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Publication: TheSpectrum.com
Date: February 2, 2007
Title: Local stars shine: Meg and Dia celebrate success with CD release, tour and MTV exposure
Author: Brian Passey
Original URL: http://cityguide.thespectrum.com/fe/Clubs/20070202-2365243.asp
ST. GEORGE -- Meg and Dia Frampton are living the dream.
The two sisters -- originally from St. George -- released a full-length album last year under the name Meg & Dia , made a video for the first single and are now touring the country with their band while the video gets airtime on MTV.
"Everything is going really well with MTV," Meg says from Houston during a telephone interview. "It's a really, really weird thing to watch music videos growing up and then have the announcer say your name."
In mid-January, Meg & Dia's video for "Monster," off of their Doghouse Records album, "Something Real," got a "first look" on MTV's "TRL" show. It has also been featured on the "Discover and Download" program, usually airing in the wee hours of the morning.
Since their life has been a constant tour lately, the sisters don't get to watch much TV themselves but fans keep them up to date on TV appearances.
Although sisters now share an apartment in Salt Lake City, they spent most of their lives in the St. George area, living in Bloomington, Bloomington Hills, Dixie Downs and Santa Clara. They even organized their first band, Jade Harbor, here in Dixie.
"I remember the first interview we ever had was in The Spectrum," Meg says. "I was so proud we hung it on our wall."
Meg graduated from Dixie High School and attended both Dixie State College and Southern Utah University before transferring to the University of Utah. Dia attended Dixie Middle School but graduated from high school in Las Vegas.
They formed a band called Coward's Courage in Las Vegas, which Dia continued after Meg returned to college. Meg also played in Nothing For Now while attending SUU.
While at SUU Meg occasionally jammed with Skott Chandler, a current SUU student and member of the band Digital Black. He says it's nice to see Meg & Dia finding a national audience.
"I think it's great because it shows that you don't have to be from Los Angeles or New York to become a famous musician," he says. "Ultimately we're all after the same thing -- anyone who plays in a band."
Chandler hopes their success will help bring more notice to other bands from Utah.
The rise of Meg & Dia
The Frampton sisters played together for a time as an acoustic duo, but Meg decided music wasn't working out and she decided to transfer to the University of Utah for school. A minor car accident forced her to get a new bumper and introduced her to a mechanic named Nick Price, who also happened to be a drummer.
"I called Dia back home and said I found the greatest drummer ever," Meg says. "I don't really know what Dia and I would do without him."
So Dia graduated early from high school and moved to Salt Lake City to begin making music again with her sister.
The band's first record, "Our Home is Gone," has completely sold out, though there weren't a whole lot of copies to sell. Meg doesn't even have one of the 1,000 copies.
MySpace, however, is largely responsible for the band's success.
"We put all this time and care into (our MySpace page) and we got 60 plays in one day and were jumping up and down," Meg reflects. "Now we get 30,000 plays a day."
MySpace became influential in this change after the company made Meg & Dia the official MySpace band for last year's Warped Tour. A few months later "Something Real" came out and the band is now performing the same melodic and catchy rock songs that comprise the album at a different venue every night.
Meg says she recently woke up and realized she was basically living in a van.
"We spend a lot of time in our van -- probably more time than we spend in venues or our hotels," she says. "It's a really incredible feeling of freedom and letting the winds take you where they will and just being excited for the future."
The future of Meg & Dia
In addition to MTV, Meg & Dia are seeing some airplay on college radio stations and Internet radio.
Meg says she would love to do a show in Southern Utah but she is no longer in charge of booking venues. While there are no current plans to play here, the band will play in Lehi on Feb. 8, Las Vegas on March 11 and Salt Lake City on March 20.
Also in March, Meg & Dia likely will begin work on the video for their next single, "Roses." And in April they are going out on tour with Anberlin, Bayside and Jonezetta. Meg is also excited for some future tours that are in the works.
"We are going to be getting on some crazy, awesome tours but I can't tell you who they are," she says.
Even though touring takes much of their time right now, Meg hopes to record another album sometime soon, possibly in January.
"We're really excited to make a new record because we're much more musically accomplished," she says, laughing. "We'll throw in another chord so we'll have four chords."
Meg is the principal songwriter, though Dia contributes lyrics to many of their songs. Where other songwriters are inspired by music, Meg says real-life experiences and books provide her inspiration.
"Growing up I read a lot and I still read a lot," she says. "Nothing, not even breaking up or wrecking my car, can inspire me like a book can."
"Monster" is among the Meg & Dia songs inspired by literature, owing its theme to John Steinbeck's "East of Eden." Now Meg is reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, which she confesses has left her "bawling" at times.
"It's so great and there will probably be a song," she says of the book.
Now that she has a video on MTV, Meg reflects on her younger self watching bands like the All-American Rejects play on the same channel, dreaming of one day getting signed to their label: Doghouse Records. She and Dia are now friends with members of some of those same bands they used to idolize.
"I think a really awesome thing is the constant realization that I'm doing what all my heroes are doing," she says. "Hopefully I can inspire people younger than me to live their dreams as well because I never thought we would get this far, ever." |
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