Roddy Frame

You've Been Framed

You won’t find many performers more comfortable on stage or confident in their art than Roddy Frame. Having fronted Aztec Camera at the age of 16, Roddy’s been playing for over 20 years – and he’s very good at it. Somewhere in My Heart and Over You are the two big crowd-pleasers, and the capacity audience of Frame fans, Accoustic Stage locals, and luinchtime cider casualties hangs on every strum of his 12-string. A class act.

After enjoying his Sunday afternoon solo performance in the Acoustic Tent, we caught up with Aztec Camera’s Roddy to ask a few questions…

Having fun at Glastonbury?

It’s been really, really nice. Glastonbury is a completely different vibe from anywhere else, and the audience really got off on it today. It’s a real listening audience. I hadn’t played for about six months, so it’s a bit funny going up on stage and playing all these songs again. But the response was fantastic – because, you know, a lot of these people have probably never heard of me…

You’re being very modest. There were a lot of people here this afternoon who came especially to see you.

Well I would like to say thanks to people for supporting me and listening to my music. It’s very nice that I’m able to come and do something new after 20 years. If it wasn’t for people out there buying some records every now and again then I wouldn’t be able to do this.

Have you had a chance to wonder around the Festival??>

I have, and I’ve had a lovely time. There are a lot of retail outlets, so it’s easy to be a bit cynical, but once you’ve walked up and looked at the whole thing, you realize how massive it is, you see all the prayer flags flying, all the peace flags. Or you visit the Healing Fields - I’m much more into that side of it than the big rock festival side of it - and you realize then that it’s a model for a bit of an alternative lifestyle, an alternative universe. At least for a few days.

Do you come regularly?

I don’t, I’ve never been before. It’s my first time at Glastonbury. 20 years down the line and finally I play Glastonbury…

Having done an acoustic set, do you miss playing with a band?

Both have their merits. I played solo acoustically for a long time. When I started out I played a lot of acoustic songs, so I’m comfortable. But sometimes I do miss the power of a band, I have to admit that.

What music has caught your ear?

I was watching The Waterboys earlier. It was great to see them again. And, funnily enough, watching them made me realize it would be quite nice to play with a band again. They played “Whole of the Moon” and “This is the Sea” and it was just beautiful to hear a band chugging away behind that stuff. It made me nostalgic. But then the Waterboys and me are from the same ear, really – all those Scotsmen with the floppy fringes running around in the 80s…

A big part of Glastonbury is its association with Greenpeace, Oxfam, CND… are any of these causes especially close to you?

I think I’m somewhere in the middle; I do get angry, like most people, when I see the sea being polluted, and all that. But there’s another part of me that lives right here in the now and I’m a realist, I’m a townie kid, I was brought up in an urban environment. So I’m not really nature boy or anything like that. But I do sympathise, and I always try to lend whatever bit of credibility I’ve got.

And the 64,000 question: When did you last have a shower?

[Laughs] I had a shower at 7 o’clock this morning. With hot water… [grins] I have to say, it was lovely.

Phil Jones

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