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The Life & Times of Manchester Orchestra - Part III

May 2011

Presented in footnotes* by Chris Shaban

Because if it was you, you’d write out a different story, but because it was me, I made it a simpler story…

Now that we’ve reached the halfway point in this Manchester article, I must tell you that I have learned a number of things about this band, however there are two that really standout:

  1. They have great fans that truly care about their music It’s great to hear so much feedback, thank you for writing me. You are very passionate and sincere, whether you agree with me or not… ;-)
  2. These guys are prolific with the song writing, especially on the lyrical tip

Thing about both of those is that you get all sorts of personal interpretations that the listener decodes. Often done so that the lyric or topic can fit in nicely with where the listener is at in their lives And hey, that’s not a bad thing cause as all great songwriters will tell you, they just make the music; once it’s delivered, they can’t control the outcome. Visual: Try plugging a dam with your pinky finger.

With that said, sometimes a misinterpretation is unwelcomed and can create a negative response to a lyric or topic that is undesirable to the group or writer. In other words, something like, “Yo guy, that’s not what I meant!”

So to help bring some clarity, here is a quick three-part mini MythBusters based on some of the biggest misconceptions in the MO catalog.

1. The Meaning Behind ‘I Can Feel a Hot One’

The issue at hand:

tweet

Thing is, we’ve all heard the song, it’s not like you couldn’t at least make that distinction in some way shape or form, right? Lines like:

"I was in the front seat shakin’ it out… While it reminds me of a scene from The Sopranos with Christopher, it really is just a clever reference to their hit song by the same title. "

…and…

"Your blood is dry, it was sober…”

…or even…

“To pray for what I thought were angels, ended up being ambulances…”

…amongst other easy to misconstrue references Especially if you don’t know what ‘Manna’ is… show that the idea wasn’t totally pulled out of thin air. But, just because this seems to be a recurring theme online, let’s toss the mic to Andy so we can put this one to bed.

I wrote this song during a 5-minute window we had from touring. We had just finished our dates with Brand New and Say Anything and were about to go on the road with mewithoutYou. I was at my parents place in West Palm Beach, Florida and just took my guitar with me. ‘…Virgin’ had been done for about a year and I wanted to start writing something. Here is what ‘I Can Feel a Hot One’ is about

I could feel a hot one taking me down
For a moment I could feel the force
Veiny to the point of tears
And you were holding on to make a point
What’s the point?

In essence this song starts out with a panic attack, that’s the hot one that’s taking me down. I’m straining with my muscles and clinching tight, which is why I say “Veiny to the point of tears.” Yes, veiny is not a word… when I hear this line it makes me think of the Incredible Hulk. Coming off the road and holding on to the idea of the band, to the idea of touring, was enough to give me a little push over the edge. But then I ask, really, what’s the point?

I am but a clean man, stable and alone man
Make it so I won’t have to try
The faces always stay the same
So I’ll face the fact that I’m just fine
I said that I’m just fine

Then I talk about how, even though I had just come off the road, I never dabbled in all those harmful vices that so many people succumb to when they tour. I was clean, I was stable and I was alone. The next line I’m referring to my voice. It’s not always easy to sing these songs night after night and I’m worried about how I sound. Here, I’m just asking God for the muscle memory “so I won’t have to try”. And, as with life on the road, I’m in different cities each night, but it seems like the faces always stay the same, so I guess that I’ll be okay.

I remember head down after you had found out
Manna is a hell of a drug
I need a little more I think
Because enough is never quite enough
What’s enough?

It’s tough sometimes as a human being to know when you have enough because we always want more. In the Old Testament the Jewish people would receive what they needed from God and it was often explained in the form of the fruit, Manna. Sometimes though, when you ask for it, it’s more than you bargained for. See, God told them to take just as much as they needed and nothing more. Any excess they took would rot by the morning, so there was no point in over doing it. That left the people wondering, ‘how much do I really need’? I always thought I wanted it all. This was really spawned from the Pedro the Lion song, ‘Simple Economics’, with the line “Power can be such a tease, you’re always wanting more. It’s good to know that just like sex, it can be paid for.”

