Do we like them?

Do we like Mitchell Froom?

Our score: 6 out of 10. A clean record and a long, respected career, but the searches turned up little about his views or charity work, so a cautious six.

Mitchell Froom is the bloke behind the glass who ended up on the stage. He studied classical piano and pipe organ, played in Bay Area rock bands as a teenager (he later called it “Really miserable stuff”), then worked as an organ player before producing.

His break came through T-Bone Burnett, who hired him for albums by Marshall Crenshaw, the BoDeans, Peter Case and Elvis Costello. That led to a producing career that took in Los Lobos, Richard Thompson and Paul McCartney, with a US number one in 1987 for Los Lobos' “La Bamba”.

Crowded House is where most Aussies and Kiwis know him. He produced their 1986 debut and 1988's Temple of Low Men, and by 1989 he was lined up for the third album, Woodface. He said Crowded House was “the second band I ever recorded”, and he said he was glad he never had early success.

Years later he went from producer to full member. When the band regrouped for Dreamers Are Waiting, Froom was listed among the new members alongside Liam and Elroy Finn. That is a nice arc for a man who famously preferred the control room.

On the harm check, the reporting we could read shows nothing against him. No anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ+ remarks, no conspiracy rabbit holes and no culture-war grifting turned up, and no court cases or accusations either. Honestly, that is also a gap: he gives few political interviews, so we can't say much about his views, and the charity record is thin too.

Nothing new has turned up on him lately beyond the band's work. So the verdict rests on a long, steady career of making other people's music and a clean record.