Mantank

MANTANK grew out of a partnership between Alistair "Mac" MacLatchy and Jonny Davies that started in 1998. Using Herbie Armstrong's bar "Under the Boardwalk" as a platform, we began playing acoustic tunes by such diverse acts as Pink Floyd, Rammstein, the Tindersticks and Radiohead to audiences drawn to Herbie's open mike nights. The first song to emerge from this was "Obligatory Ballad", a new twist on the power ballad theme. This was recorded in 2000 at the Manor near Kiveton Park in S.Yorks, by Mac's old musical mates in Bal-Sagoth. "Intravenous Jesus", a more hook-driven rock song, followed soon afterwards. In 2001, "PMTO" was recorded (at the same place)- a genuinely twisted piece of music, that still remains a crowd-pleaser to this day (you can hear this song playing now). Having established some form of direction, we started to hunt out like-minded musicians to help us translate these songs live. Kirk Wells, then playing in Sheffield rap-metal band Self-Inflicted was persuaded to help out on drums, and period of lengthy rehearsals followed. A young student, Tom, helped fill the bass gap for a while, and we were ready to gig! The first gig was at Sheffield's famous Boardwalk in March 2003. My memory's a little hazy, but it seemed to go down OK! It was felt that Tom was a little out of place among us though, so we recruited Mark Greenwell of Bal-Sagoth to undertake bass duties for us (it helped that he was my lodger!). Songwriting started to burgeon thereafter, with "We Want our Thumbs", "House of Cards" and "Cynic" emerging from the racket we were making. During this time, many gigs were played in & around Sheffield - more at the Boardwalk & the Corporation. A steady fanbase seemed to be developing... As Bal-Sagoth began work on their 6th album, Mark was unable to spare the time we needed from him, so we began to cast about for a new bassist. As luck would have it, an old bandmate of mine drew himself out of retirement to accept the challenge - this was Carl Brown, former member of Systematic Insanity and Monolith, and what a joy it was to behold! Carl brought real bass-playing class to the proceedings (no offence Mark, but you're a guitarist playing bass, when all is said & done!). Carl came aboard in 2005, and then the ball really got rolling - "I Despair", "Requiem", "Kill it (working title)" and "Road of Bones (working title)" blossomed from the new ensemble. Another period of rehearsals beckoned... My mates in Bal-Sagoth had, in the meantime, grown their own fully-equipped home studio, and they graciously allowed us to record a new demo in the latter months of 2005. This demo comprised "...Thumbs", "...Cards", "...Despair" and "Cynic", and is what you can here on this site now (except "Cynic", as it's too bloody long to fit!) We hope you like it, 'cos we think it's bloody splendid!New tunes we're gigging right now are "Requiem" - dark & soaring, "Kill it" - brutal, and "Road of Bones" - an accidental masterpiece."JOIN US ON THE ROAD OF BONES"MANTANK would like to thank everyone who's believed in us for the last 6 years, and come to as many of our gigs as they can: big shouts in particular for the Bal-Sagoth guys (Chris, Johnny & Mark - we couldn't have done it without your help), Michelle & Rob (superfans), Bob & Lizzie (splendid sir!), Iain, Jenny & Chris ("uplifting power-angst"), Uncle Ken (King of Rock!), Chris Wilson, Mutley (when can we have another gig?), Ritchie Atkin (innit?), Gillian & Floyd (thanks for shitting in the rehearsal room, Floyd!), Jinja, ...and all the great bands we've played with - I can't list you all here (Jonny remembers names better than I do!)MANTANK are: Jonny Davies - vocals, guitars & keys Alistair MacLatchy - guitars & sometimes backing vocals Kirk Wells - drums Carl Brown - bassThanks for reading this - more to come...Mac -(`v)- Design your MySpace with MyLook -(`v)-