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The official site of guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Roddy Frame. 

Roddy Frame

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Autumn Tour Dates Announced

April 17, 2018 bronwyn jones.

Roddy will be playing five solo acoustic shows—his only in the UK in 2018—this autumn. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, the 18th of April, at 9 a.m. 

Town Hall, Birmingham : Thursday, 25th October

Sage Gateshead, Gateshead : Tuesday, 30th October

City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds : Thursday, 1st November

Cadogan Hall, London : Friday, 2nd November 

The Stables, Milton Keynes : Sunday, 4th November

Roddy Returns for Summer Nights at The Bandstand

January 30, 2018 bronwyn jones.

Roddy will play a solo acoustic show on Saturday, the 11th of August as part of the Summer Nights festival at the bandstand in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow.

Get Tickets

Roddy Adds Another Night at Cadogan

August 12, 2015 roddy frame.

Roddy is pleased to announce another solo acoustic show at Cadogan Hall in London on Tuesday, the 15th of December. So if you didn't get tickets before the first night sold out, you have another chance to see him live this Christmastime. 

Get tickets >

See Roddy in London This Christmas

July 31, 2015 roddy frame.

Photo by Sebastian Lewsley

Roddy returns to Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square on Thursday, 10th December, for a solo acoustic show that has become something of a Christmas tradition.

Get tickets >  

See Roddy at Magners Summer Nights Glasgow

March 25, 2015 bronwyn jones.

Roddy will play a solo acoustic show on Friday, the 7th of August as part of the Magners Summer Nights festival at the bandstand in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow.

Tickets are on sale now.

Roddy's European Tour Continues

February 20, 2015 bronwyn jones.

Roddy fell ill and regretfully had to cancel his shows in Milan and Vienna. But he is recovering and plans to play the rest of his solo acoustic tour as scheduled. He offers sincere apologies to anyone who missed him in Italy and Austria. Thank you all!

See Roddy on His 2015 European Tour

December 08, 2014 roddy frame.

Roddy's solo acoustic European tour has been rescheduled for the following venues and dates:

Intxaurrondo, San Sebastian: Friday, February 13th • Get tickets >

Moby Dick, Madrid: Saturday, February 14th • Get tickets >  

Salumeria Della Musica, Milan: Wednesday, February 18th • Get tickets >

Theater Akzent, Vienna: Thursday, February 19th • Get tickets >

Point Ephémère, Paris: Saturday, February 21st • Get tickets >

Passionkirche, Berlin: Monday, February 23rd • Get tickets >

Kulturkirche, Hamburg: Tuesday, February 24th • Get tickets >

Ampere, Munich: Wednesday, February 25th • Get tickets >

Cactus Club, Brugge: Friday, February 27th • Get tickets >

Bitterzoet, Amsterdam: Saturday, February 28th • Get tickets >

Luxor, Cologne: Sunday, March 1st • Get tickets >  

See Roddy and His Band in December

November 01, 2014 bronwyn jones.

Roddy and his band are travelling the UK in December, and if you haven't already snapped up tickets for these shows, there are still some available:  

Music Hall, Aberdeen: Monday, December 1st •  Get tickets >

Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow: Tuesday, December 2nd •  Get tickets >

The Lowry, Manchester: Wednesday, December 3rd •  Get tickets >

The Barbican Centre, London: Thursday, December 4th:  Get tickets > 

Town Hall, Birmingham: Sunday, December 7th •  Get tickets >

For those of you on the continent, worry not: Rescheduled solo dates will be announced soon. 

European Tour Dates Postponed

September 30, 2014 bronwyn jones.

Roddy regrets to announce that his forthcoming European tour has been postponed until early 2015, as a member of his touring party is unwell. Rescheduled dates will be announced soon, and all original tickets will be honoured. Check in with the appropriate venue or watch this space for updates.

UK tour dates in December are unaffected. See you then!

See Roddy in Europe This Autumn

August 17, 2014 bronwyn jones.

Roddy will be playing solo acoustic shows in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Italy, and Spain this October. Here is the full list of dates: 

Kulturkirche, Hamburg: Saturday, October 4th •  Get tickets >

Passionkirche, Berlin: Sunday, October 5th •  Get tickets >

Stadtgarten, Cologne: Monday, October 6th •  Get tickets >

Point Éphémère, Paris: Wednesday, October 8th •  Get tickets >

Bitterzoet, Amsterdam: Thursday, October 9th •  Get tickets >

Cactus Club, Brugge: Friday, October 10th •  Get tickets >

Ampere, Munich: Sunday, October 12th •  Get tickets >

Theater Akzent, Vienna: Monday, October 13th •  Get tickets >

La Salumeria Della Musica, Milan: October 15th • Tickets available soon

Intxaurrondo, San Sebastian: Friday, October 17th • Tickets available soon

Sala Charada, Madrid: Saturday, October 18th •  Get tickets >

Music Hall, Barcelona: Sunday, October 19th •  Get tickets >

Roddy Frame

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Roddy Frame is my all time favourite songwriter. I think his talent is vastly underrated although he has been critically acclaimed for most of his long career and his current album in my view is one of his finest to date.

It's Frame's sensitivity, humour and bookish wordsmith oeuvre that makes me cherish his talent - songs as lovelorn as 'How Men Are', 'Somewhere in My Heart' and Oblivious still sound fresh to me even though they are from the eighties.

I have seen Roddy live many times and his sense of humour,banter and rapport with the audience bring an intimacy to any venue although highlights for me include his sets at Cadogan Hall and Bush Hall.

Roddy's guitar mastery is something to be seen in itself - I have mostly seen acoustic sets and he is a guitar great. If you know nothing about Roddy or Aztec Camera one of the several best of compilations available would be an investment. Like Neil Finn, Lloyd Cole and Ryan Adams, Roddy Frame is in a league of his own - a soft focus,soft centred ephemeral bubble that one can bathe in his sense of romance and take on the human condition. The rainbow of emotions Roddy can cover make him for me one of the most emotionally intelligent songwriters ever and musically either ballad or slight rockish edge show he can cover a wide spectrum of genres.

