This is the interview I did with Liam for the High Voltage fanzine (
http://www.highvoltage.org.uk). Consider this a sneak preview as its not available anywhere else yet. Its from the day before the tour started (when the pics below were taken).
Liam Frost - Are they calling me a dick?
Liam Frost is Manchester’s worst-kept secret. People have been banging on about how great he is for months now. All this and he’s played no more than a handful of gigs outside of his home town and only has an extremely limited edition E.P. to his name. But much is expected of the man and his band as they embark on their first UK tour. What better time for HV to catch up for a chat about sounding like Coldplay, embracing cream trousers and the pressures of being just another singer-songwriter…
Deep in the bowels of a Manchester practice studio Liam Frost settles himself down on a battered old sofa, clears his throat and tugs the microphone a little closer. He seems remarkably relaxed for a man about to spend the next three weeks well and truly outside his comfort zone. So how’s he feeling about the tour?
“Excited about the tour. It’s what you do it for. It’s going to be really good. It’s the first headline dates. It’s more pressure than when we did the Fretwell tour because someone’s putting money behind us now. I’m a commodity. Its just going to be nice to road-test the new songs – I hate it when people say that! Something Blunt would say… I’ll just play new songs and see if people like them.”
Liam’s stock is certainly on the rise. High profile support slots with Stephen Fretwell and Elbow have led to much airplay for ‘She Painted Pictures’ and with it the expected pigeon-holing. As a result the next single ‘Mourners of St Pauls’ finds Liam about as far removed as possible from the folksy, poppy singer-songwriter that you might have been expecting. Was this a deliberate move?
“Straight away yeah. We wanted to point out what kind of songwriter I am. So that people weren’t misguided that it was just a straight-up singer-songwriter thing.”
But are you worried that you might be shooting yourself in the foot?
“It’s not a radio song. Next to Try Try Try it’s probably one of the two most important songs on the album to me because they’re both about big moments and stuff. But the label just thought of it as like a statement of intent single. I think the misconception after ‘She Painted Pictures’ was that I was just a singer-songwriter.”
Liam Frost is a clearly not in favour of following in the footsteps of the torrent of MOR singer-songwriters currently engulfing the music industry. ‘Mourners’ is a case in point. It’s an epic Arcade-Fire-esque tale about his father’s funeral that builds and builds over four minutes to a glorious crescendo. It’s a big sound. This may be a result of their new producer, one Danton Supple. If you don’t know him its worth mentioning that the last album he did was Coldplay’s ‘X&Y’. So what was that like?
“Danton was great. I was really frightened. We were choosing between him and someone else. Not that I don’t like Coldplay I just think that they’ve got a very mainstream sound. Instead of thinking Coldplay, Coldplay, Coldplay, I just listened to the records and sonically they’re just really good. You can hear everything. He’s obviously really good at what he does. And he’s a really nice guy. Mostly it’s down to relationships. If you get on with people – it’s the same with the band – you’re going to make good music together. We’re all really good friends and we’re making really good music.”
So all this time isn’t causing massive tensions in the band yet?
“Has anyone killed anyone yet? Not really. I know there were a couple of fraught moments when we were recording. Its not even things that people do… it’s more like just common courtesy. People forget when someone wakes everyone up at 3am being pissed and stupid and because I’m at the head of it all I’ve gotta just like…sort it out.”
So you see yourself as a father figure?
“No. More like a….Hitler. Dictator. Liam Frost and the Hired Hands. Not at all. We’re all friends but at the same time you’re their boss. But it feels like a band now.”
The band have certainly been spending a lot of time together. After recording the album it was on to another first – shooting the video for ‘Mourners’. It’s a very British video shot in what appears to be a shabby church hall. The ‘plot’ as it stands involves the band setting up for a wake. So what’s it all about?
“I got given five different treatments for it. And this was the best one that I saw. The topic of the song is obviously personal to me and the last thing we wanted to do was like that My Chemical Romance video with me at a funeral. We just wanted it to be bright. I don’t really understand what it’s about. I think the idea is of celebration rather than just grief.”
The celebration results in Liam leading the assembled masses in full ringmaster regalia. Did you choose the outfit?
“I didn’t feel too good about wearing cream trousers. I didn’t mind wearing the cream waistcoat but the cream trousers were something that I didn’t really grasp at first. I’ve embraced it.”
So what lies ahead for Liam and the band?
“Then the next single’s out after that and the album’s out in September-ish. Then a tour in September then another single. Then maybe a Christmas tour and another single. That’s quite far ahead. We could be platinum by Christmas or we could have sold four copies. Please buy the single so it goes into the Top 40 and I can go on Top of the Pops and molest Fearne Cotton.”
So the fame is kicking in now?
“I find it really difficult to grasp. I’m not pestered – just people looking and stuff. It’s that early paranoia. What are they saying? Are they calling me a dick?”
Next single ‘Mourners of St Pauls’ is released on 5th June.
http://www.liamfrost.co.uk
