Interview: Cyril Snear

Manchester experimental rock quartet Cyril Snear headline a show at Chorlton’s Dulcimer bar on Thursday. We have a quick to and fro of words with them on the subjects of genres, venues, praise from The Mars Volta and the merits of musically induced blindness.

Now Then: Superstar Destroyer Records recently said before a gig that you headlined that it was “a line-up so hardcore it'll rip out your eyes and piss on your brain”; is that your intention?

Cyril Snear: No! Who was it out of SSD? Alex? He’s a wordsmith isn’t he! But, no, it’s not what we intend to do – if you ripped out someone’s eyes they’d never be able to see again and they wouldn’t be able to come to the next gig so it’d be a lose/lose situation.


NT: Your last record seems a while ago now. Is there any news on a new one?

CS: Yes there is… It’s going to be called The White of Colour and it’s definitely coming out this year, definitely!

NT: Is it full prog ahead as with Fluent In Seven Types Of Monotone or will the acoustic guitar style of Four In Hand – One In Face feature at all?

CS: Well there is a bit of acoustic guitar but it’s a bit different. I’d say it’s more prog – maybe more classically-sounding than the lo-fi, indie sound of the early stuff, which sounded like that because we didn’t have any money and recorded it for free! But it does have strings and piano – even has a sitar.


NT: Do you see your music as prog or prog (or neither!); is there a deeper meaning behind it or are genres just for list-makers?

CS: We always get asked questions about genres; they’re just for list-makers really aren’t they? They’re useful for people to get an idea of the music before actually listening to it, but we never set out to be prog; it’s just been applied to us.

NT: You’ve played at all sorts of venues, large and small, from The Castle to Antwerp Mansion to Kraak Gallery. Do you prefer larger or smaller settings for shows and which has been your favourite venue to play at?

CS: I think it’s Academy 3 because it’s not too big but it’s not too small either and you feel professional when you’re on there. We like playing at the Deaf Institute as well – there’s a good vibe there; good decor. I think with Sound Control we’ve never played when there’s been enough people to get that vibe. So we like medium sized venues, but wherever is full really. If you have a small venue that’s full then it’s going to trump a medium sized venue with about two people in.


NT: What has been your favourite memory in music so far?

CS: That’d be last week actually when Juan Alderete – the bass player out of The Mars Volta – complimented the whole band, but was mainly commenting on the bass guitar.

The album launch was mint just because it was the first album. We still don’t feel like we played amazingly at it but that’s probably the busiest gig we’ve had even though we arranged it ourselves with help from WotGodForgot, plus the light show was extreme so that made you get into it a bit more.

NT: Do you have any festivals lined up for the summer?

CS: Well we’re doing Eurocultured at Sound Control on 3rd June but we’d like some more festivals so someone get us some more festivals!

Interview & edits by Ian Pennington

Cyril Snear’s next show will be at Dulcimer bar in Chorlton on Thursday 3rd May. They will be supported by Outer Dark and Neko Neko.

Antwerp Mansion: Gig Photography (Air Cav, Foreign Hands & Ivan Campo on Thursday 24th November 2011) and Previews

To precede the next Now Then monthly gig at south Manchester's best venue for arts, music, antics and boundless creativity, Antwerp Mansion, here's a look back at some long-overdue photography from our vaults.

Ivan Campo set the scene with harmonic folky tales to a relaxed early crowd.



Foreign Hands then raised the tempo...

...before Air Cav celebrated their newly pressed debut album, Don't Look Indoors, in typically rousing fashion.

Air Cav's Spring UK tour begins in Preston on 2nd March, calling at Kraak in Manchester on 6th March.

All photography is courtesy of Ged Camera, while the Air Cav flyer design was by Craig Brown at Beards Club Illustration and the flyer and poster art for forthcoming Now Then gigs (below) is by Hattie Lockwood.

Thursday 23rd February is the date to keep in mind for the next show (tomorrow for anyone reading this hot off the press), which is a co-promotion with alt / prog / experimental rock label Superstar Destroyer Records. The musically multi-dextrousCyril Snear headline what will be one for the hardcore eardrum bangers and chin-stroking fans of intricate axe-wielding alike.

Liverpool's Always The Quiet Ones and Superstar Destroyer's Black Market Serotonin support.

Also at Antwerp Mansion this (long) weekend will be a music and art crossover looking at the recent evolution of the venue itself from decrepit former Conservative meeting house to South Manchester's answer to Islington Mill. The {EVOLVE} exhibition launch features music from Death To The Strange and more, along with the work of 27 artists under the Creative Transit banner.