My favourite of his albums are 'LOVE' and 'High Land Hard Rain'. If you love his lyrics there is even a book available - sheer Scottish poetry Frame style.

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Having seen Roddy every 2 years in Glasgow for a good few years now it was SO good to see him again in Glasgow after a 3 year absence.

If anything he was even better than ever. His genius guitar playing combined with his great voice and quality songs were a total joy.

He is now the complete entertainer and his story telling and witty banter with the audience only enhances the joy of seeing a Roddy Frame live gig.

If you have never seen him live you MUST go. NOW.

Brilliant gig! Roddy has written so many beautiful songs and he created a friendly informal atmosphere in which he played them. His guitar playing was excellent and his voice is as good as ever! I rate him as one of Britains greatest singer songwriters and will be back to see him again next time he tours!

Always a pleasure....never a chore....after coming to see Mr F for over 35 years with my best friends from school....a joy as ever. A contradiction in terms but an intimate moment for all of US! Moments of genius Sxx

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Aztec Camera

Aztec camera: are you “oblivious”() somewhere in our hearts, there is a star that shines for them, aztec camera were a collaboration of twenty two different musicians who came and went across a fifteen year period but most recognisable for its front and main man, roddy frame (born in scotland in 1964). frame co-founded the group in 1980 aged just sixteen and after playing the clubs, released their first single “just like gold” the following year through an independent label postcard records, founded by singer edwin collins. the single, unsurprisingly, didn’t meet with public approval, neither did the follow up “mattress of wire” but what it did do was bring them to the attention of sire records, a subsidiary of warner brothers, who signed them up..

In November 1982, Aztec Camera released their first single proper “Pillar To Post” which again just missed the charts although it would be the early months of 1983 with a second single “Oblivious”, that would change. “Oblivious” was the precursor to the groups debut album “High Land, Hard Rain” released in April. The album would eventually peak at No.22 in the UK and even make a small dent in the US charts when it reached No.129. The album’s mild success would lead to a re-issue of “Oblivious” (which had made No.47 at the beginning of 1983), this time breaking the UK top twenty at the end of the year.

Frame and an ever changing line up would already be in the studio recording its follow up “knife”, released in the autumn of 1984. the album would feature the singles “all i need is everything” (no.36) and “still on fire” (no.83) and found a much more appreciative audience when it reached no.14 in the uk, gaining a silver certification and hitting the charts in the netherlands and sweden. it was less so in america where it could only get to no.175. the group would separate at the beginning of 1985 with frame retaining the name aztec camera and gaining a new recording contract with wea. after two years out of the spotlight and employing just a number of session musicians he returned in 1987 with a third album, “love”..

The album was preceded by the single “Deep And Wide And Tall”, which failed to reach the top 75 in October 1987. The album would be released the following month and at first did nothing. This all changed in 1988 with the second single “How Men Are” (UK No.25) and a third, “Somewhere In My Heart”, in the Spring of ’88. “Somewhere In My Heart” would go on to become the band’s signature and most recognised song, reaching No.3 on the UK singles chart as well as being a sizeable hit across Europe. The took “Love” back up the charts to eventually reach No.10 in the UK and win a Platinum certification for sales of over 300,000 copies. Strangely, it did the opposite Stateside, where it just managed to edge in at No.193 on the Billboard 200.

“Working In A Goldmine” was released that Summer making No.31 in the UK and that was followed by a re-release of “Deep And Wide And Tall” which this time reached No.55. After a well earned break, Frame was back in 1990 celebrating ten years of Aztec Camera with a new album “Stray” and the single “The Crying Scene” which stalled at No.70 in the UK. Far more successful was the album’s second single “Good Morning Britain”, which returned Frame to the UK top twenty and, along with “The Crying Scene”, gave him two straight hits on the US Alternative Songs chart. The album would make No.22 in the UK gaining a Silver certification, although it would not make an appearance on the US album chart, the first time so far that this would happen.

Frame released the albums “Dreamland” in 1993 (UK No.21) and “Frestonia” in 1995 (UK No.100) before ‘winding’ Aztec Camera up at the end of that year and going it solo under his own name. A “Best Of” was released in 1999 selling 60,000 copies in the UK. The previous year he had released his ‘debut’ solo album “The North Star” which reached No.51 in the UK. He released the albums “Surf” (2002) and “Western Skies” (2006) on another independent label formed by Edwin Collins, Redemption. He played at Ronnie Scott’s famous jazz club that year and released a “Live At” album shortly after. After playing live sets at Glastonbury in 2008 and a 30th anniversary tour of “High Land, Hard Rain” in 2013, he released his fourth studio album “Seven Dials” in 2014, which returned him to the UK album chart for the first time in sixteen years. He toured the album extensively across the UK and Europe into 2015.

Stay in touch with Roddy through his WEBSITE and celebrate the music of Aztec Camera at the fan FACEBOOK page

Take a look at all our other  where are they now  posts and don’t forget to follow the playlist, if you enjoy what you read on this site – feel free to donate and show your support…click to donate any amount you like, every little helps – and don’t forget to download the app , looking for the perfect gift for a music lover like you – check out  my first record  for a poptastic present.

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The Sound of Grown Up Scotland: An Interview With Roddy Frame Lucy O'Brien , June 9th, 2014 08:29

Following the 30th anniversary reissue of Aztec Camera’s debut High Land Hard Rain, frontman Roddy Frame releases his latest album on Edwyn Collins’ AED label. He talks to Lucy O’Brien about songwriting, Mark Knopfler’s guitar strings and Scottish independence

Portrait by Steve Gullick

Amid an industrious hub of workshops in West Hampstead is Edwyn Collins' West Heath Studios, where Roddy Frame recorded Seven Dials , his latest solo album. It's a move away from the rueful minimalism of 2002's Surf and the lilting, semi-acoustic Western Skies . Recorded with a full band, it returns to the lush, airy quality of early Aztec Camera. The studio set-up too, is reminiscent of the friendly, anarchic spirit of Postcard Records circa 1979, Alan Horne's Glasgow label that launched 'The Sound of Young Scotland' with bands like Collins' Orange Juice, the Paul Haig-fronted Josef K and Frame's Aztec Camera.

