Composed of guitarist/vocalist Iain Turner and drummer Lawrence Arnold, the two musicians at the heart of ManDown have been tight friends since childhood. Influenced by the sound and attitude of bands like Rage Against the Machine, We Are 68, Black Peaks, The Prodigy, and Hundred Reasons, their debut EP We Want Blood is released in summer 2020.
“Bands that work hard—really hard; they’re all my heroes,” enthuses Arnold. “Bands that melt down. I admire the energy and the admission that they will burn out and not fade away. Bands that have so much energy you wish you could bottle it.”
“I think what Lawrence and I truly share is a passion to create music, and it feels like we’ve come full circle 20 years later,” says Turner. “We actually started learning to play classical guitar together in senior school. Our first recordings together would be made in the music practice room during our GCSEs. We even had enough material to put together an album which I made into a cassette and sold to our classmates.”
The pair stayed in touch, running in the same circles and dipping in and out of various bands, but never together, with Arnold serendipitously moving his focus from guitar to drums. His band at the time, Ipanema, dissipated, following vocalist Darren “Wiz” Brown (Mega City Four, Serpico, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin) suddenly passing away after collapsing during a rehearsal. “It was very, very sad. And sudden. But I have the very best memories of that time, and am forever grateful for them.”
Unable to walk away from music, Arnold was contacted by Paul Townsend of UK post-hardcore heroes Hundred Reasons—an old acquantaince of Arnold’s “from the park, of all places,” he laughs. “We were long haired 90s alternative kids hanging around after school. We had similar friendship groups.” The duo formed a stoner blues band together called Welcome the Howling Tones, with Arnold suggesting that Turner join the fold going forwards.
“That band really cemented the rhythm connection between Iain and me,” enthuses Arnold of their time in WHT. “We can read each other now. That’s something that doesn’t come easily.”
Following tours with Godsized, The Jamie Lenman Band, Nick Oliveri, The Icarus Line, Breed77 and more under the Howling Tones moniker, it was then time for Arnold and Turner to strike out alone with a new project.
“Jamie Lenman barged in to one of our band practices one day for a listen,” laughs Arnold as he remembers the band’s genesis. “He hated our working title name at the time and suggested ManDown instead. We didn’t use it to start with, but he referred to us as ManDown a few times, so it sort of stuck. Thanks Jim!”
The stand out material from those early practices would go on to become the basis for the pair’s debut record, their forthcoming 2020 EP, We Want Blood. Pairing up with producer Chris Coulter (IDLES, Arcane Roots, Jamie Lenman, Sun Arcana, EMP!RE) and Jamie Lenman for songwriting support in the studio, the result is a short, sharp punch of songs that boldly announces the band’s arrival. With a newfound creative ally in Lenman, ManDown’s material really started to take shape over the course of the recording sessions.
“Jamie has written some of my favourite ever music,” enthuses Turner, “so it was a great experience to work with him—the same with Chris. We had great experiences recording with him both times. I personally learned a lot during the pre-production and recording stages, about structuring songs and phrasing lyrics. It’s been really helpful moving forward with my songwriting.”
With so much experience and so many live shows under their collective belts in previous projects, it was vital for Arnold and Turner that they get things right in the practice room and studio with ManDown before revealing their hand—a matter that’s not inconsiderably helped by Iain’s prolific writing pace.
“I’ll sit at my computer with my guitar and just play,” explains Turner. “These riffs make their way into demo songs, then we pick the demos out that we like and work on them together. Lyrics for me usually take more time and thought, but it’s definitely a cathartic process for me to write them. I’m generally quite a quiet person so it’s good to get my thoughts onto paper.”
Key to the pair’s chemistry is what does and doesn’t make their very selective editing process, with Arnold taking the pruning shears to the majority of material. With the guidance and involvement of Lenman during the recording process, the pair’s songs became even shorter—one of the ingredients that makes We Want Blood such a ripping release, at just 11 minutes 20 seconds across 4 tracks. “We actually demoed 12 songs for the record,” says Arnold. “It was a hard cut. These are simply the best representation of what we want to get out there.”
“It’s amazing how much the basic ingredients count in a two-piece,” adds Turner. “It can’t be close enough—it has to be right, but it also has to be raw. It shouldn’t cover up what two people sound like, or you might as well get another couple of musicians and make it a quartet.” It’s this meticulous approach to preparation together, and their air of stripped-back professionalism, that’s perhaps ManDown’s biggest asset as they ready themselves to pull back the curtain and step over the top for the first time in their new guise.
“When I look back, most of the bands I’ve been in before weren't ready for, or able to commit fully to, 'What comes next?',” muses Arnold. “Having fun was the main driver, and playing live was the key to that, and every single show meant something. But when you all have different stuff going on outside the band the energy isn’t focused and eventually, inevitably, it fizzles out. With this project I was clear from the start that I didn't want that to happen.”
So, with the band finally ready to unleash their debut record and live show, what comes next? “Next up is earning some respect,” says Arnold, with a tone of realism and humility that can only come from experience. “That’s going to be the hard part.”
We Want Blood is released 9th July 2020
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