14th Dec 09

Confessions of a headbanger.....went to see The Quo last nite at the SECC and could not believe how they rock and ROLL.....Down Down, Whatever You Want and Rocking All Over The World were pure boogietastic, telecasters aglow, ripping through white Marshall stax, with 12bar riffology that Quo do better than anybody, it's in their souls.....i was impressed.  Have never seen so many air guitarists in me life and of course i joined in! 

Got a quick rough mix of Fallen Angels done as it was played today on Sunny Govan Radio twice (thanx Fran x), it's a treat to be played on the airwaves.....will let ya know when it is up on the site for yer ears.....c ya

8th Dec 09

Right folks it is really close to being finished in the studio....Allan Scobie n myself got stuck in to my Fallen Angels song (you should hear the Keef meets Springsteen vibes on it) last Sunday and I fired in a geetar solo that gives much pleasure to the ears.....to hell with the sax solo idea.....so we will mix it in a week or so after possible backing vox are added....then we will finish off Progress of Man (beautiful sounds and lotsa happening tasty geetar)...then it will be mastering and packaging an EP up and getting it out and about etc......so enjoy xmas and do yer thang glitter gals and gallus guys.....be merry

Thu 19th Nov

Thursday, day before my dear mother's 76th birthday and she can still dance and bop the night away at her local club every week, bless her......and my blind dad who leads her into all sorts of bumps into other elderly dancers on the floor, it is fab to watch, what lightness of foot, what art.......

So, re my music, inspiring and creative work has been done, we are nearly finished in the studio with Fallen Angels (thanks Sarah), decided to have a sax solo on it sometime next week.....the track has a good energy and some Keef meets Frankie Boy geetar on it (see that Tele of mine through a Boogie, OMG what a buzz, man)...Allan as usual plays a blinder on the Hammond/Piano and we had young-but- immensely-talented/handsome Fraser from Skerryvore on drumz....Craig will do bass asap....i love to play with all sorts of musicians, as long as they are digging for gold

Allan is excited about Progress of Man, he tells me it is my top song.....we shall see what the people think....so that's the news the now y'all...dance on x

Fri 13th!!! Nov 09

It is supposed to be a dodgy black day......well if you are superstitious watch out they are out to get you........anyway, last night I appeared on Sunny Govan Radio which was a blast....talked a bit then played 2 of my new songs live with an acoustic geetar  - I did 'Line In The Sand' (very Lou Reed/Velvets) and 'Help Me Make It Through The Rain' (a sensitive/spititual thangy of a tune)....I am loving it......so thanx a million to Fran of Spirit Aid charity for getting me the slot and for the encouragement, bless ya babe.

So here we go.......next stop Shea Stadium x

11th Nov 09,

Well I am excited/thrilled about going into the studio next week to get to grips with my Fallen Angels track, some walking talking real life ANGEL is sponsoring the venture, I am blessed with such fantastic friends and supporters.....I am gonna do my utmost to create the magic

There is also a sense that we have done something powerful in the studio with a relatively new song I wrote, Progress of Man......I tried to call on all of the best and most emotive guitar noises and expressions I could muster as the track is a sort of heart-felt lament.....proof will be in the pudding, let the music do the talking and all of that  

In the meantime my covers bands are rocking away too.....re this, it is amazing to watch how universally loved the track Human is by The Killers: when my band covers it it always gets folk dancing and  it fills peoples' souls with joy and fun.......what an achievement for those boys to have written such a classic

I must write a classic, I must write a classic, I must write a classic.....xxx  speak soon

 6th Nov 09,

Long time since last entry, summer came and went in a flash, the autumn leaves have fallen to the ground and incase you're interested much has been happening in my career as a musician/writer.......1st thing to say is (apart from, yawn, the fact I now own a groovy Marshall Haze Combo), I have accessed a forum for showcasing/selling my songs at last and have recorded enough of them to get them up on this site prob within a week, I promise ya......

