At a fancy-dress party in the early 1980s, one guest stood out among the various heroes and villains of the night: A man in a giant papier-mache head.
The face was shaped like a rugby ball. The eyes were wide and unblinking, resembling a pair of Pacman heads. The hair was painted-on – with a single streak removed to resemble a side parting. The mouth was carved out as a pair of protruding, pillowy lips.
That party crowd – who were both tickled and terrified by what they saw – would be Frank Sidebottom’s first ever audience.
Within months, people were actually paying to see him.
By the nineties, Sidebottom – a whiney, constantly-distracted overgrown child in a badly-fitted suit – had turned into a multi-talented superstar of Timperley: A lead singer, comedian, chat show host, guest speaker and football club founder all rolled into one.
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He left his mark in music, media and print; spending a lot of time performing off-key, localised covers of classic songs (Born In Timperley, Panic On The Streets Of Timperley, Anarchy In Timperley etc.) whilst his other adventures were detailed in cartoons (drawn himself).
When he wasn’t performing on stage or cheering on his football team Timperley Bigshorts (which he created) from the sidelines, Sidebottom could be found frolicking all over Manchester, be it splashing through water fountains on live TV, pestering passers-by, or parading through gardens with the head of Aphex Twin on a stick.
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He appeared at Reading Festival, Wembley, The Cavern Club and pretty much any place in Manchester that had a stage. Sometimes he’d just head out to the pubs and chat nonsense to a half-drunk crowd.
He lived an enigmatic life quite unlike any other character in history – with authors, journalists, filmmakers and fans still poring through his back catalogue to this day.
The man underneath the head was Chris Sievey – a young illustrator, doodler and musician. He’d mocked up the costume on a whim for an evening out, but decided to don the large head more regularly after seeing Sidebottom strike a chord.
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The papier-mache was constantly being refined before eventually being upgraded to fibreglass, and Sievey would always wear a nosepeg tied to a cord around his ears to ensure Sidebottom spoke with a nasal, northern twang.
One person to play with Sidebottom during his heyday was journalist Mark Kermode.
“Everyone who was in Manchester at that period gigged with Frank Sidebottom,” commented the critic.
“Because Frank Sidebottom performed all the time, anywhere and everywhere.”
Starting out as mega-fan for The Freshies (Sievey’s band), Sidebottom slowly turned into a big draw on the gig circuit, which led to him branching out as his own musician, before eventually turning into an interviewer and on-the-ground journalist.
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He became the Manc equivalent of The Naked Cowboy in Times Square; a familiar sight for locals, but someone who perplexed out-of-towners.
Given his Marmite brand of humour, it was always fascinating to see what type of reaction Sidebottom would get from his interview subjects. Celebrity guests on his chat series Frank’s Proper Tele Show would either keel over laughing at the absurdity of it all, or sit squirming in their seats in visible discomfort.
Not that it really mattered who was on the show, anyway. They’d barely get a word in edgeways.
Sidebottom would pepper his guests with inane questions and seemingly lose interest in the answer before the final word fell off his tongue; promptly flopping back into his chair, flailing his limbs in the air, or letting his oval head droop to the ground.
Sometimes, he’d make an inquiry then respond to it himself. On other occasions he’d throw tantrums.
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Sidebottom’s later shows were screened on the now-defunct Channel M for smaller local audiences, and there’d be ridiculous prizes for those who tuned in. He would proudly present items like “out of date food”; “a press pass to get into an event that’s already finished” and “pickled Power Rangers” (toy figures inside pickle jars); promising to mail each gift out to the winner.
As if Sidebottom himself wasn’t peculiar enough, he’d often bring out a cardboard mirror image puppet – Little Frank – who he’d routinely berate.
Anyone meeting Sidebottom would find getting a sensible conversation out of him absolutely impossible. One BBC interviewer, adamant to uncover the truth, once asked him: “What is it you’re trying to do?”
“I’m trying to make some money without me mum finding out,” replied Sidebottom.
But it was supposed to be that way. As his old bandmate Rick Sarko put it: “Frank didn’t want to be exposed as being a normal human being. Which he wasn’t.”
Very few people had Sidebottom figured out. Even now, ten years after his death, speculation surrounding the character remains rife.
Some think he was just a bizarre comic creation built solely as an excuse for Sievey to act daft and score cheap laughs in snooker clubs. But those closest to the man with the big red smile believed it was more complicated than that.
The fact that Sidebottom’s true identity was a mystery for many years was no accident. Sievey had gone to great lengths to keep it that way.
One of the few people who knew the real man during his lifetime was the journalist Jon Ronson, who played alongside Sidebottom in his Oh Blimey Big Band (the criteria for getting into the group was Ronson’s ability to play notes C, F and G successfully).
