Musician is the life of the party
Son of the ’70s rocker about being on the road, opening for a dead man
If you’re still having a hard time getting your head around the idea of a hologram of Roy Orbison hitting the road, imagine how strange it must feel to be the opening act on that tour.
Enter Julian Frampton, who has secured a small place in the pop-history books by being the first-ever opener on the firstever hologram tour.
He will perform a solo set before the long-dead Orbison takes the stage in disembodied form when BASE Hologram’s high-tech production In Dreams: Roy Orbison in Concert hits the Sony Centre in Toronto tonight.
Frampton, the genial son of ’70s rocker Peter Frampton, has a sense of humour about his place in the whole bizarre situation. The Star had a quick chat with young Julian — who’s currently hawking just a threesong EP by the versatile Julian Frampton Band on tour, but hopes to have more new music next year — on Friday afternoon before he was to play an In
Dreams gig in Red Bank, N.J. Do tell me how you wound up on a 28-date tour opening for a dead man.
It came about through John Procaccini, who I know as Grinder — that was his crew name — and who was the production manager on two tours that I did two years ago. He now works as one of the heads of BASE Hologram, so he’d already seen me play and heard me and knew what I was capable of doing. He called me and said, “You’re the first person we thought of. Would you be interested in doing this tour?” And I said, “Absolutely. But let me call you back in five minutes.” It’s a great opportunity to be part of something like this, but it’s definitely very out of left field, to say the least.
Does it feel a little weird to be opening up for someone who’s not actually there?
In a way, I’m headlining, so I feel good about it. No, it’s a great opportunity and it’s amazing technology and this very well could be the wave of the future, this idea of “bringing people back” entertainment. And to be part of the very first one ever, the very first national hologram tour, is just amazing. It’ll be a neat thing I get to put on my resume, y’know?
I would think anything that puts you in front of this many people is alright, eh?
Yeah, 100 per cent. At this point I really can’t turn much down.
I’m guessing you’re playing to a slightly older crowd than you’re used to on this tour, right? Surely, though, there are enough tethers to classic rock ’n’ roll in your music that some of Roy’s people can get with Julian Frampton?
It’s a bit of an older crowd. It’s the oldest crowd I’ve ever played for, for sure, just because Roy’s demographic and my demographic are different, obviously. But I love the opportunity just to play for people. And, occasionally, someone brings their son or daughter and then it’s great for me.
I like to take advantage of performing, no matter what the performance is. So I’ve made this half a stand-up/half-acoustic routine just to bring everybody together.
Is this audience at all aware of your rather famous lineage?
In the past, because a lot of the time I was opening for my father, there was no way of getting around that. It’s just my name and my name is my name, and I’m very proud of my name. But I’m not billed as “Peter Frampton’s son,” I’m billed as Julian Frampton. And actually the best compliment I can get when I go out and say “hi” to people at the merch table after the shows is: “Wow, I really enjoyed your music today and then I noticed your last name and googled you and found out who your dad was and I’m blown away.” I love hearing people liking me for my music first and my last name second.