If it’s a history lesson you want then you’ve come to the wrong place. As Ian Brown once said so casually during those first strains of youth: “The past is yours, the future is MINE.â€
And so the same can be said of Mint Ive. Nottingham as a city hasn’t exactly got the best reputation as far as bestowing up-and-coming musical talent on the rest of the world is concerned. Basically, you can count any worthwhile past produce on the fingers of one hand.
Mint Ive are aware of this as much as anyone, which is why now, after two years of steadily honing their songwriting and live performances around the city and beyond, they are ready to unleash their undoubted potential onto the rest of us.
This year alone has already seen them play a sell out JD set show with the Maccabees, three Drowned In Sound club nights alongside the likes of Komakino, Her Name Is Calla and Club AC30 stalwarts Air Formation, while inbetween all that they also became the first unsigned band to sell out the city’s Bodega Social venue in advance (Review) .
Aside from that, critical acclaim has been pouring in from all quarters, with Nightfly proclaiming them as“the best band Nottingham has had to offer for some timeâ€, Sandman describing their live set as“eerily haunting...yet delightfully menacingâ€, and Primal Scream’s Mani being so impressed by one of their shows he immediately offered them a residency at Manchester’s Blue Cat Café.
In the meantime they have been recording with Doggen (Spiritualized, Julian Cope), Chris Olley (Six.By Seven) and Chris Moore (Model Morning, Echoboy) while early next year will see them heading back into the studio to complete their as-yet untitled debut album.
Along with the likes of Exit Calm, Model Morning and Nova Saints, Mint Ive are taking the hallowed sounds of early 90s shoegazing to a new audience reared on grit-clenched songwriting and a passion for affluent characters amidst the current trend for faceless artists within the music industry.
So without further ado, I give you Mint Ive.
