Warren Ellis has shared the story of a guitar gifted to him by his late friend Glen Hansard, noting that “everyone Glen crossed in life was richer for the experience”.
Hansard, the Oscar-winning Once star and frontman of The Frames, died following a motorcycle crash in Dublin on Wednesday (July 29). He was 56 years old.
In the days since, Ellis has shared a series of tributes remembering their long friendship, including an anecdote about Hansard unexpectedly sending him a Gibson tenor guitar around a decade ago.
“So Glen calls me ten years back,” the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds musician wrote on Instagram. “Asked what’s the best address for me. When I pushed him he said he’d been in the Woody Guthrie archives and walked into a guitar shop and found a tenor for me. Said it was a sign.”
Ellis said he initially refused the gift, but Hansard told him: “It’s not a conversation. A Gibson tenor arrived with a note. ‘If there’s a song in it you’ll find it’. Most guitar guitar I’ve ever owned.”
“From the outpourings the last days, everyone Glen crossed in life was richer for the experience,” Ellis added. “Sending my love to Maire and Christy.”
Ellis had initially responded to the news of Hansard’s death by describing him as “a good man and loyal friend”.
He recalled Hansard travelling overnight to see Dirty Three perform in Boston and secretly paying to attend despite Ellis having placed him and his band on the guestlist.
“Always above and beyond,” Ellis wrote. “And always about the music, the blah blah, the dogs and the meaning of it all. Sending my love to your family and band mates and friends. Heartbreaking.”
In another post, Ellis reflected on his first meeting with Hansard in County Cork in the mid’90s, when The Frames opened for the Dirty Three. He recalled Hansard “serving whiskey until the sun came up” as the two musicians discussed their shared love of late AC/DC frontman Bon Scott.
Hansard’s family have announced details of a public wake and funeral for the musician. He will lie in repose at the Baroque Chapel at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin on Monday (August 3), before a public funeral at St Patrick’s Cathedral the following afternoon.
Music at the service will be provided by Hansard’s friends and family, while a public address system will be installed outside the cathedral due to the limited capacity inside. It will also be broadcast on RTÉ News and RIP.ie.
Ellis, meanwhile, performed with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at their UK-exclusive homecoming show in Brighton yesterday (July 31).
The band were joined by Kylie Minogue at Preston Park for an emotional performance of their 1995 collaboration ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’, marking the first time they had performed the song together since 2018.
