Old Painless: Demo Songs
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New Manchester band Old Painless arrive with fresh Demos and a sound inspired by American heavy rockers. They are inspired by acts such as Fu Manchu, Melvins and Clutch, Old Painless infuse hard rock with a sprinkling of Joy Division influence.
On their Bandcamp, Old Painless describe themselves as loving “Them big fuzzy riffs”.
That is no more evident than on their first demo track Deep And Wide. The song begins with a minute of instrumentation, a hammering riff, accompanied by a foot tap-inducing drumbeat.
Fleetfooted Mankiller meshes riffs, a glossy Dave Grohl-style number, combining with an angry driving six-string line to create a track that evolves into pure rock out mode. Just Another Case Of Bad Luck puts more of a focus on raspy vocals, compared to the other guitar-centric tracks.
What sets this band apart though, is it means more to its members than its music.
Nathan said: “[What inspired me is] creating music with like-minded people. We’ve all talked at length about the camaraderie of being in a band and we most definitely have the kind of conversations about music and popular culture we wouldn’t normally have in any other area of our lives. If it sounds like a men’s support group, then in many ways, it is; being in a band is good for your mental health. This band especially mean a lot to me as I think it’s the first I’ve been in where every single member shares the same daft sense of humour and a serious approach to crafting songs: if we have to spend weeks and weeks on a chorus, for example, we’ll do it without complaint.”
With three-fifths of their members coming from Salford, their music is permeated with Mancunian lineage. The band’s guitarist, Nathan said: “I think the more successful Manchester bands have their roots in that post-punk thing, along with what many people call ‘indie’. If you scratch the surface, however, you’ll find a lot of decent bands playing the kind of stuff we play also. I’ve been playing in bands for a long time, and one thing I can say about Manchester is that if you want to play music with people, you don’t need to try hard to find them; if you want to go to a gig and be blown away, it doesn’t take much of an effort.”
In terms of what lies ahead, the band are just taking it one step at a time.
The band have just finalised their lineup, with new guitarist Rob.
When asked to sum up their music they said, “We’re pretty decent; come and see us or check out our demo, which is currently on Spotify and Bandcamp.”
You can find Old Painless on Facebook and YouTube, as @OldPainlessUK.
Words by Luke Birch. More from Luke can be found over at his Louder Than War Author Archive, and on his Muckrack.
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