Mansun

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SIX / 4 = Mansun.! Photographs by Yosuke Komatsu

Oct 98: This is the latest in the UK’s "Best Kept Secrets" series. Mansun have only been around for about three years but have already released stunning music at a faster rate than Lennon & McCartney, have become an obsession in a way not seen since Manic Street Preachers arrived, play explosive live shows, are talented enough to merit major respect and sexy enough to be heartily lusted over. For an unknown reason 'the Ministry Of Music Information' have deemed them and Six (their new LP - one of the best, most innovative rock records ever) unfit/not fashionable enough for mass attention (see Radiohead circa ‘93/’94). But the M.O.M.I. have reckoned without the power of 90’s music fans and their ability to spread the word (including the growing use of personal technology). Mansun are growing too big to stay unnoticed by the general public for much longer. Time to write about something that IS happening in music, seeing as, allegedly, British music is going up in smoke... the music of Six inspires this rant, so, here we go... "Six". . . OF THE BEST ( and at least half a dozen more puns...)

Unable to not mention them every now and then, recent reactions are equally "LOVE THEM", "CAN’T STAND THEM" or "DON’T GET THEM", but their genius isn’t lost on Magazine’s Howard Devoto (whose band are also an oft cited influence on Radiohead) and nobody replied "They’re alright" or "They’re not bad". Howard Devoto could only be tempted out of "retirement" by Mansun's music, co-wrote live favourite Everyone Must Winand duets with Paul on the magnificently beautiful Railings. Whichever of the above three opinions you favour, buy Six, allow yourself one and a quarter hours when you won’t be disturbed and play loud (drugs not necessary). The first play may confuse you, the sixth play will very possibly glue it to your heart. Mansun have assured their future appreciation with this recorded creation. It is too unique on first listen for those that like their albums predictable, but can not fail to one day be recognised as one of the greatest guitar influences.

In 1995 Whirlpool interviewed Mansun, for the cover of the first issue. The band predicted their current position with no idea of the future. "It’s like a giant elastic band: the more you pull it back, the greater the tension and force when you let it go. We are building the interest in us up until people won’t be able to get enough of us."

Fast forward to 1998 and Mansun are already appreciated by thousands, to date they’ve never been media darlings tho in fairness, since they chart constantly, have been paid steady attention but it speaks volumes that there are approximately 50 regular Mansun fanzines and websites around the world (at last count!). Quite obviously people do want to hear, read and know more! The fans play a big part - cultlike devotionthat ensures a chart position whatever the critics say/don’t say. Like a music fan’s sixth sense, Mansun grow stealthily - when, one day, they seemingly arrive from nowhere it’ll be the start of a new phenomenon. It’s early days but on top of their musical ability, Mansun already have the legendary rock history and the lust factor to go with it. A perfect rock band.

Tho "born" in '94, the real start of Mansun's chart career was March 1996 - the One EP on Parlophone. (The EPs title is a huge clue to the simplicity with which Mansun remain effortlessly unique. The Legacy video looks like a tribute to early Mansun days. Nowadays they’re a band with all feet firmly on the ground. They weren’t always...

...FROM FIVE TO FOUR TO THREE TO FOUR TO "SIX"

1994/1995 - "Manson"
In the rich history of these rock and roll isles three regional locations pop up regularly LIVERPOOL, WALES and MANCHESTER. In the middle of these legend hotbeds is CHESTER. Not all quite as poncy as some would have you believe, it transpires that the city has 200 pubs within it’s city walls, the biggest housing estate in Europe (Andie’s from there), and is the place where Liverpool, Wales and Manchester come when they want a fight. Mansun will happily tell anybody about Chester. They are it’s alternative tourist information board (and the biggest rock/pop to ever come from there), but Mansun are better known as one of the most original 21st Century Rock Bands.

The whirlwind journey from Deeside obscurity to the release of Six was conceived in '94, practising Sundays in a garage. Paul Draper (vocals/guitar) had written songs since he was 11 or 12. Following a rebellious stint as an art student in Wrexham, he worked with Stove King (bass) and Carlton The Hib Hibbert (drums) at Wirral Graphics in Ellesmere Port. Fellow student dropout, drifter, Dominic Chad (lead guitar) was bar manager at Chester’s Fat Cat pub - somewhere quiet to have a drink. There was also another original member, Mark - a 16 year old that Chad used to sneak in the back of the pub - on Beatbox. The rehearsals were a hobby, Stove was more into running and football then (and retains his athleticism, accompanying build and sporting enthusiasm).

There were many name changes including Grey Lantern and Sci Fi Hi Fi, (later the name of their own label on which their first two releases came out). Originally named after a Verve B-side "Man Called Sun" (at the time of Verve’s own underground cult-dom) with mis-spelt Manson t-shirts they were more a bunch of mates having good times together than a Proper Rock Band and went under Manson in their early press - this got them into trouble with the estate of Charles Manson, and stick from people who thought they were his devotees. Early fans who bought the t-shirts get mocked for wearing them - people think they’ve been robbed by pirates outside the venue!

Dom, Mark, Paul, The Hib, Stove
1995, on the "Plastic Scouser" side of the Mersey, by Ian T. Tilton Being in the band was part of the crazy teen-to-manhood adventures that they had around MAD-Chester. Chad, whose drinking once got him run over by a parked car (!) and another time fell off a roof seriously injuring himself, is teetotal nowadays after discovering an alcohol allergy made him wild. At this time tho, his mad bouts were "a laff". Mansun had an early Jeckyll and Hyde reputation belied by the fact they’re so ordinary that anybody expecting "pop stars" finds freakishly unnerving. They are normal blokes from anybody’s family. (until they get on stage...)

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