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how the hell did i get into mansun?

in the summer/autumn of '95, purple spice and me kept hearing this song on steve lamacq*s radio show and it was just brilliant but we didnt have a clue who the fuck it was cos we were at work and the phones were going - it had to be called "take it easy" or something though...

then around september/october i was sent a seven inch single with "manson" "take it easy chicken" and "sci fi hi fi recordings" all handwritten on it. it couldnt be THAT song? could it? ran upstairs to the turntable, whacked the volume up and fuck me backwards it was!!! purple spice and i immediately had a disco, right there in the office!

just one song wasnt enough though, so through tenacious phone calls and wheedling a three track demo tape was obtained with "take it easy chicken", "naked twister" and "drastic sturgeon" on it.

it was impossible but every single song was fucking excellent. took it home and my flat mate, the ag, was hooked too. we nearly wore the tape out, but the neighbours never banged the ceiling (music lovers in our block!)

i am supposed to be a grown up right? so i became a stranger to myself around november 1995 when i heard "skin up pin up" and "flourella". i was obsessed by this band and determined to see them play live.

i had seen a picture of them. five blokes in a row. (the picture made northern uproar look dynamic) i wondered if mansun only had these few songs and were really as sulky and snarling as word was getting around, i didnt want to raise my hopes too high because they seemed to good to be true.

the night they played at camden underworld, supporting whale i was ill as hell, doubled up in severe pain and feeling sick and scared (having had a major operation last time this illness had come upon me) but no way was i leaving before i at least SAW this manson or mansun or whatever they were supposed to be called now.

i was a party animal tamed, not my usual triple-vodka with grapefruit juice and mineral water refresher, just a small glass of fucking tomato juice, they'd better be fucking good!

instead of five blokes in flares, sweatshirts, fishing hats and the rest of the madchester uniform that their press shot had indicated, five blokes DID come on, but this was beyond madchester. this was my first taste of MAD CHESTER!

they were taping this live on radio 1 evening session (if anybody has a tape i would LOVE to hear it!) so there was no farting about, straight into the music. all i can remember is that the drummer, the beatbox bloke and the bassist all moved simultaneously to the beat, that the guitarist looked like a rock legend tart (pink frilly shirt????) and that i hated the singer's hat, pulled over his nose, because it had a union jack on the side. the bassist had a bright orange shirt on, his head held high, and looked like the missing member of menswear.

within eight bars i had forgotten my pain, and loved them all, especially the guitarist, the bassist and the singer, front of stage. i loved the way they had dressed up, i loved the way they played as if they had guns to their heads, i loved all the different noises that the singer could make with his voice, i loved their dance heavy rhythms, i couldnt explain it but i just LOVED them.

i have seen lots of bands. its been my hobby since school. i love live performances. i had never seen such a band. they were special as fuck and i knew it within that one song, drastic sturgeon, and by the end of the set i couldnt wait to see them again...

...a few weeks later i had persuaded my friend, mart, to drive to newport tjs. he'd only just passed his driving test and normally i'm dead nervous in cars but for me it was a chance to see a band as good as the beatles in the flesh. unlike camden underworld which had been full like a radio 1 advertised whale gig would be, (and lots of industry schmindustry so not actually THAT much audience atmosphere) there was nobody in tjs. well, some fans, a t-shirt seller, the staff of tjs, the band's road crew and about ten other people (some of who turned out to be mansun themselves).

it was a frosty cold november night but the door was wide open, (brr!) not only that the lights were on (grrr!), really bright! the perfect setting for a gig in an almost empty venue! (yeah, right...)

the band came on stage (in coats and hats like the row of people on the dance floor in front of them). i think chad said "mphh fnghh uh huh" by way of introduction (?)

instead of sulking because there was nobody to see them, mansun played like they were gracing wembley stadium before jetting off to l.a. - what can i say, if it was possible, i loved them even more!

it was funny and awkward all facing each other in the cold, under the bright lights, none of us danced much, just listened. thats one of the best gigs ive seen.

we chatted to them a bit before driving back to london, i dont care what id heard about them being moody and difficult, i thought they were really lovely. a bit shy and quiet (especially the hib) and i noticed that dom chad had pink highlights in his hair that matched his shirt and that he chatted the most. paul's hat seemed to be stuck to his head, he was just a nose and mouth to me. i did believe from their intellectual silences and glances betwen each other that mansun didnt suffer fools gladly.

they had a long drive back up north, and all piled with their tour manager of that time, hollo, into a little white van (which didnt look like it had enough room) waving out of the window as they went... (which was really friendly). i like to make my own mind up about people and although they could not have been described as "chatty" or "outgoing" i thought that they were gracious, charming, modest and detected latent boyish mischief! (later proved, many a time, in full glory)

...i was lucky enough to spend some time with them again the day that they played brixton academy as support to the charlatans in november or december of 95 too.

stove (hmm, nice lime green shirt fella!) had really bad flu and was slumped on the radiator in the dressing room before they went on because he felt so ill (maybe looking at his shirt didnt help).

the hib was equally as quiet, he hardly ever spoke.

chad and mark were rolling out some mansun anecdotes (some really fucking naughty, some extremely endearing) and paul (looking cute and "northern" in an ace pair of flares) removed his hat long enough for me to see that he had eyes like the moon framed by ridiculously long eyelashes - wow, fancy keeping THAT under your hat.

the venue wasnt full when they went on but they got such a cheer and played so well that it didnt matter. stove played like he'd passed a fitness test (and more than once have one of mansun gone on stage really ill, but still given it their everything). again, as soon as they had finished i wanted to know when the next gig was.

nothing could beat that performance (not the charlatans and, oh please, certainly not northern uproar!) so i left the venue.

as i came out of the door i spotted some friends queuing to get in for northern uproar and the charlatans. they all asked me where the hell i was going? you'll miss the bands they cried! you've missed mansun! (THE BAND) i cried. they looked at me like i was nuts. i looked at them like they were nuts!

i gave up being "a grown up" as far as mansun are concerned and from first hearing them on the radio my life has never been the same. i have just kept going to see them whenever it was physically possible. usually by myself, sometimes with the ag and purple spice. mansun are too good to be true, but mansun also ARE true!

many gigs later, when they returned to brixton academy in october 1998 i sat upstairs, at the very back, marvelling at how wonderful they sounded, how excellent they looked, grinning wildly...

minxy x x x x x x

cyberspace mansun friends great handles and website names include Aunti Everything, Caroline Cheapskate, Chad's Cuddly Pooh Bear, Chad's Grey Lantern, Claudia Farmgate, Patterned Guitar, Desperate Icon, Duchess, Egg Shaped Deb, Egg (Timer) Shaped Fred, Flourella, Flourella Chadwick, Kiss Me, Light Mavis, Mansun2, Mansunites, Mansun Heaven, Marquis De Sade, Miss Twister, Moronica Draper, Moronica Haze, Mr Mavis, Mrs McChad, Negative6, Purple Rosey, Real Andie Fan, Rebel Under Your Quilt, Sarah Tonin, Sci Fi Chicken, Skeletina, Southall's Only Mansun Fan, Stovely, Stovette, Stove's Queen, Stove's Tigger, Stripper Vica, Stripper Vick, Tax Looser, The Real Dark Mavis, Vicar Of Identity, what-it's-like-to-be-hannah

demented furby on crack in a live review of mansun's show in chester, december 1998, the journalist described fans as demented furbies on crack, a fave t-shirt from the january 1999 dates...