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Manbird is here to make a change and the first glimpse of that comes in the form of their single “All The Way From Blackpool.”
About the song, the band comments “All the Way from Blackpool is about how, when properly informed, seemingly powerless people on one side of the world can devise actions that change events on the other. In 1973, British made and maintained Hawker Hunter jets were instrumental in a coup in Chile that toppled a democratically elected socialist government. It was replaced by a brutal military dictatorship. When engines from Chilean Hawker Hunters subsequently arrived at Rolls Royce East Kilbride for maintenance, unionised workers recognised their significance and impounded them. The engines rusted there until 1978, hobbling the Chilean dictatorship’s air force.”
‘MANBIRD!?
“I have no idea what it means. Ask Steve Hands, he came up with it. No, don’t ask him. He won’t know either”. Richard Vernon struggles to account for the name. ‘I can describe what MANBIRD! is though, It’s me discovering that Paul Smith is still writing songs, and playing guitar like Pete Townsend running out of patience with Tom Verlaine riffs. Me persuading him to sing and record, me bringing in Steve Hands to give it wings, and me bringing it back to Earth because I want people to hear this. And all in the kitchen because Smith won’t go in a studio’. – Richard Vernon
Vernon and Hands met in the band ‘The One’ with Peter Perrett from The Only Ones. Since then Vernon spent nearly ten years playing bass for The Mission, then The Almighty’s Ricky Warwick and a host of well-known artists.
Hands, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and performer in his own right, has been in The Band of Holy Joy and is now back with The Only Ones. Peter Perrett has described him as the most musical drummer he has ever played with.
Vernon and Smith met when they were signed to Rough Trade then Island Records, with Helter Skelter. Smith left the band and dropped out of view as their now sought after debut album ‘Consume’ was released.
Previously Smith had been in The Doctor’s Children, produced by John Leckie (Stone Roses, Radiohead, XTC, Magazine) and released worldwide including on the legendary labels Glass, Upright, and Down There. The Doctor’s Children also toured with people like Steve Earle, REM, James, and Violent Femmes, twice appeared at Glastonbury, and were championed on BBC Radio 1 by Andy Kershaw and Janice Long. In that period, Smith was taken on by Sony-BMG Music as a songwriter.
