Frankie Wesson and Michael Munnik on the Pure Local Extra show

We started the show with ‘Anchors Away’ by Michael and gave a little story behind the song. He had been moving around as he is originally from Canada but came to England before moving to Cardiff. During this time, he wasn’t writing anything. It was hard to build a community especially as no one was interested in songs they did know. He had started songs but gave up halfway through. Later on, he got a new guitar, he had more solidity in life so he started writing again. The song is about uncertainty, it takes him back to when he finished high school and his relationship ended so he went on a car ride after recently getting his license.

The second song by our guests we played was ‘This Is Motion’ by Frankie. The title track of her new album (which I will talk about in just a bit). The song is different to her usual style, taking more of a pop-punk vibe. The song is about seeing the signs of how a friendship is going to end. It takes on an experience a 17-18 Yr old would typically see. The song also has a music video filmed in Weston-Super-Mare.

Something exciting that is upcoming is the  Love Live Music Awards on June 5th, an annual music awards show hosted by us celebrating all things local music. Frankie won an award last year and this year she is going to be opening the show with a live performance. She admitted that she is not sure what she is playing yet: we have a month to get it sorted, I’m sure she’ll play something excellent!

As our guests are musicians, we talked about what instruments they play. Michael mainly plays guitar although he also plays some Ukulele, which came to him by accident. He went to a Ukulele workshop as part of a festival. They were selling Ukuleles so he bought one as he had just spent the past few hours learning it. The moment he had he couldn’t put it down, playing his own songs and pre existing songs. This then led to him writing songs for the Ukulele. Frankie has played Ukulele in the past, although it’s not a main instrument.

An interesting question asked next was “If you could be a tribute act, who would it be for?”

Michael answered with Paul Simon, this answer had been lurking in his mind for a while, although in a bit of a morbid way, Simon is becoming older and doesn’t have much time left. A tribute act would make sense as he would need someone to play his songs. His music has impressed Michael and he admires what he does. Frankie answered with Taylor Swift, although she would be less of a tribute, and more of her arrangements of her songs. Frankie has been discussing this idea for a while, she wanted to make her own version of the Era’s Tour with band mate Ruby although it didn’t become a thing.

We then discussed covers, although both prefer playing their own music. Frankie plays covers all the time, artists like Fleetwood Mac, Lady GaGa, Robbie Williams, etc. She likes playing covers as she plays it in her own way.  She added that she prefers when cover bands put their own spin on a song. Michael thinks that a cover song is a treat for the audience as they can recognise a song out of a set of unrecognisable songs.

As for what’s next, Frankie is having an album launch tomorrow for ‘This Is Motion’, her newest album. It’s in The King’s Arms in Abergavenny, which is a good place for live music.

The full band will be playing, they will be selling merch and so on. Michael doesn’t have much planned, although he has new music in preparation, he had ideas come while writing other music, but had to push them back to focus on his current music being made.

You can listen to the full show with much more stories and discussions here