Gig of the Week: The Fratellis
Andrew Pain, Evening Gazette
YOU can almost hear the riff to Chelsea Dagger already ... indie rockers THE FRATELLIS are playing on Teesside tonight at the Empire in Middlesbrough. Most famous for the aforementioned modern classic (it’s the one played after Boro score a goal - which didn’t happen very often last season, of course), the three-piece have two hit albums behind them, Costello Music in 2006 and 2008’s Here We Stand.
Formed in 2005, The Fratellis are renowned for their work ethic having done six tours of the UK in 2006 and three tours of the US in 2007.
At times it got a bit much. After one gig too far for the road-weary singer Jon Fratelli, he legged it after the band’s set and hopped on a flight back to the UK and on to a Maltese holiday with his girlfriend (now wife), the burlesque performer whose stage name he’d pinched for Chelsea Dagger.
He was soon back in the touring saddle, playing even bigger shows in the US. The wheels nearly came off again, though, when The Fratellis supported The Police on a leg of their mega-selling arena tour after the release of Costello Music.
“It’s funny when you come onstage and no one in the crowd makes any noise,” he laughs. “It’s even funnier when you start playing and they still don’t make a noise…”
All of which changed The Fratellis.
“Costello Music didn’t sound like us any more,” says Jon. “I thought we’d got naturally heavier. And the songs we ended up writing for this one (Here We Stand) leant more in that direction.”
So the band put all these experiences - these tour muscles and performance chops, high times and higher times - to good use back in their native Glasgow.
Jon says they told their label: “Instead of spending money on a producer, we’ll buy a building and you pay for the gear. And we’ll produce it ourselves.
“We made the first album in LA with (Beck, Air producer) Tony Hoffer. For the second one we did everything the hard way and made everything difficult: no safety net of a producer or proven studio. It could have all gone wrong…”
It didn’t, though, and in one interview Jon claimed fans could expect two new albums in 2009.
Six months into the year and, thanks to the ongoing popularity of Here We Stand, they haven’t made a start on one of them ... and tonight their Teesside fans can be thankful for that.
:: THE FRATELLIS
Empire, Middlesbrough
Friday 3rd July
Entry: £16
