a solo career, taking the backing band with him.[20] He has since released his debut solo album entitled Psycho Jukebox and has embarked on tours in Scotland and the UK. A second album was recorded (entitled Bright Night Flowers), but is currently unreleased with no plans to have it released in the near future.

Barry initially stated that he is starting his own musical project in the coming months and will let Fratellis fans know about it via the Fratellis website.[21] He didn't let fans know his musical ventures until November 2011, where he revealed he had joined Birmingham band the Twang, who he played with until August 2012 when he rejoined the Fratellis. He is also a regular on the DJ circuit and continues to this day.

Mince initially joined a heavy metal band called Throne o' Diablo,[22][23] before leaving the band to join Jon's solo band as a second drummer, backing vocalist and occasional guitarist. He was seen helping Jon record his second solo album in photos that appeared from the album sessions.

Discography

Studio albums

Band members

Touring Members

Awards

Date Award Awarding body
4 July 2008 Best British Band 33rd Silver Clef Awards 2008
27 January 2008 Best European Border Breaking Act- United Kingdom 2008 European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA)
14 February 2007 Best British Breakthrough Act BRIT Awards 2007

References

  1. ↑ BBC News Online – Timberlake takes album top spot
  2. ↑ NME.com – Fratellis win Brit for British Breakthrough Act
  3. ↑ "The Fratellis announce 2007 tour dates". Indie London. 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2007.
  4. ↑ "Glastonbury line up 2007". BBC. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
  5. ↑ "T in the Park line-up unveiled". NME. 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2007.
  6. ↑ Paul McNamee (2007). "Costello Music review". NME. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
  7. ↑ Sunday Mail – Fratellis Celebrate Finishing Second Album
  8. ↑ – Fratellis Fans Get Chance To Hear New Songs
  9. ↑ The Fratellis – Gig preview
  10. 1 2 "The Fratellis announce new album 'Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied' and new shows". Never Enough Notes. Never Enough Notes. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  11. ↑ http://thefratellis.com/site/bio/
  12. ↑ Laura Johnson, "The Fratellis Post New Single Baby Don't You Lie To Me", Stereoboard.com, 29 June 2015
  13. ↑ "VIDEO: See The Fratellis' new clip for 'Baby Don't You Lie To Me!'". Never Enough Notes (Never Enough Notes). Never Enough Notes. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "The Fratellis set for UK tour to celebrate 10 years of Costello Music". Skiddle.com. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  15. ↑ "The Fratellis celebrated 10th anniversary of Costello Music in style at the Barrowlands in Glasgow". The Scottish Sun. 2016-12-11. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  16. ↑ "The Fratellis are playing at a Kent music festival this summer". Kent Live. 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  17. ↑ "The Fratellis to headline North East music festival". www.sunderlandecho.com. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  18. ↑ "Fratellis headline Lindisfarne festival". www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  19. ↑ The Fratellis (2017-05-08). "Yeah so we're recording another album in LA with @tony_hoffer". Instagram. Retrieved 2017-05-09.
  20. ↑ CVC Split with newspaper interview embedded
  21. ↑ the flame still burns? – Post by BarryFratelli on The Fratellis forum
  22. ↑ Un. "Throne o' Diablo | Gratis muziek, tourneedata, foto's, video's". Myspace.com. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  23. ↑ "Throne o' Diablo". Facebook. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
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