The Bevis Frond is an English rock band formed in 1986 in Walthamstow, London, England. The band is fronted by Nick Saloman and has recorded many singles and albums on various independent labels.

Information

Saloman was originally in a band known as the Bevis Frond Museum in the late 1960s, and in the 1970s, whilst at college, he played guitar with a duo called Oddsocks. They released one album, ''Men of the Moment''.Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Bevis Frond", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, In 1979 he formed a band called the Von Trap Family, who released the first single on his own Woronzow Records label. The early Von Trap Family recordings, comprising three sessions, were released on the Bevis Frond Bandcamp site for the first time in May 2010. The next release on Woronzow was in 1982, a 12" single by Room 13 with Saloman on guitar and future Bevis Frond drummer Martin Crowley. After Room 13 reached the end of its natural life, Nick Saloman had a bad motorbike accident that left him with a constriction of movement in his left arm. True to form, he had the arm set so that he could continue playing guitar. With the proceeds from a damages claim he bought a 4 track recorder and recorded some music which he decided to press as a limited release of 250 albums, more for the sake of just releasing an album than anything else.Male, Andrew (2012) "Welcome Back! The Bevis Frond", ''

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'', February 2012, p. 26 He was very surprised when Funhouse records in Kent phoned him up and asked for a couple of hundred copies as they had been selling the album quite briskly. Saloman's desire was to "record the kind of music I'd like to listen to… I wanted a

Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

/ Wipers/

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sound but with a distinctly British feel." Subsequent albums were also recorded in a home studio and released on Woronzow until 1988, when he signed a deal with Reckless Records for the UK and USA. All the early albums were finally re-released on CD and Reckless financed the recording and release of his sixth album, ''Any Gas Faster'', using a professional studio for the first time, reuniting him with drummer Martin Crowley. This is also the point that he began touring. Another 1990 album, ''Magic Eye'', was a collaboration with Twink of the

Pink Fairies Pink Fairies are an English rock band initially active in the London (Ladbroke Grove) underground and psychedelic scene of the early 1970s. They promoted free music, drug use, and anarchy, and often performed impromptu gigs and other stunts, ...

. In 1990, he returned to the studio to record his next album, ''New River Head'', which featured guest musicians including

Barry Dransfield Barry Dransfield (born 1947 in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire), is an English folk singer, fiddler, cellist and guitarist. He has appeared as a session musician on numerous albums by other artists, and has released his own albums as we ...

and

David Tibet David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting; 5 March 1960) is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member. He was given the name "Tibet" by Genesis P-Orridge, and in January 2005 he ...

. The next year he recorded ''London Stone'', but Reckless were less than happy with the album, and in the ensuing friction, Saloman decided to release the album on Woronzow again. Saloman continued to release albums regularly until the release of ''Hit Squad'' in 2004. A couple of years earlier he had signed a deal with Past and Present in the UK and Rubric Records in the US, after which most of his early albums were remastered and re-released with bonus tracks. This initiative faltered after a couple of years, and all the early albums up to and including ''London Stone'' were re-released (except ''Any Gas Faster''). In February 2010, a download site was set up for the Bevis Frond. The aim of this project is to make all the Bevis Frond material available for download in the best possible quality, and to make digitally available unreleased tracks and vinyl only tracks from throughout Saloman's career. Recent additions include all the studio sessions by the Von Trap Family. This project was completed in September 2010. Early albums were usually entirely recorded by Saloman, while most later albums have been recorded by the contemporary touring band. For performances, the Bevis Frond usually has Adrian "Ade" Shaw on bass. Bevis Frond material is typically released on Woronzow Records

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...

, and is frequently featured in the

Ptolemaic Terrascope {{Infobox magazine , image_file = pto.png , image_size = , image_caption = ''Ptolemaic Terrascope'' logo , editor = Phil McMullen (1988–2005) Pat Thomas (2005-07) , editor_title = , staff ...

magazine and accompanying records and CDs. The Bevis Frond also record with and write much of the material for US singer

Mary Lou Lord Mary Lou Lord (born March 1, 1965) is an indie folk musician who started performing as a busker in Boston. Life and career Mary Lou Lord first gained attention playing acoustic guitar and singing in and around Boston's subway stations, particu ...

. The song "Lights Are Changing" was chosen for inclusion on '' Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era, 1976–1995''. After seven years without the appearance of new material, The Bevis Frond released a new album, ''The Leaving of London'', on 10 October 2011. Recorded at Golddust Studios, it features a new drummer, Dave Pearce, formerly of Woronzow artists Psycho's Mum, along with regular contributors Adrian Shaw and Paul Simmons. Live shows in Europe and the UK to promote the album are scheduled for late 2011 and early 2012. In January 2012 the band toured Germany. Following ''The Leaving of London'', The Bevis Frond released ''White Numbers'' in May 2013, with a similar band line-up. In 2014 the compilation titled ''High In A Flat'' was released including that song, which had been released on the CD reissue of ''New River Head'' but not on the one-CD release earlier. Then, in September 2015, Nick released a new album titled ''Example 22''. Saloman and Simmons host a weekly radio program called "The Scene", covering music from the 1960s to the 1980s, usually nearly-forgotten tracks from their own extensive record collections. It is broadcast from 7:00 A.M to 8:00 A.M. on Friday mornings on

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

's radio station

WMBR WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds. Both students and commun ...

