The Bevis Frond @ The 100 Club

The Bevis Frond is a British musical group whose range covers hard edge to melancholy vintage indie rock to poetic, “classic-rock” songcraft with a thick Walthamstow accent. Nick Saloman is the band’s frontman and songwriter.

Saloman was originally in a band known as the Bevis Frond Museum in the late 1960s and in 1979 was in a band called the Von Trapp Family. The Bevis Frond, however, was a one man band from the start with the release of a 250 copy pressing of Miasma in 1987. Saloman’s desire was to “record the kind of music I’d like to listen to…I wanted a Hendrix/Wipers, Byrds sound but with a distinctly British feel.” Subsequent albums were also recorded in a home studio until after the release of his sixth album, Any Gas Faster, when he began to record in an outside studio. This is also the point that he began touring. Another 1990 album, Magic Eye, was a collaboration with Twink of the Pink Fairies.

Marking a welcome return after seven years with a sold out show with Symptomatic at 229, their new album The Leaving of London showcases all of what we expect from the Bevis Frond and more. With much higher production values and a set of extremely strong and memorable songs, The Leaving of London is arguably the most complete and accessible Bevis Frond album to date.