I took it like a grown man, crying on the pavement
Hoping you would show your face
Well I haven’t heard a thing you’ve said
In at least a couple hundred days
What’d you say?

I’m talking to God here, just asking for Him to show himself to me. Clearly the allure of the Manna had thrown me and I hadn’t been close enough to God to hear Him in a while.

I was in the front seat shakin’ it out
And I was asking if you felt alright
And I never want to hear the truth
I want to hear your voice is sounding fine
My voice is sounding fine.

This is a conversation between Chris and I, where I am asking him if he felt alright. Truth be told, I didn’t really care whether or not he did, I was asking because I wanted him to tell me that everything would be okay with me. And more specifically, with my voice. A misconception about this lyric is that it actually reads like – I want to hear “your voice is sounding fine” – like I want Chris to tell me my voice is sounding fine, not that I’m interested in someone else doing okay.

I could feel my heart beat taking me down
And for the moment I would sleep alright
Veiny with a selfish fear
To keep me up another restless night
Another restless night

Being on the road is a gnarly trip and sometimes after like 12 hours of straight driving, you start losing it. Here is the beginning of me losing it. Just pulling my blanket over my head and crying and crying and eventually crying myself to sleep. That’s when the dream starts…

Your blood was dry it was sober
The feeling of audible cracks
And I could tell it was over
From the curtains that hung from your neck

In this dream, I’m driving Amy, my soon to be wife, back to her parents house in Birmingham, Alabama. We get side swiped by this tractor-trailer and the wreckage is where this verse starts. As she’s lying there, I can tell that she’s not going to make it and that this was the end.

And I realized it then, you were perfect
With my teeth ripping out of my head
And it looked like a painting I once knew
Back when my thoughts were not tire leak intact

Sometimes it’s too late to realize things you should have earlier, and at this moment, I’m looking at Amy and realizing that she is perfect as I’m amongst this disaster that is being played out on the road. I realized right then that all the things I was worried about didn’t matter.

So I prayed for what I thought were angels
Ended up being ambulances
And the Lord showed me dreams of my daughter
She was crying inside your stomach

With one last ditch effort I pray to the Lord to save her, but it’s too late and the ambulances have come to take her away. But the Lord gives me a glimmer of hope by showing that our baby is inside of her. And although I am going to lose Amy, we will always have something together in the form of our daughter. At that moment that best thing I could say was…

And I felt love again.

2. Andy and His Dad

Many people wonder whether or not Andy’s pops is still with us, and if he is, what their relationship together is like. Funny you should ask. Let’s do a quick dissection of the main line that has people curious…

“When my dad died, the worms ate out both his eyes…” – Sleeper 1972

First and foremost, for those that don’t know, Mr. Hull has not gone anywhere, he’s alive and kicking. Tearing up the treadmill one step at a time With that mystery solved, the second one isn’t so easy. There are a number of casual …and not so casual hints throughout the bands songs that suggest Hull Jr. & Sr. don’t get along. While each of those lyrics could be examined on its own, The main one being, “I am the only son of a bastard I know…” from ‘The Only One’ Just a quick FYI – that is not in reference to his dad. Although, it would seem like that’s exactly what it’s about, again for the record, it’s not. let’s zoom in on the subsequent words to the above line for our answer.

“…his soul flew right up in the sky, and I cried myself to sleep.”

If you study this portion of the song under the assumption Andy really is talking about his father, you’ll notice that he says he immediately went to heaven. This would obviously signify that he felt his pops was a good person in God’s eyes, and then he cried about the loss. Seems simple, but that is the key to your answer. Not only are Andy and his dad close, but also, they are a wonderful example of a relationship that a father and son can have.

