The Bevis Frond

The Bevis Frond

The Bevis Frond is a British group from Walthamstow, England, active from 1985. Its music spans indie rock, neo-psychedelia and psychedelic rock, and is associated with a range that moves from hard-edged playing to more melancholy, vintage-style songwriting.

Nick Saloman is the band’s frontman and main songwriter. He starts the project as a one-man recording act, releasing Miasma in 1987 as a limited pressing. His aim is to make music that reflects influences such as Hendrix, the Wipers and the Byrds, while retaining a distinctly British character.

Recording history

Early Bevis Frond albums are recorded largely by Saloman at home. After the sixth album, Any Gas Faster, he begins using an outside studio and also starts touring. Later releases are more often made with the current touring band, although the project remains closely identified with Saloman.

The group records many albums on independent labels, and its material is usually issued through Saloman’s own Woronzow Records. It also appears on Fruits de Mer Records.

Collaborators and members

For live performances, the band usually includes Adrian “Ade” Shaw on bass. Other members associated with the group include Martin Crowley, Paul Simmons, Andy Ward and Bari Watts. Saloman also works with US singer Mary Lou Lord, writing and recording a large part of her material.

In 1990, Magic Eye is recorded as a collaboration with Twink of the Pink Fairies.

Notable releases and appearances

The song “Lights Are Changing” is selected for Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era, 1976-1995. The group is also regularly featured in Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine and its related records and CDs.

Before forming The Bevis Frond, Saloman plays in the Bevis Frond Museum in the late 1960s and later in the Von Trapp Family in 1979.