Francis Griffiths (1 July 1966,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, England) is a
keyboardist
A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...
, producer and
remixer
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
, best known as a member of the band
Space
Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
. He also plays guitar,
melodica
The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...
and piano. His main influences are
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...
,
hip-hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
,
Can, various
electro bands and
Crass
Crass was an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977 who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestyle, and a resistance movement. Crass popularized the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, ...
. He is both a
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...
fan and enjoyer of
heavy rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard rock mu ...
bands such as
Marilyn Manson
Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...
.
The strange noises produced by Griffiths'
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
(contrary to rumours, he does not use a
Theremin
The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...
) are one of the trademarks of Space's sound. Griffiths has never performed lead vocals on only one Space
track – "I Am Unlike A Lifeform You've Ever Met", a
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
on the "Avenging Angels" single. However, on the first two Space albums, ''
Spiders
Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...
'' and ''
Tin Planet
''Tin Planet'' is the second studio album by English band Space, released on 9 March 1998.
Recorded in late 1997 following a tumultuous year for the group, ''Tin Planet'' was a continuation of the eclectic blend of musical styles explored on th ...
'', as well as the B-sides of various singles, he has contributed
instrumental
An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
tracks, and remixes under the moniker Franny Aspirin.
Biography
Griffiths met Space singer
Tommy Scott as a teenager, and the two were both members of The Australians and Hello Sunset. Griffiths also used to be in a band called BB And Me. In the late 1980s he left England for Spain, where he worked as a
bouncer
A bouncer (also known as a door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at licensed or sanctioned venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, strip clubs and casinos. A bouncer's duties are to provide security, to check legal ag ...
in
Malgrat de Mar
Malgrat de Mar () is a municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Barcelona Coast between Santa Susanna, Barcelona, Santa Su ...
, Barcelona, and often went
clubbing in
Ibiza
Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...
. On his return to Liverpool, he was handed an empty cigarette packet with Scott's
telephone number
A telephone number is the address of a Telecommunications, telecommunication endpoint, such as a telephone, in a telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A telephone number typically consists of a Number, sequ ...
written on it, and a request to help the nascent Space
record a demo. Naturally curious, Griffiths dialled the number. he became the fourth member of Space in 1994.
Along with Scott, Griffiths is one of the two original members in the most recent Space line-up.
Similarly to his bandmates, the stress of touring
America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 1997 minus guitarist Jamie Murphy – with whom Griffiths seems to have a love/hate relationship – took its toll on the keyboardist. He came down with a particularly nasty case of
stomach ulcer
The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the upper gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The Ancient Greek name for the stomach is ''gaster'' which is used as ''gastric'' in medical terms re ...
s, as well as succumbing to
tonsillitis
Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils in the upper part of the throat. It can be acute or chronic. Acute tonsillitis typically has a rapid onset. Symptoms may include sore throat, fever, enlargement of the tonsils, trouble swallowing, and en ...
on Space's second US tour with Murphy. On one of the American tours in 1997, Griffiths and his bandmates visited Mike Myers' house after 'Female of the Species' featured in ''
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery''.
After Space split in 2005, Griffiths made
R'n'B
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
music under the name Subway Showdown. He also played alongside Murphy in Dust, before Space's reunion in 2011. Outside Space, he has remixed other bands.
Equipment
Griffiths has used the following synths when touring and recording with Space:
*
Access Virus
The Access Virus is a virtual analog synthesizer made by the German company Access Music GmbH. It was first produced in 1997 and has since been upgraded frequently, with the company releasing new models about every two years. Early models inclu ...
TI
* Roland A-37
*
Roland JP-8000
The Roland JP-8000 is an analog modeling synthesizer released by the Roland Corporation in 1996.
Overview
The Roland JP-8000 was released in early 1997 as part of the first wave of virtual analog modeling synthesizers (VA synths). Others fro ...
*
Roland Juno-60
The Roland Juno-60 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1984. It followed the Juno-6, an almost identical synthesizer released months earlier. The Juno synthesizers introduced Roland's digitally contro ...
* Various
Moog synths
* Novation Nocturn
* Nathan Russell's Feet
Personal life
Griffiths lives with his partner Karen – who has performed backing vocals on some of Space's songs, including a
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
of "Neighbourhood" – and their three sons, Christian and Ellis and Nathan Russell, who is self proclaimed the prettiest boy in Liverpool, and loves to party.
He supports
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...
As a survivor of the
Hillsborough Disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...
,
[Tommy Scott: "Hillsborough. I just remember the day. Franny, our keyboard player, was there. He had to go home on the train and he didn't know if his mates were alive or dead." ''Vox'' Magazine, April 1998.] he is also a long-time supporter of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.
References
External links
Franny Griffiths fansiteOfficial Space websiteSoundcloud
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Franny
1966 births
Living people
English rhythm and blues musicians
English rock keyboardists
English record producers
English rock pianists
Musicians from Liverpool
Melodica players
21st-century British pianists
People educated at St Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool