Just stumbled upon this article. Clay is already becoming a little rock star, haha. It's from March, but I don't remember reading it. Nice work, Fran!
(Sorry if this has already been posted)
Travis' Fran Healy helps Aussie duo Angus and Julia Stone on new track
Mar 28 2008 Exclusive by Rick Fulton
FRAN Healy's son may still be in nappies but he's already on his way to becoming a rock star.
Two year old Clay features on a song by Aussie brother and sister duo Angus and Julia Stone.
He appeared on the track after they went round to the Travis star's house to use his 18th century grand piano.
Julia, 23, said: "Clay is so, so cute.
"He's not on the album but he's at the beginning of a tune we also recorded at Fran's called Old Friend. He's on it laughing at the beginning."
Thanks to Fran's help, Angus and Julia, from Sydney, are now on the musical radar.
Their debut album A Book Like This, on which Fran produced five of the tracks, is out on Monday and they play four Scottish dates next month.
The songs Fran produced, The Beast, Wasted, Hollywood, Here We Go Again and A Book Like This, have achart friendly colour to them, expanding the sound of the duo from last year's Heart Full of Wine EP.
Fran first produced them on the title track of the EP after they were brought together through both being on the Independiente label.
However, Julia admits they didn't really know how famous Fran was.
She admitted: "We knew he was in aband but I guess we didn't really know him or how famous he was.
"When we'd go out and have dinner or go to the pub, people would stop him and say hello and we realised how many people were affected by his songs."
Fran became a champion of the band and Julia also provided backing vocals for the Travis track Battleships.
She and younger brother Angus, 21, then went round to his house to use Fran's piano on The Beast.
But the singer was so bowled over by the tune that he asked them to keep playing more songs while he recorded them.
He then added bass, backing harmonies and brought in Sally Herbert to arrange strings on five tracks that would make up the bulk of the debut album. The rest of the tunes were produced and recorded in Angus and Julia's mum's house back in Australia.
Julia said: "We weren't planning to actually put anything on record but Fran just kept asking us to play something else and would record it."
While Fran is meant to be one of the nicest men in rock, what we want to know is did he turn into Stalin as a producer?
Sadly it seems no Jekyll and Hyde tambourine throwing incidents occurred.
Julia said: "He and his family were really lovely and made us feel at home.
"He made a lovely cup of tea. And his wife, Nora, who is from Germany, made beautiful Rooibos tea.
"A lot of the food in the house comes from Germany." While Fran was an exemplary host, he was also ahelpful producer.
Julia added: "My brother and I are very into just jamming songs and recording them as they are and not layering them.
"But Fran went over the songs and added bass parts himself and put string parts on the songs like the title track A Book Like This.
"We are very happy with what he did."
While their dad was in a covers band, the duo didn't start playing together until only two years ago. As teenagers, Angus and Julia weren't close and it was only when she had gone travelling after leaving school that they forged a bond when he visited her in Bolivia.
Angus brought with him a guitar and taught her a couple of songs.
She added: "After he'd gone, I carried on learning and, when I got back to Australia, we began to hang out.
"He'd already written some songs himself and I got him to start playing at open mic nights.
"At first, I was just doing backing vocals but I had written some songs when I'd been away and, eventually, asked if I could play one of them.
"We then would play half his songs and half my songs in a set."
At first they'd sell their songs on separate CDs but realised it would be better to have them on one CD.
This turned into debut six-track EP Chocolates & Cigarettes, which features the fantastic Private Lawns.
They then relocated to London and soon Fran became a fan.
While Julia's song are usually a bit more upbeat with a voice that has a hint of Kate Nash, Angus will be loved by those who like singer/ songwriters such as Damien Rice.
Currently in Australia, they are back in the UK for a big tour which stops off at Glasgow's Oran Mor on April 19, Aberdeen's Cafe Drummonds on April 20, Inverness Hootanannys on April 21 and Edinburgh's Cabaret Voltaire on April 23.
So being the big sister, what's it like being on tour with Angus?
Julia laughed: "I do boss him about but I'm getting better."
Thanks for posting this Nikki! I hadn't read it either. That's awesome...and I don't know why I didn't even put it together that Julia was the background vocal on Battleships. I really like these guys.
