Flowered Up

Flowered Up formed in Camden, London in 1989, Liam Maher, Barry Mooncult, and Tim Dorney developing a sound that drew on the Madchester scene but rooted it in London's Camden Town rather than Manchester. Their music was euphoric and bass-heavy, with Maher's charismatic, slightly unhinged presence at the centre of everything they did.

Their debut album 'A Life with Brian' (1991) was a strong record that earned strong reviews, but it was the 13-minute single 'Weekender' (1992) — accompanied by a short film directed by W.I.Z. — that became their defining moment. A sprawling, euphoric account of a weekend on drugs, it was one of the most ambitious and extraordinary singles of the era.

Flowered Up dissolved in 1994 following the death of Barry Mooncult from a heroin overdose. Liam Maher also struggled with addiction and died in 2009. Their story is one of the more tragic in British indie music — a band of genuine talent whose potential was cut short by the same drug culture their music celebrated. 'Weekender' endures as one of the great British singles of the early 1990s.