News

"Mansun: Refreshes parts others can't reach"

New UK Tour, EP and Album

Mansun have announced news of their next UK tour. Scheduled for March next year, the 13-date line up features towns and venues the band have never headlined at before.

Paul Draper said the band wanted to do an "off-the-wall tour, without going to your Londons and Manchesters".

He also revealed that the band would be releasing their next EP in March, although the lead track has yet to be decided. Possibilities include songs titles "Legacy 1" amd "Six". The band have been in and out of the studio since the end of the summer and have written 30 to 40 songs which are in various states of completion. Mansun will be producing their new album themselves, as they did for their debut "Attack Of The Grey Lantern". It's release is set for April.

Full details of the tour are as follows, support bands have yet to be announced.

Mansun used a painting by late Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe on the cover of their last EP, "Closed For Business". It was be the first time Sutcliffe's estate have granted permission for commercial use of his paintings.

Paul Draper contacted Sutcliffe's sister Pauline after attending a retrospective show in Liverpool earlier this year. The painting is signed and dated 1962, the year of Sutcliffe's death from a brain haemorrhage in Hamburg.

Sutcliffe was an art school friend of John Lennon. He joined The Silver Beetles at the start of 1960 and left at the end of the year to concentrate on his painting.

The band played at Pilton Fete on September 5th. The event was held by Glastonbury Festival organiser Michael Eavis as a "thank you" to the local residents.

The two V97 gigs in August went down very well, with some festival-goers (including myself) describing Mansun as the best act of the weekend, and the band shot the promotional video for "Closed For Business" in the following week in Hollywood.

Stove has mentioned in the latest Mansun Ansaphone message that CD2 of "Closed For Business" will feature CD-ROM Photo's of the band and the entire promotional video for TAXLO$$ where £25,000 was given away to commuters at Liverpool Street Station to show human greed.

The 7" for the EP was the only format featuring an acoustic version of "Egg Shaped Fred".

Alright, it's Chad here. We're recording in Liverpool at the minute to make our seventh EP and that'll be released at the end of September and there'll be four original songs on the first version of that.

The main song is called "Closed For Business" and the other three are called "K I DOUBLE S I N G", "Everyone Must Win" which we wrote with Howard Devoto of The Buzzcocks and Magazine, and "The World's Still Open.

The second CD will also have "Closed For Business" as the main track and the other three tracks are the acoustic version of "Dark Mavis", a live version of "Stripper Vicar" and an acoustic version of "Egg Shaped Fred".

The single "Wide Open Space" is now Number 27 in the U.S. Modern Rock Chart and the 808State remix of "Skin Up Pin Up" is on the soundtrack to the American film called Spawn.

We'll be touring the U.K. again in September/October and dates for that are still to be confirmed.

So, do write to us 'cos we reply to all your letters, and the address to send those to is Mansun, P.O. Box 21, London, W10 6XA. And take it easy.

Also, released today (July 28th) in the UK and tomorrow (July 29th) in the US is the soundtrack to the comic-book movie Spawn which includes a remix of Mansun's "Skin Up Pin Up" by 808State. Check out it's own site for excerpts of the track.

Also, the band cancelled their warm-up gig in Lancaster on the 24th and left Shed Seven to fill their shoes (who they were supporting 14 months ago).

More news, courtesy of Chad on the UK Mansun Ansaphone (01244 675442):

Alright, it's Chad here again. I'm actually recording this message from Norway where we've just played a festival. We're doing a load of European festivals over the next few weeks and also support slots on the David Bowie tour in Europe, and that's in Italy and Spain. And then in August we're touring America supporting The Seahorses, but we will be playing T in the Park on the 13th of July, and V97 in August on the Blur days.

We'll be releasing another EP in September with four brand new tracks on it, and for the poster to go with that, we going to do a photo shoot with Pennie Smith who did the photographs for The Clash. We'll also be doing a tour for that single in September or October.