When Ronson walked backstage for the first time and said hello to “Chris”, a strange silence filled the air. He cautiously corrected the greeting to “Frank”, and only then, did he get a cheery, nasally reply.
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When it came to Sidebottom, Sievey never, ever phoned it in. When that giant head went on, he completely slipped away and let his chaotic character take the reins.
Mick Middles, Sidebottom’s biographer, suggested Sievey was consumed by his creation, calling the transformation into Sidebottom as “unsettling and remarkable”.
It reached a point where Sievey flipping between egos wasn’t entirely voluntary. It just happened.
Ronson remembers that Sievey would sometimes stay in character as Sidebottom for hours after he was done performing – despite there being no audience to play up to.
Andy Hay / Flickr
Sievey and Sidebottom seemed to live very different lives. But occasionally, the lines between them would blur.
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When Sievey was summoned to court for late payments to HMRC, for example, the experience was supposed to scare him straight, but instead it served as inspiration for Sidebottom to write a song about the merits of the taxman.
The footage of him singing “tax is absolutely fantastic” whilst merrily filling in financial forms on a kitchen table in front of an absolutely baffled onlooker is gold.
A restless creative and fun-loving cartoonist, Sievey had little time for the dull seriousness of adulthood, and Sidebottom offered him the perfect outlet for escape.
Still, the pair didn’t always coexist harmoniously.
In Steve Sullivan’s wonderful documentary, “Being Frank”, it’s revealed that Sievey set the costume aside for a period, partly resenting the fact that Sidebottom had become famous when “Chris” had not.
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Sievey spent time away from Sidebottom by working as a designer on animated shows like Pingu and Bob The Builder, but he couldn’t stay mad at his alter ego for long.
After a lengthy absence, he blew the dust off the head and the two reconciled, although the comeback would tragically be cut short.
Sievey was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, and he was found unresponsive on the floor of his flat just weeks later.
He passed away on 21 June 2010 at the age of 54.
Frank Sidebottom & Chris Sievey’s Big Page / Facebook
Despite Sidebottom’s local fame, Sievey died almost penniless, and was left facing a pauper’s funeral until Ronson tweeted the news to followers.
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Within hours, Sievey’s family had a pot overspilling with thousands to give him the kind of send-off he deserved.
Sidebottom has been gone for a decade, but you can still see him today – encased in bronze in his hometown of Timperley; a single thumb raised to greet passers-by.
The Sidebottom statue sculptor, who hailed from Eastern Europe, admitted she’d never seen anyone quite like him when she was recruited to do the work.
Even in death, Sidebottom was still surprising people.
A scheduled memorial was due to take place in Timperley this weekend; ten years to the day since Sidebottom bid farewell. But, like so many other major gatherings in 2020, the meet-up has been scuppered.
You can’t help but wonder what Sidebottom would have made of everything happening today. He’d certainly have had no problem with being locked down in his hometown.
Between his statue’s feet lies a plaque containing a message scrawled in the lower-case cartoonish handwriting style that both Sievey and Sidebottom favoured.
“As long as I gaze on Timperley sunset, I am in paradise,” it reads.
You know he was, he really was.
Feature
Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | November 2024
Danny Jones
Well, hello there; fancy seeing you all here – presume you’re waiting on another batch of new Manchester bands and artists you’ve not come across before?
Stupid question, of course you are. It’s the end of the month after all and that’s how we like to start the next one. Best foot forward and all that.
In case you happen to be new here, right about now is the time (as you’ve probably guessed from the title) that we round up five of the best musicians from in and around Greater Manchester that we’ve been listening to recently.
Let’s not muck about any longer, shall we?
Five Manchester bands and artists you should listen to
1. John Bramwell
His S-heavy voice cuts through so much this album in such a satisfying way.
First up on our list is John Bramwell, best known for his years with noughties alternative and indie band I Am Kloot, but he’s been enjoying his solo journey since 2016, and so have we. With his sophomore album released earlier this year, we finally found time to try it out – in a word: stunning.
Hailing from Hyde, the former frontman and guitarist released his standalone debut in 2017, but even before that he released a passion project under the name ‘Johnny Dangerously’ way back in 1989 entitled, You, Me and the Alarm Clock, once called “the best British album you’ve never heard” by The Guardian.
Suffice it to say, the 60-year-old has been on a long and winding road to becoming a straight-up singer-songwriter for some time now and it’s great to hear where his sound has got to. There’s a real 1960s and ’70s feel to a lot of it; we’d start with the title track, ‘It’s Just You’, and ‘I Am The Sky’, which shows a real range to those vocal tones.
2. Hollows
Second on our list of Manchester bands and artists for November is the alternative trio, Hollows, who after stumbling across a little while back we’ve now rediscovered following their release of their latest EP, Running With Scissors.
