Live In Levis – Lexi Frame

There’s something about blue jeans and music that just go hand in hand, it’s a little bit country a little rock’n’roll and pretty much everything in-between. So for this my last “live In Levis” documentary I chose an old new friend of mine who’s a musician, I call Lexi and old new friend because all though I’ve only know her for 2 years she feels like old friend, she’s just that kind of person I guess.

I met Lexi at Hard Pressed cafe a new vinyl shop that sells coffee in down town Cape Town , or a coffee shop that sells vinyl I’m never sure, either way It feels like the right kind of place to chat about the craft of songwriting.

Lexi’s been playing guitar and writing for the last 13 years, she had no choice really she comes from the most musical family I’ve ever met, her dad is a big time producer and all her brothers and sister play in some kind of band (check out her brothers just jamming it up in studio – incredible!). So when Lexi asked her dad how to play her favourite song at the time, Indie Arie’s “ready For Love” he didn’t send her for guitar lessons, he simply taught her the chords and sent her to her room. She spent that summer in her room practising and writing new songs with the only 4 chords she knew and that was it, not a guitar lesson in sight, she just learnt to play by ear.

She considers herself a songwriter, not a performer – I beg to differ – because she believes the beauty is in the song and so she writes about the kind of stuff that makes the best songs…life! She says she uses it as a way of working through things, good and bad, when she gets it down in a song it all makes sense to her, and she kinda hopes it makes sense to other people and maybe even help them when they go through those things. I thought that was kinda cool, sure does explain why so many songs resonate with you when you’re going through your own stuff right?

The true craft of writing Lexi believes is in the chords, she’s influenced by country music because it’s all about storytelling but she doesn’t really consider herself a country musician. I asked her to define her music or what genre she fits into, she couldn’t, i pressed her for an answer, she told me to stop. I did. Different chords, mean different things she says, they can even make you feel different things, the craft is knowing how to tell a story and make you feel the emotions at the same time through the music.

Lexi had been planning for a gig she was playing at her dream venue, the attic of an old hotel in Woodstock called “The Attic” (how do they come up with these things?) , she likes playing small intimate venues because she says it gives her a chance to connect with the audience and let them feel the stories.

I asked her where she saw it all going and what she wanted to do with her music, after all, like most musicians this is not Lexi’s full time job but merely a passion that doesn’t pay the bills. So i guess paying the bills would be nice she said, but she really wants to collaborate with a whole bunch of different artists and explore different areas of songwriting, in the end she hopes to end up with 10 songs that define her, 10 songs she can put out there and say “This is me” not for anyone else really, just for herself she says. Much to my surprise Lexi has no desire for rock stardom. Interesting I thought, one wonders why when you hear her play.

So, where can you find Lexis music? Well, you can go straight on over to her souncloud account and listen to her songs or jump on to lexiframe.co.za to find out about what she’s doing and where she’s playing.

Okay. Stay fancy.