Interview: Brindle’s Manse

North-East indie rock and pop band Brindle’s Manse release their new album Remember! via Bandcamp and CD/vinyl formats on Friday 10th October – with a launch gig at The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle on the same day 

The 11-track album takes inspiration from a number of musical influences and was initially recorded at Blank Studios in September last year. Sonically the album combines bold beats, spikey guitar, and animated, characterful vocals to create an art rock sound reminiscent  of The B52s and Talking Heads.

We caught up with the band to find out more…

How did the four of you first start playing together — was there a clear idea from the start, or did the sound evolve over time?
Paul and Bill (guitars, vocals) met on one of the musicians’ dating sites – the modern-day equivalent of popping a postcard on the JG Windows’ (RIP) notice board.  Bill was relocating from Florida to North Northumberland and made contact with Paul, with whom he shared a number of strong musical influences and, quite importantly, an Alnwick postcode.  They started to write a few songs together by swapping music files over the internet while looking for other musicians to collaborate with.  Borys (bass) and John (drums, percussion) joined later, both having quite different musical backgrounds, which helped the band stretch what were a bunch of tuneful, jangly guitar songs into a more interesting direction.  Or at least that’s what we think…

You’ve released a few tracks already — how did those earlier recordings feed into the album, creatively or practically?
We set out to write an album where the songs had compatibility with each other so that listeners could identify the band’s sound.  The releases so far were primarily to satisfy the curiosity of friends and followers, but were also necessary to promote the band.  “No Wires” was released on one of RnR magazine’s covermount CDs as an efficient way of giving the track a wide airing to an unsuspecting audience.  “Snakes Crawl” has had a lot of radio airplay on various independent stations, seemingly entertaining insomniac rock fans in the US and UK!!!  We also issued some “rarities” (why wait thirty years for the remastered, deluxe anthology on Record Store Day?) and the previously released tracks have been remixed and recast for the album.

There’s a definite mix of styles in your music — do you tend to chase a particular sound, or just follow where the songs lead?
We have a wide range of influences and happily adopt and adapt ideas which we incorporate into songs.  But we also exercise self-discipline to avoid getting too eclectic – just look what happened when “Spinal Tap” got into jazz fusion.  Dear oh dear!

What’s your writing process like — do lyrics come first, or does it start with a riff or rhythm?
All of the above.  Our songs start off as pretty simple affairs, based on a good hook or chord sequence.  Lyrics are mainly literal, based on experiences and observations which we hope people can relate to.  Then we just build from there – Borys and John cut a pretty unique groove for the sort of music we do and that makes our two-fingered guitar chords a bit more interesting.

You’re putting the album out across digital, CD and vinyl — how important is the format to how people hear your music?
We recognise that opinions are divided on how music is consumed – in terms of both format and devices.  Downloads are easy and cheap but don’t have the tactile experience of CDs or records, nor do they have the artwork which can enhance the experience.  Can you fall in love with a download?  Will a download ever be regarded as a “classic”?  But one thing we believe is that the 2 x 22 minutes “LP” format is ideal attention span length and prevents the temptation to add fillers for the sake of it.  Oh, and there’s streaming.  We’re very conflicted about this – unless you’re Taylor Swift (spoiler alert: we aren’t), it can render the music pretty value-less but it does expand the potential audience.

You’re launching the album with a show at The Cumberland Arms — what kind of night are you hoping to create, and how does the live set compare to the record?
There are lots of great venues locally, but we just fancied The Cumberland for a bit of a change.  It seemed right to mark the release of the album in some way.  We’ve also offered support slots to the Traxx Rock School, so some of the younger, up-and-coming talent will get a chance to play in front of a friendly audience at a super venue (and who knows, some of their parents might have heard of some of the bands we like?!).  Our live sound is a bit punchier – some of the subtlety is difficult to reproduce – but we keep the bright and chiming tones which characterise our sound.  So if that sounds like your sort of thing, come along.  If not, go and see another local band and support one of the great venues we benefit from in these parts.