Boston Manor: A Lot Worth Talking About
BOSTON MANOR have made a name for themselves in the last ten years with an individual, alt-rock style, but their most recent record Datura has definitely been a game-changer for the band, and they’ve discovered their unique sound. After well and truly shedding the pop-punk label with their last EP, Datura embodies a dark-rock energy, while building a world through the story of one night in their hometown of Blackpool. As the first of two parts, this album is already a fan-favourite, and BOSTON MANOR are still riding the high. “It’s been overwhelming, but better than I expected,” vocalist Henry Cox divulges to us. “The further we stray from our roots, you’re always going to alienate people, but most of them have just been along for the ride.”
Along with everything else that’s different about Datura, Henry reveals that it’s the first time he’s been truly vulnerable writing an album, and when listening to it, its emotional side is clear. While this has completely elevated the album, writing on such a personal level comes with its risks. Henry explains, “I was nervous about my intentions and the subject matter being taken out of context. People love a troubled artist narrative, and I’m by no means that. I’ve struggled with drinking, but I’ve had nothing but support from the people around me, so I was careful to not let that narrative run away with itself. But, I’ve always been a big advocate for talking about your problems and I think it would be disingenuous for me to not do the same. I thought there was a lot worth talking about.”
Because Datura is very much a concept album, it’s allowed Henry to process his personal life while still being able to relate to others. “I’m very conscious that my experience will be nothing like somebody over there’s experience. I want people to be able to get something from it and attribute whatever they’re going through to these songs, and use them as a vehicle to process them in the same way I have.”
While the band have experimented with world-building before, in their album Welcome To The Neighbourhood, Datura is a continuation of this, but a separate concept. To perfectly articulate a world isn’t easy, and Henry explains how this came about. “For this record, we really knew what we wanted to do. We started out with the idea of the two parts, with this theme of it being set over one evening, and the next record following on from that. We had to put the blinders on sometimes, so we didn’t get too sucked up in the concept. If you set too many guidelines at the start, you don’t really have any flexibility. It came really naturally, we were just chipping away at it for the best part of a year, and it was really fun. For such a dark record it was really enjoyable to make.”
Part of the reason the writing came so naturally was due to the inspiration of Blackpool itself, something that’s been present in both BOSTON MANOR‘s music and their videos since the beginning. Henry elaborates on this, saying, “it’s very much this world that lives in our heads. We’ve got a Blackpool show coming up and a lot of people will be going there for the first time. I wonder if they’ll walk around and be like ‘this isn’t what they said it would be like!’ We’ve given it that kind of neo-noir vibe, that Blackpool actually does have in some parts at night, with the neon signs and bright lights, and there’s also a lot of scuzz down the backstreets. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it has this cool sort of sheen to it. We’re very lucky to come from there, and I think we owe it a lot really.”
This concept will continue into the album’s second part, which BOSTON MANOR have already starting writing, but maintaining the balance and momentum of the first part could be difficult. “It’s going to be a challenge, because it’s like toeing the line of satisfying that concept, lyrically and conceptually, and writing something that people want to listen to. You can be as high-brow as you want, but if you don’t make songs people want to listen to then you’ve fucked it, haven’t you?”
Reflecting in the album’s deliberate sound, it’s recording process was relaxed but meticulous, and this helped the band enjoy their time and keep the energy going. Henry explains, “I’m quite an obsessive person, and sometimes you’ll get to a place where you’ve hit a few dead ends in a row, and that can be disheartening, but you know that there’s always something good around the corner, and you can keep going. We just try to retain the focus of what the end goal is, and the important thing is enjoying the process. If you’re not enjoying the process, then you’re just ticking boxes, and that’s not why you started making music in the first place.” He also explains that while in the past, recording had been quick and intense, this change in pace helped build a better and more inspired album.
Something that makes Datura so special is how much the band believe in it, and Henry says, “I had so much kind of self-belief in the genuineness of it, the place it came from, we made it just because we thought it was sick. It’s a really authentic record in that regard. I suppose I wasn’t thinking if everyone would love it, it was more that I didn’t really care as much because I really love it. I don’t know if there’s another record that we’ve made that I’ve been so consistently into, and I like everything about it, every single track.”
Datura is out now via SharpTone Records.
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