Something that is important to know when you’re listening to words from a poetic songwriter like Andy Hull, and even on the highest possible end, guys like John Lennon or Bob Dylan; often times they are speaking in metaphors or in stories. You know, like Mr. Tambourine Man… I think I know a few of them myself… If there is a certain verse that is uttered and it strikes a chord within you, that’s what it was intended to do. It is as individual and as important as you need it to be, just as long as it stirs up an emotion that allows you to relate, these writers have done their job. And to be honest folks, I don’t think Andy has even started yet.

3. Is the song ‘Simple Math’ a true story?

Now that the single has been officially released, the Internet has been going nuts trying to decipher exactly who or what Andy is talking about. It makes the fodder even more intense when they have a video that includes all of the lyrics to the song, so you can’t even make a mistake. While many people are correct in the assumption that he is making reference to a girl, the situation they are involved in is what’s up for grabs. That said, if you guessed that it’s about knockin’ boots on the down low without your significant others knowledge or permission…. You guessed right. Or you watched the Red Bull livestream on April Fools Day where the cat kinda got let out the bag… Thanks to Andy for trying to dodge the question as best he could as to not spoil this part of the article… ;-)

For reference, when you listen to the whole album, sitting at track seven, this song fits perfectly in the context of the ten-track story that’s being told. Placed directly atop the arch, Andy is beginning to wonder if this whole life that he thought he was building is all coming crashing down around him. And as all professional temptresses do, the young lady shows up right at the height of his doubt and seduces him. The book of Proverbs is an excellent place to learn a ton of top-notch reasons why you should stay away from these women. #ImJustSaying

*Spoiler Alert* While it makes for an incredibly emotional and important song, the actual scenario did not happen. He is showing his vulnerability during a time when questions arise about his current life. Not to ruin the ending, but as the album moves to its closure, the only place he wants to be is with his wife… cause if it’s not with her, he’s got no place to go.

Now that we’ve got Mythbusters under our belts, let’s cut back to the fat meat…

So Manchester had just recorded their second LP, and first official release on Canvasback/Sony. The goal was to leave an indelible mark on the Rock & Roll landscape. But was it a classic?

Making a classic album isn’t something that you can just set out to do. I mean, you can have the intention of accomplishing that goal, but it’s not like an item you can put on a to-do-list to be checked off. This lofty achievement needs three key elements.

  1. Amazing songs All killer, no filler
  2. Organized sequence Having the amazing songs organized in the perfect order, set for mood, tempo and sound
  3. Timing Like ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ & ‘The Doors’ being released in the Summer of Love or ‘Nevermind’ & ‘Ten’ during the Tipping Point of Grunge… That kind of timing…

While timing is not always under your jurisdiction, nobody controls the first two elements but the band, so it always starts with the music.

I’m going to place a quote here from Jay-Z’s memoir-ish book Decoded that was released this past November. And published in Footnotes I may add… I’ve taken the liberty to put the word “music” where Jigga uses the word “rap”.

“Great (music) should have all kinds of unresolved layers that you don’t necessarily figure out the first time you listen to it. Instead it plants dissonance in your head… great (music) retains mystery. It leaves sh*t rattling around in your head that won’t make sense till the fifth or sixth time through. It challenges you. Decoded, Carter, Shawn; p. 54. Spiegel & Grau, 2010. ”

This is your brain on ‘Mean Everything To Nothing’

Before the album was released, just to Chinese Water Torture salivating fans wanting the whole album, Andy recorded two versions of the songs ‘The Only One’ and ‘I’ve Got Friends’ Two months before the album came out, this song was released on the web as a free download to build hype and momentum. Kinda like they did with ‘Simple Math’… and by “kinda like” I mean “exactly like” in England. The finished products would sound different, As it was just him and his gee-tar but it was a teaser for the public to digest. Now both renditions were good, but these acoustic numbers in no way would prepare people for what they were about to hear.

