BEST OF 2016: Ashley Keating of The Frank and Walters tells all about his favourites of 2016

Favourite album?
I loved the Jack O’Rourke album, Dreamcatcher, really loved it, so I suppose that would be my Irish album. But I also really liked the Kate Tempest album, Let Them Eat Chaos. Even though I’m late forties, I still count myself as an indie kid. I discovered Kate Tempest, and it all just kind of came together for her this year. That was a great record, it’s not something you’d really listen to at home, especially cause I’ve got two small kids, but I put it on in the car all the time since it came out. And the Jack O’Rourke album, same thing again I suppose. I don’t know, I’ve rather gotten bored of the whole singer-songwriter thing, just because it’s been done to death, it’s like, well, where’s it gonna go? But then I got to know Jack, Jack sang on our record, which came out in April. I got to know him, got to see him live, so at that point when his record came out, I just thought it was great. You’re always looking out for local acts anyway, and I don’t mean this in a bad way, but that record was so much better than I expected. I hope he takes that as a compliment. Because it’s so hard for an act, from the first single to the next EP to the album, that jump, sometimes it’s hard to maintain that element of surprise. But he did that with this one. It just blew me away, the quality of the songs, and the quality of performance. And the way the album ran, it was a real story, from start to finish. It brought you on a journey. I kind of think because we’ve changed the way we’ve been listening to music of late, you know, we tend to listen to one or two tracks by a band and then move on, with Spotify and iTunes and all that. Acts tend not to make albums anymore, cause they’re not under pressure to make albums. They just put out a collection of tracks. But with Jack’s album, I felt like it could have been an album released in the seventies or the early eighties, even the sixties. It was a crafted journey from start to finish, which was brilliant. So the two of them, for me, would be the albums of the year.

Jack O'Rourke, "Dreamcatcher"

Kate Tempest, "Don't Fall In"

Favourite single of the year?
To be honest, I think there've been some very good pop stuff this year. Sometimes you just have to hand it to them. That Rihanna one she did with Drake from this year, "Work." She's obviously a pop artist, and with pop artists, one of two things happen to them, they either become extremely credible and artistic, in a way, that's what Madonna did. Or they just kind of fall off the pop list, and it just all goes into cheese. But I think Rihanna's on her way to doing what Madonna did. So that one was good, oh but, the David Bowie track, "Lazarus," as well. I mean, that one, that's so good on so many levels that it's kind of scary. Even talking about it, I'm becoming emotional. It was like preparing for your own death, like he was saying goodbye to us. I haven't even listened to the whole album yet. It's so hard to bring myself to do it. It's just so raw, and it's strange, cause I didn't know the man, and even traditionally I wouldn't have been such a huge Bowie fan. But, that track was such a punch in the heart, it was scary. So I have to gear myself up for listening to the whole thing. And then I suppose if we want to talk about more alternative tracks, the Angel Olsen track, "Shut Up Kiss Me." The whole album is great, but that track was a real standout for me. Am I allowed three? (laughs)

Rihanna, "Work"

David Bowie, "Lazarus"

Angel Olsen, "Shut Up Kiss Me"

Favourite gig you went to? One you played?
For one I went to, it's strange, cause this wouldn't be the kind of music that I would listen to generally, but King Kong Company at Electric Picnic. Sometimes, just, the planets align, and that kind of thing happened that night. I caught a bit of their set before at festivals, but I hadn't seen the whole thing yet. And we came offstage, on another stage, and I was determined to see them. So I just came off, changed, legged it over, and just got into the tent for the first note, and it was brilliant. It really reminded me of the late 80s, early 90s, when the whole dance music thing just seemed very fresh and alive. For me, it kind of ran out of steam too early back then, I was getting into it in '88, '89, but then it got a bit stale for me. But that freshness that was there in the late 80s early 90s was there in their set. It was just pure feel-good, just loads of people on the same wavelength.
One that we played would probably be our album launch at the Cork Opera House, last April. It was lovely, cause we usually end up doing our last shows of the tour in Cork, but this time we did the first show. I must say, we did Whelans as well in that tour, and it was great. We hadn't played there in a few years, and you forget what a great venue it is. The audience is great, you know, everyone knows that true music fans go to Whelans.

King Kong Company, "Donkey Jaw"

Favourite tv show?
For tv shows, this year I really liked Westworld. I’m a big fan of the movie, it’s great, even though it’s a bit different. I mean, the movie was done in 1973, so this one’s much more high-tech obviously, there’s a bit more to it, I really enjoyed it. And I love Peaky Blinders, the third season of that was on BBC and it was great as always.

Westworld season 1 trailer

Peaky Blinders, season 3 trailer

Favourite movie?
When it comes to movies, I really only ever go to see kids’ movies these days, and I must say, lately they’re brilliant, they’re absolutely amazing. In the last four of five years, I don’t think I’ve seen a bad kids’ movie. My kids are 11 and 8, and all the movies they like have been great. We went to see the Fantastic Beasts movie, I thought it was brilliant. I mean, I’m not of the Harry Potter generation, (laughs) but I’ve read all the books when they came out. It was my first time seeing that guy, Eddie Redmayne, he’s an amazing actor, he’s brilliant. He won the Oscar last year as well, for the Stephen Hawking biopic, but I haven’t seen that one of his yet. I’ve a load of things that I want to see over Christmas anyway. But as I said, going to the cinema for me these days, it’s purely kids’ movies, but that was the best one. Oh, and the new Jungle Book was really good too, though, that was one we saw this year as well. We see a lot of kids’ movies.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them trailer

Jungle Book trailer

Favourite book?
Recently I got the Springsteen book, Born to Run, and the Johnny Marr book, and I kind of started reading them together, but I kept mixing them up! So I've got the two of them at the moment, but I'm turning to the Springsteen book, and I must say, it goes chronologically, and it's very good, to read it all as it happened. And I like Springsteen, but honestly, other than the hits, I wouldn't know a lot of his stuff. I wouldn't be a huge fan. But the book, so far, is brilliant. I don't know a lot about him, I mean, I know he's from Jersey. (laughs)

What's ahead for you in 2017?
It's the 20th anniversary of our second record, so we're gonna do a few gigs around that. We're working on the next record as well, so that's something to look forward to. We're happy at the moment with our latest record, and we're kind of wrapping things up in the U.K and Ireland, but we're going out to Europe early next year, some gigs in France, Germany and Spain. We'll come back for an Irish and U.K tour later in the year after that.