, 88.1 FM, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They use their knowledge of musicians' timelines, bands played in and with to connect songs they play to other musicians and other bands. Saloman is owner of Platform One Records, a vinyl record store in Bexhill, East Sussex, United Kingdom-chiefly selling used 'rock' vinyl.

Personal life

In 1991, Nick Saloman was a contestant on the UK television station

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's game show ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

''. He is a supporter of Queen's Park Rangers F.C., prompting

Richard Whiteley John Richard Whiteley (28 December 1943 – 26 June 2005) was an English presenter, and journalist, best known for his twenty-three years as host of the game show ''Countdown''. ''Countdown'' was the launch programme for Channel 4 at 4:4 ...

to joke "What do you get when you cross The Bevis Frond and Queen's Park Rangers? Rock bottom." Saloman's mother Joanne was a schoolteacher to

Adam Ant Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954), is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten ...

and is credited by Ant as first having encouraged him to be an artist. Saloman himself was also friends with Ant at school and later, according to Ant, would introduce him to "long hair, Jimi Hendrix and loud guitars, which he played wildly and not without skill."

Personnel

The Bevis Frond is essentially Nick Saloman, who does vocals and plays guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards. He is also the producer. The recording and touring band has included at various times: : Adrian Shaw (bass guitar) :Bari Watts (guitar) :Ric Gunther (drums) :Paul Simmons (guitar) :Rod Goodway (guitar, vocals) : Andy Ward (drums) :Jules Fenton (drums) :Martin Crowley (drums) :Debbie Saloman (vocals) :Dave Pearce (drums)

Discography

Albums

In addition, Nick has also released three Bevis Frond CDs that were made available exclusively to the Yahoo! Bevis Frond community group. These CDs, titled ''Valedictory Demos, The Long Ones,'' and ''Clocks,'' were packed full of demos and unreleased songs.

Singles

*"Sexorcist" (1990) Clawfist (split with Walkingseeds) *''Snow'' EP (1991) Woronzow (free with ''Ptolemaic Terrascope'' magazine) *"High in a Flat" (free with ''

Bucketfull of Brains ''Bucketfull of Brains'' (also known as ''BoB'') was a London-based music magazine, founded in 1979 and published until 2015 . An associated record label was launched in 2010. History ''Bucketfull of Brains'' was founded by Nigel Cross in 1979, a ...

'' magazine, split with Dream Syndicate) *''Summer Holiday'' EP (1993) Woronzow *"Let's Live For Today" / "29th September" (1994) Helter Skelter, HS 94743 *"Dolly Bug" / "Green Park Saturday" (1995) Damaged Goods, DAMGOOD 81 *"Little Town Pier" / "Anything You Say" (1997) Spare Me, SM005 *"Sister John" / "Off My Shoes" (1997) Distortion Records, DR-1033 *"African Violets" (1988) B-side of a Flexi-Disc given away with ''

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'' fanzine Issue 4 - The A side was "History Hates No Man" by The Steppes (Band) *"You Wouldn't If You Knew" (2001) from ''Dean Quixote: The Soundtrack To The Film'' (various artists), SpinART, SPART 99 *"Estate" (2011) Respect Vinyl *"Hard Meat At The Midnight Court" / "Number One Defender" (2012) Woronzow, WOO 59

Related releases

Bevis Frond/Nick Saloman pseudonyms and collaborations: *The Von Trap Family - "Brand New Thrill" single (1980) Woronzow *Room 13 - "Murder Mystery" single (1982) Woronzow *Room 13 - ''Peaceful War'' album *Room 13 - ''Live at The Pits'' album *Bevis and Twink - ''Magic Eye'' album (1990) Woronzow *Magic Muscle - ''Gulp'' album (1992) Woronzow *Fred Bison Five - ''Beatroots'' album (1993) Woronzow *Todd Dillingham & Nick Saloman - ''Art Into Dust'' CD (1993) Voiceprint *Doctor Frond - ''Doctor Frond'' album (1998) Magic Gnome * Country Joe McDonald and The Bevis Frond - ''Eat Flowers and Kiss Babies'' album (1998) Woronzow *''Nick and Nick and the Psychotic Drivers'' (1998) Contempo Records - Nick plays lead *''Acid Jam 2'' (2000) Rubric Records - Bevis Frond members wrote or play on almost all tracks *Scorched Earth - ''Fed To Your Head'' album (2001) Woronzow *Mary Lou Lord - "Lights Are Changing" cover from ''Mary Lou Lord'' *Mary Lou Lord - ''Baby Blue'' album 2004 (Rubric Records) Writing and production credits, plus guitar bass and harp. *Anton Barbeau - ''King of Missouri'' (2003) Anton Barbeau with The Bevis Frond

References

External links

Bevis Frond on Band Camp

Biography
by

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

Psychotropic Zone interview with Nick Saloman

Blurt interview with Nick Saloman Part 1

Blurt interview with Nick Saloman Part 2

Dusted Magazine feature on Nick Saloman

Bevis Frond at Fire Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bevis Frond, The English psychedelic rock music groups Musical groups established in 1985 1985 establishments in England Fire Records (UK) artists