“Frank is the patron saint of small towns with big hearts, of outcasts in outreach. He repaints his surroundings without judgment, a voice from the margins that’s both bard and bartender...

Frank’s a seer and a singer, a poet laureate of the rusted underbelly of America, rust I often found myself scratched on growing up. He finds transcendence in the asphalt of Tennessee’s most scorched country – giving a reverent Americana profundity to PCP warnings, haunted devil towns, pimpin’, Shrympin (sic), and yeah lonely Juggalos at the local Burger King.” -Raven Sings the Blues

"Edwin R Stevens is a recording artist and writer from Llanfairfechan, Wales, now living in Glasgow, Scotland.

From 2008 to 2023, Edwin made music under the Irma Vep moniker; utilising 4 and 8 track cassette recorders, zooms and laptops to make everything from abstract tape collages, stripped back and tender VU informed songs to Henry Flynt style half improvised guitar ragas.

Between support worker roles and cafe and bar jobs, Edwin recorded and toured the UK and EU almost constantly (including two tours of the US), and made nearly forty releases as Irma Vep (and other pseudonyms), including NO HANDSHAKE BLUES (2017, Faux Discx/Comfortable on a Tightrope), WASHING MACHINE (with Jon Collin, 2020, Early Music) and EMBARRASSED LANDSCAPE (2020, Gringo Records)

In 2020, Edwin finished his first book, SEAGULLS (very bon books), A loose novel of fourteen interweaving stories revolving around a fake Pontins Holiday Park on the north Wales coast. Legendary fiction writer, film maker and poet, Dennis Cooper called it “a wild and exquisite little masterpiece”.

In 2021, Emyr Williams (RIP) asked Edwin to make an album under his own name for his label Ankst, resulting in "God On All Fours" in 2023. Partially recorded in Penhesgyn studios on Ynys Mon by John Lawrence and at home in Glasgow, the album saw a slight aesthetic shift with cleaner production and a more ‘traditional’ band based sound. With a new found freedom in writing under his given name, Edwin incorporated elements from his short stories into the song writing process, evolving it into a more narrative and lyrical based music.

“A friend told me I was too old to have my vocals buried in the mix. He told me to grow up, basically…”

Following the release of GOAF, the ‘hangover record’, A PLAGUE OF GIMPS (wrong speed records, 2026) was written and recorded quickly, a minimal and absurd 10 song affair dwelling on grief, hereditary dumb f*ck blues, false memory, nuclear bunkers and blood-letting gimps amongst other things.

“Perhaps it’s too simple to say that making music under his own name allowed Edwin to be more honest, direct and personal but it certainly feels that way to anyone listening…the space in the music left for the voice is like leaving a door ajar to let the monster in. "A Plague Of Gimps" is a beautiful and personal record.” - Wrong Speed Records.

“A bowerbird of outsider music” - The Quietus.