People are being so positive about my track Freedom Park, see what you think(buy it to hear all of it!!!), I will also be putting up songs that I recorded back in '08, hope you find them pleasing........it is all a journey and the current tunes I am doing are taking me in a different direction under the watchful eyes n ears of my producer Allan Scobie at Blue Production Studios( we are working on my songs Progress of Man and Fallen Angels just now)......cant wait to get out there and play them all live, in any format, with or without a band -  in fact I would be glad to play live in such hallowed places as your very own living room or local community hall etc, so if you want to contact me on mail@frankohare.com  we can do a 'deal'.....man

Be good, keep smiling and make sure you let me know you are there by posting  your email address on the home page.....not long to xmas, eh!?

6th Jun 09,

Hi y'all.  Hope you have enjoyed the hot sun in yer eyes and Mr Blue Sky over the last week or so?  Keep up the suncream applications though......

I've beeen rocking away and promise you that i will have a track from my album up on this website and on myspace in next few weeks as we have done a mix of 'Freedom Park'.  I know you will love it!   All is well in rock n roll world, am happy to be writing songs - two new ones have been born:  'One O'Clock Gang' and 'Line In The Sand'.  I am currently working away with my co-pilot/producer Allan Scobie on the melodic track 'Progress of Man' in his Blue Production studios.......I've been told it is an epic and moving lament with, strangely for a lament, an upbeat pulse laced with undertows of menace......yeah right!

Anyway good people, keep rocking and I am sure we will meet along the way if possible - there is a lot to do.......album to finish, promotional gigs, more songs to write, lotsa musicians to collaborate with........

2nd May 09

Wow, what a reception at Sammy's last nite - we Carnaby Street boys can sure whip up a storm (cheers to the  madly up for it dancing girlz n boyz in front of us too) - I jus got a wee bitty passionate with that guitar and sang like there was no tomorrow as ever.....long may such vibes last when gigs are done.  I am blessed with fab players on stage with me, I feel incredibly held by them, these guys are so present and THERE, and I do take it for granted too much - cheers Georgie boy and Desmond.  I have 'immortalised' them two dudes on my 'Summer Nights at the Old Mill'  track.......i can't wait to let you hear this self-penned original song  - we are laying down boogie piano on it next time i hit the studio, then backing vox - I am so loving the rock n roll guitar on the track, 'Keef  meets Chuck Berry' stuff (can't help it man I just dig that shit)....i bow before those 2 oldies of rock........speak soon - get down and get with it y'all 

12th April '09 - Easter Day

It's been a while since i diaried - sorry, bin busy rocking, writing and recording, living/parenting/gardening! etc - have almost finished 'polishing' my 2 self-penned trax which will be up on the website, they are shining nice n bright and should get mixed and mastered asap  -  i am sooooo loving this musical mystery journey and am writing like a demon - got some fab new tunes: "Ballet School Piano" and "Inspired", to name but 2 of em.

What a great feeling to wake up on Easter day,  the morning after a great...........gig!  Played my local with my covers band Carnaby Street and we went down a storm with loadsa people enjoying the gig.  Special for me was to meet folk I went to school with - they were all very complimentary about the band and my guitar playing......i guess we are at our best just now.....nice to get feedback - i feel i am on a high with my instrument/music and love playing to audiences just now, it is one of life's great joys, not to be taken for granted and there is so much to learn, so much.......did you know that if you write a song in the key of G, E flat is a great sister chord!!!??????  Yawn....ok i will shut up

So much has bin goin on musically, it seems there is a song in every good experience I am having - eg I sat beside my son's ballet school piano player as he hammered out tunes for the dancers (my son is a student dancer) and the power of the piano moved me - so eventually this song comes out of me and the lyrics just had to be about this powerful happening man!!!!!

Anyway, the weather has bin fab today and i am going to have to go now to see to my naughty wee 10yr old son before he demolishes any more Easter eggz - happy chocolate fest y'all

28th Jan '09

Been in the Blue Productions studio today (with Allan "I can play like Bruce Hornsby" Scobie)

Blue Productions!!!  Sounds like I've been making a porn movie....but honest it's a recording studio close to Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow.  Another entry must go in because the singing session on the 'Freedom Park' track went so well.  Influences such as Lou Reed, Bill Nelson and Lloyd Cole were in the sound room somewhere.  We are really getting the feel of the song so right and I hope listeners 'get it' when the track goes up on the site for public scrutiny - please buy it you cats.  It's going to be a great year for making music I can tell.