While it’s by no means heavy, they’re probably the most guitar-driven name on the list this month. We picked up bits of Placebo and even contemporary Smashing Pumpkins at times but, put most simply, they’re just a good rock band and we still think there’s a lack of those around these days.
Their newest stuff is undoubtedly their best but you’ve still got to start with ‘UV Lights’ in our opinion (simply because we did), but from there we’d encourage you’d move on to ‘History’ and ‘Talon’.
Shifting over to electronic for a spell, our next nod goes to rising DJ and producer Oldboy. Named after the cult-hit film, his sound certainly carries over plenty of inspiration from movies and TV – and not just because he samples Brad Bitt in Seven on one of his tracks.
Born in York before spending his uni days in Sheffield and eventually landing here in Manchester a few years ago, the rising Northern star – real name Max Carter – does garage, dub and house best but there’s lots of variety on show. He also has his own record label, Front Toward Enemy.
With a catalogue dating back to 2021 and a versatility spanning so many sub-genres, not to mention a truly great selection of instant earworm sampled, he can pretty much turn his hand to anything provided there’s bass and some distortion involved. ‘Grab Di Mic’ is his latest, ‘Find Da Cure’ is a great intro and his ‘Got Yo $’ rightly went viral on TikTok a while back. Give him a spin.
Amidst all these new Manchester bands and lesser-known artists, Oldboy’s live sets are a nice change of pace.
4. The Recreation
Penultimately, we’ll quite literally keep effing and blinding until you listen to the fantastic local five-piece that is The Recreation, who have quickly become a bit of an obsession of ours. They released their second LP this past May and the only thing we’ve been listening to the same amount is their first.
To be completely honest, we’ve only really chimed with the stuff from 2020 onwards, but let’s just say we really struggled to pick our favourite tracks from the Oldham lads because we genuinely love all of it so much. That being said, if you had to push for once from each album, we’d go ‘Summertime 35s’ from their debut and ‘Call Me Back Sugar’ from Love In.
A really special shout-out also has to go to the extremely stripped-back spoken word track, ‘remember the future? interlude’, which delivers such matter-of-fact but surprisingly moving Northernisms that we really urge you to find a quiet corner in a dark room and just experience it. Big up The Rec.
couldn’t have done it without the wizardry of @thekaratesuit and a huge thanks to Ramin Bostan for providing the luscious trumpets you hear on track 6 ‘Kharhi’. Both amazing talents in their own right!
Last but not least are the whippersnappers of the bunch, local lads Montello who were recently got onto thanks to the Stanleys lads, who named this little four-piece one of the names helping fly the flag for the mini music hamlet of Wigan.
When we say young by the way, we’re talking no one much older than 17 in this promising little outfit but they’ve already got a style and a sound that gives the impression of a band that has been at this much longer than they have and there’s definitely some similarities to The Lathums, Stanleys and more.
It’s no-nonsense indie rock and you know we love a bit of that. Better production levels and even more confidence will come as they inevitably mature but, at the minute, they’ve got three tracks you have no excuse not to work through them all. The Wigan scene really is growing and we’re here for it.
They also happen to be playing our Audio North stage at Year’s End Festival next month, so we best see your there and listening to live!
And we’re sorry to say it but, once again, that’s all for another month.
We sincerely hope you give these fantastic Manchester-based bands and artists a go over the coming weeks and come back for more recommendations for our final edition of 2024 at the end of December.
Featured Images — Press Images (supplied/via Facebook)
Feature
If this is a cult, we’re into it – Sleep Token hypnotise a sold-out Co-op Live crowd
Danny Jones
Tuesday night saw thousands head towards the Etihad Campus for two massive events: one of them being Man City playing in the Champions League and the other one, arguably the biggest metal gig of the year as Sleep Token made their Co-op Live debut.
The alternative prog metal group have had an unreal 12 months or so and while the mysterious, masked rockers have actually been around since 2016, the past year has been truly seismic for their now global profile – hence why they were able to sell out Manchester’s biggest arena at the first time of asking.
Bands don’t just walk into places like the 23,500-capacity Co-op Live arena; anyone playing gigs of that size needs to have earned a rather massive audience in order to do and, in the case of this particular artist, that following feels a little bit more cult-like and fanatical.
We mean that in the nicest way possible, by the way, and we now well and truly have faith in the musical and slightly macabre church of Sleep Token. It all started with an unforgettable intro.
Actually, first off, we have to give a huge hand to warm-up act Bilmuri. We were admittedly almost just as excited to see these guys for the first time and they pulled an absolute blinder landing the support slot for this modern metal gig as, much like the main event, their music is just a bit different.
In the same way that Sleep Token aren’t just straight-up heavy, thrash, death or any particular kind of metal for that matter, neither are Bilmuri. For one, they’re straight-up hilarious, with frontman Johnny Franck spending lots of time both cracking up and ‘cranking’ up the crowd by ‘the hog’ in between songs, amidst playing a mix of alternative metal, post-hardcore and pop-punk.