Once again having their boy Dan Hannon produce the record was important, but this time, they called for back up. Joe Chiccarelli, a skilled veteran in every sense of the word, acted as the surgeon, playing the role of what Andy would later refer to as the ‘Tone Master’. Kinda sounds like a bad DJ from the late 80’s, no?

To just reiterate the point made by Jay-Z, Manchester albums are like an episode of The Simpsons or Arrested Development. The more you take them in, the more you understand. …and the better they get

Okay, now that we’re clear, let’s move in a little closer…

(Internal footnote: Remember, professionals do the real reviews, I’m just telling a story here… See the opening line of this article for further proof. )

I know I used this term in the last Drake piece a few months back, but for those that had never heard anything from MO before, starting the album off with ‘The Only One’ was like a swift kick to the pills. Now, it’s more than fair to say that I didn’t learn that phrase in writing school, so maybe Kevin Devine’s explanation is a little more responsible:

"It's definitely one of the coolest...The charge of it, the way it explodes out at you. The lyric, the circularity of the bridge, the way the phrases fold over each other."

Ya, that’s more like it…

As I mentioned earlier, with Manchester Orchestra albums, your favorite song will rotate as fast as your brain can comprehend the new tunes. For me, ‘The Only One’, held that position first and for the longest time.

Moving fluidly right into the second song, ‘Shake It Out’ Making its, ‘pay me my publishing money’ debut on the TV show ‘Friday Night Lights’ would also serve as the second single from the album. I don’t know if the label was surprised at how successful this song was at radio, but it took them almost half a year to service it. After being used as the official theme song for a TNA Wrestling Pay-Per-View called ‘Sacrifice’, the official video was shot by director Isaac Rentz. He used the concept of Sly Stallone’s tour de force flick *sarcasm* ‘Over The Top’ and was filmed while the boys were on tour in Nashville. This was also the first song that they did an actual video for where the band did more than run away from a fictional bear on a budget that would make ‘The Blair Witch Project’ look like ‘Avatar’. The song peaked at number 25 on Billboard’s Alternative Chart. Like most people, I wondered about some of the lyrics in the song. I didn’t see Andy until about a year after this album dropped, but I did what I think most folks in my position would do: "Hey, what did you mean when you said, 'I'm done being done with a funeral, at least for now?'"

Again, without skipping a beat, the scene shifts to the now iconic and highest chartingThis bad boy went to #8 on the same Billboard chart Manchester song ever, ‘I’ve Got Friends’. As we’d come to expect, the fellas used the rollercoaster ‘Sandwich’ technique with this track. ‘I’ve Got Friends’ helped launch the band from really good underground music to mainstream rock radio in one shot. Although it was part of the unique video series that the band released for each song and was also the “running away from a fictional bear” barb in the earlier footnote, it was still the iTunes Video of the Week when it came out. Whether the uniqueness of the bubble-popping sound made by Chris’ keyboard, the catchy repetitious chorus that has so many different interpretations, or any number of other factors, this song stuck in the collective minds of not just MO fans, but people that love good Rock & Roll You know that I put the treats in for the people that read the footnotes – ‘I’ve Got Friends’ is Andy singing to his record label, tongue directly in cheek. It’s a tough business and ‘friends’ care about you as much as the fans do. When the fans stop, so do the ‘friends’. .

Batting fourth was the song that, to me, made the biggest statement. ‘Pride’ is like Manchester’s version of ‘Band on the Run’. …or to a lesser degree ‘A Day in the Life’ The song takes place in distinct parts that allows the listener to feel like they are digesting three different songs in five minutes and forty-eight seconds. Which, coincidently enough, was actually about the time it took to listen to three songs by The Beatles in 1964. While the heavy riff does induce an “ALL ABOARD…HAHAHA” sort of quality, the content of ‘Pride’, and the meaning in the lyrics are weightier than the guitar-line itself In truth, this song is about the feeling of selling your soul for the dough you get by doing live shows. Standing in front of a crowd and seducing them then leaving as quickly as you got there… all for the cash man. . Its protection in the fifth spot is the interesting and statement making ‘In My Teeth’. I’m not opposed to agreeing with the Nirvana comparison here, even though I do think that ‘comparison writing’ is the equivalent of utter literary weakness. Please see the previous line for my comparison to Black Sabbath to prove my point.

