Frank Holland | Interview | Ex member of England and The Pretty Things
Frank Holland is a British guitar player, ex member of England and The Pretty Things, who has a new music video called ‘Breathe’.
‘Breathe’ is an observation on the crisis of the Earth.
It’s really nice to have you. How are you coping with the current pandemic?
Frank Holland: It’s a pleasure to be with you. The pandemic, yes the burning question. When it happened it was a horrible realisation that the virus was all around the world. Fortunately it’s been ok for me here in the south of England. I went on with my days almost as normal, as we are fortunate to live in an area that has a lot of space, right on the coast. Some poor people who live in tower blocks in the cities and the like had a horrible time of it. I must say though, the restrictions of one walk a day to get food at first were a bit of a shock, but nothing to those who caught the virus and the thousands that died.
Climate crisis is beginning to affect our lives. You recently released a single called ‘Breathe’. It’s about the Climate Crisis and the Earth in growing chaos. Would you mind sharing a few words about it?
‘Breathe’ came about in gradual stages. I always start a piece with a sound that takes me somewhere. I need good sounds to inspire me. So I had the main chords on a piano coupled with orchestral East West samples first. Then as time went on I realized that I had something very special. I added guitar parts, Hammond and Flute later and then special effects. The words came to me as vignettes as soon as I knew instinctively that the piece was about the delicate state of our world and its uncertain future. World Without End, In God We Trust, Liberty. All these phrases were exactly my feelings about our precious existence on the Earth. The impending consequences of human activities damaging life on the planet are all around us. Though in my opinion one cannot lay the blame on anyone. Since the industrial revolution and way beyond, the human race has been doing what it thought was right in order to make people’s lives better and to keep on evolving. It is only recently that the consequences of pollution and climate change have become a major threat to our existence and are finally being acted on. The trouble is unfortunately, that now big, big companies control the way that things are produced and marketed. So Power, as always, is in charge. But hopefully there will be a way to change this and lead us onto a path of regeneration and healing. I can only thank Greta Thunberg for her relentless campaigning against the powers of the world. Amazing, just a school girl from Sweden, but how she addresses the leaders of the world, it’s incredible.
An Observation On The Crisis Of The Earth
Being more and more aware of the Planet in Crisis, I felt that I had to say something about it. But not just a passing nod. I wanted to make a bold statement, something arresting and different seeing that this is a desperate situation in which we find the world. I guess that I always have the desire to create something different when I work, which I think you will discover when you listen and look at ‘Breathe’. I was a long time part of the Pretty Things band, who during their long history always endeavoured to reinvent their music, as with the album ‘S.F. Sorrow’, the first Rock Opera. I took on that way, to keep doing new things. This song reflects that desire in its originality. You can’t label it, it has its own life. The energy and inspiration came first from the keyboard sound of piano and orchestra and was added to daily with heavy guitar arpeggios and Hammond organ on the outro. The explosive sound was produced with crashing down on the keyboard with my fists and loads of reverb in an attempt to portray the severity of the “world in crisis”. It drifts from hard edge reality to drifting out in space and time, a journey into the unknown like this Earth is on. This was an important statement about the world and it came into focus the more I worked on it, adding finally the wailing guitar at the end and then the final breath, the ‘Breathe’ the love of life and to carry on living. Words and phrases came to me easily like, In God We Trust, World Without End etc. It all connected with the subject of the Earth In Trouble. My thoughts and visions connected with the Crisis of The Planet from the opening images of the old man looking at us accusingly for our raping of the earth and on to the torrents of water at the end, waters of freedom and joy. So a message of final hope. Every day I see on TV and hear on the radio reports that this is a massive growing problem. Even Maggie Thatcher, the then PM back in the 80s gave a speech on the impending crisis, but it wasn’t taken seriously enough and just her voice wasn’t enough to make a difference. And even way back to the 1960’s there were reports of significant changes to the world climate predicted. It was only when actual physical disasters started taking place and scientific evidence of global warming appeared that world leaders started to take notice. The more that I worked on ‘Breathe’, the more I realised it was a significant work and needed to be heard across the world. So at the end of the day I would like to get it to as many people as possible everywhere in the world. Some who have the power to make gradual changes. I know that they are starting to make it happen but there is a long way to go. This is my honest opinion and please do not think that I am preaching in any way, I am not that kind of person. I do hope that this work will be seen as a statement that comes from my heart because this is in the minds of all of us right now, and who see the Earth being damaged by the Human Race and threatening the future of life on the planet.
Are you planning to release an album in the near future?
I have no plans for that but I always say “never say never”. I will see what presents itself in the future. I have many musical activities that keep me occupied on a daily basis, and have more interest in learning rather than creating music at the moment. If, of course, another bolt of lightning strikes then I am ready.
How do you usually approach songwriting?
As I said before, I start with coming across a sound that interests me either on a keyboard or a guitar, and then a sequence of chords or notes will present themselves. Then words or phrases present themselves to me and I start to build. The other way is having a definite message that I want to put into music. I have a lot of very angry songs recorded that have never seen the light of day written at the height of the terrorist attacks a few years ago. And then there are many others in a different style that are waiting to be heard if I choose to put them out there, some even in the vein of Burt Bacharach. My styles of writing have gone through many changes I guess. But I think that ‘Breathe’ is one kind of music that will haunt me forever.
