Once in a while…

...when she’s feeling generous, Lady Luck decides to throw me a bone. Earlier this week, it came in the form of a cool work assignment—an interview with Glen Hansard (singer/songwriter/musician, frontman of the band The Frames, and star of the newly released and highly praised film Once).

Sometimes, I’ll get an interviewee who’ll lend a little bit of excitement to an otherwise dull work day. Other times I’ll get…well, I’ll get the likes of Hoobastank. Needless to mention, this occasion happened to fall under the former category.

Interview excerpts:

American Frames fans have always felt somewhat spoiled to be able to see you in smaller, intimate venues—but all of that will probably change when Once gets its wide U.S. release in October and more Americans are exposed to your music. Do you have any anticipation in regards to this?
Well I have to say that I’m over the moon. I’d be an idiot to say, “Fuck it, I don’t care” because it almost feels to me that the Frames have almost gone out and canvassed for every single member of our audience so far, and it almost feels to me sometimes that we know every single member of our audience. On this trip, for instance, there’s a really good fan of ours in Philadelphia, Emma, and she’s like “This fucking film! What is this going to do to you?” And I was like, “What do you mean?” And she was like, “You’ll be playing to Wachovia Center now in Philly and we’ll never get to see you again and I don’t like this!” And I was like, this is amazing! Fair play to her honesty, but on the other hand, I’m like, you know, isn’t this what we do it for and isn’t this what you wanted? So it’s a weird double-edged sword. You have to just kind of embrace this and kind of enjoy it. And to be honest with you, the past couple of weeks have been really, really amazing for me. And it kind of feels like for seventeen years…it was kind of like the Frames against the world. You’re making your albums and you’re putting out your art and you’re really into it. And then one day you make this little film as part of you moving on and doing your thing…and one day the world just turns around and goes “What?” You’re kicking the world’s ass for all that time and it turns around and goes “What?”—and it’s the most terrifying and overwhelming and weird feeling. … And the response we’ve been getting has been really genuine, which gives me a lot of heart, I’ve gotta say. Because, you know, if we were in some sort of big American romantic comedy I’d be so fucking ashamed right now…

…What’s the most memorable concert that you’ve ever attended?
The most memorable concert I’ve ever attended was a Leonard Cohen concert when I was 15. I went to see Leonard Cohen with my cousin who was like five years older than me. He had recently been hit by a stolen car in Dublin, and he was having epileptic fits after. And during “Famous Blue Raincoat” at the gig, my cousin went into a fit, and Leonard stopped the gig and basically said, “Is this kid alright?” He was doing a matinee and an evening show, and we went off to the Hospital and they made sure we got tickets to the evening show. And we came back and Leonard come up and shook our hands and said “Are you ok?” to my cousin. And as a 15-year-old singer/songwriter, that was the most profoundly important moment...


Read the entire interview.