| Imagine you could go to the supermarket and pick up your weekly
shop of earthy ‘Northern Folk Troubadours’ direct from the shelves with your groceries,
your 24-bottle crate of Stella-Artois and your belated birthday card for your
sister at Hull University. Just imagine, eh? On one aisle you’d be flipping a
coin between Heinz and ASDA’s own and on the next you’d be splitting hairs on
the raw but surprisingly pleasing introspection of your Stephen Fretwell, your
Willy Mason or your more melancholy, Damien Rice. Naturally you’d have already
turned down the two-for-one offer on your David Gray or your cut-price Nizlopi
because you were looking for something a little more substantial, a little longer
lasting. And just as you were about to move onto the ‘frozen’ isle and start rifling
through ‘reduced’ sell-by items, you noticed something small, pudgy and delicately
illuminated in between your 25g of Badly Drawn Boy and your instant I Am Kloot.
That something was Manchester's Liam Frost. What it said on the tin and how it looked
wasn’t necessarily either true or appealing, but the sample you tasted was so
outrageously yummy that you just had to take one home. And so here he is,
multi-talented 22-year-old singer songwriter Liam Frost and his five-piece band,
The Slowdown Family, soon to be releasing his single ‘The Mourners Of
St. Pauls’ to an eager, voracious market in May 2006. Not only is he from
Manchester but he also plays by turns, violin, mandolin, drum and guitar. Following
solo shows with the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, Stephen Fretwell and Willy Mason,
Liam will be joined by The Slowdown Family in May for their first UK headline
tour. Just as well we took time out to find his coordinates now then. 1.
Where are you now? What can you see?
I'm sat at the back of a studio
mixroom with Danton and Andy the engineer and my ibook on my lap listening to
'Is This Love?' being mixed.
2. What was the last thing you ate?
Some toast. Wholegrain bread, a little margarine.
3. What was the
last album you bought?
I went on a few big vinyl shops recently...think
one of the last ones I bought was 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' by Explosions
In The Sky, its a double vinyl album with lovely etchings on the flipsides of
the vinyl. Pretty geeky, but nice.
4. What was the last movie you
saw?
I think it was the Machinist when I was back home for a few days.
Christian Bale has been one of my favourite actors since I saw him in American
Psycho...I seem to be watching’ The Big Lebowski’ an awful lot too right now.
5. What are you most looking forward to?
Touring touring
touring!
6. What do you hate right now?
I have a general
hatred for so many things, I wouldn't know where to start...
7. What
was the last thing you saw that you liked on TV?
A re-run of ‘The Sopranos’
last night on TV. Awesome.
8. Where or how do you feel most comfortable?
At home, on my sofa, drinking tea and playing guitar. I'm a total homebody.
9. What would you class as your most defining moment?
Playing
this tiny room upstairs in a bar called ‘Fuel’ in Manchester about a year ago.
Things just started happening from that night. I didn't realise it at the time,
but looking back now that was a big night. The room was double filled and the
crowd was full of people that would end up being pretty influential in the start
of things for me in Manchester.
10. What are your plans for tonight?
More mixing and some sleep. The life of a singer songwriter is a charmed
existence...
The single ‘The Mourners of St Paul’ is released
5th June 2006 on Lavolta Records. Tour dates: May 2006
13th Cardiff
Barfly
14th Birmingham Bar Academy
15th Norwich Arts Centre
16th
Northampton Soundhaus
17th Nottingham Social
19th Bristol Louisiana
20th Brighton The Great Escape
21st Southampton Joiners
22nd London Scala
23rd Oxford Zodiac
24th Leicester The Charlotte
25th Sheffield Fuzz Club
26th Liverpool Barfly
29th Newcastle Evolution Festival
30th Edinburgh
Cabaret Voltaire
31st Glasgow King Tuts
Tour dates: June 2006
1st Leeds Rocket
2nd Manchester Academy 2 relevant sites:
www.myspace.com/liamfrostandtheslowdownfamily
www.liamfrost.co.uk
Alan Sargeant for Crud Magazine 2006©
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