The various genres being fused on stage are truly wild. Growling and Kevin James at the Daytona 500 samples (yep) are followed by everything from catchy pop choruses to wonderful jazzy solos from their incredible saxophonist and backing singer Gabi Rose, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Point is, us fans in the crowd may have only been few, but it worked because their style is every bit as sprawling.
Bilmuri will be back playing the Ritz here in Manchester in March of next year; we sincerely recommend you give them a listen and grab a ticket because they were just non-stop fun. We can only imagine how good value for money a full headline show in a smaller venue filled their listeners is. Now onto the ‘cult’.
We love these guys so much – give them a try. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Sleep Token took Manchester to mass
Although the London-formed five-piece has fully lent into this whole semi-religious angle – even labelling attendance to one of their gigs and singing along to the often celestial vocals of their once anonymous frontman as ‘worship’ – it’s a theme that’s sadly been used as a stick to beat metalheads with in the past.
There is undoubtedly a gothic and somewhat satanic element to their aesthetic, especially on the face of things with the painted black arms, Japanese-influenced masks covered in ritualistic markings and dripping with blood etc., but when you actually look beyond the surface it’s simply good world-building.
Lead singer ‘Vessel’ (all of the band members go by specific monikers) had his identity figured out not too long ago, but the whole idea of his overall style, purpose and allure is that he’s supposed to be the physical embodiment of something bigger and a conduit within the wider Sleep Token lore.
Oh yeah, this stuff is super detailed.
Most notably, though, it was probably the visuals overall that really struck us the most. It wasn’t just in looking at the various slightly demonic-looking characters on stage and hooded figures that served as the most enchanting backing singers, it was the utterly stunning production levels.
When we say it was possibly the most impressive use of lighting and effects we’ve come across in our many years of gigging, we’re not exaggerating. From that incredible entrance and hanging LEDs dripping with colour throughout slow songs, to the smoke literally creeping along broad beams of light like some kind of ghostly presence, it felt like we were in a trance at several points throughout the gig.
Mesmerising (Credit: The Manc Group)
Metal isn’t just lots of aggressive guitar and drums – at least not any more
It was in moments like this that we were taken aback by just how wholesome the crowd had been all night – again, something that heavier rock gigs never get credit for. In fact, a current trend at metal shows is for people to hold up pictures of their cats and that was exactly what we walked into. Adorable.
The point we’re getting at is that while this particular show had plenty of headbanging of course, especially with how insane some of the bass and drum work is in Sleep Token’s many breakdowns, Co-op Live wasn’t pure moshpits and carnage. Far from it, to be honest.
When those aforementioned lights were tracing around the massive arena, we constantly found ourselves looking around the room and staring up at the sky, before immediately noticing thousands of other people doing the same. There were just as many heart symbols in the air as there were devil horns.
Phone torches were held high during ‘Euclid’ and the room lit up like a night sky. That’s nothing at gigs these days, we know, but it’s worth noting just to put things into perspective for those who may have long misunderstood the metal crowd, ‘moshers’ and ’emos’ – whatever meaningless word gets thrown around most these days.
Who wore it better?He truly was a godly figure up there on that stage at times.Cosplays and a Manc choir? There was nothing ‘devil-worshipping’ about this crowd, they were wholesome AF. (Credit: The Manc Group)
The highlights were as you would expect if you’re a fan: ‘The Offering’ got those grumbly distorted guitars in nice and early, ‘Granite’ had everyone from the goth girls to the middle-aged blokes doing their very best sexy dance; ‘Alkaline’ put literal chills on our spine – as did all of the vocals from start to finish.
It may have just been our ears playing tricks on us but Vessel’s voice and quivering hands were so full of emotion that we swear we could hear him crying through the lyrics on more than one occasion. Whether for the pageantry or not, there were plenty of very real people smiling up at him with teary eyes.
You’ll never hear quite as much genre-bending as you do in ‘The Summoning’ and watching everyone change gears from just pure, no-nonsense heavy metal to grooving out to the sudden shift to funk rock was a real joy. It was probably the standout of the whole night, but it was a triumph all-round.
We’ve been enjoying Sleep Token from afar for a while now and always really appreciated how technically impressive and groundbreaking the music felt, even just on a pure sonic level, but it’s only now we’ve been to one of their shows that we think we ‘get‘ the obsession and why more and more followers are flocking to see them live in the flesh.
Call it unique, strange, disturbing — call it whatever you want, the fans couldn’t care less. It was a pseudo-religious experience for a lot of people in that room and while it may take us a while to fully convert, we’re very open to the concept. Even if just for that magical intro alone, to be honest.
Live music has always been like church to us, so we can always get behind hero-worshipping like this.
The Manc -
19th June 2020 
