Interview: Manchester Mourning

Hobart's Manchester Mourning are a young Courier New Wave four-piece who have been making their post-punk racket for a few years, releasing one EP (which you can download for pay-what-you-want) and a few limited CD-R singles. A year after finishing recording, they have finally gotten around to launching their debut album Immediacy, firstly at the Grand Poobah in Hobart this Friday night and then at Skinny Geans #8 in Launceston on this Saturday night.

I spoke to Steve Wright (keys, vocals) and Sam Upton (bass, vocals, synth) from the band about Immediacy, Rosny College 'rock culture', and their place in Hobart music scene. While you're reading, have a listen to Wedding Cake from Immediacy below:

Manchester Mourning - Wedding Cake by Noise, Etc.


What was the recording process of Immediacy?

Steve Wright: Sam bought a lot of recording gear in the early parts of last year. So basically we just used a lot of cheap microphones he'd got hold of, and a borrowed SM57 too. We only had a stereo input into [audio recording program] Audacity, so we had to record every instrument separately.

Did you go into the recordings with an album in mind?

Sam Upton: When we made the decision to record, we thought it was going to be an EP. But when we actually did a bit more rehearsal and writing, it turned out there was more material than we thought. Although we didn't use all the material we recorded, we thought we had enough that we were happy with for an album.

Which songs got cut?

Steve Wright: The only really major cut was a song we used to play fairly often called Katy's Shotgun. We had other things that we we wanted to develop a bit more, and some of that ended up on the 'Cassette' release (a limited edition CD-R that we sold really cheaply at the end of last year). There was also some crap on there, but you know...

You've got to have a place to experiment a little bit.

 

Steve Wright: I think we take a few cues from The Fall in that respect. They definitely had a philosophy of releasing everything they did in some form, and I think this is what we've done too.

I think that this relates to the concept of 'immediacy' in some way. An immediacy between the artist and the audience.

Oh yeah, I was going to ask you. "Immediacy" as a title - and a package, the visual design and the lyric sheet - feels all pretty considered.

Steve Wright: Yeah, the whole lot was designed to fit in with a very particular aesthetic. A lot of time was spent considering song titles for example, and the font choices were very deliberate (and go beyond the album's packaging, to posters and the like). I think the title itself has the connotations of connectivity, integrity, purity, and reality. These are concepts I am really interested in. I think that recording the album ourselves and doing all the art ourselves relates to this too

Sam Upton: I think there is some sort of ideology to the band that we've developed. We have an idea about how we are, and how we got about things.

And the lyrics booklet - a rare find in local products - is that a way to find some kind of interaction with the audience?

Sam Upton: As you say, generally you don't find lyrics a lot in local products. I think that this a lot because of a general trend of local bands who seem to push themselves musically, but not lyrically. There are obvious exceptions to this, like Drunk Elk. And Peter Escott of course. By including lyrics I think we are attempting to highlight that they are as important as any other part of the song. Some of these lyrics were poetry first - rather than being lyrics that are just something to hang a melody on.

I noticed in the linear notes that you all share writing, both for the music and the lyrics. Is this important to the idea of 'immediacy'?

Steve Wright: I think this is just the nature of the band, really. We all enjoy being part of the songwriting process, and everything that goes along with it. We deliberately don't publish the individual 'writer' of songs beyond the lyrics, and this is mostly because it is far too hard to separate who does what. Everyone is contributing in different ways, including on other people's instruments. There is no real protective frame of mind like "I play the keyboard, I write the keyboard parts'. If someone has an idea, we'll try it, and if it works it stays.

You sound pretty tight-knit as a band.

Sam Upton: We started out as being friends before we even formed the band. As friends there was some common similarity across the music we liked. When we formed we weren't particularly proficient on our instruments. I started playing bass after we decided to form the band, for example. Woody [guitarist/vocalist James Woodberry] had really only just been a vocalist in the past.

Did you find the "Rosny College rock culture" helped incubate the band?

Sam Upton: [Laughs]

Well actually, when we were there the culture was fairly different. I mean, sure there were a lot of bands, but they were almost all hard-rock based. 

Steve Wright: In saying that, the recording facilities and the staff really helped us out early on.

Haha, maybe I have the wrong impression about that Rosny culture - I should have said  "for lack of a better term" there.

Sam Upton: We were nicknamed 'Manchester Boring' by some people. It was a kind of hostile environment in some ways

You weren't even really an out-there or experimental band at all.

Steve Wright: No, not at all. Just no loud enough, and we didn't listen to the 'right' music. I like to think the fact that we just did what we did anyway has had some sort of influence on the young bands that have started to gig in the last 2 years. But maybe I'm flattering myself!

Yeah, that's kind of where I got my idea of what the Rosny culture was like - Treehouse, Bears, Mess O Reds, etc.

Sam Upton: I remember seeing Callum from Treehouse playing guitar for the first time at Rosny. Steve and I got really excited, and asked his old band then to play a show.

Oh I remember hearing about that, wasn't it a bit sucky? [Laughs]

Sam Upton: They had good songs! But when they played with us they just did a heap of covers!

Steve Wright: But that night Julian Teakle gave them a copy of Community. I think hearing that there actually is plenty of good original music in Hobart is the biggest thing for young bands. I remember seeing the Native Cats and myblackson for the first time was something of a revelation for me.

I wasn't going to ask you about the local scene since it seemed kind of obvious, but... Has the Hobart scene changed how you approach Manchester Mourning at all?

Steve Wright: I think for me the fact that there is world-class music happening regularly for me to see was and is really important. My view on music has definitely changed a lot because of this. Drunk Elk to me are one of the best bands in Australia, and their audiences are limited here. I think having my view that playing to big crowds and selling lots of products isn't the be all and end all of music confirmed weekly is quite liberating artistically in many ways.

&c.

Manchester Mourning release "Immediacy" this Friday 24th June at the Grand Poobah in Hobart, alongside Drunk Elk and Treehouse. Launceston launch is this Saturday 25th at Skinny Geans #8, alongside Linc Le Fevre, Karva, Jack Storay and Yyan. Entry for both is $5 and you can buy the album for the special price of $10 on each night.