Mansun
| Mansun | |
 Clockwise from top left: Andie Rathbone, Stove King, Paul Draper and Dominic Chad. | |
| Genre | |
|---|---|
| * Alternative * Rock * Britpop | |
| Years Active | |
| 1995–2004 | |
| Record Label | |
| Sci-Fi Hi-Fi, Parlophone, EMI | |
| Associated acts | |
| Grind | |
| Website | |
| www.mansun.co.uk | |
| Band Members | |
| * Paul Draper * Dominic Chad * Stove King * Andie Rathbone | |
| Past Band Members | |
| * Carlton Hibbert * Mark Swinnerton * Julian Fenton | |
Who are Mansun
Formed in Chester,
Paul Draper (1995-2003) Lead Vocals/Rhythm/Lead Guitar/Songwriting
Dominic Chad (1995–2003) Background Vocals/Rhythm/Lead Guitar/co-songwriter
Stove King (1995–2002) Background Vocals/Bass Guitar
Andie Rathbone (1996-2003) Drums/Percussion/Background Vocals
Carlton Hibbert (1995-1996) Drums
Julian Fenton Drums (1996)
Mark Swinnerton Drum Machine Programming (1995–1996)
- retrieved from Wiki Commons 23rd Sept 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mansun&diff=prev&oldid=682110455
Contents
Formation
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.[1] Through their shared love of David Bowie and 1980s new wave bands such as Duran Duran, ABC[2] 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.[3] 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),[4] with programmer-keyboard player Steve Heaton, and were often accompanied live by school friend Carlton Hibbert on drums.[5] Grind released one 12" single in 1991 on the small "Whats In It For Me Records" label[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] Chad had previously played with Floating Bear"[9] 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".[10] 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')[11] 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 / Flourella", "Moronica" and "She Makes My Nose Bleed".
Early Years
Breakthrough
Impending Collapse of it All
During the fourth album recording sessions Stove left the band, leaving Paul, Dominic, and Andie working on the songs
Post Mansun
The band went their separate ways with Paul and Chad staying in touch every now and again, apart from that not much is known as to what happened immediately after the split.
Dominic Chad
Paul produced Dominic Chad's solo project penned 'Parrott'. It is not known if Dominic intends to release this Solo Project, or even if he is still playing Guitar. In 2015 a short film called was released and the soundtrack was credited to Dominic Chad, it was noticed by some fans and that a friend of Dominic's was credited in the film which tends to lend credibility that this was the one and only Dominic Chad who worked on the music for the film.
It was rumoured that Dominic Chad was working or worked as an Ambulance driver, or in a care home.
Paul Draper
Paul has worked as a producer and engineer for several bands and artists over recent years including that of Menace Beach, Skin - for more info see Paul Draper's page.
He has been working for the past 3 years on a project with Catherine Anne Davies called The Anchoress where she has as of January 2016 released 3 EPs and her debut Album Confessions of a Romance Novelist. Together Paul and Catherine have worked on Paul's long awaited solo album Spooky Action at a Distance which is set to be released later in 2016.
Paul has just very recently announced that he has had several tracks mastered for release later this year, it's not known if this will be on a Single or EP, it is rumoured to be released on the Too Pure Singles Club for their 100th release.
Stove King
Stove seems to have disappeared from music and has not been seen or heard of. It was rumoured that he was working at a Deeside car manufacturing plant, and that he had moved overseas.
Andie Rathbone
Andie disappeared from the limelight of the music world but had been working with other bands such as Seraphim - full list on his page. In 2014 he suffered a serious head injury and was in a come, but he has made a full recovery. He is still an avid car enthusiast and is known to work on restoring cars. He has been working again on his Rhythm Rehab project, a mobile drum tutor covering the North Wales/Chester area.
- ↑ Internet Archive Wayback Machine (2003-06-18). Retrieved from mansunite.com.
- ↑ Mansun. Retrieved from allmusic.com.
- ↑ Reid, Pat, Burning Ambition - Mansun's Stove, web.archive.org. Retrieved August 2011
- ↑ MansunMusicLovers > Grind 12. Retrieved from pauldraper-mansun.co.uk.
- ↑ Grind [Early Paul Draper band] | The Beardscratchers Compendium of Music. Retrieved from Beardscratchers.com.
- ↑ Misc. Retrieved from Sound.jp.
- ↑ Internet Archive Wayback Machine (2004-09-30). Retrieved from btinternet.co.uk.
- ↑ Internet Archive Wayback Machine (2004-08-05). Retrieved from btinternet.co.uk.
- ↑ www.lancepaine.me.uk. Retrieved from lancepaine.me.uk.
- ↑ Internet Archive Wayback Machine (2005-02-15). Retrieved from lineone.net.
- ↑ Internet Archive Wayback Machine (2003-03-13). Retrieved from dotmusic.com.
