Forth Valley College's Frame finds his fifteen minutes of fame through Semisonic song cover

Semisonic, who had a worldwide hit in 1998 with Secret Smile, got in touch with Forth Valley College sound production lecturer Barry Frame to tell him how much they enjoyed his version of their song.

Barry, who has been going the extra mile to help his students and giving people online guitar lessons throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, had been posting performances on social media.

One of those performances – a recording of Secret Smile he made with his pal Ian Whitfield from Denny – certainly grabbed the attention of music fans, including Semisonic drummer Jacob Slichter.

Barry and Ian, both big Semisonic fans, were amazed when members of the band, who have just released their first new music in almost 20 years, actually took the time to tell them how highly they rated the new version of the song.

“Ian and I have always loved Semisonic,” said Barry. “We heard they were releasing new material, so we thought we would cover one of their best known songs

and put it up online.

"Little did we know that they would get back in touch and for them to comment so positively on the version we did has just blown us away.”

Barry did not want to miss a golden opportunity to help his students and asked Jacob if he would agree to be interviewed about the music business and how things have changed since the 1990s.

He said: “I took a wee chance and got back in touch with Jacob Slichter and asked if I could set-up an online interview with him and he agreed. Personally I was really chuffed, but I also had one eye on how it could benefit my students.

“So I asked him about various topics such as musical background, Semisonic’s creative process pre and post digital, how has technology changed the way in which music is recorded and released and how it has changed them.

“I now can’t wait to incorporate it into our course when we return after the summer holidays. I can’t thank him enough and maybe I’ll ask him to come into our studios at the Stirling Campus to chat to our sound production students if ever they are touring in Scotland in the future.”

Visit www.barryframe.com for more information.