"Fire escape vapour / Tommy Girl and sweat and hairspray /Stomach is pulsing /It’s a disco convulsion..."
The cool urgent atmospheres of 'Dry Ice' by Manchester alt-punk band The Empty Page hits like a hammer but offers sonic surprises along the way. The production that features such a formidable kind of early 80's Pixies bass and drum engine and bassist / singer's Kel's impassioned vocal countenance is all you need, "Fire escape vapour / Tommy Girl and sweat and hairspray /Stomach is pulsing /It’s a disco convulsion..." but then those other layers fall into place. Massive guitar sounds by Giz is heavenly with furious screaming leads. There are also unidentifiable artful edges that stick to your brain, electronic rubber band snaps and other synthetic things pushing the urgency as produced by mystery man Morton Kong recorded at the "vintage gear heaven" that is Eve Studios, Stockport.
Kel shares: “Dry Ice was inspired by the alluring stench that pours out the back door of a club, beckoning you in as you walk past. The chorus celebrates ‘the crush of the warm crowd’ - the joy of moving as one to loud music in a roomful of people. It’s about writhing together unselfconsciously.
“I was already feeling nostalgic for freer, easier times, late nights, chippy tea bus rides, when I started scribbling down ideas but the restrictions of the pandemic exacerbated that yearning for closeness to strangers. I still don’t think we’re quite back there with the freedom to mingle sweatily that we once took for granted. This song is a celebration of that ‘disco convulsion’”
Giz adds: “We have started experimenting more with how we record our songs. On our debut album, it was all about the sound of a band in a room, not too much messing with that. On these new tracks, we’ve been playing with old Pro One synthesisers and bust-up pianos. Experimenting more with layers of guitar sounds and other noises. It’s definitely a progression.”
“I was already feeling nostalgic for freer, easier times, late nights, chippy tea bus rides, when I started scribbling down ideas but the restrictions of the pandemic exacerbated that yearning for closeness to strangers. I still don’t think we’re quite back there with the freedom to mingle sweatily that we once took for granted. This song is a celebration of that ‘disco convulsion’”
Giz adds: “We have started experimenting more with how we record our songs. On our debut album, it was all about the sound of a band in a room, not too much messing with that. On these new tracks, we’ve been playing with old Pro One synthesisers and bust-up pianos. Experimenting more with layers of guitar sounds and other noises. It’s definitely a progression.”
"Dry Ice" is the precursor ahead of the band's second album (as yet untitled) due in spring 2023.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://twitter.com/thmptypg
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1qWwVAQahrqNPgG8pEkcwM
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRvo9IV6VKi6HRdzJRXwawA
https://theemptypage.bandcamp.com/
Manchester alt-punk band The Empty Page have been steadily blossoming since recording their early demos in a warehouse in Ancoats, Manchester. Those demos were heard by Gggarth Richardson (RATM, Biffy Clyro, Melvins), which led to their debut album, Unfolding being recorded with him in Vancouver, Canada.
The band released 7-inch single When The Cloud Explodes in Feb 2019. Airplay (Steve Lamacq/Gideon Coe BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing, Radio 1) and glowing reviews (Louder Than War, Overblown, God Is In The TV...) followed. The band remained on Spotify's 'The Punk List' playlist (alongside Fontaines DC, Idles, Big Joanie, Fat White Family, Idles, Squid et al) for months.
Follow-up single He's Very Good At Swimming took a darker and more challenging route, thus support this time came from different camps, with 6 Music/BBC Introducing's Tom Robinson playing it twice in one weekend and calling it "immensely powerful". Third single of 2019 You're Tame followed suit with yet more positive blog coverage and who doesn't like a video full of kittens?
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://twitter.com/thmptypg
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1qWwVAQahrqNPgG8pEkcwM
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRvo9IV6VKi6HRdzJRXwawA
https://theemptypage.bandcamp.com/
Manchester alt-punk band The Empty Page have been steadily blossoming since recording their early demos in a warehouse in Ancoats, Manchester. Those demos were heard by Gggarth Richardson (RATM, Biffy Clyro, Melvins), which led to their debut album, Unfolding being recorded with him in Vancouver, Canada.
The band released 7-inch single When The Cloud Explodes in Feb 2019. Airplay (Steve Lamacq/Gideon Coe BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing, Radio 1) and glowing reviews (Louder Than War, Overblown, God Is In The TV...) followed. The band remained on Spotify's 'The Punk List' playlist (alongside Fontaines DC, Idles, Big Joanie, Fat White Family, Idles, Squid et al) for months.
Follow-up single He's Very Good At Swimming took a darker and more challenging route, thus support this time came from different camps, with 6 Music/BBC Introducing's Tom Robinson playing it twice in one weekend and calling it "immensely powerful". Third single of 2019 You're Tame followed suit with yet more positive blog coverage and who doesn't like a video full of kittens?
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