Framing Hanley
- theeyesofthecrowd
- Sep 5, 2022
- 5 min read
The WC Social Club - Chicago Illinois | August 26th, 2022
Written and Photographed by: Brandi Lyn
The Moment
Framing Hanley is an American Rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. Forming their band in 2005 under the name Embers Fade, then changed it to become Framing Hanley (a tribute to their late photographer and friend Hanley).
Framing Hanley started gaining a lot of popularity in the MySpace world and soon became discovered by Brett Hestla (former bassist for Creed). Brett helped get the band signed to their first record label and recorded their first studio album The Moment in 2007.
Framing Hanley started gaining more attraction when they decided to cover Lil Wayne’s song “Lollipop” in 2007 - with it becoming the most played song. Giving it a new sound for rock lovers to enjoy and still being the most requested song to perform live.
In 2011 Framing Hanley explained on Facebook and Twitter that they had left their record label and their reason(s) behind it. Struggling to make another album they started up a Kickstarter Campaign in hopes fans would donate a dollar to help fund the album. With help of their fans, Framing Hanley was able to reveal their album title The Sum of Who We Are in 2012 — with the release date being October 2013. Due to personal/legal issues with a previous band member the release date was then pushed back. Finally releasing their third album in 2014.
The FHarewell Tour
In 2015 Framing Hanley decided to call it quits after 8 years. Providing their loyal fans with one last tour called “The FHarewell Tour”. Framing Hanley’s singer Kenneth Nixon took to Facebook to express his gratitude for the fans and their experience.
“The last 8 years of our lives have spawned memories that we’ll cherish forever. Stories that we’ll all have & share with our children, our grandchildren, those stories only exist because of any of YOU that have supported us at any time over the last 8 years. Whether it be the purchase of a single, whether it be coming out to a show, whether it be you picking up a copy of one of our albums, whether it be you simply telling someone to check out Framing Hanley; ANY of that…YOU kept this ship sailing. A special shout out to everyone involved in our Kickstarter for our last album. The only reason there was a third album was because of you. That’s not hyperbole. That’s truth; that’s fact. You did something remarkable for us. While I know that we can’t ever express to you the amazing things you’ve done to our lives, we still thank you from the bottom of our hearts and will continue to thank you for the rest of our lives. That being said, at this juncture in our lives, we know that we can not give Framing Hanley the time/attention/and overall nurturing required to keep this thing running in the capacity it has been for 8 years. Out of respect for what we’ve accomplished together, we have decided that this is the time to close the book on Framing Hanley. It wasn’t an easy decision, to say the least. However, simply put: it’s impossible to keep this going anymore” - Kenneth Nixon
That obviously wasn’t the last of Framing Hanley - After exactly three years of hiatus, the band announced their comeback in 2018. Later following their newest album release Envy in 2020 - Not knowing the world was about to shut down.
At the end of 2021, they went on a small tour to promote their Envy album. In 2022 they announced they were stopping in a few states for a show, as well as opening up for Hinder for a few of their shows.
Around 10:30PM the stage lights went dem as the melody of Framing Hanley’s song “Intro” played on the sound system. As Nixon made his way to the stage the crowd cheered and sang along with him. The rest of the band (Nic Brooks on Guitar, Jonathan Stoye on Bass, and Matt Naff on Drums) joined Nixon onstage as the intro song was ending and their next song “Bubbles” began.
Performing mostly from the album Envy with “Intro”, “Bubbles”, “Art of Forgiveness”, “Misery”, “Throwing Knives”, and “Puzzle Pieces” — As well as performing a few songs from the 2007 album The Moment, with “Build for Sin”, “Home”, “Hear Me Now”, and their cover of “Lollipop” as well as performing “You Stupid Girl” from A Promise to Burn and “Criminal” from The Sum of Who We Are.
Before performing their song “Throwing Knifes”, Nixon stopped to talk to the crowd. “It’s great to be back in Chicago Illinois” adding, “How many of you guys were hear a year ago when we literally almost died on the way here, the bus crashed? Needless to say the journey into town today was quite a bit different.” Talking about their experience last year on the way to the WC Social Club when their bus blew a tire on the highway.
Nixon went on to say that all the songs so far were from their newest album and if anyone wanted to they could purchase the album at the merch table — adding that they would also be there to sign merch and take photos with everybody after the show.
During their performance of their cover of “Lollipop”, the crowd danced and sang along. With everyone screaming the chorus along with Nixon. After performing their song “You Stupid Girl” the band left the stage, leaving the crowd cheering and wanting more. Coming back onstage a moment later and picked their instruments back up.
“We’ve been trying that shit for like 15 years.” Nixon said, “We have never tricked them.”
“Dude I don’t think they fucking knew.” Stoye joked.
Throughout the show, shots were brought to the stage for the band to drink but had been set aside. Finally noticing the drinks, Nixon came over and grabbed one, as well as the other band members. Holding the shot in the air he says, “I’ve been fortunate to do this for almost 20 God damn years and it’s because of people like you. All across, not just this country but also across this globe. Paying with your hard-earned dollars to go and support a rock and roll band in town. I can not tell you what this means to me. I grew up - this is my second home in Chicago so that’s always a plus. I’m very lucky to be doing it with these three guys on stage with me.” He continued and the crowd cheered as they took their shots.
Framing Hanley ended the show with their song “Home”, with everyone singing along. Once the song ended Nic gave one of the set lists to a kid in the crowd and Stoye threw his guitar pick. As the band exited the stage the crowd cheered and then made their way to the merch table to wait for the band to come out. Meeting everyone who stuck around, the band signed posters and CDs and took photos with the fans. Spending time to talk to each person individually.
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