‘We just stuck our heads in to say hello’: The night Frank and Walters met Paul McCartney

“It was 30 years ago today, the Franks saw Sgt Pepper play” – well, maybe not today but it is 30 years since the Frank and Walters met Paul McCartney on Top of The Pops (TOTP) and, in recognition of those three decades of making music, the foursome have just been honoured in their native Cork.

Announced as the Cork Persons of the Month Award winners for April, the band were a bit stunned when they heard the news with founder member and lead vocalist Paul Linehan admitting he wasn’t quite sure how to react to the news – a bit like when they met Macca on the famous BBC music programme, which counted down the pop charts each week.

“We were on to perform After All and I mean growing up as a teenager and being into music, appearing on Top of the Pops was something we long aspired to so then to appear on the show and to find ourselves on the same night as Paul McCartney, it was all a bit surreal.

“His dressingroom was directly across the corridor from ours, so we just stuck our heads in to say hello and he invited us in, and we met Linda and three of his daughters – it was amazing because for me The Beatles were extraordinary – they were like the blueprint for writing songs.

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“And then you suddenly stop and think: ‘We’re here on Top of The Pops and we’re talking to Paul McCartney – it’s a real pinch-me moment – it’s like something out of the Truman Show where you think someone is going to say, Your time is up, go back to your boxroom in Bishopstown’.”

Being selected as Cork Persons of the Month may not be quite the same experience, but Linehan is as thoughtful about the moment as he is speaking about what it was like to meet Macca, being grateful for the Cork honour, yet somehow feeling humbled and a mite uncomfortable.

“Obviously it’s a great honour and we’re delighted to accept it but at the same time, I must say I feel a bit uncomfortable about getting it because there are so many other people in Cork who are far more deserving of it than us – people like Caitríona Twomey and the people at Cork Penny Dinners.

“When I look at Caitríona and see what she and Cork Penny Dinners do, I honestly don’t think we are fit to tie their shoelaces and there are others like them doing amazing work in the city – don’t get me wrong we are grateful for this award, but I just think there are others more deserving of it than us.”

The Cork Persons of the Month Award is the second major honour that the Frank and Walters have won in Cork, coming after the success of their hit single, After All being voted Cork’s Favourite Song in 2020, seeing off other famous Leeside anthems such as the Banks of My Own Lovely Lee.

Notwithstanding Linehan’s genuine reluctance to think of the Frank and Walters as entitled winners of a Cork Person of the Month award, organiser Manus O’Callaghan has no doubt that the band have paid their dues and are worthy recipients of the award.

He said the Frank and Walters were Cork’s most recognisable rock band, their music as relevant today as it was 30 years ago.

“You’ve heard After All sung at every function and party in Cork, and in a classic scene on The Young Offenders TV series – indeed when my son got married in New York he wanted a Cork element in the ceremony so After All provided that,” said Mr O’Callaghan.

The Frank and Walters play Connollys of Leap on May 20th.