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
Inside Sifters Records, the time capsule record shop that inspired Oasis
Harry Quick
The date the world never thought was coming is set. Manchester’s most famous brothers have against all the odds put their differences aside for music’s greater good. Oasis are BACK.
I suppose it is only good news at the moment if you were one of the lucky few who managed to secure a ticket to one of the 17 gigs (actually, now 19 with two new dates added) in the Oasis 25′ Tour. If you didn’t – hard luck – but there is arguably one shop owner who deserves one more than most.
Fans of our most iconic band from all around the world should show their gratitude to a little record store in Burnage for helping to make that happen. Some might say, Sifters Records is the home of the Gallaghers’ love for music. The two brothers were brought up just a stone’s throw away from here on Cranwell Drive and were regular visitors of Sifters throughout their teenage years.
Noel has previously mentioned how he used to stroll around to Sifters on Fog Lane and pick up records by the likes of The Smiths, Joy Division and The Happy Mondays, which would help inspire some of the world-renowned anthems Oasis would later go on to create. The relationship between the Gallaghers and Sifters Records is emblematic of their deep roots in Manchester’s music scene.
If you feel like you’ve heard the name before, you probably have as Liam mentions the store in the song ‘Shakermaker’. In the final verse of the song – before the closing Shake Along with Me / Them interlude – he gets his special mention.
The lyrics “Mr Sifter sold me songs when I was just sixteen, now he stops at traffic lights but only when they’re green” pay homage to its main road location and the lads’ musical upbringing before the international stardom.
Sifters Records inspired Oasis’ love of music – and gets a namecheck in Shakermaker. Credit: The Manc GroupSifters Records inspired Oasis’ love of music – and gets a namecheck in Shakermaker. Credit: The Manc Group
If the lyrics alone don’t put an image in your head, the official music video for the song pictures Liam stereotypically swaggering towards the shop front in a parka and shades on the hunt for some new music. After flicking through a few 12″ vinyls he shows Red Rose Speedway to the camera by Paul McCartney’s – Wings. I wonder if he bought it that day or could it still be in there?
In a brand new 30-minute interview filmed ahead of the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, Noel revealed how he wrote the infamous lyric in an off-the-cuff moment directly outside the shop.
“I have to say this shop has not changed a bit. I bought a lot of my records in here, it’s where I discovered my love of ‘best of’ albums.
“Every time I hear Shakermaker I remember pulling up in that car and looking over and seeing the song.”
It’s no wonder this was Noel’s favourite place to scope out new tunes growing up. It’s still one of Manchester’s most impressive collections with hundreds, if not thousands of vintage LPs.
Most of these are from the personal collection of ‘Mr Sifter’ himself Pete Howard who has run this musical mecca since 1977. The building itself has an unchanged charm – a time capsule of fading band posters, windows of unrelated local advertisements and well-trodden carpet from the thousands of feet on a pilgrimage from far and wide.
Fans from across the globe have rocked up for a word with Pete and the admiration for his store only keeps growing, which he sometimes struggles to believe how fortunate he got. If you pop in looking for any Oasis discography, good luck, it doesn’t stick around long.
When ‘Definitely Maybe’ dropped in ’94 he said he recognised the members of the band straight just from the album cover.
Now, with a deluxe edition re-release 30 years later, and a reunion tour around the corner, it’s undeniable that the whole world does – let’s just hope they stay mates this time!
Blossoms’ wonderful Wythenshawe Park show proved they’re ready to headline the big leagues
Danny Jones
Ok, full disclosure: as a fellow Stopfordian, this review was always going to be heavily biased, but I still wholeheartedly believe that Blossoms are some the best performers on the British music scene right now and, as far I’m concerned, their Wythenshawe Park gig was yet more proof of that.
The landmark show was their biggest to date with roughly 30,000 people packed into a Greater Manchester field for what was just the second year of the Wythenshawe Park gigs which looks destined to be a must-visit annual Manchester music event.
For starters, not only is being the second name chosen to headline this still relatively new event after Noel bloody Gallagher quite the achievement, but playing to what felt like an entire town full of people on your home turf is the kind of stuff usually reserved for, you know, GOATs…
Now, we’re not going to be so bold as to claim they’re at that point in their careers already, however, when you’re collecting the kind of support acts they are, playing to crowds this big and making music lovers of all ages sing about a giant fibreglass gorilla called Gary, you’re clearly doing something right.