The album was produced in such a way that the initial six songs marry into each other seamlessly, having ‘100 Dollars’ round out the first side. In case you were wondering, Andy is fine…. He is fine…. No really, he is fine, I’m telling you he’s fine. He just needs 100 Dollars. Don’t we all. Watch the link above to see the real meaning behind the song.

That song works best as a transition to lead into the next joint that you probably knew all the words to before this album came out, ‘I Can Feel a Hot One’. If you don’t know this song by now, you haven’t been reading any of the series. Please proceed to Part I immediately. Do not pass Go, do not collect 100 Dollars. After that, we slide into ‘My Friend Marcus’, which is the first track that sounds a little different than the familiar décor of the album. Although it should be noted that all of the tracks on METN were written in the same window of time. While obviously a strong song in its own right, it serves to slightly shift the direction of the momentum that the LP had been building. Basically, it took some of the better qualities in the other songs and roll it all into one. I’m not a musician, so please take my opinion with a whole shaker of salt…

‘Tony the Tiger’ is another joint on the album that sounds like it could have been on a different record. Once again, please understand that I think it is a grrrrrrrrrrreat song and, in particular, I love the chanting refrain that comes in at about the 2:20 mark. I would have loved had it shown up about a minute or so sooner… Thing about being a writer is I can make any suggestions I want cause when hindsight is the leader, there is no chance anything can be done about it now. As the album comes near to its conclusion we are given another trademark Manchester style record, the title track, ‘Mean Everything to Nothing’. Properly pronounced as ‘Mean Everything to No Thing’… Here the boys give you the reasons why they gave the album the same name.

The next song is just pure awesome…

Having ‘The River’ at the end is so perfect. There is a calm and a release that comes, even as the opening chords are played. You can tell that you’re about to reach a breakthrough and you’re excited, no, scratch that, you’re relieved to be there. I mean, the thought that after you’ve gone on this roller coaster ride with the band, having now reached a point of maturity and quasi-understanding Enough at least to get figuratively baptized into adulthood is so cinematic. It’s like that loss of innocence that was so prevalent on ‘I’m Like a Virgin…’ has culminated in this group of young men that are ready to take on the next stage in their lives, whether they’re cool with the results or not. I don’t know if we’re ever going to always be cool with the results, but at some point we need to come to terms with the fact that there is only so much we can change and the rest is a roll of the dice with God as the Pit Boss.

Added to the album as a hidden track is ‘Jimmy, He Whispers’ and if you copped the LP on iTunes you were also given ‘Go’, a song that sounds more like it should have been on the actual record.

Funny thing: The album was written in a way that would have made a cassette tape happy. You do know what cassettes are, right? ;-) The initial six songs are the first half of the journey, while the next five; well six if you count the hidden track, …and 7 if you bought it on iTunes round out the story. Listen to the joints in order and you’ll hear part one is a breakdown about life on the road and the intensities and difficulties that come from those experiences. On the flip side, You know, staying with the cassette references… part two describes the feelings of what coming home from touring is like and getting back to ‘real life’. Remember something, being on the road can catch up with you, and it’s not always easy to get up in the morning and do your press, let alone check in at the crib to see how everyone you know is doing.

Speaking of press, the copious amounts of great reviews for this album were almost embarrassing. Embarrassing in a good way, like when you put on a pair of jeans from last year that are so tight you get that muffin-top thing happening with your fat roll, but then you find $200 cash in your pocket… you know what I’m saying? The way the media rode ‘METN’ you’d really hope they at least wore a condom. It wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops though… A subtly less than glowing review came from Pitchfork and so-so ones from All Music and NME round out the love fest. I find that it’s so easy for a writer to compare a band to another band in an effort to - Good: help the reader draw a parallel so they can understand the group more quickly & Bad: use it as a condescending tool to playfully diss the band in a “you’re not as good as the band I just compared you too” way. I wonder how many of these guys did that to Axl Rose or Kurt Cobain. I guess that’s what ‘Get in the Ring’ was all about. And not like I disagree with their assessments, but the only other time I’ve seen this much press related tongue kissing with an artist was for Drake, and it seems like the Grammy’s don’t like him much either.

