We all have silly ideas from time to time. Frank Hamilton seems to have more than most, and also a pretty good strike rate in terms of turning flights of fancy into reality.
On March 24, the singer-songwriter stepped into a pod on the London Eye – along with a string section, a few microphones and some cameras – before emerging 28 minutes later in possession of recordings that would become the 'London Eye EP'. Somewhat unsurprisingly, he became the first artist to lay down a record as the wheel turned on the banks of the Thames.
The four tracks that make up the EP were plucked from the embers of Hamilton's last grand scheme – the '#OneSongAWeek' project. In finest Ronseal tradition, '#OneSongAWeek' was exactly that: 52 tunes written, recorded and released throughout 2012. In December, the 'Best Of' selection topped the iTunes singer-songwriter chart and gave Hamilton space to move on to his next project. That's where the London Eye came in.
“To be honest, after '#OneSongAWeek', there wasn't a massive thought process,” he said. “It was very much a random idea that I thought would be quite cool. '#OneSongAWeek' was self-contained, it was up to me and nobody else, but with 'London Eye' I honestly didn't think anyone would say yes. I didn't think it was allowed. All of a sudden we had six or seven days to get everything ready and go and do the thing.
“We had a tech rehearsal the day before, just with me, the cellist and the viola player and my good friend James, who came and recorded the sound. SE Electronics were really kind and gave us a few thousand pounds' worth of microphones for the weekend. In terms of gear we managed to beg, steal and borrow. Logistically it was a bit of a nightmare but we managed to get a couple of people involved and I was just left to focus on drinking tea and getting the songs right.”
'#OneSongAWeek' certainly ensured that Hamilton and his cohorts were prepared for any speedbumps along the way. Having seven days to write, record, mix and master a track would certainly focus the mind, and it's remarkable just how good the songs are. These aren't half-formed ideas, they're intimate, often wistful, gems. It's lucky, then, that Hamilton decided to ignore plenty of advice after concocting his plan.
“I thought of it on January 2 and it was either 'we're doing this' or 'no we're not doing this',” he said. “I spoke to a few people and a few friends in the industry and everyone said it was a terrible idea and that I was opening myself up to crucifixion, basically. Except for my friend, who's now my manager, Andy, who said, 'if you stick with it, and you've got to stick with it, it could be cool'.
“We just went for it. I had a couple of ideas and I'm very deadline driven, so I knew that if I set myself a deadline then I would get it done. I didn't know that the songs would turn out to be alright, as they are, I thought there would be some pretty terrible ones in there. Actually, I don't regret a single thing.”
If '#OneSongAWeek' is an advert for anything, it's for that most rock 'n' roll of traits: time management. Each track was released on a Friday, forcing Hamilton and a select group of collaborators to work alongside a ticking clock.
“The songs were released on Friday so the weekend was spent gathering ideas,” he said. “Sometimes it fell out over the weekend, sometimes you'd keep working on the idea. You kind of write as you record, which is a totally different way to making a proper record.
“I was writing as I went along, chopping bits and adding bits. It evolved and I couldn't really pin down a day that I'd finish a song on. Week 28, I didn't start writing until 5.30pm on the Thursday so I was really shitting a brick, but thankfully it came out in about 10 minutes and it wasn't awful. So that was good.”
Hamilton is all set to hit the road for a series of summer festival dates before settling in for a run of headline shows during September and October, during which he will be forced to whittle setlists from a back catalogue so large that Bruce Springsteen himself might opt to play the hits. Luckily, “natural selection” has played a part in determining where Hamilton's loyalties lie.
“It's quite hard,” he admitted. “There are always songs that I miss when they're not on the setlist but I think natural selection has brought maybe 10-12-15 of them to the fore. You weed the ones out that people want to hear. Having such a big back catalogue allows me to adapt the set, which is fantastic for me and everyone watching, but really, really annoying for my band.”
Frank Hamilton UK & Ireland Tour Dates are as follows
Fri September 20th 2013 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Cluny 2
Sat September 21st 2013 - GLASGOW Arches, Glasgow
Sun September 22nd 2013 - PRESTON 53 Degrees
Mon September 23rd 2013 - NOTTINGHAM Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Wed September 25th 2013 - SHEFFIELD Sheffield Plug
Thu September 26th 2013 - MANCHESTER Sound Control
Fri September 27th 2013 - LEEDS Cockpit 3
Sat September 28th 2013 - STOKE Sugarmill
Sun September 29th 2013 - CAMBRIDGE Junction 2
Tue October 1st 2013 - NORWICH Waterfront Studio
Wed October 2nd 2013 - BIRMINGHAM Temple, The Institute
Thu October 3rd 2013 - LONDON The Garage
Sat October 5th 2013 - BRISTOL Thekla
Sun October 6th 2013 - GUILDFORD Boiler Room
Mon October 7th 2013 - BRIGHTON Komedia
Tue October 8th 2013 - SOUTHAMPTON Joiners
Thu October 10th 2013 - CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach
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