Flowered Up were an English

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

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band, formed in

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

, London, in 1989, active during the baggy movement. Their 13-minute single " Weekender" reached the UK top 20. The band split up in 1994 amid drug problems. Following a failed reformation attempt in 2007 and a solo record deal that fell through, frontman Liam Maher died from a heroin overdose in 2009, followed by his brother Joe from complications of long-term ill-health, in 2012.

Career

The band was formed in mid-1989 by singer Liam Maher along with lifelong friend, Darren 'Des' Penney. Des would co-write lyrics and manage the band.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 742 The original line up included the late John O'brien on drums, Joe Maher, Liam's younger brother, on guitar and bass player Andrew Jackson. Simon Gannon would guest on keyboard and this line up would play the first two gigs. After a few changes in personnel, the settled line-up included keyboardist Tim Dorney and drummer John Tuvey, with dancer Barry Mooncult adding to their live shows. After releasing two singles ("It's On" and "Phobia") on

Heavenly Records Heavenly Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Jeff Barrett in 1990. Heavenly released the first albums from Saint Etienne, Beth Orton and Doves, and early singles by Manic Street Preachers. Current Heavenly artists ...

, both of which were minor hits, Flowered Up signed to

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

and recorded their only album, ''A Life with Brian'', in 1991. "Take It" had lyrics from

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. The group appeared on the covers of both ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' and ''

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'' before releasing the album. ''A Life with Brian'' contained many of their popular live songs, as well as new versions of the previously released singles. Not long afterwards, Flowered Up released the 13-minute-long single " Weekender" on Heavenly, with a

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directed by W.I.Z. starring

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and Anna Haigh. Despite the group's—and Heavenly's—refusal to compromise on a standard-length edit for radio play (although two "radio edits" were circulated, neither really addressed the needs of radio programmers, as one was merely the full-length version but with the two instances of the phrase "fuck off" muted, while the other reduced the length of the intro, but still ran for over 12 minutes), the track went on to become their biggest hit, reaching number 20 on the UK Singles Chart. After much-publicised drug problems with some members of the band, and unproductive (and some unreleased) studio work, the band split up. Keyboardist Tim Dorney went on to form

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. ''A Life with Brian'' was re-released by London Records as ''The Best of Flowered Up'', and included the original version of "Weekender". Flowered Up tried to re-form in 2007, but Dorney refused, and the planned reunion tour was cancelled. On 20 October 2009, Liam Maher died of a heroin overdose, aged 41, followed in November 2012 by Joe Maher. Heavenly Records released a limited vinyl run of "Weekender" in 2021 to coincide with the release of their book ''Believe in Magic'' celebrating the label's 30th anniversary. The much lauded and critically acclaimed film accompaniment to the song "Weekender" that stars Lee Whitlock and Anna Haigh was given a fresh sonic and visual update by director Wiz in 2019 with the intention to re-release it on DVD for the first time. Covid and lockdown enabled production of a celebration of the song and film with the documentary ''I Am Weekender'' featuring Lynne Ramsay,

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...

Jeremy Deller Jeremy Deller (born 30 March 1966) is an English people, English conceptual, video and installation artist. Much of Deller's work is Collaboration, collaborative; it has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the Idealiz ...

and many more talking about its influence and cultural significance. Directed and edited by Chloe Raunet, the documentary, film and many extras were released in June 2023 by the BFI in partnership with Heavenly Films. Screenings followed in Glasgow, London, Glastonbury, Belfast and New York. Also in 2023, ''A Life with Brian'' was remastered.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Videos

"Live" 1990

References

External links

Heavenly Records artist profile
{{Authority control English rock music groups English electronic music groups English indie pop groups Alternative dance musical groups Heavenly Recordings artists Baggy groups Madchester groups Musical groups from the London Borough of Camden Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1994