The Bevis Frond

According to this month's Q mag, Nick Saloman (BF) used to be a regular contestant on 'Countdown'.

Search New River Head, and It Just Is. Be aware that each album will have at least one plodding acid rock freakout. Not that I particularly mind.

and there're some great ridiculous/brilliant lyrics- "the view from city buses is most wonderous to behold/as the panoply of bridges, domes and alleyways unfolds"

and of course the great non-standard hippy reference to QPR supporters

I don't actually know anything at all about them (or have heard any other records) - it's just one bloke who lives in a west london where the time is always 1968 - is this correct?

Son of Walter is also great if you like any of BF's "Nick does everything" stuff.

I had such a good time listening to Any Gas Faster, Inner Marshland, and half of Sprawl the other night. When this guy was on, he was ON.

Yeah, much love. Have only Any Gas, Marshlands, Triptych, Auntie Winnie. Need more.

another yes for New River Head, in particular 'Waving', which is beautiful.

frond was for many years indeed just nick, but now he uses the touring band on the records

bought "Miasma" in a used CD bin for cheap.

this is really good stuff...what a bunch of weirdos, making little out-of-time lo-fi psych/noise/folk/dadrock in the middle of the 80s...couldn't imagine how they fit in UK rock at the time, probably didn't fit in at all.

but yeah it's cool, some really great pop songs giving way to eccentric freakout parts...super into this, but it took a few listens.

it sort of recalls early Guided By Voices, in spirit not in sound or songwriting...like there's something that seems so insular about it, like these guys making their little fantasy rock worlds on cassette tapes in their hovels....that's always so attractive to me, like you could imagine a little self-contained world that didn't exist anymore, or never really existed in the first place

Part one of a big two part interview now up at Blurt:

http://blurt-online.com/features/view/590/

And part two:

http://blurt-online.com/features/view/591/

According to a facebook post, new album due Sept/Oct.

Ahh, good. Had heard record was recorded at the beginning of the year, but then they thought summer wasn't a good time to release an album, so had said they were going to sit on it for a while. Had fears he'd get all perfectionist & scrap it.

the 42 minute long "homemade traditional electric jam" on the new one white numbers is white pepper-era dean ween mindmelting

I'm really digging this new album. I didn't think he had it in him anymore.

Really? The last album was fantastic too. _What Did For The Dinosaurs_ & _Hit Squad_ were a bit of a slump, but still had their moments.

I thought the last album was okay, but a bit restrained. This album is unrestrained Bevis goodness, which I didn't expect. On first listen I think it might be one of his best.

yeah this one is great. jam after jam for 23 songs and then that epic blowout at the end

New one on the way!
https://bevisfrondmusic.bandcamp.com/album/were-your-friends-man

So I know 2 things: I like "High On A Downer" and that the North Circular tends to be a traffic infested hell.

FYI, these guys host a radio show on the MIT radio station called "The Scene", which is a must-listen mostly for the between song banter:
http://wmbr.org/www/sched-fri#show5728

You can listen to last 2 shows online, or somebody used to archive the episodes here:
http://bevisyahoo.pbworks.com/w/page/35058179/Other%20Appearances

Yes! I listen to their show most every Friday morning. I know absolutely nothing about their band, but love the stuff they play (mostly obscure 60's era psych/freakbeat stuff with a few surprises thrown in) but love the banter, and the stories.

White Numbers is absolutely incredible for an album arriving so late in anyone's career

New one is great! Second half is where it comes together.

As of this morning, He'd Be A Diamond is the greatest song in the world. I had it on a fabulous compilation a friend made but I'd not heard it in years. Randomly found it and am enraptured all over again.

I used to frequent the same second hand record shop on Wood St walthamstow as he did so have wondered if i wound up with any of his old records.
Great place that, was known as Sounds Familiar at the time.
I met him at a St Vitus show at the Standard near Blackhorse rd in around 1988 too.

Saw him at the Dome in Tufnell Park sometime around then, maybe a couple of years later.

I don't know any of NS's older stuff, but really liking Little Eden, especially the last 2 tracks on disc 1, "The Man In The Garden" and "As I Lay Down To Die".
Heard it playing at Red Eye, Sydney's great record store, and I thought I was listening to some kind of classic NZ Flying Nun-type stuff. I guess similar roots.

Back in the early days of the internet, before I'd really ever heard either, I used to get Bevis Frond and Bardo Pond mixed up fairly often. Anyway, I've since long been a Bardo Pond fan, but just started getting into Bevis Frond with Little Eden. The new one, Focus on Nature, is pretty great too!

thanks! I am a huge fan of the early stuff and still like hearing what he's up to

he lives somewhere near Hastings nowadays, I saw them play there before covid. he used to have a 2nd hand record shop in nearby Bexhill but quit it a couple of years ago, shame because it was a decent shop, bought quite a lot of stuff the one time I visited it. it's still a record shop so I dunno if he just sold the stock on or if someone else started fresh

i like the latest frond LP a lot but i feel that little eden is his masterpiece. nick's hit rate even after all this time is absurdly high. i suppose it would be when you're writing a song every couple of days

Yeah I went back to Little Eden again over the weekend and it remains astonishingly good.

ok I'm gonna put that on right now, thanks y'all (and nice to see u electricsound)