Collins' wife Grace re-ignited the spark 18 months ago by asking Frame if he would like to come and record at the studio. "I wasn't sure if it would work out because it is very much Edwyn's turf," says Frame. "I came in with the band, we recorded two tracks and it sounded great. I had a bunch of other songs so we carried on, a week here, a week there, and then decided to put it out on his AED label. They're are just like family, so there was none of that weird record company stuff."

At the start of the interview Collins pops in to say hello and exchange wry words about Postcard. "We hated Josef K and Josef K hated us," he grins. Frame is happy to be working in the same environment as his "old mucker", calling it "a sweet moment". He has been on a long, circuitous journey since those Glasgow days, via a stint on Rough Trade in the early '80s, then three glistening high pop albums on WEA, followed by rather serious debut The North Star on Andy Macdonald's Independiente in 1998 ("it didn't sit with what was happening at the time, Britpop or something"), to the solo material of the last ten years.

Frame has always been an open, candid interviewee. I remember speaking to him in 1987, as an NME journalist, when his WEA album Love came out and 'Somewhere In My Heart' was high in the charts. Despite tussles with major label politics, Frame still had that engaging style and musical enthusiasm. This upbeat quality resonates through his latest album, from the expansive West Coast harmonies of 'Postcard' to the personal melodrama and Neil Diamond-style country croon of 'From A Train'.

Roddy Frame: Neil Diamond? How interesting. Probably because I sing in a lower register these days. That's a compliment. My producer Seb [Lewsley] says the album reminds him of later records by people like Johnny Cash, where you have the man without the trappings. We're all projecting other stuff when we're younger, and when you're older a lot of that drops away. You get too tired to have any façade. I feel less grudging or resentful. Partly cos if someone insults you, two days later you've forgotten it. 'That guy who was horrible to you'. Was he? Oh, I forgot. I love that. Everyday's a fresh start!

Going back to the start, there seems to be resurgence of interest in that Glasgow Postcard sound.

RF: Yes, I'm meeting a lot of 16, 17 year olds who are digging those bands. Which is beautiful. It makes me feel good.

Bands like Orange Juice and Aztec Camera always had ambition. The Postcard slogan 'The Sound of Young Scotland' echoing Motown – why has there always been that connection with Scottish bands and American soul?

RF: I grew up in East Kilbride and Tamla Motown was what people listened to all the time. Barry White was huge. There was always a big country & western and soul thing, particularly in Glasgow.

What was it like growing up in East Kilbride?

RF: I liked it. Jesus And Mary Chain come from there, and (Rangers boss) Ally McCoist. East Kilbride was a new town, a bit like Basildon. Built for what was charmingly termed 'the Glasgow overspill'. My friend said, 'We're not Glaswegians, we're a social experiment.' It was all new and modern. Quite concrete. That's all right, concrete's not always bad. There were strips of grass and football pitches and a youth club. My parents didn't like it because they came from Glasgow and they missed the sense of community, the warmth of the tenements. But then my Dad would remind my Mum, 'Remember when you were pacing the block waiting for me to come home because there was a rat in the room.'

You were only 16 when you signed to Postcard. What did you remember from that era?

RF: It was brilliant. A real scene. I owe Alan Horne a huge debt. He imbued me with confidence and a healthy cynicism. I picked up some of his contrariness. When I was 13 I'd read NME from cover to cover. Alan was like my Andy Warhol and Julie Burchill rolled into one. He was very cynical, very stylish. Postcard was the perfect apprenticeship. So years later when a manager was on the phone saying, 'Where's the record? The record company want a new record, a new cover, a blurb…' I'd say, 'Fuck off.'

It was obviously a formative period, and you made strong friendships?

RF: Edwyn and I are still muckers after all these years. Edwyn's been on a hell of a journey. Why did we gel? I was 16 and he was 20. That was a huge gap. He was just ahead of me, doing it like an older brother. He made a record before me, he was on the front cover of NME before me. He was on the path in front of me… so obviously I was very determined to be seen as separate from that.

Orange Juice were quite sophisticated, they had that jangly American Modern Lovers thing. Josef K were more into the Stooges and the Velvets and Berlin-period Bowie. Then we came along last and were a bit of both. We were seen as a bit gauche because we were very working class. I was still learning. I wore my influences on my sleeve. If I heard something like Wes Montgomery that would be on the record. Or The Clash. I was finding my way on the guitar. That's why so many chords and lyrics are flowery and abstract. I wanted to write like Howard DeVoto.

Was London and Rough Trade a bit of a culture shock?

RF: I never bought the idea that indie labels were more honest or genuine. I wanted some success, some recognition. I knew High Land Hard Rain was a great record. I'd been slagging them off in some fanzine in Aberdeen and I remember someone from the record company taking me aside like some kind of headmaster. 'Here at Rough Trade we're not in the business of making stars', and I said, 'I noticed.' I was quite a mouthy young person. I think our ideas were slightly ahead of theirs, if I might be so bold. We were pushing. Rough Trade finally got their act in gear with The Smiths. Then they understood what Alan Horne had been banging on about. They didn't realise that it was OK to go on Top Of The Pops if you were clever. The two things weren't mutually exclusive.

After moving from there to WEA your next album Knife was produced by Mark Knopfler. What was it like working with him?

RF: It was tricky, because he is very much into his own thing. I was young and strident and there was a bit of a clash. But I learned so much from him about playing, and playing guitar. By that point I was sick to the back teeth of that indie jangly bollocks. I'd been to America. I had a serious Jack Daniels habit, and I wanted to make some proper records. At that point the indie thing was horrible. Everyone was getting their name out of Rymans. 30 year old men with bands called the Pencil Cases or the Pencil Sharpeners. All guys ten years older than me with Penguin Classics in their pockets calling themselves the fuckin' School Bags. See ya later, I said, I'm off to New York! I was ready to sit down and do some proper playing, and Mark Knopfler was brilliant for that. This sounds so muso, but he was the first musician I came across who really understood it was all about getting the right guitar with the right amp and using the right mic. Not screwing around with the EQ, just recording things as they should be.

