Angie Hart — at the time of this interview — has just started turning her attention to her January Gasworks Arts Park show in earnest.
That means she’s been taking the notes, knocking a setlist into shape and pencilling in a first rehearsal with Kate Lucas (Coda Chroma), who is accompanying her for the performance. Best known as the lead vocalist of alternative pop rock band Frente!, Hart says her solo work fills a different role in her life.
“I haven’t been playing a lot solo — I’ve been doing a lot of Frente! stuff at the moment, so I’m doubly keen to be doing this,” she says. 2023 marked the 30th anniversary of Frente!’s debut, Marvin the Album, and a national tour for the band ensued.
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
“The Frente! stuff we write about personal subject matter, but it’s more universal and we kind of have each other to lean on a little bit, as far as being accountable for the material,” she laughs. “I find solo shows quite confronting, in a good way. It’s a different connection and there’s a different part of me that has to be present for that.”
Marvin the Album peaked at #5 on the ARIA charts, with singles Accidently Kelly Street (sic) and Ordinary Angels making a big mark. In 1992, Frente! sold more albums in Australia than acts including REM, INXS, Motley Crue and even lifelong favourite Bobby Brown.
Frente!’s whirlwind days also included a plum mid-’90s tour supporting Alanis Morissette, a foothold on the US college rock festival circuit (playing alongside acts like Pavement and Dinosaur Jr on the back of their viral cover of New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle), and appearances on TV shows including Home and Away and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Since Frente! initially disbanded in the ’90s, Hart has been making records and performing with numerous notable acts including Splendid, Holidays on Ice, Four Hours Sleep, and Ladychoir — along with her solo records. Now, 16 years after the release of her last solo album, she also has a new one recorded and ready to release in 2025.
“My solo stuff has been sitting in the wings for a while,” says Hart. “I had a child, I had a nervous breakdown, we lost a friend. And I write a little bit about infertility too, so there are a number of different griefs (and some joys that happened during that time as well) that I hadn’t faced up to.
“I wanted to write a different album. I wanted to write the one that was past all those things, so I didn’t have to write a record that squarely looked at all of those things that had given me so much trouble over the last decade, but it seemed like I couldn’t write anything else until I had made this record.”
The record’s gestation has been a cathartic experience too, Hart adds. “I could have made it and stuck it on a shelf, but I think it’s worth sharing,” she says. “Because it’s taken so long to put out, it’s been the process of imagining it out there.
“I found that quite confronting to begin with because I didn’t really want that to be the subject matter of my album, but when it happened it felt very true, and that in itself was good, but the idea of how I would put it out there and talk about this stuff…. It was still very raw. And in the process of it taking so long to come out, I’m done with those feelings — I hope. So when I put the record out, and talk about it, it’s not going to eat me alive.”
Fans who want to hear what Hart’s new album is all about will get a sneak preview when she debuts some new songs at Gasworks Arts Park. She’ll be performing Frente! favourites and solo tracks too.
“When they told me about the gig, they told me it’s one of those twilight gigs,” says Hart. “I’m really keen on that. I love the outdoor thing, and I love it being all ages, and having that broader reach, so I’m very excited to do it.”
Angie Hart performs for Gasworks Arts Park’s Concerts in the Park Series on January 25. Tickets, which are selling quickly, are available here.
