Melbourne indie-pop icons Frente! are hitting the road to celebrate the anniversary of their iconic debut record, ‘Marvin The Album’.
The band first formed in the late ‘80s around the core duo of Angie Hart and Simon Austin. Frente! gained a following for their quirky, catchy, and dreamlike compositions, living up to Austin’s description of the group as “pop that doesn’t know any better”. Following the release of their 1991 EP ‘Whirled’, Frente! signed with Mushroom Records, and swiftly gained widespread attention for 1992’s ‘Clunk’ EP, which hit the top three on the Australian charts, eventually going Gold. In November 1992, Frente! would up the ante once more, sharing their debut full-length effort, ‘Marvin The Album’, with the world.
Singles such as ‘Accidently Kelly Street’, ‘No Time’, and ‘Ordinary Angels’ received widespread airplay, while the record would go on to reach #5 in Australia, #4 in New Zealand, and top the US Top Heatseekers chart.
The band broke up in 1997 since then, the group has been active sporadically, releasing an EP together and touring on and off. Angie and Simon have both embarked upon various musical ventures consistently from that time.
“It’s so great to be playing these songs live again. They take on a new meaning and I gain a new and deepened reverence for them every time we open up the book on these songs. In the decade between the last time we played this album, we seem to always forget how the songs go and what they are about. We are approaching them with fresh ears and hearts and seeing them with a different perspective that only time can bring. The love we have for our younger selves now is full of compassion and, at this point, intrigue – we did that?!”
Angie Hart
The tour will kick off with a hometown show at Corner Hotel on May 6, before moving to Oxford Art Factory (Syd), The Zoo (Bris), The Gov (Adl), and finishing up at Badlands in Perth on June 10, with supports from Sally Seltman in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and Lo in Perth.
Tickets go on sale from Oztix (Moshtix for Sydney) at 10am AEDT on Friday, March 3.
Frente! photo credit Sarah Walker
