Shamefully heres some reviews:
NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW // FRAZER KING: DRUNK AND (NOT SO) INCAPABLE
There are some really, really drunk bands out there, but who also make really great music and perform unforgettable (for all the right reasons) live shows. They channel all that overindulgence into making something really amazing. Iggy Pop, off the top of my head, was probably really drunk when he performed with The Stooges that first time he decided to roll around in broken glass and stage dive. Amy Winehouse, although having as many bad drunk performances as she has good ones, is also someone who has channeled excess into genius. The Gallagher brothers have probably performed gigs they don’t even remember doing and have had them heralded a triumph.
And so it was on the weekend of 29-31 May that I witnessed this phenomenon in all its beery, sweaty, foul-mouthed glory. Unsigned Manchester band Frazer King were playing a set on the Doghouse Promotions stage at Wychwood Festival, and it was like nothing I’d ever seen or heard before. The band consists of six members, all of whom sing and contribute a vocal part in some form or another. Singer/guitarist Nathan McIlroy has the most distinctive Mancunian vocal - a sort of fine gravelly wail that is contrasted dramatically with other front-man Jack Mahoney’s dirty blues growl - the dirtiest in fact this side of what would be created if Northern England relocated to New Orleans. Co-front man Tony Boardman and backing vocalist/drummer Jack Hardiker complete the main harmonic lineup, accompanied by a frenzied array of noise that is manipulated into a skippy mix of folk, country, skiffle, blues and rock n’ roll indie. Followed by a large vodka chaser.
Today’s performance was no exception - mercilessly driven by what seemed like four nights worth of consumption, they shuffled around the stage producing the most amazing musical spectacle. Singer Nathan, between songs, was warbling incoherently at the audience in a broad Manchester dialect, while during, threw himself at the front row, attempted some sort of pole-dance with part of the tent rigging, and at the end fell off the back of the stage in a most spectacular arrangement of limbs. He returned a few minutes later, apparently unhurt, to rapturous applause from the crowd – only to thank us by mooning.
But today, instead of sounding like an absolute shambles, vomiting and passing out on stage, it was actually a very well put together, cogent sounding set – despite the big mish-mash of influences, it all came together remarkably well.
At the end of their gig I managed to grab a few words with who I thought looked one of the most sober out of the band, but according to this, apparently not. Jack Mahoney (the one with the dirty bluesy vocal) was standing at the side of stage having what looked like a very sensible conversation with two others. However, as I got closer, his words began to be more audibly slurred and his standing position not so stable. This was going to be interesting…
Noize: So tell me a bit about your band, where are you from and how did you get together?
Jack: Unfortunately we’re from Manchester, the desolate musical landscape that that is. It’s full of people who either want to be Tom Waits or… err… Oasis. Thing is, the Tom Waits people really believe that they are!
Noize: And what do you want to be?
Jack: What do I wanna be? (There’s a long pause as he looks up to wonder, his eyes noticeable rolling to the back of his head.) Happy mostly… I don’t care much.
Noize: Are you playing any more festivals or gigs over the summer?
Jack: I don’t know anything (long pause)… I don’t know why I’m here! They lured me into the band with a can of Stella. Apparently that’s the way I was born. The doctor lured me out of my mother’s vagina with some chocolates.
Noize: … So not beer?
Jack: (Ignores what I’ve just said) Apparently I just popped right out!
Noize: Wow (stunned silence).
Jack: … I burnt my thumb with a cigarette (shows me his thumb and looks forlorn). It wasn’t my fault though, it was that knobhead who fell off the back of the stage!
Noize: He spilt his beer over you as well.
Jack: I know… I spilt my beer all over the DI box, but ssshhh…!
At this point I thought it was time to say our goodbyes and leave it at that. He shook my hand and looked at me as though I’d just walked up to him. “We’re usually better and less pissed!” he finally slurred out as his departing comment.
In short, I cannot recommend this band enough - if you ever get the chance to see them live please do. There’s not much talk of a demo or EP at the moment because their agent left them for another artist (or so I could decipher from part of the above interview), so they really need a strong fan base to lift them into the exposure they deserve. And if beer be the fuel of greatness, then drink on.*
*NB not applicable in all cases.