Let’s get back to the beginning of your career. What were some of your first musical involvements? (Pre-England)
I started in my early teens playing in bands that would go to the US army bases in Germany, of which there were quite few then, including Wiesbaden where I played a lot. Then I played in Soul bands. Backing people like Inez Foxx, not of course with Charlie Foxx, you know ‘Mockingbird’, one of their hits, and Rufus Thomas, ‘Do the Funky Chicken’. The title of one of his many hits. We toured the UK mainly. I am talking about playing guitar here. I learned my chops on these tours.
You formed England in the mid seventies. How did you meet other members of the band?
I should correct you, I didn’t form England, I joined after Jamie Moses the original guitarist left to pursue other things. So, to cut a long story short, I went along to a rehearsal and it all started there. Guitarist Jamie Moses and keyboardist Robert Webb had previously collaborated on an unreleased album.
What can you tell us about that?
Yes, Jamie and Robert Webb and the producer wrote a wonderful piece called ‘The Imperial Hotel’, which was what I learned for my audition music. Very demanding and a joy to play.
How did you get signed to Arista Records?
We were rehearsing in a theatre in the south of England and got involved with Andrew Bailey who was a top man at Arista Records. He would come and visit. He showed a keen interest in us and put us in line to sign to the label. Which we did.
‘Garden Shed’ is such a fantastic album. It was released at the time when punk and disco were gaining popularity and sadly your band didn’t receive enough of well deserved attention. What are some of the strongest memories from recording it?
We were very proud of it. And yes the timing was all wrong with the birth of Punk mainly, Disco was kind of there anyway. We first did a recording in that theatre in Kent with the Rolling Stones mobile hooked up outside. We wanted a live feel to the music so we thought it would be a good idea, but it didn’t work out because the sound quality wasn’t good enough. So we booked in at Air Studios in London to start with, which was much better and the facilities were just what we needed. I always remember playing the guitar solo on ‘Poisoned Youth’ through a Leslie rotary speaker on a Gibson Firebird guitar. When I came into the control room after the take the rest of the guys were blown away. That was a great moment. We were all living together in a Big House in the Country as you did then. One morning I went down to the river in the woods with Robert to record bird sounds and the sounds of nature, a stream and other things. That was on a Revox tape machine. Sounds that introduce ‘Three Piece Sweet’. A wonderful memory. The other thing that sticks out is Robert recording the intro to the album all on his own in one night. Completely done on MiniMoog. A fantastic achievement. The album has always been a pivotal moment in my music career and I look back on it with great fondness where I learnt a lot of things.
Is there a certain concept behind it?
There isn’t really a concept behind it now. The music emerged from the collaboration of all of us with certain pieces like ‘Poisoned Youth’ which was my idea to ‘Three Piece Suite’ which was Robert. We decided to have the songs portrayed with pictures/artwork of our own design to accompany it. The booklet has only been available recently thanks to Robert who has been steering the whole England ship single handedly for many years.
Is it true that you recorded enough material for a possible second album, but that never came to realization?
Yes, there is a lot of other material. It has been released now, also down to Robert’s tireless efforts. These include ‘Last of The Jubblies’, ‘The Imperial Hotel’, ‘Box of Circles’ (all Robert’s work), ‘Ridge Farm’ tapes and other odds and ends.
What happened after the band stopped?
Well I moved back home for a while. I wanted to learn more about playing Classical Piano, so I took up lessons with a wonderful teacher. I was and still am an avid listener to Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Liszt et cetera and the amazing piano playing of Martha Argerich. From Chopin, Debussy to Bach and on. I was very much ensconced in all this when I was contacted about getting the England band back together. Without Robert I should say. Which I was involved with for quite a few years. We made extensive recordings of newly written material but this never surfaced except for a Single released called ‘Victoriana’ and another song called ‘Kites’, which was written by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. The releases came to nothing unfortunately whilst the remainder of the work remains in storage collecting dust and probably by now it needs baking to harness the oxidising of the 2 inch reels of tape.
Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band? Which songs are you most proud of? Where and when was your most memorable gig?
There were many interesting and fulfilling moments. We never did that much live work. One of the strangest things we did was to trundle off to Cannes in the South of France before recording ‘Garden Shed’ to write material. We ended up with hardly any money living on the beach and stealing crates of whiskey to exchange for food. Living on the edge a bit, I think.
At the end of the eighties you joined the legendary Pretty Things. How did that come about and what are some of the most cherished memories?
Yes, the year was 1991. I was working in a studio in Wardour Street London. I was with a producer friend of mine and we bumped into Phil May in a restaurant. He said that he had some new ideas for songs and could come and try them out in the studio.
So from then it developed into an album, ‘Rage Before Beauty’, and eventually the original line up of Phil May, Dick Taylor, Jon Povey, Alan Skipper and Wally Waller and myself was assembled. And from there I spent 30 years with the band. The last 12 of them we had a younger drummer Jack Greenwood and bass player George Woosey who were great. Skip, Wally and Jon quit because they ran out of touring steam.
Would you like to comment on your guitar technique? Give us some insights on developing your guitar technique.
I don’t see myself as having a guitar technique, although over the years I’ve done my fair share of practicing. My abilities come from the desire to create music with great sounds. I am not just a guitarist though, there are many sides to me of which one is the guitar and I love to play it.
Thank you. Last word is yours.
At the end of the day, one very important thing for me is to get ‘Breathe’ out into the world as much as I can. I really do believe in the work and its heartfelt message about the Crisis of the Earth.
I believe that it deserves to be heard by many people as it is a poignant statement of our troubled times. Thank you.
Klemen Breznikar
Headline photo: Lesley Aggar
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