BiographyMANTANK 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. 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. 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. 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 drew himself out of retirement to accept the challenge - this was Carl Brown, former member of "Systematic Insanity" and "Monolith". Carl brought real bass-playing class to the proceedings; 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... 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 will be available here as soon as it's mixed! We hope you like it, 'cos we think it's bloody splendid! 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 MANTANK are: |
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