"Wide Open Space" is now a big alternative radio hit in America, and the album's sold half a million copies worldwide. And we're working on remixes: we've got tracks with Paul Oakenfold, 808 State and the Future Sound Of London, and also working on writing a track with Howard Devoto from Magazine.

We're now busy recording the second album in a small studio in Chester, and also mixing a live album and a b-sides album that'll include "Take It Easy Chicken" and all the b-sides that have been deleted.

There's a lot of Internet sites now, ranging from America to Asia, and we check into those ourselves, and check them out. The Official UK Website address is www.mansun.co.uk, and the address to write to is Mansun, PO Box 21, London, W10 6XA, and we do reply to your letters.

Finally, to anyone who came to Glastonbury, we're very sorry about the chambols(sp) that was that gig. It wasn't our fault, it was the Glastonbury power supply. Unfortunately they wouldn't sort it out properly until we got off the stage so there was nothing we could do about that I'm afraid.

O.K., take it easy.

The band will be taking a laptop PC out on tour with them, and will be continually updating a Tour Diary which will be located on this website nearer the time (August). Also in August, the band are scheduled to be doing a live online chat, so keep coming back for when we have details on that.

Mansun appeared on the BBC2 programme "Later with Jools Holland" on Saturday 14th May. They played two songs live, "Wide Open Space" and "Mansun's Only Love Song". It appeared that they were put on the show at short notice (it was recorded on Tuesday 10th) because their appearance was not mentioned in TV guides etc.

• "Attack Of The Grey Lantern" will be released in the United States on June 24th on Epic Records. Currently, it looks as if the packing and artwork will be the same, but the main difference is the track listing:

  Track	Name	UK Version
  1	The Chad Who Loved Me	1
  2	Wide Open Space	5
  3	She Makes My Nose Bleed	8
  4	Naked Twister	9
  5	Take It Easy, Chicken	not included
  6	You, Who Do You Hate	4
  7	Mansun's Only Love Song	2
  8	Taxloss	3
  9	Disgusting	7
  10	Egg Shaped Fred	10
  11	Dark Mavis	11

  It should be interesting to hear both how the tracks will be mixed together, and how the response will be to the omission of 'Stripper Vicar' which is replaced by 'Take It Easy, Chicken'. It's product number will be EK67935, for more information, see the EpicCentre.

• Mansun's sixth EP was released on April 28th, and, as exclusively announced here first, features "Taxloss" as it's lead track. The track has been edited to a length of 4:24, shorter than the version on Mansun's debut album for CD1 of the 2 CD set. For those who know the track, it basically fades out at the appropriate point, although small parts have been taken from the beginning and middle sections. It is on two CDs, as per usual, and not as per usual, on 12" vinyl.
• The vinyl is backed with various remixes of the track (see the discogaphy), whilst CD1 features a new track "Grey Lantern" which didn't make the album, as well as a 6-minute remix of "Taxloss" by the Lisa Marie Experience. CD2 has another new B-side, "The Impending Collapse Of It All", and a live version of the medley of "The Chad Who Loved Me", "Ski Jump Nose" and "An Open Letter To The Lyrical Trainspotter". It also features an excellent acoustic version of "Wide Open Space". For a look at the artwork, take a look at the promo CD sleeve. Full sleeve scans will be coming later this week. The artwork features a mock tax return form, and CD1 is printed like an automobile tax disc.
• For the promotional video for the EP, a camera crew and £25,000 were taken to Liverpool Street Station in London on April 17th. The cameras were hidden to the public and wads of the cash were thrown from an overhead bridge down to the unsuspecting passerbys, who were filmed jumping for the money. Their actions summed up the theme of "Taxloss" - human greed.
• The support slot for the UK Mansun April/May gigs was filled by Scottish rockers Geneva who have resheduled a bunch of their gigs to fit around the tour (old Geneva tickets are still valid at the rescheduled shows).
• Reports are coming in of various Mansun gigs taking place around the world. Paul and the guys were down under in Australia in April (April 3 & 4), and have been in Japan (April 16 - 20) before returning home for the UK tour. They also played in New York last week, and supporting the Manics at Manchesters Nynex Arena. Highlights of their set in Manchester were played on Radio 1 on Sunday night. See the gigography for more details.
• The band promoted "Taxloss" on "TFI Friday". The performance included two backing singers, and the new fast, live section at the end of the song.
• Mansun's biggest gig so far took place at the Kilburn National on the last Friday of April. The band came on at 9:45 and played an excellent set, to an ecstatic audience. After the gig, an aftershow party was held. Celebrities seen included Neil Hannon (from The Devine Comedy), Will (from TFI Friday), Jake Shillingford (from My Life Story), Jamie (the student, from TFI and Chris Evans' Breakfast Show), Egg (from BBC2's This Life), and others.

