Terrence McKenna on DMT Mansun – Wide Open Space (Greg Downey & Mansun Remix) Tale Of Us – Morgan’s Fate (Afterlight)
Mansun – Wide Open Space (Perfecto Mix) ·1998·
[I’m In A] Wide Open Space (Greg Downey & Mansun Remix) · Mansun
Mansun were an English alternative rock band, formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone.
Wide Open Space · Mansun -1997
It was announced in May 2003 that the band had split up earlier that year, whilst in the process of recording their fourth album, and some of their archival recording of the album later released on their final album, Kleptomania (2004).
Paul Draper and Stove King met in the early 1990s, whilst working in the printing industry as photo retouchers for rival companies situated opposite each other on the same industrial park in Little Stanney on the outskirts of Chester.[2] Through their shared love of David Bowie and 1980s new wave bands including Duran Duran and ABC[3] they started socialising together at weekends, going to gigs in Liverpool and playing along to drum loops together in their bedrooms with the desire of forming a band together.[4] Whilst King was a relative newcomer to playing bass, Draper had previously formed and fronted the electronic duo Grind whilst studying at Thames Polytechnic (now University of Greenwich),[5] with programmer-keyboard player Steve Heaton, and were often accompanied live by school friend Carlton Hibbert on drums.[6] Grind released one 12″ single in 1991 on the small “Whats in It For Me Records” label[7] and gigged around London at venues such as The Rock Garden and The Brain and also supported Beverley Craven at the Mean Fiddler. Following the split of Grind, Draper, funded by a grant from The Prince’s Trust, set up a music company called “Ambiance Productions” producing relaxation tapes to be sold in “hippie shops” across the north west of England.[8] In early 1995 Draper and King enlisted Maidstone expat Dominic Chad, who was the bar manager at the Fat Cat pub on Watergate Street in Chester opposite the office where Draper would go and see former Grind member Steve Heaton.[9]
Naked Twister · Mansun
Chad had previously played with “Floating Bear”[10] formed whilst at Bangor University in 1990, where he had been studying French and Russian but was kicked off the course due to lack of effort. Chad would later admit that his routine during university was “get up at three, go down to the union bar at four and stay there until it shut”.[11] With the aid of a drum machine, the trio began rehearsing at Crash Rehearsal Studios in Liverpool, where the band were quickly discovered by passing A&R scouts Mark Lewis and Alan Wills (who later went on to form Deltasonic Records)[12] who were there to see Cast and overheard the band through their rehearsal room door. The band were offered a publishing contract with Polygram Music Publishing four days after reluctantly handing over a demo tape of 4 songs that cost £150 to record featuring “Take It Easy Chicken“, “Skin Up Pin Up“, “Moronica” and “She Makes My Nose Bleed“.
February 1997 saw the release of the band’s critically acclaimed debut album Attack of the Grey Lantern. Although the band had finished recording most of the album prior to Rathbone joining, they went back into the studio to record new songs “Taxloss” and “Mansun’s Only Love Song” and re-record several drum tracks.[2] The album appeared to contain a conceptual storyline, which Draper referred to as “small town weirdo observations”[25] and was influenced by comedies The Goon Show and Monty Python,[26] whilst ending with a hidden track, “An Open Letter to the Lyrical Trainspotter”, proclaiming (reportedly sarcastically) that “the lyrics aren’t supposed to mean that much”. The album knocked labelmates Blur‘s self-titled album from the top spot of the UK album chart after only being released the week before.
During the early days of the band, Mansun were noted and sometimes derided for their constantly changing fashion styles. Such styles ranged from punk, new romantic, baggy “Madchester” clothes, army fatigues, A Clockwork Orange style boiler suits and even women’s clothing. Draper admitted that it was “probably overenthusiasm, seeing people like Bowie’s different guises and thinking, ‘Great! Let’s try that.’”[27]
WE&P by: EZorrillaM.