It's not just about your technique or the way you play but paying attention to the sound.

RF: Yes. It's the opposite of, 'We'll fix it later.' I had my troubles with Mark. I was super into my ideas, I was a difficult wee guy. He was the same. But it was a good time for me. We got to use Eric Clapton's acoustic guitars on that album cos he lent us some. Paul and Linda McCartney were recording in the studio at the time and they were so nice to me. Linda in particular was lovely. When you get older those are the things you remember. You don't remember arguing with Mark Knopfler over a fucking guitar string.

It's interesting that despite your punk pedigree, your 1988 hit 'Somewhere in my Heart' is still one of the biggest songs on FM radio.

RF: As radio hits it's quite a punky radio hit! I love that song. I was trying to write a pop song. When it came to putting Love together I tried everything to keep it off the album. I went to America and wanted to make a Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis kinda record. I was listening to 'Sugar Free' by Juicy, Anita Baker and 'Tender Love' by the Force MDs. Green from Scritti Politti had just been to America and I wanted to marry that New York R&B electro thing with my kind of lyrics and style and that British thing. We had nine tracks plus 'Somewhere In My Heart'. We made that with the Johnson Crew up in Boston. I thought it's a brilliant song but it doesn't fit on the record. I was trying to write a new song but time was running out. Eventually we just had to stick it on the end.

I brought out three singles that didn't do much, then 'Somewhere In My Heart' shot up the charts. If it hadn't been for Billy Bragg with a charity single it would have been Number One. I always love that. It was my biggest hit but it was the runt of the litter. That's been the song that's survived. My little baby, the orphan that no one wanted!

How do you feel your approach to writing music has changed since you started out?

RF: When I was younger I loved all that ambiguity and mystery. Now I want to write like Flaubert. With some economy. And some style. And that is hard. The lyrics have to be right. I know when they're not right.

The lyrics on your new album are very spare in places. There's a real charge to lines like: 'Erase the trace of me/Till I'm just a piece of paper…Let me burn into a vapour/I've placed my faith in something I cannot believe in anymore.'

RF: I'm constantly losing faith and having to regenerate it. There used to be a Labour party and a Conservative party. A red corner and a blue corner. 1997 we were dancing in the streets – remember? Then, Iraq? What the fuck's goin' on now? I don't remember signing up for him!

What do you feel about Scottish independence?

RF: I'm all for radical positive change. But it seems a wee bit negative. You have to be better educated than me to get the economic ins and outs. When I was young the SNP were odd people from a culture I didn't understand. I thought it was from the Highlands or something to do with Robbie Burns or tartan. I grew up with T Rex or Starsky & Hutch, so that didn't appeal to me. But things have changed now and they're not so nationalistic. Personally, though, instinctively, I want to pull people together not break them apart.

And the Labour Party needs Scotland…

RF: That Tony Blair's got a lot to answer for. Him and his henchmen. It's like they took it, they took this thing our fathers were into and gutted it. Did a bit of rebranding. It's like Currys bought Woolworths and turned it into something else.

On a personal level, though, there seems to be a strong momentum with your new album and your musical direction.

RF: The High Land Hard Rain concerts went well. Campbell Owens (original Aztec Camera bassist) came to a show and loved it, was totally cool about the whole thing. Edwyn's still here in fine fettle and we're on good terms. I'm recording for his label. The best times in life are when you are cresting a wave. The worst have been when I'm sticking my oar in trying to make a wave, that's when things are difficult. I'm very grateful to Grace. I'm not the easiest person to work with, but luckily I know these people so well. I'm lucky there's a resurgence in vinyl, cos the record has a Side A and Side B. All songs are three and a half minutes long. It couldn't be more classic. And the time is right.

Roddy Frame's Seven Dials is out now on AED

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Roddy Frame

Former singer/songwriter with 80s acoustic indie/pop chart-toppers Aztec Camera now playing as a solo performer.

Official website roddyframe.com

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Past Events

Here are the most recent UK tour dates we had listed for Roddy Frame. Were you there?

• Nov 04 2018 Milton Keynes, The Stables Roddy Frame
• Nov 02 2018 London, Cadogan Hall Roddy Frame
• Nov 01 2018 Leeds, City Varieties Roddy Frame
• Oct 30 2018 Gateshead, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music Roddy Frame
• Oct 25 2018 Birmingham Town Hall Roddy Frame
• Aug 11 2018 Glasgow, Kelvingrove Park Roddy Frame, Emma Pollock
• Dec 10 2015 London, Cadogan Hall Roddy Frame
• Aug 07 2015 Glasgow, Kelvingrove Park Roddy Frame
• Dec 07 2014 Birmingham Town Hall Roddy Frame
• Dec 04 2014 London, Barbican Centre Roddy Frame

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Jan. 29 in Music History: Happy 60th birthday, Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera

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January 29, 2024

History Highlight:

Roddy Frame, singer and founder of the post-punk and new wave band Aztec Camera, is 60. Frame was born on Jan. 29, 1964, in Scotland. Aztec Camera formed in 1980, and Frame is the only consistent member throughout the band’s history. The group’s debut, High Land, Hard Rain, arrived in 1983. It featured the U.K. hits “Oblivious,” “Walk Out to Winter,” and “Pillar to Post.” Later triumphs included “Somewhere in My Heart” off 1988’s Love album, and 1990 singles “The Crying Scene” and “Good Morning Britain” feat. Mick Jones from Stray . Frame launched a solo career in 1995, and has released four albums under his own name.

1961 - Bob Dylan achieved his dream of meeting his idol Woody Guthrie when Guthrie was on weekend release from the hospital where he was being treated for Huntington's disease. Dylan told him, "I was a Woody Guthrie jukebox." Guthrie gave Dylan a card which said: "I ain't dead yet."

1967 - Jimi Hendrix and The Who appeared at The Saville Theater, London, England. 20 year-old future Queen guitarist Brian May was in the audience.

