Cape Town's Frances Clare band to play in PE

Cape Town folk rockers Frances Clare will perform in Port Elizabeth on Thursday March 28 at Butterfield Road.

The five-piece group – whose members are all music teachers – were in the Eastern Cape when they toured the Garden Route in December with Matthew Mole.

They return to Port Elizabeth to perform at 66 Butterfield Road, with their newly released EP called Gold.

Headed by 21-year-old Frances Clare on vocals and acoustic guitar, the group includes Sama award-winning violinist Tricia Brink-Jones and UCT guitarist Devon De Swardt, who is also the musical director.

Music school owner Ian Black on drums and percussion and Lakeside bass and guitar teacher Steven Jarvis on bass – also only 21 – make up the band.

Frances Clare combines acoustic and electronic sounds to support their lyrics, without overpowering their message. The songs themselves are all original, written by Clare, and capture the emotion of a young girl growing up in a fast-moving turbulent society.

Frances Clare has performed with national bands such as Mango Groove and Freshlyground but as teachers the members also make it a mission to take part in outreaches and workshops around Cape Town.

“We perform at schools, we took part in the Madiba Day with Smile FM, we currently teach music at nine schools and we are available to assist with any outreach that is aligned with our core,” Clare said.

As they are based in the Cape, their main focus is on their local community.

“We have some of the very best musicians in the world under the shadow of Table Mountain and we want to do our part to create a platform for people to experience our local talent,” Clare said.

“We are doing this not only for the musicians but also the community at large.”

The show is at 6pm for 7pm and tickets are R60 (entrance free for children under 12 years), on sale at the door.

Further information from fran@francesclareband.com, 072-231-7427.