In June 2001, The Frames and Mic Christopher traveled to Valasske Mezirici in the Czech Republic. Donal Scannell was along and he captured these performances around a late night campfire. Presented below with Donal’s original captions, as well as additional commentary from him about ‘Hattie Carroll’.
Feels Like I’m in Love
this was recorded very late night in the irglova’s backyard. the hospitality was amazing. day turned into night and beautiful homemade fruit alcohols were being passed around as well as the guitar. even though mic played loads of covers when himself and glen mucked about, this was one of the few he was playing in his own live set in 2001. an old disco classic given the mic twist.
Colm’s Song
an incredible thinker and musician. debut solo album ‘the hare’s corner’ around about now. tune could be called ‘an draolin’ but that spelling could also be sinful and wide off the mark. it was definitely june 2001 in valmez though.
Mighty Sword
for the birds, for the boys, for the bees, for the girls x
Rise
june 2001, that beautiful fire is still burning. bellies and ears are full and the wonderful local crew keep passig round their homemade fruit spirits called slebowitz (excuse the spelling).
The Healing Has Begun
mic covering van around that beautiful fire late into the night awash with fantastic czech hospitality.
Hattie Carroll
this is mic christopher covering bob dylan’s ‘the lonesome death of hattie carroll’. when i uploaded this originally onto youtube it wouldn’t save any info apart from ‘hattie carroll’ no matter how many times i tried and tired. eventually i gave up taking it as a sign from mic/the machine to leave well enough alone. it’s happened before with edits from mic. you want to do something one way but the machine just won’t let you and eventually you give up. mic was such a powerful force that he’s not to be disagreed with regardless of the circumstances. once again thanks so much jens and cristel uhl without them so many irish people would not have made it to the czech republic and slovakia. it’s amazing what they made happen. all these bands coming to this tiny town, valmez, each year to play a festival. thanks so much to the irglova family too. so kind and generous with their time and hospitality. it’s crazy to think that all those years later the swell season came into being and an oscar was the result!