In another smart move, Manchester released a video for every song on the album and debuted each one through a different media outlet. And like when I say different media outlets I mean monsters like amazon.com, MTV2, and AOL’s 2011 purchase The Huffington Post. Not like Joe’s MySpace Page, Ricky Rapper’s blog or FarBeyond footnotes* These guys do not goof around on the exposure tip. The idea came from Brad, the band’s manager, who was inspired by others who had done something similar i.e. Death Cab for Cutie and suggested to the boys that they green light the visual art to accompany the album.

Did I mention exposure? Yes, yes you did… but keep going… In what isn’t, but does seem like, their 348th EP, MO linked up with MySpace Who also named METN as one of the top 50 albums of 2009. putting together a free 6-track downloadable music package containing songs from ‘Mean Everything…’. It was the 12th edition in the MySpace Transmission series.

Final Notes

- Here is something to Big League Chew on, when you listen to the music from this album, you don’t necessarily hear teenie-bopperefic songs – yet tracks from the LP were featured on both ‘One Tree Hill’ and ‘90210’ Not the one with On-drea or BAG (Brian Austin Green of course) and sans the ‘Beverly Hills’ part… I’m talking about the new one. When I was growing up (PS - it sucks to start a sentence like that) the show was dealing with eating disorders and virginity… I watched an episode of this one and in 10 minutes an undercover cop, posing as a student, was dating a teacher and another girl had a yayo addiction. What’s happened in the last 15 years? in addition to ‘Gossip Girl’. Don’t fall sleep too quickly or these hard rockers may be on ‘Ellen’ before you know it.

- The whole album was recorded live, As in ‘off the floor’ together as a band, not like live in concert… giving it the same honest feeling that the lyrics give you.

- This also was packaged with the ‘Fourteen Years of Excellence’ EP at selected retailers. On it were the tracks ‘Anne Louise’, ‘It’s Ok With Me’, ‘Do You Really Like Being Alone’, and an alternative version of ‘Shake it Out’.

- While the album was generally well received, if there was one common knock in reviews, it was that the tracks were a little eclectic, while the band leaned a little too heavy on their influences.

- In a world where stealing music is accepted in as many places as Visa, this album still went on to sell almost 100,000 units. And that was without any features from the Young Money roster.

While touring ‘METN’, the boys had the pleasure of performing on the incredibly incredible Channel 4 series ‘Live From Abbey Road’. Playing my favorite song off the album, along with some others, Manchester did the studio that The Beatles made famous proud. Kinda fitting I made that ‘A Day In The Life’ reference earlier, huh?

During this time, Canvasback’s agreement with Sony/Columbia expired and the execs at the major opted to keep Manchester under their umbrella, Fact is, they were the only band that Canvasback had signed to their roster they chose to keep. while Steve and the crew from Canvasback took their talents to Atlantic.

At this point, the doors started opening…

There were sponsorships and endorsements coming in You know, they need one from Ray Ban. I haven’t seen this many Ray Ban’s rocked since the 1987 Flight Convention entitled ‘Be a Top Gun’ along with late night visits to Jimmy Kimmel, Conan, and Jimmy Fallon, to complement their memorable first trip to David Letterman They are scheduled to play there for the 3rd time on May 12th that took place a year earlier…

I’ll let Chris Freeman aka Martin Luther Keyboard, but really aka ‘Lightning’ – Mr. Alaska Him Nicely tell the story:

