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Publication: Salt Lake City Weekly
Date: July 20, 2006
Title: Joan Who? -- Salt Lake City rockers Meg & Dia: On the Warped Tour with that Jett lady.
Author: Randy Howard
Original URL: http://www.slweekly.com/article.cfm/joanwho
Poet laureate C.J. Snare, of the late 20th century hair-metal bards Firehouse, wrote, “Oh, you’re the overnight sensation/ You can be a star/ No matter who you are.” Here in the early 21st century, those words ring true for the Frampton sisters, who comprise one-half of four contained in a band called Meg & Dia.
Phoning from Los Angeles, 21-year-old guitarist-songwriter Meg tells of a band swept away—the accidental rockists are one month into the Vans Warped Tour. “It’s loud everywhere,” she shouts into the phone.
Her concern is for our phone connection, but there is a degree of awe in Frampton’s voice. She’s not just on the Warped Tour; she also has a deal with semi-reputable Massachusetts label Doghouse Records (M&D’s angsty indie-pop debut Something Real will be released Aug. 8). Not bad for a band that wasn’t supposed to happen.
The girls were born and raised in St. George and have played together since middle school. When they’d worked up to playing gigs in Las Vegas, Meg had second thoughts about a musician’s life. “I decided that being a band, playing music, when you’re young is kind of a big decision. I didn’t know if that’s what I wanted to do. So I took the easier path and decided to go to school at the University of Utah.”
While going to the U, Meg became active in the local music scene, started writing songs and initially sang them—but by her own admission, her sister has the pipes. She called Dia (now 18) in Las Vegas and convinced her to come to Salt Lake City. “I found this awesome band, and I’ve written some songs, and I think that we should start playing,” Meg told her sister.
Dia moved north; the sisters worked on their songs and found drummer Nick Price when he fixed their car. “We made him buy a CD,” says Meg. “We’ve worked too hard to give things away for free.”
They didn’t actually play live until right before they had a record deal. In their other bands, the sisters had showcased for major labels and been flown to California to meet with “a bunch of quote-unquote important people.” Ostensibly, this includes guitarist Kenji Chan, whom they met in California.
Chan was about all they found at the time. “I definitely don’t think that [anything] should have [happened for us],” says Meg, “because we were very inexperienced.” But eventually, experienced or not, it did.
“I think it’s all about connections,” says Meg. “We went down to St. George to play a show, and that’s where we met our manager.” Limbeck’s manager hooked the girls up with a showcase before Doghouse Records and a few other indies.
“We played an awful show,” Meg says. “We didn’t really know how to play together, and our music wasn’t really even formed yet. But the thing that was awful about it was I had a pedal malfunction on the last song, and Dia goes off my rhythm to stay on-tune. So pretty much she sang the whole last part of it off-tune, then kinda stopped singing altogether.”
Doghouse still was keen to sign them. And here they are on the Warped Tour, headlined this year by one of the most notable female rock & roll artists ever: Joan Jett.
“Um, actually, when I was outside of my bus one time, she was riding her bike, and she said ‘hi’ to me. But I’m not really good about, like, musical history,” Meg admits. “So honestly—I really hate to say this—but I hadn’t heard about her before this tour. I still don’t know who she is. But I have a feeling, like, she’s a big deal.” |
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