Interview by Jon Birch
Listen Up Manchester caught up with the Mutineers - one of Manchesters favourite up and coming bands! Here is our full interview with Mikey from the band:
- Can you give us a brief history of how you came together as a band?
We came together out of the ashes of a couple of different bands, partly due to the frustration of long periods of inactivity i think! We were all in our mid 20s and needed to pretty much do something different and fresh...something to get excited about....
- What artists did you listen to growing up? Who do you feel influenced you the most?
I can only speak for myself really but i think i was fairly lucky to have been a teenager in Manchester the 90s when the Britpop thing happened, so there was a real wealth of bands writing relevent music and meaningful songs...sometimes commenting on society and things like that...it was also a plus that a lot of them were pretty cool...so i guess the likes of Pulp, Blur, Suede...Verve, Manic Street Preachers,Radiohead...and in america perhaps REM who were still making pretty good music then aswell...so all that sort of stuff was an early influence.....inevitabely, throughout time tastes changes and you grow a little more mature and you check other stuff out...so i love lots of the good 80s stuff...loads of Motown/Northern soul/60s sort of stuff....Nick Drake & John Martyn from the folkier side of things, early Van Morrison.....
- Who are the bands you have seen live who have completely blown you away?
I went to see Depeche Mode play an Arena gig about 7 or 8 years ago. That was an amazing spectacle in itself.....the sort of gig that is a real show...not just a band standing onstage playing their instruments. I'd one day love to utilise all that sort of stuff, lights & movies.....more narrative sort of stuff...
- Whats your favourite album of all time?
That's a pretty hard one to answer! I like different albums for different reasons....so for pure melody and emotion i might pick Pet Sound by Beach Boys....for synthy & electronica vibes i'd probably pick violator by Depeche Mode.....if i want to listen to some classic intelligent moody sort stuff i might stick The Bends or OK computer on....so in some ways it sort of depends what mood you're in....
- Whats been the best gig you've played so far?
Probably the last Manchester show we did at Sound Control. We've played larger venues as support to some big bands but i think the fact that we sold out a 500-600 capacity venue in our home town was pretty special and it was quite exciting to hear the songs sung back to us whilst onstage.
- What three Mutineers songs would you recommend that people listen to give them a flavour of the band?
I think i can be bold enough and say pretty much anything on the album...other than perhaps "Landlords Daughter" which, although one of my favourite songs, isn't the most immediate of tracks!
- What are your hopes and plans for 2013 both in the Studio and on the road?
More than anything to get this next single out and hopefully have it sneak into the indie charts and then get the album out. In terms of live stuff i think we're going to see how the album goes down and then make a plan....although i'm sure we may stick in a couple of little launch type gigs between the single and album release.
- What other up & coming Manchester bands would you recommend we check out?
There's a band called The 1975 who look like they're going to blow up this year, so i'd give them a go and then there's Slow Readers Club who have been around for quite a long time now but if you're into darker sort of stuff give them a whirl.
- Whats your ideal night out in Manchester, where are your favourite places to go?
It's got to be the Northern Quarter really as a starting point....and then as things get a little hazy maybe head up to big hands on Oxford road with a couple of stop offs at Temple of Convenience and The Deaf Institute.....possibly ending up in some cheap studenty indie dive drinking £1 bottles of weak lager and preteding to still be 20!
-...Whats your favourite cheese?
It has to be Martin Platt's "How's yer father" - http://www.saddleworthcheese.
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