Liam Frost

Liam Frost
Musician Liam Frost performing at Manchester Sound Control on 20th January 2014. Image © Emma Farrer 2014 and used with her permission.
Background information
Birth name	Liam Pickering
Origin	Manchester
Genres	Alternative Folk
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Emperor Records Lavolta Records Lariato Recordings
Associated acts	TOKOLOSH
Website	Liam Frost

Liam Frost, real name Liam Thomas Pickering, is a musician from Manchester, England.^[1] He recorded and played with his backing group, "The Slowdown Family" on his debut album Show Me How The Spectres Dance,^[2] but now performs under the name Liam Frost. Frost has released music through his own imprint, Emperor Records but currently releases material via Lariato Recordings. Frost writes and records both solo material and also performs as part of the band TOKOLOSH.^[3]

Beginnings

Frost made his live debut at 15 years of age playing gigs at the Akoustik Anarkhy nights at the Star & Garter in Manchester. After a few years singing in punk rock bands, he went solo in 2003 aged 20 and in 2006 played a residency in Manchester's Night and Day Cafe to coincide with the release of his first EP.^[4]

Frost is described by Guy Garvey (of the band Elbow) as “the UK’s answer to Bright Eyes”^[5] His songs are heavily focused on the death, ten years apart, of his father and brother and the impact these events had on his life and the lives of those around him.^[6] Frost signed a record deal with Lavolta Records, a subsidiary of Sony BMG, in 2005.

Musical career

With The Slowdown Family

Frost spent the early part of 2006 with The Slowdown Family in a London studio with Coldplay producer Danton Supple ^[7] recording his debut album Show Me How The Spectres Dance. The first four singles were released by Lavolta; the She Painted Pictures EP in February 2006, The Mourners of St Paul's in June and The City is at Standstill in August. She Painted Pictures was released as a chart-eligible single in February 2007.^[8]

With the band, Frost completed his first headline tour of the UK ^[9] and made appearances at many of the UK festivals throughout the summer. He also shared a stage with Elbow at their Somerset House gig ^[10] as well as The Decemberists, The Magic Numbers, Nine Black Alps, Willy Mason, Badly Drawn Boy and Ray Davies. Show Me How The Spectres Dance was released on 11 September 2006.^[11]

The Mourners of St Paul's was voted the #1 single of 2006 by Channel 4's Planet Sound.

Post Slowdown Family

Following the disbanding of The Slowdown Family Frost discovered that Lavolta had become a part of Columbia Records, and his second album would be made for them.^[12] He travelled to New York to make the record with Victor Van Vugt ^[13] at Chelsea's Stratosphere Sound. Upon completion of the album, Frost was dropped by Columbia near the end of 2008. However, he managed to negotiate terms to leave the label with the master tapes of the album.^[14]

The album, We Ain't Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain was released in the UK on 28 September 2009 on Emperor Records,^[15] Frost's own label. It was named after a poem of the same name by the poet, novelist, and short story writer Charles Bukowski.^[16] It also contains several collaborations with singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, including Your Hand In Mine; a duet with Martha Wainwright.^[17]

With TOKOLOSH

In 2011 Frost formed a collaborative side project called TOKOLOSH with brothers Christian and Nicky Madden of The Earlies, The Whip's Nathan Sudders and drummer Richard Young.^[18] Described by BBC 6 Music DJ Marc Riley as a supergroup ^[19] the band have played numerous shows including their debut gig at the historic John Rylands Library Reading Room in Manchester City Centre ^[20] and on 13 December 2013 they provided support for I Am Kloot at the Manchester Apollo.^[21] In September 2014 they appeared at Festival No 6 playing an evening woodland gig ^[22] and earlier that year they also released their debut album Stay Strong on the Jack To Phono label.^[23]

Recent Solo Work

In 2014 Frost started working on songs for his third album and throughout the year he played a number of solo shows and support slots which included new material. In July 2014 he provided support for Badly Drawn Boy at Manchester Roadhouse at a gig celebrating the life of Steve Lloyd, a co-owner of the Roadhouse, which raised money for Manchester's Christie Hospital.^[24] Later that year, in addition to several solo dates, Frost also played sets at shows by Cherry Ghost ^[25] and The Courteeners frontman Liam Fray ^[26]

On the 27th October 2014 Frost released his first EP for some years via Lariato Recordings entitled The Wild Places EP which contained five downloadable tracks; Who's Gonna Love You, The Wild Places, When I'm Alone, an acoustic version of Who's Gonna Love You and a cover of Sade's No Ordinary Love.^[27]

Radio Sessions

Frost has performed several live sessions for BBC network radio. On the 13th February 2006 he appeared on Liz Kershaw's Radio 2 show as she stood in for Janice Long and on the 28th August of the same year he appeared again on Radio 2; this time on the Mark Radcliffe show.^[28] Further sessions took place on digital station BBC 6 Music. Frost performed two sessions for the Marc Riley Show on 2 March 2009 ^[29] and 17 February 2010 ^[30] and also a session for Lauren Laverne on 21 January 2010.^[31]

On 13 January 2007 Frost appeared on the Radio 3 arts show The Verb where he performed songs and was interviewed about his lyricism by poet Ian McMillan.^[32]

Other Work

Cape Farewell

Following the promotion of his first album, in 2007 Frost took part in a sailing expedition known as Cape Farewell, campaigning to raise awareness of climate change. The voyage aboard a schooner took nearly three weeks, crossing the North Atlantic and travelling to Greenland with a crew made up of scientists, writers, artists, musicians and comedians.^[33] Despite suffering with sea sickness it was on this trip that Frost began writing material that would make up his second album ^[34] including the songs Shipwrecks ^[35] and Leading Lights and Luminaries ^[36]

Chaos to Order

In November 2014 Frost took part in Manchester Central Library's Chaos to Order residency curated by the band Everything Everything at the newly refurbished library.^[37] Frost and fellow musician Sara Lowes spent a week mentoring a group of young musicians between the ages 18 and 25 who were recruited via the city's Brighter Sound project,^[38] helping them to create original compositions which were performed live at the library at the end of the residency.^[39]

References In Popular Culture

In 2011, a portrait of Frost was painted by British artist Joe Simpson (artist),^[40] the painting was exhibited around the UK including at Simpson's solo exhibition at The Royal Albert Hall.^[41]

Discography

Liam Frost

Albums

• Show Me How The Spectres Dance (4 September 2006) Lavolta Records
• We Ain't Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain (27 September 2009) Emperor Records

Singles and EPs

• She Painted Pictures EP (6 February 2006) Lavolta Records
• The Mourners of St. Paul's (5 June 2006) Lavolta Records
• The City Is At Standstill (28 August 2006) Lavolta (#74 UK Singles Chart^[42])
• She Painted Pictures (5 February 2007) Lavolta Records
• Held Tightly In Your Fist (13 September 2009) Emperor Records
• Your Hand In Mine (featuring Martha Wainwright) (18 January 2010) Emperor Records
• The Wild Places EP (27 October 2014) Lariato Recordings

TOKOLOSH

Albums

• Stay Strong (1 August 2014) Jack To Phono

Singles and EPs

• The Hollow / Tokohorse (1 October 2012) Jack To Phono
• Shapeshifter / Bloodlines (25 February 2013) Jack To Phono
• The Root (1 July 2013) Jack To Phono
• Unknown Animal (4 November 2013)
• A Great Wave (30 May 2014)

References

External links

• Liam Frost Official Website
• Liam Frost on Twitter
• Liam Frost YouTube Channel
• Piece on "Your Hand In Mine", written by Frost at Drowned In Sound
• TOKOLOSH Official Website