In me 'ead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Sievey would have been 70 years old yesterday. Shocking to think he didn't make it past 54, the poor bugger, and even harder to realise he's already been dead for 15 years. Chris was Frank Sidebottom, if you see what I mean. It was his head inside Frank's, the only way he ever gained any real taste of fame after his band The Freshies failed to make it big. I was lucky enough to photograph a gig by the group in 1979, and shot them again a couple of days later during a fun day out in Sale. Years after that, I photographed 'Frank' at some launch event after I'd cheekily encouraged him to creep up behind Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh. (She wasn't best pleased after she spotted him, I can tell you!!) So this is for you, Chris. I just want you to know you're inside my 'ead, too!

Being Frank ..

Oh, blimey! I had such a great day yesterday at the unveiling of a statue to the memory of Frank Sidebottom, the alter-ego of Timperley comedian/musician Chris Sievey. Hundreds of people turned out for the occasion, eventually blocking the entire crossroads at the centre of the village! Anarchy! The fun thing for me was that, unlike the press who were gathered around the statue, I didn't have to get the picture of the day for a newspaper. Rather, I was able to wander at will around the whole event and document it from all angles. Happily, that involved covering the music being played in the Stonemasons Arms, and the sight and sound of Chris' son Harry playing Freshies' songs with two of the original group - echoing a shot I did at Bowdon Vale Youth Club in 1979 - is a memory I'll cherish for a long time. Click on the pix to see 'em larger and here if you've the time to wade through all 445 shots of the day. Nice to see Steve Sullivan and his crew there too, filming more footage for their forthcoming documentary Being Frank, and it was nice to be able to show some of my old Freshies' pictures at a 'pop-up' exhibition in Timperley Library. Over 150 fans walked across to see it! Thank you for the interest, everybody!

So, back to portraits and I'm looking forward to shooting a couple of family sessions at the studio this week. Interestingly, I've also been booked to shoot a forthcoming Baby Shower. It's good to know this other work is coming in as, being frank, the Wedding season has more or less dried up for this year now, and it'll be a couple more months before I cover another one. Come and keep me busy at the studio .. 

Must dash ..

Just four hours until the unveiling of the Frank Sidebottom statue in Timperley, and just two hours until my pop-up Freshies exhibition 'pops up' to accompany the event! I'm having a small selection of photographs of Chris - aka Frank - on display - for one day only - at Timperley library. What an exciting day for fans of Mr Sidebottom, and I'm particularly looking forward to it as I've been asked if I'll photograph the occasion for posterity!
In fact, I'd better dash ..

Timperley, here we come ..

All the signs are suddenly pointing to Timperley, where I'm to have a 'Pop-up' One-Day exhibition at the library to coincide with the unveiling of the Frank Sidebottom statue! I was contacted yesterday by Timperley library who've offered, because the event happens on a Sunday (20th!), to open up just to show my work. Now I've blogged enough about Chris Sievey/Frank Sidebottom for you to know who I'm talking about, so if you still don't know then go and find out! What a great opportunity to get my work shown, and I'm sure his fans will love the pictures. Although I shot the band on stage at Bowdon Vale Youth Club most of the images are from the afternoon I spent with Chris and his mates wandering around Sale on a bright spring afternoon. They bring back some fantastic memories of my earliest days as a spotty-faced 18 year old press photographer! They really do ..

Double vision ..

I've been working hard on a project - or idly wasting time on the computer, as Lesley calls it - involving matching up pairs of archive photographs that I think work well together. Here's an example, and I hope you can see what I mean. Well, I've had another great double this week which means that, for the second time this month, I've become involved with a film. You may remember I was interviewed on camera for the forthcoming documentary about Chris Sievey/Frank Sidebottom and now I've been approached about having one of my shots used in a feature about Manchester in the 90s. Admittedly this one's only a quick flash of a night-club, which will be shown against the background of people who used to go there but, man, at this rate I'm never going to be out of a tuxedo! All those movie premieres, all those red carpets! Darlings, I love you all ..

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

All roads lead to ..

Well, how exciting! I'm off to Wigan this afternoon to be interviewed for the forthcoming film 'Being Frank'. It's all about the life and times of Timperley's finest - the late, nearly great Chris Sievey, who you'll more likely know as the character Frank Sidebottom. Before he donned the papier-maché head Chris had a band called The Freshies, who I photographed at Bowdon Vale Youth Club a couple of weeks before the Joy Division gig. Chris and a couple of other band members then came out with me for a shoot around Sale one afternoon and Steve Sullivan, the producer of the film, saw the contact sheets of the session when he was going through all Chris' memorabilia, describing one of my shots as 'one of the best pictures of a band I have ever seen' .. !!

Hopefully I'll get some of this work shown in the film, then I aim to get a little exhibition together once the film is launched. Quite a few of the pictures have never been seen! By anyone! Well, apart from Chris and Steve, but you know what I mean!

Right, hair .. make-up! I'm ready for my close-up, darlings ..

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

Bye, buy ..

I've certainly hit the road running this week, as I've woken to an email from Japan letting me know my range of T shirts is now on sale in Tokyo! Joy Division, Devo, The Smiths and The Human League all feature. Quick, get over there! Buy, buy ..

My picture today is from a Wedding I shot in June, and I'm pleased to say that it's going to be featured in Pure Weddings magazine as a 'Real-Life Wedding'. It was certainly a different day to your 'average' Wedding, as the weather caused havoc with all the bride's plans. There was an absolute cloud-burst just before the newly-weds came out of the church, meaning they had to wait inside until the storm had passed. Then, there was ..  oh, what am I doing? You'll have to read the magazine. Quick, get out there! Buy, buy ..

I'm being filmed for a movie in Sunday! Oh, yes .. touch my hem! I'm being interviewed for a film called Being Frank, about the life and times of the late, great Chris Sievey. He used to have a band called The Freshies, which I shot a couple of times in 1979, but then he subsequently morphed into the 'cartoon character' Frank Sidebottom and never came out of his, erm, head .. again! Anyway, my shots of the band are hopefully to be featured in the movie along with my quirky, amusing reminiscences about the band (It says here!)

Before that there's one other big event in my diary. For the first time since I opened the studio I'm going to be shooting a dog in there! (Sorry .. photographing a dog! Don't go phoning the RSPCA!)
Better go get set up! Bye, bye ..

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

Move on up to the Kwik-Save Disco..

I had another of those amazing photographic coincidences yesterday when a piece popped up on Facebook to say that a film was being planned on the life and times of the late Chris Sievey. (He was the singer in Timperley pop/punk band The Freshies, though will always be better known as the head in the head of Frank Sidebottom - if you see what I mean!) I contacted the director of the film to say I'd photographed a Freshies gig at Bowdon Vale Youth Club just two weeks before I shot Joy Division there, and had then set up a photo-shoot with them which we did around Sale, just south of Manchester city centre. Amazingly, he said that he'd been going through Chris' personal possessions, and had come across two sheets of contact prints featuring those very shots. However, being a dimbo of an eighteen year old I'd not put any ID on the contacts, so he didn't know who'd taken the pictures. Then a mutual friend of ours - the writer Mick Middles - identified them as being mine, and the director was just on the verge of contacting me when I dropped him that email. So, with any luck the shots will feature in the film, and I've been asked if I'll be interviewed myself to talk about the work. The funny thing is that last year I photographed Mick's Wedding to the lovely Vicki, and we recreated one of my Freshies' shots down the ramp of the Tesco car-park! Have a look at it here .. and now please join me in a rousing chorus of "The men from banana island whos (sic) stupid ideas never caught on in the western world as we know it" Two, three four....