Mansun
Archived
Despite the hardcore Stone Roses contingent present at DVB for The Seahorses’ first gig as headliners in Salt Lake City, Mansun was the band to see. The show was not well-attended to begin with, and after Mansun it was even less well-attended. Many people just left. Mansun has come and gone, but it is reported that the band is “on tour” forever. They will be back. Meanwhile there is always the CD, Attack of the Grey Lantern, and this phone conversation with Stove King, the Mansun bassist.
I probably should have asked Stove about not only his name, but also the band name. I believe someone, probably more than one someone has remarked that Mansun is an unfortunate name, what with all the furor over Marilyn and Charlie. Stove called from England. I was a little surprised because the band was right smack in the middle of the U.S. tour, but there is a break in the schedule, and as I learned, festivals in England beckoned. Why play an American club when a two-day “radio” show is available? One day, an entire lineup of bands play in Chelsea and Leeds. The next day they swap cities and do it again. At least 60,000 people attend. “It’s a quick swoop in, play a festival and swoop out back over the Atlantic,” is how Stove described the slight interruption in the tour schedule.
My first actual question concerned the opening sentence of Mansun’s Epic Records biography: “When a band claim they’re going to eclipse the all-time greats and rewrite the history books, you reach for the sodium pentathol and a dose of truth serum.” Mansun claimed they were going to eclipse the all-time greats?
Stove: Ummmm…l believe that’s made up. To eclipse the great bands has got to be made up.
The biography continues with this: “Mansun are one of those bands. A Smiths of a band. A Stone Roses of a band.” The sheaf of press clippings accompanying the biography has them listed next to The Clash, Radiohead, The Verve and London Suede. Since at the time I spoke to Stove Mansun were touring with the Seahorses led by John Squire, I thought I’d ask about the comparisons. What does Squire think about touring with a band compared to his old band? “We’ve been compared to so many bands, there’s so many bands people compare us to, it’s bizarre. I don’t think John Squire cares, I don’t think that sort of bothers him any,” said Stove. “It’s probably a compliment. They’re very nice. We’re gettin’ on with them well.”
Mansun did a European tour with David Bowie. How did they get on with him? “He’s one of our heroes really,” said Stove. “He came into the dressing room every night and asked how things were. ‘How was the gig?’ ‘Look forward to seeing the gig tomorrow?’ He was really friendly, really nice. The band watched us play. The band stood backstage and watched the show. He’s a bit of a fan of ours. He heard the album and he liked the album. He personally asked us to come on tour with him. Which is a real sort of compliment because I’m a big fan of David Bowie’s.”
I later learned that the Bee Gees are Stove’s favorite band. He has said in the past that he enjoys Donna Summer, George Michael, Wham and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack as well. How about a dance remix from Mansun? “We’ve got a few dance mixes already,” said Stove. “Wide Open Space has a couple of dance mixes going out. They’ve sort of been on white labels for DJs and stuff. The biggest remix we’ve had done… is of one of our very old first tracks called ‘Skin-up, Pin-up.’ It was our second release in the UK. We remixed that with the 808 State and that’s on the Spawn soundtrack. That’s probably the only one we’ve released, actually, in America. We’ve actually done ‘Taxloss’ as well. We did it with a band called The Lisa Marie Experience.”
Mansun has achieved five UK Top 40 hits and they’ve recorded 32 tracks in less than a year. All the remixes, singles, EPs, B-sides, etc might be available at a shop specializing in imports, such as Modified. To me, the remixes and punk sides are of the most interest because “Taxloss” is the standout track on the CD and the punk roots were revealed when Mansun played live.
Recent events surrounding celebrity pursuits have caused an uproar world-wide. This interview took place well before the death of the Princess, but I was asking Stove about a piece appearing in Melody Maker. I’m sure some swear by Melody Maker and NME, but I grew tired of the English press years ago. The Melody Maker article in question covered Mansun’s tour of Japan. The writer had young Japanese girls constantly in Stove’s hotel room. I decided to find out if Mansun and specifically Stove were living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.
“I think they worded it in a way that people think the wrong idea,” said Stove. “The Japanese fans are very enthusiastic. They sort of hang around the hotels for you to sign their albums and CDs. You get a few of them wandering about the corridors hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite band. If they see you in a corridor they’ll get a picture of you. They’re so up-to-date. They’ll have their camera in the morning when you come out and they’ll take your picture and by the evening you’re signing that picture. They’ll give you a copy and they’ll keep a copy. There’s a lot of hanging around. They weren’t really in the bedrooms or anything. They’re quite polite.” How about the “groupie” factor? “You get that,” said Stove, “but you get that everywhere to a certain extent. Most of the people are just sort of interested in the music. They just want to talk to you for a while.”
Paul Draper is listed as the creator of all Mansun music and lyrics. Stove informed me that Draper comes up with a riff or a song on an acoustic guitar and the band fills in the rest. “It’s a band thing,” he said. One listen to Attack of the Grey Lantern was enough to convince me that one person didn’t create all the music. “We use a lot of synthesizers and drum machines to add effects,” said Stove. “We’re starting to write together more now.” Everyone present for Mansun at DV8 realizes that the lush synthesizer and effects of the recorded music changes live. That’s why the Clash comparisons are present. On the CD I’ll take “Taxloss,” “Egg Shaped Fred” and “Dark Mavis” over “Wide Open Space,” “Take it Easy Chicken” or “She Makes My Nose Bleed,” the “featured” tracks. Actually, “She Makes My Nose Bleed” is a good one as well.
Watch MTV and listen to the tired radio programming for more Mansun. I’ll be waiting for them to return and hoping the next album goes a bit lighter on production and effects and leans a bit more to capturing the live setting. —Elrod Hubbard.
Read more from the SLUG archives:
The Joykiller
Buck-o-Nine
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