The Bevis Frond
Mistakenly believed to be a group, the Bevis Frond is actually just one person—Nick Saloman. Influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Cream, Saloman formed the Bevis Frond Museum while still at school. The group disbanded and after a period playing acoustic sets in the Walthamstow area of London he formed the Von Trap Family, later known as Room 13. In 1982, Saloman was seriously hurt in a motor-cycle accident. He used the money he received in compensation to record MIASMA in his bedroom and it quickly became a collectors’ item. PULSEBEAT magazine referred to the tracks as ‘like fireworks for inside your head.’ Saloman released INNER MARSHLAND and TRIPTYCH on his own Woronzow Records and his long psychedelic guitar workouts mapped out a style that was shamelessly archaic but appealing. London's Reckless Records re-released his first three albums and in 1988 released BEVIS THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS and, a year later, THE AUNTIE WINNIE ALBUM. Saloman's brand of raw, imaginative blues guitar drew many converts and ANY GAS FASTER, recorded in better-equipped studios, was widely lauded. Rolling Stone magazine said of it: ‘With so much modern psychedelia cheapened by cliche or nostalgia, the Bevis Frond is the actual out-there item.’ In 1991 Saloman released a double set, NEW RIVER HEAD, on his own Woronzow Records, distributed in the USA by Reckless. He followed it up with 1992's JUST IS, again a double, and BEATROOTS, recorded under the pseudonym Fred Bison Five. As a tireless believer in the need for communication, he set up an underground magazine, PTOLEMAIC TERRASCOPE, in the late '80s and like Saloman's music, it is a loyal correspondent of the UK psychedelic scene.