• The band will be supporting the Manic Street Preachers for a one-off concert at MANCHESTER Nynex Arena on Saturday 24th May. Ironically, Mansun were supporting Audioweb 13 months ago, and now Audioweb are supporting them (along with Embrace who are first on). Call 0161 930 8000 or 0161 832 1111 to get hold of the £15.00 tickets.
• Mansun are confirmed to be playing at two of the UK summer festivals (possibly more to be added). The first is "T in the Park", BALADO, by Kinross, Scotland where they are headlining the NME Stage on Sunday 13th July with "Seahorses". Festival Hotline: 07000 113114
• The second is the V97 festival, where they play second to Ash on the NME Stage on Saturday 16th August at CHELMSFORD Hylands Park and on Sunday 17th August at LEEDS Temple Newsam. Call 0171 734 8932 for Chelmsford or 0113 244 4600 for Leeds.
• Taken from the Melody Maker:- The band plan to record four new EPs, and a new album by the end of the year. Sounds like a new album every February could be a winning strategy!!!
• "She Makes My Nose Bleed", Mansun's latest EP crashed into the UK Top 40 at the No.9 position - the band's highest entry ever! This is great news - thanks to all those who bought the EP.
• "Attack Of The Grey Lantern", Mansun's debut album crashed into the UK Album Chart at No.1, knocking Blur down to No.4! This is even greater news - thanks to all those who bought the album in the first week. It has now been awarded a Gold Disc from the BPI, which recognises 100,000 copies of the album sold. If you haven't got it yet, get it now!
• Mansun's sixth EP will feature the song "Taxloss" as it's lead track. The track was originally 17 minutes long when recorded, and was cut down to 7 minutes for the album. It has since been cut down to a 4 minute version for the EP. Apparently, "The Future Sound Of London" are working on remixes. The EP should see a release on April 28th.
• "The Lisa Marie Experience" are working on a remix of "Wide Open Space" which may too feature on 6 EP.
• Seven EP will probably have a lead track of "Disgusting", taken from the album. It will be released around August time.
• There was an interview with Chad in last month's issue of "The Guitar Magazine".
• Mansun made the front page of the Melody Maker in earlier this month for a second time.
• "Wide Open Space" was at the top of Radio 1's Airplay chart for December last year.
• Paul was interviewed on Radio 1's Collin's and McConey's Hit Parade on Thursday 6th of February...
• ...and was a guest with Chad on Radio 1's Evening Session on Tuesday 18th...
• ...and the whole band appeared three weeks ago on Radio 1's Breakfast Show in the "We Love Us" slot.
• The band also had a slot on BBC2's The O Zone on Sunday 9th of February.
• During a recent interview with Blur's Damon Albarn, he said Mansun were one of his favourite new bands of 1996.
• The band were nominated in the prestigous Brit Awards under the Best British Newcomer category.
• "The Future Sound Of London" are working on remixes of "Wide Open Space".
• The Isle of Mansun gig took place at Bushes Casino, Douglas on the 17th. Tickets were £5.00 and around five or six hundred people went. Apparently, the airplane full of Music Industry bigwigs and reporters almost didn't make it, due to bad weather!
• Mansun were plugging their album, "Attack Of The Grey Lantern" on Channel 4's TFI Friday on the 21st of February. They played "Wide Open Space" live on the show. It's a pity Mr. Evans didn't get them on when the song was out as a single!
• The NME, the Melody Maker and Music Week (the music industry weekly magazine) have all praised the album in their reviews of it.
• As well as being available on limited edition vinyl (with Giant Poster), cassette (at £4.99 for a limited period) and CD, "Attack Of The Grey Lantern" is also available on CD in a limited 1,000 numbered metal tins. These are promotional only.
• The album is a continous mix - i.e. there are no silent moments between tracks. Also, there is a new version of "Egg Shaped Fred", with Andie drumming - I guess.
• A track from THREE EP, namely "An Open Letter To The Lyrical Trainspotter" is a hidden track at the end of the CD version of the album. The gap between the end of "Dark Mavis" (the last track) and the start of "An Open Letter To The Lyrical Trainspotter" is exactly two minutes and extends the length of the 11th track from 8:36 to 14:40.

