Frente! were formed in Melbourne, as "Frente" in 1989 by
Simon Austin on guitar and backing vocals,
Angie Hart on lead vocals, Tim O'Connor on bass guitar and Mark Picton on drums and recorder. The group were named after the
Spanish word for 'forehead' and 'front', according to
Inpress magazine "[i]t rhymes with 'heaven-sent-eh!'". The band spent two years performing in Melbourne's inner-city venues before, in August 1991, issuing their self-funded debut extended play,
Whirled, on the Thumb Print label. Hart explained that the exclamation mark was added for the CD's cover art " don't write our name like that, but we thought we would on the CD covers because it looks good". "Labour of Love" was co-written by Austin and Hart. Frente! signed with
Mushroom Records's White Label which issued their second EP,
Clunk, in March 1992. It featured the track, "Ordinary Angels", and peaked at No. 3 on the
ARIA Singles Chart. It was certified gold by ARIA for shipment of 35,000 copies. The album was also nominated for 'Best Cover Art' (by Hart and Louise Beach) and "Ordinary Angels" was nominated for 'Best Video' (directed by Robbie Douglas-Turner). Mammoth had also issued a seven-track extended play,
Labour of Love. This included their acoustic
cover version of
New Order's 1986 hit, "
Bizarre Love Triangle", The first single, "Sit on My Hands", peaked at No. 66 in Australia in July 1996. During 1996, the group toured Europe, Asia and US for three months to promote the album. on keyboards while touring. John Everson of
Illinois Entertainer, interviewed Hart in September and described Austin as her "on-again, off-again boyfriend", Hart detailed "Simon and I had a lot of shit to work out. We went out for a while and then we broke up and then we went on tour. It goes in and out of being fine." In Canada in August, and then Australia during December, they supported
Alanis Morissette on her tour, promoting
Jagged Little Pill. One of their new compositions, "Sleeping", appeared on Splendid's EP,
States of Awake (2004). During late 2004, Austin and Hart reformed Frente! for acoustic shows in both New York and Los Angeles. The show also featured other early 1990s Melbourne bands: The Glory Box, The Hollowmen and
The Fauves. In March 2023, Frente! performed at MordiFest as part of the leadup to the 30th anniversary of
Marvin the Album. Hart and Austin were joined by Tamara Murphy on electric bass guitar, Sophie Koh on keyboards and melodica, and Ben Wiesner on drums. The group also performed at the Castlemaine State Festival, at which O'Connor briefly joined the band on bass for "Accidently Kelly Street". Frente! was selected as one of the bands as part of the Mushroom 50 Concert, celebrating 50 years of Mushroom Records with fifty songs for fifty years. Frente! performed Ordinary Angels in front of the live audience at Rod Laver Arena on 26 November 2023. On 31 August 2024, Frente! performed at the reopened Punters Club. ==In popular culture==