Jon Lawler - The Fratellis (11/11/2013)
When Glasgow band The Fratellis announced their hiatus back in 2009, it looked as though the curtain had closed indefinitely on one of music’s most promising emerging acts. The question asked among their fan base upon the shock announcement was a simple one: “Why?”
To make matters worse for their devastated fans, a parting message penned by Jon 'Fratelli' Lawler to their fans was a cryptic one, as it didn't allude to any definitive closure.
“At this particular point in time though we’ve found ourselves making music still but just not together. This is just the way it goes I suppose sometimes", Lawler's note reads.
While The Fratellis’ Australian fan base has never been overwhelming, their small but dedicated following sold out two separate tours, in 2008 and 2009 respectively. As it turned out, their Australian tour of 2009 would become one of their final international appearances before their hiatus.
Opening up about one of the reasons behind the break, Lawler recalls that during their Australian shows in 2009, the band was slowly falling apart, admitting to having given some half hearted performances during the tour.
“The last time we were in Australia, it really was at the point where we were starting to fall apart, and if you saw us play then, I can almost guarantee that we were, or at least I know I wasn’t trying as hard as I should have. Given that that’s the case, and given that I know when I wasn’t trying my hardest, I’m always sort of desperate to put those things right”.
During the hiatus, the individual members of the band began their post Fratellis careers. Lawler teamed up with singer-songwriter Lou Hickey to form the Codeine Velvet Club, but in 2010 he called an end to the short lived project, and announced his intentions for a solo career.
Releasing his solo album Psycho Jukebox in 2011, Lawler was soon to discover that despite being the front man of one of music’s most exciting modern acts, finding an audience to engage in your work as a solo artist was not as easy as expected. “I guess I realised that when I tried to play some shows on my own, how difficult it was to find an audience,” he recalls. "It was a revelation to me, to just be reminded of what it feels like to get a reaction from people. I’ve always been quite good at sort of being my own cheerleader, I can almost endlessly exist on keeping myself going, and interested and enthusiastic at making music. But then there just comes this certain point, where you need a reaction, when you just can’t react from yourself anymore."
On June 4th 2012, The Fratellis announced their long awaited encore; they were reforming to raise money for The Eilidh Brown Memorial Fund. Their show took place on June 15th 2012, marking nearly three years since they last shared a stage together.
Not willing to let their legacy fade away into obscurity, Lawler recalls that the path to the official reunion was spurred on by a simple idea; to test the waters with some small local shows, and see if there was still an audience left who will come down to see them play.
“Originally, it was to go out and play some shows. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be good to just go and play some gigs?’" The crowds came out in huge numbers.
"I guess it was just this realisation that we had an audience, we had built one that had taken us four or five years, and a lot of work, and a lot of travel, a lot of good stuff. It was a realisation that (the fans) must still be there, it hadn’t been that long, so why don’t we try and find them, and play some shows? So that’s what we did.”
Their return to the stage was considered a rousing success by both the fans and critics, with social networks abuzz on their comeback. But it became quickly became apparent that with only two albums of material to perform live, the need for a new record of material was required to avoid falling back into the mindset of routine which lead to the hiatus in the first place.
“We really needed a record that we could go out and play live. When we go back together to play some shows, we realised that we were playing mostly songs from the first record (Costello Music, 2006) and there wasn’t a whole from the second record (Here We Stand, 2008) that we could agree on to play. And that really told us something. We just needed something where we could go out and play almost everything from it live, but to also just to let us be naturally, what we are. And that was it, it was as straightforward as that."
The result is their third LP, We Need Medicine, a record that was made without any sort of label restrictions or boundaries, allowing for the band to take complete creative control of their sound and direction.
“It’s not as if we had a record label at that point; we had no manager, we had nobody sort of waiting on it in any way. So we had to please ourselves. It’s nice to do that with your own music.”
Without a label looking over their shoulder, or a contract dictating what they could and couldn't do, the freedom that came with recording the album was refreshing and allowed for creative expression.
“I guess the only sort of thing I can really remember thinking (while recording) was to naturally let everything fall where it was falling on that particular day. And I guess that mindset just came from possibly having some records before that were littered with too much thought put into it. Too much thought about where the record would fit, where would it get played, how would you get on a set on the radio, all that sort of thing. I’m sort of embarrassed to say that I made some records with that in mind. So really, I was just completely determined to let it fall wherever it fell, on that particular day.”
With the band back on track, and We Need Medicine being praised by fans old and new, there is undoubtedly a spark of rejuvenation in The Fratellis; they're comfortable and content who they are as both musicians, and people. Judging by the happiness in Lawler's voice, the success of We Need Medicine has been the perfect positive push the band needed.
“We should never be anything other than what we are; we’re just a rock n roll band. And saying that, the best thing we can do to attract people is to play on stage. I think that’s where we have some control, and put in 100% in every night. I know that sounds like a cliché thing, but I think people appreciate that. If we look by the end of a gig like we’re about to die, it can be a powerful thing. I think people can be attracted to that, and maybe that’s just something that we re-discovered, or discovered this time around, and we have to do that every night. And I can only talk for me, but it’s possible that I sort of forgot that while we stopped playing together."
"You're just showing an audience that you’re sort of desperate to have them, and you’re really happy that they’re there. It’s not a cheap thing to go to a gig. Once you buy the ticket, and pay for a drink, and you pay for transport. It’s an expensive way to spend your time. And they (the fans) deserve us giving them everything we’ve got. We don’t have anything else, we have no glitz and we have no glamour. We have to get there by hard work.”