What room for life beyond the trainers and a day pass to Camden, for writing that delights in words as a means of expression not as a rehash of platitudes that should've died with Biba and the 3 day week? What room for experimentation outside the media's boulder-rolling gaze, for following an uncharted path, for taking a few risks?

That's where Mansun come in. Not for a long time has a debut album appeared with such a strong, idiosyncratic sense of it's own worth. Last year the group released four EP's, all hits with increasingly higher chart positions and profiles, culminating in the classic "Wide Open Space", a song that had reviewers reaching for superlatives and likening the band to the power and dynamics of the wonderful Radiohead.

It's a comparison that is closer to the mark than most, not necessarily in terms of sound but in terms of attitude. When there are no expectations of you, you can go where you like, play around, explore. When you're Bis, where is there left for you to go?

So, here we have it, the most assured and best debut album since Radiohead's "Pablo Honey". Before Christmas, "Melody Maker" were already saying it was the best debut since "Definately Maybe". And Brett Anderson was so impressed he asked the band to support them on the next leg of the Suede tour.

If last year's four EP's were totems, marking the progress of a band developing at a more than rapid pace, "Attack Of The Grey Lantern" is a consolidated, disparate, sexy 11 song classic. It opens with the lush orchestration of "The Chad Who Loved Me", a John Barry-esque epic which the band have been playing live for months, and close with "Dark Mavis", and elegiac, orchestrated song which ties-up the lyrical content of the album in more ways than one. In between you get hits from "the first surrealist songwriter of his generation" - "Egg Shaped Fred", "Stripper Vicar" and "Wide Open Space". You get the incredible new song "Taxloss" which paraphrases Little Jimmy Osmond in the opening line. There's "Mansun's Only Love Song" and "Disgusting" which is the kind of song bands work years to write and still quite often don't. Then there's the lyrics.

Despite writing the line "the lyrics aren't supposed to mean that much, they're just a vehicle for a lovely voice", Paul Draper cares about lyrics because he can write good ones. As he said recently, "But I think every song has enormous meaning, if you want to discover it. You've got the choice".

There's no doubt that "Attack Of The Grey Lantern" is a great album, the first great debut album of the year. There is also no doubt that, like all the best music, this album is an essential record of a band with the talent, conceit and power to win the battle without ever entering the ring.

"It would have been the easiest thing in the world for me to write an album of singles. But I'm beyond that. I've tried for something more... Most of the beauty in pop music is in having a go". (Paul Draper)

Murray Chalmers

Featuring 11 tracks, the album includes a new version of Mansun's first hit "Egg Shaped Fred" which is now deleted as a single, and Top 20 and Top 15 singles "Stripper Vicar" and "Wide Open Space". All other tracks are brand new including "Mansun's Only Love Song" and "Tax Loss" which was written and recorded in a day and paraphrases Little Jimmy Osmond in the opening line "He'll be your tax-loss lover from Liverpool".