1969 - Fleetwood Mac reached No. 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart for the only time with the instrumental, "Albatross".

1977 - Rose Royce's "Car Wash" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the group's debut single and one of the most notable successes of the 1970s disco era, and was the theme of the 1976 movie "Car Wash". The song was also covered in 2004 by Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott, as a part of the "Shark Tale" soundtrack.

1977 - Aerosmith reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for the second time as "Walk This Way" peaked at number ten.

1983 - Australian group Men At Work went No. 1 on the British and American singles and album charts simultaneously with "Down Under" and Business As Usual .

1992 - American blues singer/guitarist/bassist Willie Dixon died of heart failure. He wrote the classic songs "You Shook Me", "I Can't Quit You Baby", "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "Little Red Rooster". Dixon was a major influence on The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.

1998 - Paul Simon's musical "The Capeman" opened in New York.

2006 - Arctic Monkeys went No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with their debut album Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not .

2014 - More than 100,000 people signed a petition to deport Canadian citizen Justin Bieber out of America. The campaign followed his arrest earlier this month for drunk driving and driving without a valid license.

2015 - Taylor Swift was seeking to trademark phrases including "this sick beat" and "we never go out of style" in the United States. Other phrases she wanted to protect included "nice to meet you, where you been" and "party like it's 1989".

2019 - Singer, songwriter James Ingram died after a long battle with brain cancer age 66. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and charted eight Top 40 hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. He had two No. 1 singles, the first, a duet with fellow R&B artist Patti Austin, 1982's "Baby, Come to Me" and "I Don't Have the Heart", which became his second No. 1 in 1990. He also recorded the song "Somewhere Out There" with Linda Ronstadt for the animated film An American Tail.

French singer and guitarist Sacha Distel who had the 1970 single 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head' was born today in 1933.

James Jamerson, bassist with The Funk Brothers, was born today in 1936.

Vernon “Geater” Davis, soul singer and songwriter, was born today in 1946.

David Byron of Uriah Heep was born on this day in 1947.

Tommy Ramone (born Thomas Erdelyi), the drummer from the Ramones, was born today in 1949. He was active in the band for the first four years of the band's existence (1974 to 1978), and was the last surviving original member of the Ramones. He played on and co-produced their first three albums, Ramones, Leave Home , Rocket to Russia , and the live album It's Alive . His final show as a Ramones drummer was at the Johnny Blitz benefit event at CBGB's in New York in 1978. He died on July 11, 2014, at age 65.

Charlie “Uncle Charlie” Wilson, solo singer and former lead vocalist of the Gap Band, is 71.

Louie Perez of Los Lobos is 71.

Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream is 71.

Amii Stewart, disco singer with the No. 1 hit “ Knock on Wood ,” is 68.

Jonny Lang is 43.

Adam Lambert, lead singer of Queen, is 42.

Rag'n'Bone Man (born Rory Charles Graham) is 39.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music , Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock , Song Facts and Wikipedia .

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Aztec Camera - Roddy Frame on 1983’s “High Land, Hard Rain”

A shootout on mainstream.

When it appeared in the spring of 1983, Aztec Camera ‘s debut album, High Land, Hard Rain , was an acoustic-driven breath of fresh air. Led by teenaged singer/songwriter/guitarist Roddy Frame, the Scottish band offered a batch of memorable songs that deserved a broader audience than they reached at the time, from the infectious “Oblivious” and “Pillar to Post” to the introspective “The Bugle Sounds Again.” Frame went on to release another five Aztec Camera albums before recording under his own name.

With a new two-disc deluxe anniversary edition, High Land, Hard Rain is giving a gem of its period a reintroduction. As Frame relates below, the album was sadly not earmarked as a priority for its handlers at the time, even if its songs revealed that the man who wrote and sang them was entering the music scene at the top of his game.

Hays Davis ( Under the Radar ): I had tickets to see Elvis Costello within a few months of the release of High Land, Hard Rain . When it was announced that Aztec Camera was the opener, I bought a copy so I could get to know the songs before seeing you. Thanks to heavy traffic, unfortunately I ended up missing your entire set, though High Land, Hard Rain ended up as one of my favorite albums of that year.

Roddy Frame: That Elvis Costello tour was really good for us in that sense, where people who maybe weren’t aware of us, since we toured with him, they went out and got the album.

When did you first begin songwriting? The first song I ever wrote was with a punk band I had when I was 13 years old and it was a very archetypal punk protest song. My songwriting really took off when I heard bands like Magazine with Howard Devoto, who was kind of a punk, but he could use proper lyrics and proper music. Until bands like that had come along, with the punk thing it was kind of frowned upon to be too musical or too lyrical.

How did Aztec Camera first come together?

I had a kind of punky band called Neutral Blue, and I wanted to leave, and I took the drummer with me. I wanted us to be more like Joy Division or Magazine or something like that. And so, in 1979, I stole the drummer from Neutral Blue, whose name is David Mulholland, and then I left school at the end of that year and we formed Aztec Camera and started rehearsing. I suppose the inspiration was things like Joy Division and Magazine, but also the Liverpool bands like Echo and the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. And that’s how we started. We wanted an equally ridiculous name, and that’s why we chose Aztec Camera.

At the time the group formed, how old were you?

I was 15. I formed it just before I left school, and I left school — I was 16 in January of 1980, so I formed the band just a couple of months before that. And I already had songs like “We Could Send Letters” and “Lost Outside the Tunnel.”

How much was Aztec Camera a group activity in the early days? Was it already basically you writing songs and presenting them to the guys, and then everybody getting them together?

That’s the way it was. Then as now, I was a little control freak. I wanted the drums to be like this and the bass to be like this. It was very much my thing. To be fair, the lineup I think of as the classic, as the proper first lineup, was myself, [bassist] Campbell Owens, and [drummer] Dave Ruffy. We made a couple of albums like that and we did the bulk of the touring with that lineup. I think you have to give those guys their due. I think it’s a bit false to say that it was an ever-changing lineup. I think for those few years we did the bulk of the work that people remember Aztec Camera for.