I was 19 when we did our first Letterman performance and Jessica Alba was the guest. Wow that sucks… Too bad it wasn’t someone hotter. With that said, most of us spent our day trying to run into her. We hadn't ever been on television before so we were all fairly nervous. Imagine how quick your rise to the top is when your first television appearance is on the Late Show with David Letterman. Like, my first time on TV was in the background for the local station that was filming the Grand Opening of the Wal-Mart in Markham. We did a sound check that afternoon and everything went fine. We ran through the track a couple of times to test the sound and the cameras and to make sure that the song was fast enough to be short enough to fit into the allotted time slot. It sounded great in the monitors and we seemed to be playing pretty consistently for being in such an uncomfortable and freezing cold studio.

The show starts.

Of course, we've been sitting around for hours, at this point just waiting in this basement dressing room trying to calm ourselves and forget about the millions of people that will see what it is that we're about to attempt.

At around three quarters of the way into the show we're herded up a flight of stairs and back out to the stage. All of our gear is rolled up to the front as Shaffer's band is playing the intro music to come back from commercial. But, before they do, we're told to do a quick line check to make sure that everything's working.

Then, in front of a live audience, David Letterman, Paul Shaffer and potentially millions of people, my keyboard breaks down. Go back and read that again. At first, when I hit the keys, a loud screeching sound came out of the monitor Freeman Footnote: a swan song, I'm assuming and then silence. I just started looking around, I don't know why; nobody there was going to be able to help me. Somebody from the production crew, after about a minute and a half of me fiddling around to no avail, came over to me and mildly yelled, "You're just going to have to fake it and we'll fix it later. For those that don’t know, shows like Letterman are taped a few hours earlier then their time slot so that they can be edited for content and sometimes even use the footage for late commercials. ”

So I faked it. I threw my head around like crazy and hit all of the right keys. All of them. I think I'll always be proud of at least doing that. I remember thinking to myself, "Why am I bothering to hit the right notes? Nothing's coming out you idiot!"

Anyway, immediately after Letterman says his farewells, and takes time to stop on his way to the middle of the stage to ask me if I'm alright, I was whisked away like a government official to the basement. They plugged in my keyboard that finally decided to work and I stood in this dark room in front of a television screen and played along.

When the show aired that night, nobody could tell the difference. We didn't tell anybody outside of family that story for a long while. I was almost embarrassed about it, like it didn't really count for me because I didn't actually play. But that's ridiculous. I hit all the right notes!

Who would have thought they’d get invited back after that? ;-)

Time to pause for reflection………………….

If when you started reading this article you didn’t know who this band was, this is the point when you either, A. Kick yourself or B. Go buy all their material… and then kick yourself. I mean, they are already your favorite band’s favorite band. The list is too long to mention, but your favorite band likes Manchester… trust me.

To cap off the year, the boys recorded another fan album, ‘Live from SoHo for iTunes’ which was released in the spring of 2010. It was recorded on December 1st 2009 in the SoHo Apple Store in NYC. Consisting of songs from their last two LP’s, this offering gave fans another inside peak at what a live show with Manchester was like.

With ‘Mean Everything…’ the band had put together a piece of work that was a little bit of timing and a couple of extra songs from being able to adorn the ‘classic’ crown… but they were SOOOO close they could almost taste it… and the boys knew it. It was time to get back on the road.

They would tour this record relentlessly throughout 2009 and 2010 headlining their own dates and sharing the stage with old friends like Brand New, Cage The Elephant and Silversun Pickups. It was on the latter portion of this tour that they started playing a song that they would tell the audience was to be on their next album, due for release in early 2011. It would come out sounding different on the final version of the album, pretty much reaching its album rendition @ the ACL Festival last fall.

Oh ya, that album? It’s called, ‘Simple Math’… And it’s the crown the boys had been working for…

Come back the same day the album is released, Tuesday May 10th, to read the fourth and final piece in this series...

To read part 1 click here.
To read part 2 click here.
To read part 4 click here.