Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

Jon Fratelli will release his new single ‘Baby We’re Refugees’ on the Island label on July 11th. Taken from his forthcoming new album “Psycho Jukebox”, it rocks, rolls and rumbles and builds to a big singalong chorus: “Carry me home, carry me home, won’t somebody chase this pain from my door!” . Prepare to hear it ringing out across the land! Says Jon: “’Refugees’ was the last song I wrote for the album and we recorded it at the eleventh hour, but it’s one of my favourites.” Jon Fratelli’s debut solo album is called Psycho Jukebox and like any jukebox worth its salt it’s chock full of the kind of solid gold easy action that makes you want to throw the windows wide to annoy the neighbours. It was recorded at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles with producer Tony Hoffer (Beck , Air, Depeche Mode), who first worked with Jon in 2006 on The Fratellis’ debut album, Costello Music, which featured ‘Chelsea Dagger’, ‘Henrietta’ and ‘Flathead’, and established Jon as a writer of crunching, dyna...

Jon Fratelli will release his first proper solo single ‘Santo Domingo’ on the Island label on April 11th. Taken from his forthcoming new album “Psycho Jukebox”, it is at once strangely familiar, lyrically obtuse and so catchy it’ll make your head swim. It follows the free download of ‘Rhythm Doesn’t Make You A Dancer’ which is available now from http://www.jonfratelli.co.uk/   Jon Fratelli’s debut solo album is called Psycho Jukebox and like any jukebox worth its salt it’s chock full of the kind of solid gold easy action that makes you want to throw the windows wide to annoy the neighbours. Psycho Jukebox is brimful of melody, pop-psychedelia, classic ’60s-tinged pop, and characters whose lives are lived in a twilight world of ambition and failure, triumph and loss. Fans of The Fratellis will not be disappointed! Says Jon: “ The chorus of ‘Santo Domingo’ is something I’ve had in my back pocket for a while now. It’s that instant thing – how quickly can you grab someone’s attention?!...

Jon Fratelli, who has just finished recording his as yet untitled debut solo album in LA with producer Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air, Depeche Mode, The Fratellis!), is set to mark the album’s completion by giving away a new song, ‘Rhythm Doesn’t Make You A Dancer’, on his new website ( http://www.jonfratelli.co.uk/ ) and playing a special show in Edinburgh at the HMV Picturehouse on Feb 12th as part of the HMV Next Big Thing Festival. The show, at which Jon will play alongside much-tipped newcomers Morning Parade, marks something of a new beginning for one of Scotland’s most prolific and talented songwriters. Jon’s band will feature former bandmates from his previous bands The Fratellis (with the one and only Mince Fratelli returning to the drum stool!) and Codeine Velvet Club. Jon Fratelli first came to fame as frontman of The Fratellis, a trio of unruly Glaswegians whose 2006 debut album ‘Costello Music’, featuring the monster hits ‘Chelsea Dagger’, ‘Henrietta’ and ‘Creepin Up The Backstai...