How did you come to Rough Trade’s attention?

That’s an interesting question. I was talking about this the other night. I still have the rejection letter from Rough Trade. We started out on Postcard Records, which was a small Glasgow independent label, and we were distributed by Rough Trade. And when I decided I wanted to leave Postcard to make an album, Geoff Travis from Rough Trade got in touch. For some reason, after the Postcard thing, they wanted to put our records out, and that’s when we moved to London and went to Rough Trade. Rough Trade was kind of the big indie label at the time, so it was a good place for us to go.

How early were some of those songs written? I think I wrote “We Could Send Letters” in 1979, when I was about 15 and was putting together songs for Aztec Camera. “Lost Outside the Tunnel” we used to play in my original band, Neutral Blue, which was half kind of indie, half kind of punk. We’d do “Lost Outside the Tunnel,” but we would do songs by Alternative TV and The Clash as well. So those songs were the earliest ones that made it onto High Land, Hard Rain .

Where was the band formed?

It was formed in a town called East Kilbride [in Scotland]. It’s just about nine miles south of Glasgow. We formed there and made our first couple of singles there and then finally moved to London about two years later. At the time the album came out, did you feel there were other bands moving in a similar direction to Aztec Camera, or did you feel like what you guys were doing was a bit outside of what was going on?

Remember, I was coming from a punk background, so when we started doing gigs in 1980, I think people thought it was odd enough that there was a 16-year-old kid coming on the stage, but with a 12-string acoustic guitar, that was really odd. Either you had post-punk bands who were doing a Joy Division thing, which was very austere, or else you had bands who were doing a kind of Simple Minds-synthesizer-The Human League kind of thing. Those were the two ideas of modernity.

I don’t think it was a reaction to what was going on. I guess we made those singles in 1980, 1981, so by the time 1983 came along and the album came out, I think a lot of bands had been influenced by us and by Postcard Records in general, bands like Everything But the Girl and The Smiths. I did hear echoes of our music in them, definitely.

As you were recording the album, were there any difficult choices to be made, such as the producers’ suggestions for how the songs might be presented? Was there anything that went against what you wanted to do?

I know that, in retrospect, some people think that maybe the album is emblematic of its time, and that it has things like Syndrums or drum sounds that were very ‘80s, but that’s what was happening at the time. And in fact, I never met a more sympathetic producer than John Brand. He really was great for me. I was young and he was very sympathetic, very kind, and he helped me make the kind of record I wanted. And I really wanted input from him, too, because I didn’t know how to make records. I was so young, and in those days it was still quite a mysterious experience for me to enter a recording studio, and he made it easy. I think those guys [Brand and Bernie Clarke] did a great job.

Some touches like the occasional Syndrums were of the period, but listening to the album these days, there’s nothing that I think that seems particularly or distractingly dated. That’s really nice of you to say so. Some things like the Syndrums, sure, I think that is of its time, but we wanted to try something new. One thing about me is, I’ve always been up for experimenting. I don’t see the point in going to work with someone if you don’t want their ideas.

What mattered in the long run was the strength of the songs, of course. How close were some of the songs on this edition’s bonus disc to making the final cut of the original albums?

Actually, I was thinking about that too. It’s funny because now I listen to something like “The Spirit Shows” or some of those earlier songs that didn’t make it and I think they’re just as good as the songs that did. But I think when you’re young and you’re in the middle of it you have very strong feelings. If you feel like you have a particular songwriting feel in mind and another song doesn’t fit that, then it’s very black and white. In retrospect, I think a lot of those early songs were very good, and I think they were just as good as the songs that went on the album, in the end. That certainly speaks to your strengths at the time.

Well, I think it’s being young, and all you want to do is write and wear a guitar, and that’s your priority. As you get older you have other priorities creep in, like where you’re going to sleep and what you’re going to eat. [ Laughs ] When you’re 18 you don’t care.

What do you remember about how the album was received when it first came out?

I remember that the reviews were very good in the British music papers, and they can be very unkind, so that was heartening. I remember thinking at the time that that didn’t really translate into…I mean, we could play 30 dates driving around Britain and we’d still sometimes play to half-empty halls, so it was still a kind of underground thing. It wasn’t a mainstream thing. And I remember going to the States with Elvis and feeling that even though the people who came along specifically to see us, they really loved it, [but] I still felt that, as a whole, it didn’t really penetrate outside of that thing of hip kids. It wasn’t really going to break into the mainstream. I remember feeling that we were a very low priority at Warner Bros., you know. [ Laughs ] I didn’t think we were going to be competing with Van Halen.

And that’s too bad. It wasn’t hard at the time for me to imagine “Oblivious” getting some significant airplay if they’d tried.

Oh, man. The whole story behind that is too boring to tell. I was going out with a girl who was working for Warner Bros. and I was there the day that the records were going out, and I heard the conference call about promotion and sales, and I heard that “Oblivious” wasn’t on the list. And because I wasn’t supposed to be listening to the call I wasn’t able to say anything. [ Laughs ] I remember it very well.

I’d love to know what was on that list to be pushed. I can imagine there being a few artists who probably aren’t seeing a deluxe anniversary edition of their album being released this year. I think it was Talking Heads and Van Halen. Apart from that I don’t remember. I wish I could remember.

It makes me think of the documentary on the band X [ X: The Unheard Music ]. Label reps that they interviewed were excited about pushing the rock band Point Blank at the time X was on their roster. And now, in 2014, Point Blank is lost to the winds while I still listen to X.

Well, there you go, man. That’s funny, because when I started Aztec Camera, most of the bands I was listening to weren’t mainstream bands, so it was never an ambition to be mainstream. I think it’s just, when you start to take part in the music business, then you have that hunger for recognition, don’t you? But, to be honest, most of my favorite bands at the times weren’t well known at all.