Luke Sutton
@lukesutton
To make matters worse for their devastated fans, a parting message penned by Jon 'Fratelli' Lawler to their fans was a cryptic one, as it didn't allude to any definitive closure.
“At this particular point in time though we’ve found ourselves making music still but just not together. This is just the way it goes I suppose sometimes", Lawler's note reads.
While The Fratellis’ Australian fan base has never been overwhelming, their small but dedicated following sold out two separate tours, in 2008 and 2009 respectively. As it turned out, their Australian tour of 2009 would become one of their final international appearances before their hiatus.
Opening up about one of the reasons behind the break, Lawler recalls that during their Australian shows in 2009, the band was slowly falling apart, admitting to having given some half hearted performances during the tour.
“The last time we were in Australia, it really was at the point where we were starting to fall apart, and if you saw us play then, I can almost guarantee that we were, or at least I know I wasn’t trying as hard as I should have. Given that that’s the case, and given that I know when I wasn’t trying my hardest, I’m always sort of desperate to put those things right”.
During the hiatus, the individual members of the band began their post Fratellis careers. Lawler teamed up with singer-songwriter Lou Hickey to form the Codeine Velvet Club, but in 2010 he called an end to the short lived project, and announced his intentions for a solo career.
Releasing his solo album Psycho Jukebox in 2011, Lawler was soon to discover that despite being the front man of one of music’s most exciting modern acts, finding an audience to engage in your work as a solo artist was not as easy as expected. “I guess I realised that when I tried to play some shows on my own, how difficult it was to find an audience,” he recalls. "It was a revelation to me, to just be reminded of what it feels like to get a reaction from people. I’ve always been quite good at sort of being my own cheerleader, I can almost endlessly exist on keeping myself going, and interested and enthusiastic at making music. But then there just comes this certain point, where you need a reaction, when you just can’t react from yourself anymore."
On June 4th 2012, The Fratellis announced their long awaited encore; they were reforming to raise money for The Eilidh Brown Memorial Fund. Their show took place on June 15th 2012, marking nearly three years since they last shared a stage together.
Not willing to let their legacy fade away into obscurity, Lawler recalls that the path to the official reunion was spurred on by a simple idea; to test the waters with some small local shows, and see if there was still an audience left who will come down to see them play.
“Originally, it was to go out and play some shows. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be good to just go and play some gigs?’" The crowds came out in huge numbers.
"I guess it was just this realisation that we had an audience, we had built one that had taken us four or five years, and a lot of work, and a lot of travel, a lot of good stuff. It was a realisation that (the fans) must still be there, it hadn’t been that long, so why don’t we try and find them, and play some shows? So that’s what we did.”
Their return to the stage was considered a rousing success by both the fans and critics, with social networks abuzz on their comeback. But it became quickly became apparent that with only two albums of material to perform live, the need for a new record of material was required to avoid falling back into the mindset of routine which lead to the hiatus in the first place.
“We really needed a record that we could go out and play live. When we go back together to play some shows, we realised that we were playing mostly songs from the first record (Costello Music, 2006) and there wasn’t a whole from the second record (Here We Stand, 2008) that we could agree on to play. And that really told us something. We just needed something where we could go out and play almost everything from it live, but to also just to let us be naturally, what we are. And that was it, it was as straightforward as that."
The result is their third LP, We Need Medicine, a record that was made without any sort of label restrictions or boundaries, allowing for the band to take complete creative control of their sound and direction.
“It’s not as if we had a record label at that point; we had no manager, we had nobody sort of waiting on it in any way. So we had to please ourselves. It’s nice to do that with your own music.”
Without a label looking over their shoulder, or a contract dictating what they could and couldn't do, the freedom that came with recording the album was refreshing and allowed for creative expression.
“I guess the only sort of thing I can really remember thinking (while recording) was to naturally let everything fall where it was falling on that particular day. And I guess that mindset just came from possibly having some records before that were littered with too much thought put into it. Too much thought about where the record would fit, where would it get played, how would you get on a set on the radio, all that sort of thing. I’m sort of embarrassed to say that I made some records with that in mind. So really, I was just completely determined to let it fall wherever it fell, on that particular day.”
With the band back on track, and We Need Medicine being praised by fans old and new, there is undoubtedly a spark of rejuvenation in The Fratellis; they're comfortable and content who they are as both musicians, and people. Judging by the happiness in Lawler's voice, the success of We Need Medicine has been the perfect positive push the band needed.
“We should never be anything other than what we are; we’re just a rock n roll band. And saying that, the best thing we can do to attract people is to play on stage. I think that’s where we have some control, and put in 100% in every night. I know that sounds like a cliché thing, but I think people appreciate that. If we look by the end of a gig like we’re about to die, it can be a powerful thing. I think people can be attracted to that, and maybe that’s just something that we re-discovered, or discovered this time around, and we have to do that every night. And I can only talk for me, but it’s possible that I sort of forgot that while we stopped playing together."
"You're just showing an audience that you’re sort of desperate to have them, and you’re really happy that they’re there. It’s not a cheap thing to go to a gig. Once you buy the ticket, and pay for a drink, and you pay for transport. It’s an expensive way to spend your time. And they (the fans) deserve us giving them everything we’ve got. We don’t have anything else, we have no glitz and we have no glamour. We have to get there by hard work.”
Luke Sutton
@lukesutton