Mr Sportsman (Interview)

by Michael Smith on 9.05.10


We here at 4Q are all about live music and promoting up and coming artists. We have seen the very best, and unfortunately at times, the very worst of what Manchester has to offer. With Converse in toe we have begun to feature as many must hear artists at our Fresh Meat Live nights, and I’m happy to introduce you to another.

Mr Sportsman are a group that has only recently popped up on our radar, but have been quick to impress. We were lucky enough to have them perform at our Fresh Meat Live gig @ Night & Day Cafe on December 12th. A good night was had by all and 4Q managed to catch up with the guys to talk music, line-ups and sexual tension. Gaz: “It all started just over a year ago, I’d been working on some Material on my own and decided maybe it would be better to have some musical support. I had tried out another guitarist but he didn’t seem to be able to keep time. We recorded a few rough ideas and he just couldn’t sync up with the click track, ah well.”

“I managed to get Tom involved quite easily”, Gaz continues, “we also found out Joe (who has been a friend of mine since the age of 11) had recently left his long term band so we had a good place to practice!” Joe: “Oh right, you only brought me in so you had somewhere to practice?!? Gaz: “Pretty much mate!”

Tom: “We all get on really well so it was easy for us to start writing together, maybe too close at times.” Gaz: “Yeh, we only really started playing music together to avoid the constant sexual tension between us all. Joe: “Speak for yourself Gaz mate.” Tom: “To begin with we just worked on the material that Gaz had originally come up with.” “It was a good foundation to build on; we have managed to create a much bigger sound as we’ve progressed.”

Since the summer of 2008 the guys have stumbled out of their Rusholme terrace house, moved across town to a new home within one of Manchester’s majestic old Mills. From here they have spent their time sitting on sofas, eating McDonald’s, telling terrible jokes and knocking over ashtrays. At some point songs were written, shows were played and someone in Japan decided to take a liking to them. Gaz: “We spent the first five months just building up a decent back catalogue of material, we didn’t want to play any initial gigs with a mixture of our own stuff and covers.” “We have found at times that in Manchester the music can be a bit disjointed.” “Music at gigs can be a bit sporadic; we would prefer to play on a roster of similar artists.” “The trouble is finding the right promoters and labels in Manchester that are good when you’re first starting out.”

Mr Sportsman are a band looking to diversify as much as possible. Often with the artist we deal with in the magazine they simply stick to just writing music, placing tracks on Myspace and performing as many gigs as possible. Tom: “We have dabbled with making a few videos; it’s a good way of giving a band another dimension when you’re trying to get recognised.” “A lot of bands tend to stay away from videos until they’re a bit bigger, but it isn’t too hard to come out with something decent.” Gaz: “We all like to have an opinion when making the videos, it often starts out with us just stripped down to acoustic, and we find ourselves thinking, it needs something else.” “We get there in the end!”

Having had the opportunity to see My Sportsman live id best describe their sound to be somewhere along the lines of American/Post Punk. Gaz: “The best way to describe our music is, if Bloc Party, The Cure, Alexisonfire and Johnny Cash got in a fight, they then decided the only way to settle their differences was to combine their music, that’s what we sound like.” Gaz: “Not to sound like any other band isn’t our plan, we started out with influences and the sound has just kind of evolved ever since.” “Everyone has to have a starting point.”

So what’s next? Gaz: “We have a new EP out called Good Morning Virtue, we intend to play a bunch of gigs to try and get that out there, and when the time is right I’m sure we will hit the studio again with some new sounds.” Tom: “Maybe make a video or two more if we find the time, who knows.”

Mr Sportsman are a good group of guys, writing good live music, if you like big choruses, catchy versus and good vibes check them out asap!

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