By Josie Allchin
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Just as some of Britain's major cities have associated sounds, so, too, do parts of Manchester. From Failsworth's dark atmospherics to Chorlton's nu-folkers, Tameside punks to Levenshulme Irish. Wythenshawe? Um, pass. (Well, I know Billy Duffy from The Cult went to school there cos my dad taught him chemistry - true - but other than that?) Out of the south side's least glamorous suburb come Frazer King - a band, not a bloke. Six strong, and they've brought quite a crowd with them. Joe's is the latest incarnation of that bar at the Piccadilly end of Oldham Street - drifters' favourite The Merchants back in the day, it's been a succession of chromey things the past few years, none of which have lasted more than about ten minutes. And tonight it's absolutely rammed. Like early Courteeners gigs, packed with a buzzing crowd that straddle the line between mates and fans, built up via their own underground club night, the wonderfully named Let's Battle Bohemia. Only this is no commercially savvy indie rock. It's... well, how often do you see a new band and just stand there wondering exactly what the hell they've been listening to? (manchestermusic.co.uk)
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"This is a new one, a slow one, so you can go to the toilet if you like" are the opening words from lead singer Nathan McIlroy, sporting a faintly impressive black eye (if you're impressed by that sort of thing). One of four voices - his, rough gritty soul to Jack Mahoney's deep dirty blues with backing from drummer Jack Hardiker and co-frontman Tony Boardman; close harmonies making up some unclassifiable mixture of soul, barbershop, blues and folk. And after that, they turn up the pace. There's energetic skiffle rattle, strange indie folk reminiscent of lost oddities Alfie, shades of English post-Beatles psychedelia, one tune that accelerates Eastern European style into a stamp-along frenzy. There is so much going on here it defies belief that they're in any way coherent - and yet they are, brilliantly so, existing in some parallel universe genre all of their own making. Mahoney's deep growl leads into the last song with stark Leadbelly blues, and then they're speeding up again, building through Northern soul into an upbeat Motown-flavoured climax. It's fantastic - hasn't actually got a title yet, apparently. The crowd - every bit as eclectic as the music - want more, but that's our lot, it seems. The bloke next to me tells me he's come 300 miles to be here. He might be on the wind-up. He might not. There's something strangely addictive about them. Remember the name - this is one of the most exciting new bands I've seen in a while. (Cath Aubergine)
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"Wythenshawe's Frazer King impress from the outset with their considererable vocal ability and unique stylistic range. Song-by-song they flit between sounds as riotous as The Pixies at their most drunk (and Spanish) and as harmonious as The Drifters at their most " Oooh-ah-ooh". There are six of them on stage and at least as many different voices pouring forth, several of which seem to be coming from one man. The remarkably talented and sideburned Nathan Mclliroy tears through the haunting "The Witch and Mr Woo" in throat damaging style. Guitarist Jack Mahoney takes over the lead vocal duties for the foot stomping, biblical dirty blues of "Master and Creator" and six minutes later I've got a new favourite Manchester Band". (Fraser McFadyen Sandman)
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For the uninitiated, Frazer King look like a right rabble, so gloriously out of step with everything else going on today, their mob-mentality pitched somewhere between the right side of boisterous and the wrong side of unruly.
Their sound is almost impossible to label, taking in a Pogues-like mix of disarray and beauty, a Shack-esque ear for melody and a Bad Seeds intensity (with some added vigorous skiffle for good measure).
Add to the mix three fantastic, distinctive voices and the result is the best new band in Manchester at the moment. Someone, surely, will sign them soon. (Shaun Curran - City Life)
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Tickets SELLING FAST! £7 adv avaliable from (more on the door): wegottickets.com seetickets.com Ticketline Picadilly Records
Grouper (US) has her latest – Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill – of three albums on Type Records. She has also been involved in collaborative releases, contributing a track to Xiu Xiu’s Remixed & Covered and four tracks to a split release with Inca Ore. Her other contemporaries are Belong, Growing, Tim Hecker, Windy & Carl and Atlas Sound.
Jasper TX (Sweden), with a hefty back-catalogue of releases on labels such as Miasmah, and collaborations with buddy Machinefabriek, is an essential domestic appliance in the household of conceptual music. He is comparable to artists Fennesz, Sigur Ros, Múm and Tape.
Intricate and atmospheric songsmith, Danny Saul (UK) performs with different combinations of musicians, making each gig a unique event. His forthcoming release is "Harsh, Final", and he also performs with Greg Haines as Liondialer.
Fieldhead (UK) music delights in tape hiss, bleak landscapes and decaying analogue loops. He is also a member of The Declining Winter and Glissando. His debut album, "They Shook Hands for Hours" is released soon on Home Assembly.
Remember sisters and friends, get down to the Oxford this Sunday (25th oct) at 9pm for the Real Jam Session! A night of free improvisation, straight up jammin, everyone involved. Bring your friends down for a good night so that they let us do it again! Free in, upstairs at the Oxford, opposite academy one, on the corner next to the old eye hospital.
Easy, just letting you know we got a big gig comin up at the ram & shakkle in fallowfield. Its Cheep drinks and free entry. we got a mint Support band lined up and got a big set planned with a few new songs. Peace.
Cheers tony, sounding ace on your recordings, I'd forgotten how good you are! Have a good gig in Liverpool tonight, I'll come and see you at your next on in Manc! Take care, rob
Alright Tony, not put music on site yet. Writing and recording at home. Been working with Katy my Daughter. Helped record Demos etc. Check out her music she is on my freinds , she writes in so many different styles . I prefer her acoustic stuff but she is really into writing pop songs . Gonna be putting mine on soon mate. Cheers Tony
Trespassers William (Seattle, US) are the duo of Matt Brown and Anna-Lynne Williams. "Subliminally sublime and pragmatically perfect, you would have to possess an ashtray for a heart not to feel this coursing through your soul" (DSD Music Magazine). A new EP, The Natural Order of Things, is set to be released on Gizeh Records. They will make a church performance with special guests.
Glissando (Sheffield, UK) “have the kind of atmosphere that can captivate and relax in equal measure- never before has tranquillity sounded so urgent. While track lengths of over 10 minutes may fail to hold the attention of the ADHD sufferers among us, with patience it plays like a majestic dream. And it's one you'll never want to wake up from." NME
Operations (Chris Anderson) is a Manchester based conceptual music producer and sound artist. He performs and records with an array of analog synths and effects, reel-to-reel tape and casette players, and guitars. Followers of Tim Hecker, Slowdive, Fennesz, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Stephen O'Malley, Type and 12K Records will surely nod in approval.
Many thanks for the add chaps. Metonia wish you well in your ventures and adventures. Please feel free to check out our tunes and give us some feedback. Hope to see you at a gig sometime... Cheers
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