And finally, next month's Now Then Antwerp Mansion gig (Thursday 22nd March) features a debut performance of a new Dayse & Aver live band show with former members of The Mind On Fire Band sharing the stage with The Natural Curriculum's talented wordsmiths. Exciting new local hip hop collective Mothership Connection support along with Yorkshire label Sinoptic Records' razor sharp lyricist Krankit.

Words: Ian Pennington

PS. Just announced is the Now Then My First Moth Records show at Dulcimer. Unrelated to Antwerp Mansion, but well worth a trip to Chorlton on 8th March to catch Neko Neko (performing a debut collaboration with Najia Bagi on vocals), DJ Mischief, WhoAmI & Trebor, Omas and Aver. (Poster design by Beards Club Illustration).

Interview: Superstar Destroyer Records

Prog is not a four letter word, claimed Twisted Nerve’s purveyor of rare psychedelic records Andy Votel atop his 2005 compilation. Linguists would beg to differ, but the sentiment lies in the expansive nature of a much-maligned genre. From Genesis to Tool via Jethro Tull and Radiohead, many recording artists have been branded ‘prog’, whether correctly or otherwise, but Alex Lynham points out that “being 'progressive' is a state of mind; it's about cramming in ideas and not being afraid to let motifs and threads just unwind on their own.”

And Lynham should have at least a fairly good idea. As a music writer for many websites and publications from Line of Best Fit to Classic Rock presents: Prog, the co-founder of Manchester based label Superstar Destroyer Records has been able to pick the brains of many a musical mind, from Oceansize’s Mike Vennart to Amplifier’s Sel Belamir. But his favourite chin wag has been with Ben Curtis, a guitar formerly of The Secret Machines and currently playing with School of Seven Bells, an interview which “was amazing,” says Lynham, “as he's possibly my biggest influence as a guitar player – I asked him all these geeky questions about past bands, effects and stuff and he humoured me, which was great.”

Prog as a genre often has to defend itself due to Steve Lamacq and other media trendsetters peddling views of two-chord punk as a saviour movement. It's no wonder many buy into the anti-‘prog’ vibes so as to avoid its overly theatrical and un-cool connotations; even Peter Hammill of 1960s and 70s prog band Van Der Graaf Generator's agreed in a previous interview with "the fundamental principle that music had got overblown with the idea that you can only be a band if you’ve got six keyboards." However, since that 1970s heyday, its genres and sub-genres have diverged and overflowed into various streams and there are those who may share the appreciation for modernist interpretations of progressive music without realising it.

In this respect, Lynham’s clarification of ‘prog’ vs ‘progressive’ in alt rock thinking becomes more salient. “I've seen both Yes and Dream Theater and [the theatrical stage show] is more-or-less what they're about, but there's also bands like Tool and Porcupine Tree that come at the genre from a completely different angle. I like to make the distinction of 'progressive' rather than 'prog' in that sense, as it's easier to get non-'prog' fans to give it a chance. You see a bit of talk these days about 'post-progressive' and that's basically what I mean; all those weird bands that don't fit in anywhere else.”

Aside from writing about bands in the eye of the wider public, Lynham also champions lesser known musicians through Superstar Destroyer Records. Up to now that has manifested in EPs and singles for Ninetails, Dune (now named Peak District), Metamusic, Nowhere Again (Lynham’s band whose name was influenced by the aforementioned Secret Machines) and Black Market Serotonin, who will perform at the Now Then Superstar Destroyer show at Antwerp Mansion this week. Those records meander through many a rock sub-genre, taking in the math, alt and post-rock inventiveness. Indeed, when Lynham says he has assembled the SSD roster through “kidnapping, extortion and blackmail,” perhaps he means he has entrapped the musicians’ minds in his ‘progressive’ genres net, before conversely allowing them the free-thinking, shackle-less melodic mindset that he shares. Sort of like Captain Beefheart’s isolated cabin lock-in to free the minds of the Magic Band from societal structure during the writing and recording of Trout Mask Replica.

Whatever it means, he’s letting Black Market Serotonin loose – without demanding a huge ransom – to support Manchester favourites Cyril Snear and Liverpool’s Always The Quiet Ones on Antwerp Mansion’s stage this Thursday. There’ll be no Beefheart-esque lock-in but there will be progressive music aplenty through what Lynham describes as “a line-up so hardcore it'll rip out your eyes and piss on your brain.”

Words: Ian Pennington
Poster & flyer design: Hattie Lockwood
Logo: Courtesy of Superstar Destroyer