What happens when you hate your hit song?
 |
|
Angie Hart and Simon Austin in Melbourne. Picture: Mark Dadswell
Source: News Corp Australia
ANGIE Hart is knee deep in rehearsing for a tour to celebrate her band Frente’s debut ‘Marvin the Album’ turning 21.
However it wasn’t too long ago Hart was still decompressing from being just 21 herself when Frente went global.
Marvin the Album not only soared up the Australian chart, it made major headway in the US and wound up selling 1.2 million copies worldwide.
On YouTube: Frente, accidentally Kelly Street
However when the follow up, Shape, couldn’t repeat the success the band spluttered out.
Simon Austin and Angie Hart. Picture: Mark Dadswell
Source: News Corp Australia
“It’s strange putting this Frente tour and reissue together because there was a time when my life was about undoing everything that happened in Frente,” Hart says.
“When you haven’t found your way with what you’d like to do musically or even as a person everything you do after something like Frente happens is out of a reaction. But in the last five years I’ve just found my feet with it.”
While there’s been select Frente reunions over the past decade, Hart and bandmate Simon Austin are doing it seriously this time.
Marvin the Album has been remastered and reissued, now containing their first EPs with original versions of their indie hits Labour of Love and Ordinary Angels, as well as iconic acoustic cover of New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle, which the band themselves praised.
The album also contains Frente’s biggest hit, accidentally Kelly Street. The colourful video cemented the band in the mainstream but killed their indie cred — something that was important in 1992.
For a while Hart hated Kelly Street; she’s now fallen back in love with it.
“It was so immature of me,” Hart says. “I despised other bands that wouldn’t play songs they didn’t like. You wrote it, it exists, people like it, it’s too bad. We’ve definitely made our peace, me and Kelly Street.
Angie Hart, pictured in 2009, has continued to make music since the days of Frente.
Source: News Limited
“But it wasn’t so much the song, just the things attached to it by the time I decided I didn’t like it. It changed my enjoyment of being in the band. It changed our live shows, we got a larger audience but they knew less of our music.
“You’d resent people calling out for that one song and then basically leaving after we played it, basically. It was the moment everything shifted.”
Hart has dug up old Frente memorabilia (including a congratulatory fax from Madonna, whose label was courting the Australians) and with it old memories.
“It’s been holistic,” she says. “You underestimate the power of memories. I’ve had a few personal blowouts already. But this process is giving me the most well-rounded views I’ve ever had of Frente. The band were a big part of my life and my career in music.”
While Hart has continued to make music since the days of Frente, her bandmate and musical partner Simon Austin has stepped away from the game.
“Touring again is a treat for me, I don’t play music anymore so I get let off the leash,” he says.
“I’ve got the mortgage, the two kids and the desk job. I look on music from afar. One of these days I’ll get a band of decrepit old dads together.”
Austin and Hart are touring with the Shape-era line up of Pete Luscombe and Bill McDonald, but have invited former members Tim O’Connor (who wrote Kelly Street), Mark Picton and Alistair Barden to get on stage at a show of their choosing.
Back in the day … Simon Austen with Bill McDonald, Angie Hart and Al Barden.
Source: News Limited
“There was nothing between anyone in the band that was deep, you just get sick of each other touring all the time,” Austin admits. “It’s all about love now, not anything else that happened.”
While Hart is in the throes of writing her memoir, she’s also started the initial process of writing new Frente music with Austin.
“Simon and I are just compatible together,” she says. “I wish I could write like that when we’re apart. I’ve spent most of my music career after Frente writing my way out of Frente, so it’ll be interesting being in Frente and writing out of a reaction to old Frente.”
Austin is also preparing to see if the magic can be rekindled. “It sounds gushy but I’ve never played with a musician as unique as Angie. Her confidence has changed radically since the Frente days. She’s in charge now.”
And while fans will hear Marvin the Album played in full on the tour, plus a second set of other tracks, they may not sound exactly like you remember.
“My voice has changed, it’s fuller,” Hart says. “I taught myself to sing. So now I listen to some of the early Frente stuff and I sound like Babe the pig! I’ve definitely gotten better at singing.”
■ Marvin the Album — 21st Anniversary Edition (Warner) is out tomorrow
■ Frente play the following venues:
Playhouse Arts Centre, Melbourne, May 22 and 23
Theatre Royal, Castlemaine, May 24
The Basement, Sydney, May 30 and 31
The Gov, Adelaide, June 6
The Astor, Perth, June 7
Star Court Theatre, Lismore, June 27
Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane, June 28