Other songs re-introduce the transvestite vicar from "Stripper Vicar" - "Dark Mavis", one of two songs featuring a 32 piece orchestra (the other is is "The Chad Who Loved Me"), also transposes the Mavis from "Egg Shaped Fred" and "Stripper Vicar" into a new song where the vicar's "lipstick's running, his dress is stunning, he's got high heels on ... his tights are nylon, his nails by Revlon", and weighs in at just over eight-and-a-hald minutes. Commenting on the lyrics, Paul Draper said: "They're just everyday tales about transvestites, bondage and lapsed Catholicism - not forgetting the odd wide open space".

The full track listing of the album is as follows:

"The Chad Who Loved Me"

"Mansun's Only Love Song"

"Tax Loss"

"You Who Do You Hate"

"Wide Open Space"

"Stripper Vicar"

"Disgusting"

"She Makes My Nose Bleed"

"Naked Twister"

"Egg Shaped Fred"

"Dark Mavis"

"Attack Of The Grey Lantern" was written by Paul Draper who recently commented: "We just want to make a brilliant album. People in the industry say we're going to be the British R.E.M. but we're a lot more exciting than them. If I didn't think we'd be bigger than them, I'd give up".

The album was produced by Mansun and mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent who has just worked with U2, and Cliff Norrell (R.E.M.).

In a different interview Draper commented: "I don't want to see the Sixties repeated. We can't carry on just singing about love for the next 40 years. Where the f**k will we be then? There'll be nothing left but three minute, guitar-based love songs. We'll end up with a situation like classical music where there's either a avant garde that everyone's stopped listening to, or there are the old favourites that everyone wants to hear, no matter what band plays them".

Commenting recently on the next single, a UK journalist wrote: "If this symphony of guitars and strings is any measure, the Mansun album might surpass Radiohead's "The Bends", the Manics' "Everything Must Go" and Suede's "Coming Up".

The 7" is a limited edition white vinyl release in a PVC bag which comes together with a fold out poster of the band. The two part CD release is available both as a standard CD and also as a special limited edition collectors pack. The pack contains more excellent visuals of the band and the lyrics to "Wide Open Space" as well as room to fit the first CD.

The group also play the Reading Festival on Saturday August 24.

Mansun are currently working on their debut album with engineer Cliff Nourell who has previously worked with REM, amongst others. Nourell asked to work with the band when he heard "Take It Easy Chicken", their second single on Parlophone and their second Top 40 hit. Their first single was "Egg Shaped Fred".

"Stripper Vicar", a lyrical tale about a vicar by day, stripper by night, and his ultimate demise, will be released on 2 CDs with five further new tracks spread over the two. This means that the group's three singles have included a further 11 new tracks. Commenting on his prolific writing skills, lead singer/songwriter Paul Draper said; "I've always been into the idea of a group existing in their own world, almost oblivious to anything else. When you buy a Mansun EP you choose to enter our world and, for me, the "b sides" are just as important as the lead tracks. On each of our records people have said that we've "wasted" tracks which could have been A sides. But I'm more interested in creating a body of work that represents every side of the band than in saying "this is the track that sums us up" because I like to think that there are more dimensions to the group than we're sometimes credited with".

Asked what inspired the lyrics, ex art student Paul Draper added "I had a funny turn in the Welsh mountains. It must be the vinyl fetishist in me". Paul Draper's record collection is, apparently, huge.

When pushed in a recent interview, Draper said his songs came from "your typical art school drop-out with a furtive imagination and a strange theory about the world. We're not trying to cultivate lyrically banal songs-by-numbers like some of our contemporaries".

Guitarist (and Robin Asquith of "Confessions" films and Brian Jones look-a-like) Chad added cryptically: "I am a child of the Seventies. I was born with the Sex Pistols (!). The Sixties belong to my father's record collection".

The group will be playing European dates and will tour the Far East later this year.

Murray Chalmers