– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER –
There’s a Ziggy Stardust moment at tonight’s concert, about half way through. Liam Frost – who seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself on stage -suddenly says, between songs: “this is the last time I’m going to be singing these songs and doing this for a while”.
I pretty much spit my Guinness all over the back of the fine young gentleman stood in front of me… it’s the last time you’re going to do what in a what now? A creeping fear envelopes me through the rest of the set, at points spilling into outright rancid panic: Satan’s Paisley Pyjamas… what did he just say?
Is there a medic in the house… we HAVE A MUSICAL EMERGENCY! But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Tonight is special, one-off night – Liam curating an evening formed of artists he has chosen, before taking the stage himself with something of a makeshift band (his previous, The Slowdown Family, seems to have slowed down to a stop and become somewhat dysfunctional as a family).
It’s Liam’s birthday and he appears on the stage clutching a can of Stella, informing the audience he’s been, shall we say, enjoying the day. Then he plugs in his guitar and launches into a truly fabulous set, built of tracks from his two albums – ‘Show Me How The Spectres Dance,’ and the more recent ‘We Aint Got No Money Honey, But We Got Rain,’ a title of a Charles Bukowski poem.
Liam thunders through tracks like ‘The Mourners of St Pauls, Road Signs and Red Lights, Shall We Dance, Held Tightly In Your Fist, Two Hearts’-folky-indie-rocky-poppy – whatever the hell label you want to slap on them…just good, good songs, well constructed with grown-up lyrics that form poems themselves.
Although the band isn’t as tight as they might be, the quality of the songs fills the attic room of Sound Control, a perfect space for a gig like this. The club’s owner is an old friend and over drinks beforehand he tells me all about the venue’s sound system, which they brought over from Scandinavia.
If you haven’t already, you need to get your tush down there and tune your ears into a truly decent PA system – certainly a step up from the last time I saw Liam Frost, opening the 235 Casino.
At the end of the show, Liam comes out to chat to the crowd –especially sweet considering it’s his special day. I seize the chance to chat to him and allay my nerves. He explains his statement on stage.
It seems it’s the end of Liam Frost as a solo entity as he’s forming a band – quite a kooky concept after two well-received solo albums. But if that’s how he wants to play it that’s fine – as long as we still have him around, and he doesn’t lose too much more weight and disappear entirely. If you’ve seen the photos in the sleeves of his two albums you’ll see how much thinner he’s become.
Yep, these days there’s a lot less of Liam. And we need to see a lot more…
Simon is a writer, broadcaster and countercultural investigator. Over the last 15 years he has written for everyone from The Guardian to Loaded magazine, presented television for Rapture TV and hosted radio programs for the likes of Galaxy. He has also found time to earn a Masters Degree in Novel Writing and write three books (a collection of journalism, a guidebook to Ibiza and one on financial planning for young people – the most varied publishing career it’s possible to have) and establish and run a PR company, Pad Communications, looking after a range of leisure and lifestyle clients.He currently splits his time between researching his PhD at Leeds University, looking into various countercultural movements; consulting freelance for PR clients; writing for the likes of Marie Claire in Australia, The Big Issue and the Manchester Evening News, where he reviews concerts, theatre and is their Pub & Bar Editor. He is also broadcaster, appearing regularly on Tony Livesey’s late night 5Live show for the BBC, and also for BBC Radio Manchester Gourmet Night food and drink show.Simon’s main focus has been music and travel. His career has included editing Ministry of Sound’s magazine in Ibiza for two summers and also writing two long-running columns for DJmagazine – ”Around The World in 80 Clubs” (which took him everywhere from Beijing to Brazil, Moscow to Marrakech) and “Dispatches From The Wrong Side”. A collection of the latter was published in the UK and US as the book Discombobulated, including tales as varied as gatecrashing Kylie Minogue’s birthday party, getting deported from Russia, having a gun held to his head by celebrity gangster Dave Courtney and going raving in Ibiza with Judith Chalmers. He has recently written for the likes of Red magazine, Hotline, Clash, Tilllate, Shortlist and the Manchester Evening News. Pad Communications has recently consulted for clients as varied as Manchester nightclubs and New Zealand toy companies.On a personal note, Simon is a Londoner who left the capital at the age of 18 and never looked back. He sees himself as a citizen of the global dancefloor having lived in Sydney, Los Angeles, Ibiza and Amsterdam. However his life is now rather more sedentary. After all his adventures he bumped into and subsequently married his highschool sweetheart from their North London Grammar. They now live in Stockport with their four children and four chickens, trying to live the good life. Simon recently turned 40 and is steadfastly refusing to have a midlife crisis – as in, growing a ponytail and buying a shiny red sports car.OK, maybe he’ll buy the sports car…