🚨 Be advised: GMP are on the lookout for an eight-foot fibreglass Gorilla – first name Gary, second name trouble. 🦍
He was last spotted on stage as @BlossomsBand were playing absolute bangers at Wythenshawe Park.
Let’s kick off with the supports, shall we? That’s one of the best things about this Live From Wythenshawe Park series: these dates are closer to mini-Manc festivals than they are standalone gigs, and with such an impressive roster of so-called ‘warm-up’ acts, we were truly spoiled rotten.
From more fledgling artists like The Guestlist and Ttrruuces, fast-rising up-and-comers like Seb Lowe and The K’s, to UK veterans like Shed Seven and the always sensational indie stars Inhaler, it was a stacked lineup spanning several generations.
Before Inhaler got the crowd bouncing and ready from Blossoms, we even got special appearances from two incredible female voices during Shed Seven’s set as Issy Ferris and fellow Manc music royalty Rowetta took the stage for some supreme harmonies and what felt like a bit of a Sunday service moment.
But then it was time for the big guns and it really does feel like they’re among that calibre now. They’ve smashed Leeds, Glastonbury, Kendal – they even turned the Plaza and Edgeley Park back in Stockport into fully-fledged music venues – and they look more at home than ever on the big stages.
Blossoms’ Wythenshawe Park gig felt almost like a coming-of-age gig. (Credit: The Manc Group)
It feels mad to think that these lot have been going for 11 years when you first think about it, but when you actually sit back and look at the regular stream of top-quality indie bangers they’ve been putting out every couple of years, it starts to click into place.
Perhaps it’s because they’re still young men and have decades of releasing new music to come but they’re no longer the new kids and they haven’t been for ages – in fact, they’ve released some of the most popular contemporary releases in the genre consistently for a long time now.
Even in the final promo for their now landmark Wythenshawe Park concert, they did a spoof version of ‘Gary’ where one of the lines simply said ‘Honey Sweet’s a tune’ and, you know what, they’re right but the list goes much further than that.
‘Getaway’, ‘There’s A Reason Why’, ‘I Can’t Stand It’, ‘Your Girlfriend’, ‘What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?’ and on and on it goes. We heard them all in their very best iterations, with the band’s on-stage production now at a new level and Tom Ogden’s frontman chops up their with the best right now.
One thing we really enjoyed as a group of old mates from SK was that the set wasn’t the hits either; we got to roll back the years and enjoy the tracks from that debut album when we first started getting excited about a new band coming out of our hometown.
The big extended versions of ‘Blow’ and ‘Cut Me and I’ll Bleed’, in particular, felt rather special.
Blossoms also treated Wythenshawe to some seriously good solos and breakout instrumentals. (Credit: The Manc Group)
But then you look at where the style has gone since then and you genuinely have to just step back and applaud their evolution since that breakout record.
It’s very hard for any band to find that balance of developing their sound and actually changing whilst still managing to nail that instantly recognisable feeling that lets you know it’s one of their songs but they always seem to manage.
Whether it’s those surviving 80s influences that have stood them in good stead since the start, those poppy keyboard riffs from Myles that help keep every tune as catchy as the last, they can collaborate with the likes of Jungle and CMAT whilst still sounding unmistakably like themselves. It’s quite the skill.
That’s why they very quickly went from the one current band from Stockport that people could name to one of the most recognisable modern names in British music with hordes of fans all over, not just Greater Manchester. Just look at the energy coming off that crowd, not to mention the sheer size of it:
Now, all that is simply to say that, at this point, if you’re still someone who only knows ‘that first one’ and is under the presumption that Blossoms are another indie band who fell into that trap of all their songs sounding pretty similar, you’re wrong and the sea of fans at Wythenshawe Park will tell you the same.
Whether you’ve been there from day one and have watched these lads, well, blossom into fully graduated performers and festival-toppers like this currently very sappy Stopfordian, or you got hooked after dozenth irresistible indie anthem, we’re sure you’re all in agreement: they’re proper headliners.
‘Charlemagne’ will forever be a favourite but make no mistake, they’ve come on leaps and bounds in every department since it helped launch their career, and even if it is still their biggest song when they’re headlining the likes of Glasto one day (you heard us), it’ll still sound incredible.
In fact, who cares: here it is from another angle – we’re off to do a bit of research about some reunion people are talking about…