Frente!
Categories: Australian musical groups
Frente! was an Australian alternative pop/rock group, formed in 1991. The lineup featured singer Angie Hart, founder and guitarist Simon Austin, bassist Tim O'Connor (later replaced by Bill McDonald), and drummer Mark Picton (later replaced by Alastair Barden).
Frente! burst onto the Australian music charts with the singles "Ordinary Angels" and "Accidentally Kelly Street" in 1992. Notable as much for the bizarre filmclips ("Accidentally Kelly Street" consisted of the band with oversized novelty props of household items) as their light-hearted pop lyrics, Frente!'s debut album, Marvin the Album, didn't sell as well as the singles, gaining only a cult following. Their first EP Whirled is very difficult to find now.
"Ordinary Angels" finished the year as the 20th best selling song on the ARIA charts, with "Accidentally Kelly Street" finishing 29th. The band's only major overseas success was with an acoustic cover of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle".
Frente! released a second album, Shape, in 1996, but it didn't produce hit singles like their previous effort and hence sold poorly. Frente! broke up shortly after its release to pursue other projects.
Angie Hart then performed as part of pop duo of Splendid with her then husband, Jesse Tobias, whom she met August 1996 when Frente! was supporting Alanis Morissette in Canada. Angie and Jesse separated in late 2004.
In January 2005, the band reformed for some Australian east coast dates. The line-up for these shows was Angie Hart, Simon Austin, Bill McDonald and Pete Luscombe on drums.
Angie's current band is called Holidays On Ice.