Whether or not a band is shooting for the mainstream, for all they put into an album, naturally they want people to hear it and to be able to make a living with it. As you began work on (the 1984 follow-up album) Knife , was there anything from your experience with High Land, Hard Rain that you wanted to be different with that next album, whether with the songwriting or style of music or anything else? I think, really, what it was, and I think some people found this hard to understand, the choice of Mark Knopfler as producer. And we used AIR Studios, like George Martin’s studios in London. It was a real step in a different direction. It was definitely a step towards a different kind of music.

I’d been in that indie ghetto since I was 16, and by the time I was 19-20, I wanted to move on. I wanted to try something different, and I wanted to try a different way of making records, and I wanted the records to sound better.

www.roddyframe.com

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I too became aware of Aztec Camera through their support of Elvis Costello - been a fan of AC and Roddy ever since.  The reissue of High Land is awesome.  Hopefully Domini will continue to reissue the subsequent records with loads of bonus goodies.

I thought this was a very informative interview even though the formatting errors make it difficult to figure out where the questions are being asked.  I would love to see more on the years afterwards.  A gentle reminder of what came before…before the new album is released.

Excellent interview. Good questions encourage good answers!

Great interview….El Framo’s passion for that time comes through in the chat and lots of new facts too…really enjoyed reading this

From what I recall, despite the lack of promotion, Oblivious was a sizeable hit in the UK, going just about high enough in the charts to not put us ‘hip kids’ off. HLHR has always been one of my favourite albums, but once Roddy exited the ‘indie ghetto’ he lost me. Real shame for me that Roddy peaked at 19.

Apr 05, 2023 Issue #71 - Weyes Blood and Black Belt Eagle Scout

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Roddy Frame – review

S ongs written in days of innocence do not always survive re-examination via the harsh prism of experience. It takes a certain courage and conviction for an artist verging on 50 years old to return to an album they released when they were 19.

Roddy Frame was an absurdly prodigious young talent. High Land, Hard Rain , his 1983 debut album as the songwriter and singer of Aztec Camera, sounded as if it had distilled the very essence of youth. It was an exquisitely precocious record, a wry and wide-eyed teenage diary set to restive, skittish, sublimely impetuous jangle-pop.

Frame is playing a handful of dates to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the album's release, but before the night's main event we get a preliminary set of career highlights and assorted rarities. Trim and suave in a dapper grey suit, he leads a stripped-down band through songs that he wrote at just 15, such as Green Jacket Grey and Aztec Camera's giddy, plangent 1981 debut single on Postcard Records, Just Like Gold .

Yet the evening really comes alive when Frame returns after an interval to play High Land, Hard Rain in full ("I'll play it in order, like on your original cassette"). The bar is set absurdly high by the album's opening track, the 1983 single Oblivious , a song whose ardent surge of adolescent hormones and oceanic feeling is akin to mainlining pure adrenaline.

When Frame first appeared, his advanced musicianship and dextrous wordplay led to comparisons with Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello , but his lithe, life-affirming pop was never remotely opaque or cynical. He was always a young head on young shoulders. Tonight, he patently relishes revisiting minor-chord miracles such as The Boy Wonders and Walk Out to Winter , even dancing a bashful jig of delight as applause rains down on him between songs.

The chiming arpeggios of We Could Send Letters and Pillar to Post hint that Aztec Camera were a major influence on a contemporaneously emergent band, the Smiths , but Frame was never prone to their lyrical solipsism. It is hard to imagine Morrissey penning Down the Dip , a joyous rumination on the "love and beauty" that can be found at a last-orders drink.

The night is a delight because Frame treats his early material with love and respect rather than snickering at its occasional ingenuous gaucheness. "I loved that – it was amazing for me! What a trip!" he says as he exits. Youth was clearly never wasted on Roddy Frame.

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Roddy Frame Concert Setlists & Tour Dates

Roddy frame at stables theatre, wavendon, england.

• Small World
• Spanish Horses
• Black Lucia
• Bigger Brighter Better
• Reason for Living
• Killermont Street
• How Men Are
• We Could Send Letters
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Roddy Frame at Cadogan Hall, London, England

• The Bugle Sounds Again

Roddy Frame at City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds, England

Roddy frame at sage gateshead, gateshead, england, roddy frame at birmingham town hall, birmingham, england.

• Surf / I Can Hear Music

Roddy Frame at Summer Nights at The Bandstand 2018

• The Birth of the True
• Walk Out to Winter
• Somewhere in My Heart
• Backwards and Forwards
• The Boy Wonders
• Down the Dip
• Forty Days of Rain
• High Class Music
• Crossing Newbury Street

Roddy Frame at Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, Scotland

• The Sea Is Wide

Roddy Frame at Bitterzoet, Amsterdam, Netherlands

• Song for a Friend

Roddy Frame

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Most played songs

• Down the Dip ( 35 )
• Bigger Brighter Better ( 34 )
• Oblivious ( 33 )
• We Could Send Letters ( 30 )
• The Birth of the True ( 29 )

More Roddy Frame statistics

Roddy Frame & Edwyn Collins

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Artists covered

Aztec Camera The Beach Boys Bob Dylan Jesse Rae The Velvet Underground

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Gigs seen live by

120 people have seen Roddy Frame live.

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Roddy Frame in Concert

Friday 2 November 2018, 18:00

At 17, Roddy Frame and his band Aztec Camera debuted on Glasgow’s legendary Postcard Records, releasing two singles for the label before moving on to Rough Trade where the unique acoustic sound of their debut album  High Land Hard Rain  was responsible for inspiring a whole generation of indie bands.

Aztec Camera’s career involved an array of intriguing collaborations – from recordings with legendary R&B producer Tommy Lipuma and Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto to a duet with The Clash’s Mick Jones on Good Morning Britain.

Along the the way, they released singles like  Oblivious, Walk Out To Winter, How Men Are  and  Somewhere In My Heart  which would all become radio favourites.

In 2002 Frame released the solo album  Surf , a landmark album of new compositions recorded in single takes, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. The record was a massive critical success; most reviews agreeing on  Surf  being a seminal piece of work by a voice still underrated by the general public.

It was followed by a string of dates at Soho’s legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott’s and the acclaimed follow-up album  Western Skies  in 2006.