I'm digging Allan's keyboard touches, his stories! and the man's production ears.   Allan would give Dr Seuss' creation Horton the Elephant - whose got astounding and highly-tuned listening abilities - a run for his money.  Go see the Horton Hears A Who movie by the way, it's my wee boy's favourite film.  To get back to the subject, I am chuffed that the playing is emotive and real on Freedom - so I just want to have it recorded here when we nailed the song. 

25th Jan 09

It's Rabbie Burns' Birthday; still rocking at 250 yrs old!

Rabbie has been rocking the Universe much longer than Mick Jagger and Keef have - his body of work is devoured and studied the world over still - people just love the vibes that come off his poetry and they want to celebrate that.  People who read Burns, and I am one of them, are astounded by his abilities to describe the human condition (see Tam O'Shanter) and the earth that we walk upon (see Winter, a Dirge).

Well, if any of my music lives as long as Burns' poems have (his 1st and best book came out in 1786) that would be some achievement.  Hats off to the man as he wrote like a demon and came up with cracking poetry such as The Cottar's Saturday Night, To a Mountain Daisy and The Holy Fair - he is one of my hero's and an inspiration.  He loved his art and pushed his imagination and writing skills to the max - he even wrote tunes to old Scottish songs/lyrics that he discovered.....it was some output given that he worked a farm and was an excise man too........not forgetting the drinking/womanising bit!

From To a Louse:  "O wad some Power the gift to gie us - To see oursels as others see us!"

Rab, your the man

 23rd Jan 09 (the wee hours)Jimi Jimi...

Today I had breakfast and a long chat with Jimi (my best mate and star frontman of our band The Manhattan Country Boys) on the same spot, by the old canal front, where we decided 3years ago to write together, even tho J had never played an instrument or sang in a band before......Now we have an album for sale and enough tunes for a 2nd one, plus we rocked King Tuts in Glasgow to a very happy audience in '08.  We have proven the power of belief, as on the face of it people would have said we stood no chance of creating 'magic' or any music worthy of notice.  Visit manhattancountryboys.co.uk to hear our stuff.  The key ingredients which went into our writing partnership for the 1st Country Boys album were: FRIENDSHIP, PERSISTANCE, DREAMING, TRIAL AND ERROR, LAUGHS, INNOCENCE and SIMILAR HISTORY OF BEING FANS OF CERTAIN MUSIC.

Jimi sometimes provides me with lyrics which I turn into tunes for my solo projects; he is a Glasgow version of Bernie Taupin, but above all he's someone who will always be there - which in this everchanging credit-crunchy world is a welcome thing indeed.  Let's hear it for the boy

20th Jan 09

Well, here I am making my first diary entry on a day that has been so uplifting in the recording studio and I am pleased to be arriving home to see that Mr Obama has been sworn in today.......I hope he changes the face of the world for the good, best wishes to the man

Today, in Glasgow's West End, I recorded my 'Freedom Park' track with Allan Scobie, engineer/muso and all round cool dude.  I put the success of the session down to the Stetson-made hat I had on, which my wee brother bought for me last week when he popped over from where he lives in Kiev, bless 'im.  Allan tuned in to the song and got a New York groove-thang going on, as I knew he would.  I want to thank my best mate Jimi Dunn for writing most of the lyrics to 'Freedom Park', love the imagery Jimi, dig your soul too man.  My 1st album will be out this year and I am having to be patient as most of it is recorded but we are having to re-do the drums/keyboards as they weren't recorded via midi stuff......damn!!!!!

I hope the genuine rock n roll heart that goes into my playing and songs is felt by listeners - I simply love to rock n roll.......in the meantime please be patient while I put the finishing touches to the album, but do start letting me know who you are and what you think of the sample trax.

Keep smiling y'all.......