Mansun - Paul Draper

	The Band

Name Paul Draper
Age 24
Band role Vocals and guitar
Reputation The group's Richey (Manic Street Preachers)/Kurt (Nirvana) style tortured genius; courteous to a fault, yet prone to moodiness.
Former Employment Photo Retoucher for Prism Graphics.
Lives With Chad in Chester.
Heroes The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, David Bowie, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Sex Pistols, The Clash.
Crucial records The Carpenters' "Compact Disc Collection", ABC's "The Lexicon Of Love", Soft Cell's "Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret", David Bowie's "Low", Prince's "Sign O' The Times", Nirvana's "Nevermind", The Who's "Live at Leeds", all Magazine albums.
Who are you? "I've been compared to Robert Smith, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, John Lydon, Richey Manic... I love the Manics-that's my album of the year (1996). We get Manics fans, Nirvana fans, people into Bowie, punks, hard rockers. We used to just get Adidas kids; not now. Stove gets girls who want to f**k him. Chad gets girls who want to be his mum. I get girls on the edge of suicide, going on about how I'm the reincarnation of Kurt Cobain. The `S' word comes up quite a lot...
   "I do feel uncomfortable about being the frontman. Taken out of this context, I feel like f**k-all, a waste of space. I mean, if I wasn't in Mansun, these girls wouldn't give a flying fig. I suppose that's what my songs are about. I use sarcasm to convey - what's that word to say everything's shit? Nihilism? Maybe. The realisation that everything is shallow and shit. I'm not saying that I'm a miserable bastard, I'm just commenting on the absurdity of existence. Chad is big on all that - Taoism and existentialism.
   "Do I swing? I wouldn't tell you if I did. I got called queer a lot at school. Now I just smash my Les Paul over their heads. We're lads, just like the Pistols, The New York Dolls, the Manics, Bowie, Duran, Japan and ABC were the lads. Take Andie - he wears a big f**king ostrich feather coat and painted nails, but I wouldn't want to fight him. We're all from council estates, but that doesn't mean we want to go 'round robbing shops and wearing Adidas trainers. Agression is often misinterprated as hooliganism.
   "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 could be bigger than R.E.M., I'd give up."

Name	Paul Draper
Age	24
Band role	Vocals and guitar
Reputation	The group's Richey (Manic Street Preachers)/Kurt (Nirvana) style tortured genius; courteous to a fault, yet prone to moodiness.
Former Employment	Photo Retoucher for Prism Graphics.
Lives	With Chad in Chester.
Heroes	The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, David Bowie, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Sex Pistols, The Clash.
Crucial records	The Carpenters' "Compact Disc Collection", ABC's "The Lexicon Of Love", Soft Cell's "Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret", David Bowie's "Low", Prince's "Sign O' The Times", Nirvana's "Nevermind", The Who's "Live at Leeds", all Magazine albums.
Who are you?	"I've been compared to Robert Smith, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, John Lydon, Richey Manic... I love the Manics-that's my album of the year (1996). We get Manics fans, Nirvana fans, people into Bowie, punks, hard rockers. We used to just get Adidas kids; not now. Stove gets girls who want to fk him. Chad gets girls who want to be his mum. I get girls on the edge of suicide, going on about how I'm the reincarnation of Kurt Cobain. The `S' word comes up quite a lot... "I do feel uncomfortable about being the frontman. Taken out of this context, I feel like fk-all, a waste of space. I mean, if I wasn't in Mansun, these girls wouldn't give a flying fig. I suppose that's what my songs are about. I use sarcasm to convey - what's that word to say everything's shit? Nihilism? Maybe. The realisation that everything is shallow and shit. I'm not saying that I'm a miserable bastard, I'm just commenting on the absurdity of existence. Chad is big on all that - Taoism and existentialism. "Do I swing? I wouldn't tell you if I did. I got called queer a lot at school. Now I just smash my Les Paul over their heads. We're lads, just like the Pistols, The New York Dolls, the Manics, Bowie, Duran, Japan and ABC were the lads. Take Andie - he wears a big f**king ostrich feather coat and painted nails, but I wouldn't want to fight him. We're all from council estates, but that doesn't mean we want to go 'round robbing shops and wearing Adidas trainers. Agression is often misinterprated as hooliganism. "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 could be bigger than R.E.M., I'd give up."