Following a long hiatus, broken only by a warmly received tour of the UK in 2011, and by a sell-out string of prestigious shows in the UK to celebrate the 30th anniversary of  High Land Hard Rain , Roddy was inspired to return to recording.

Seven Dials , the result, received a rapturous reception and Roddy celebrated its release with a UK and European tour.

Since then Roddy has been writing and preparing to go back on the road later this year.

Venue doors open 6pm.

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Roddy Frame

Amplifiers 4

Effects pedals 1, keyboards and synthesizers 1, studio equipment 3, studio monitors 1.

Gretsch G6196T Country Club

Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitars

The pearl-encrusted D-45 joins a small stable of cool guitars - including the famous '80s trademark all-gold Gibson ES-295 - but this time around Frame found freedom by limiting his options to just three: the Martin, a late-'50s/early-'60s bamboo and copper-coloured Gretsch Country Club and a sto...

Submitted almost 5 years ago

Martin D-45 Acoustic

Steel-string Acoustic Guitars

"I bought a couple of nice guitars," explains Roddy, "and I don't want to waste them! My right-hand style was always this terrible hotchpotch of plectrum and fingers, but now I've got the ultimate acoustic - a Martin D-45 - and I'm learning fingerpicking properly. I never realised Chet Atkins stu...

Gibson ES-295

Fender Twin Reverb Blackface

Combo Guitar Amplifiers

Roddy communicates in chat that he uses Roland JC120 and also Fender Twin Reverb amps.

Corey: Roddy, greetings from No. California......what kind of guitars and amps did you use on the recording of HLHR......and what is your favorite Bob Dylan song?

RODDY: Masano acousti...

Submitted almost 4 years ago

Gibson ES-175 Electric Guitar

** Corey: * Roddy, greetings from No. California......what kind of guitars and amps did you use on the recording of HLHR......and what is your favorite Bob Dylan song?

* RODDY: * Masano acoustics, Gibson 175, Fender Twin, Roland jc 120, and I love "Every Grain Of Sa...

Ovation Balladeer

Aztec Camera's Slow Build from Musician, November 1990 by Scott Isler

On Stray's title cut he played an Ovation stereo six-string,

His Ovation Guitars are also mentioned here:

Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

Gibson ES-355 Electric Guitar

On Stray's title cut he played an Ovation stereo six-string, on the ballad "Over My Head" his red Gibson 355 - the very same one, trivia fans, Rick Derringer apparently used on the McCoys' "Hang on Sloopy." For amplific...

Fender 1954 Telecaster Electric Guitar

Solid Body Electric Guitars

Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus

Early in his career, our young hero can be found using a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus for his live rig in the video about as well as the one below in this text box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdqIsO6aiv...

Synthesizers

At home he has a Yamaha DX7 and Akai S-900;

Akai S900 MIDI Digital Sampler

Audio Samplers

At home he has a Yamaha DX7 and Akai S-900

Yamaha NS10 Studio Monitor

Active & Passive Monitors

Home recording equipment includes a Tascam 388 eight-track and a pair of Yamaha NS-10 speakers

TASCAM 388 Recording Console

Home recording equipment includes a Tascam 388 eight-track and a pair of Yamaha NS-10 speakers.

Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar

Roddy Frame tries to have it both ways: Most of the time he uses a 1959 cream- colored Stratocaster. Since his favorite guitar shape is a Telecaster, though, he also has a modified Schecter Tele with t...

Schecter PT

Since his favorite guitar shape is a Telecaster, though, he also has a modified Schecter Tele with three Seymour Duncan Strat pickups for an out-of-phase sound "but it's not quite the same."

Roland D-550

Sound Modules

At home he has a Yamaha DX7 and Akai S-900; on this tour he has access to a D-550 module and Korg piano, all of which he plays badly. He's also been singing ideas into a Sony microcassette recorder.

Gibson Melody Maker Electric Guitar

ONE TWO: Do you prefer semis for your electric sounds?

FRAME: Yeah, I always play them, I really like them — although I do have an old Gibson Melody Maker. I had a Gibson 175 before the Scotty Moore, but I smashed it up when we were in Europe. There were lots of hippies at the gig.

Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Guitar Strings (10-46)

In recording Stray he used it with a Power Soak; "I couldn't hear the track if I was doing an overdub." Onstage he uses a reissue Vox AC30 and, "for the heavier stuff," a MESA/Boogie combo. He thinks he's probably using...

Tom Scholz's Power Soak

Guitar Amplifier Heads

In recording Stray he used it with a Power Soak; "I couldn't hear the track if I was doing an overdub."

Gibson Chet Atkins CE

Classical & Nylon-String Guitars

AZTEC CAMERA UK pop group with Roddy Frame about 1985. Photo Stephen Woodd - Image ID: BX61XW

Photo shows Roddy using a Gibson Chet Atkins CE Classical electric

Boss DF-2 Super Feedbacker & Distortion

Distortion Effects Pedals

Roddy Frame tries to have it both ways: Most of the time he uses a 1959 cream- colored Stratocaster. Since his favorite guitar shape is a Telecaster, though, he also has a modified Schecter Tele with three Seymour Duncan Strat pickups for an out-of-phase sound "but it's not quite the same."

Submitted about 2 years ago

This is a community-built gear list for Roddy Frame.

• Find relevant music gear like microphones, guitar rig, amplifier setup, effects pedalboard, software, keyboards, studio equipment, headphones, DAW & software, plugins, and other instruments and add it to Roddy Frame .
• The best places to look for gear usage are typically on the artist's social media , YouTube, live performance images , and interviews.
• To receive email updates when Roddy Frame is seen with new gear follow the artist .

Gear Guides

11 Best Distortion Pedals for Guitar: Metal, Classic Rock, and Beyond

Michael Pierce & Giulio Chiarenza

Updated February 2024

8 Best Looper Pedals for Guitar: 2024 Gear Guide

13 Best Reverb Pedals for Guitar

13 Best Fuzz Pedals for Guitar

Giulio Chiarenza & Mason Hoberg

Roddy Frame's contributors

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