Press To MECO: Back From The Brink
It’s safe to say that as the third decade of the twenty-first century sets in that alternative rock acts are a dime-a-dozen; it’s a scene so akin to an overfilled, overflowing coffee cup that it’s not surprising there’s a fair share of future stars folding their cards a round or two early. On one hand, good old-fashioned British rock music has never been in better health; on the other, there’s a people garden gathering the bodies of disbanded bands. For Croydon/Crawley trio PRESS TO MECO, they’ve been pulling themselves between the two boundaries, stuck in their own self-professed purgatory following the departure of founding bassist and vocalist Adam Roffey. Ironically, they found their way back to the land of the living by taking stock of what they’ve achieved so far, albeit with their trademark self-deprecation.
“Luckily, we’ve let everyone down by now so nobody really expects much from us, so we’re in quite a good position really,” muses drummer and vocalist Lewis Williams, backed up immediately by his songwriting partner in crime, guitarist and vocalist Luke Caley, who adds, “the band was going to break up because we were just so done with it, so it’s that whole idea of letting everything go to gain something back. We felt like we had nothing to lose and everything to prove to ourselves in just being able to write a record that we could be proud of.”
PRESS TO MECO are both at once a band who burrow themselves in their bedrooms, sliding out self-deprecating takes on their trials and tribulation as much as they are a band who brand themselves as ‘fragile egotistical musicians’. No matter what side of the coin they’re landing on though, there’s plenty of agreement on where they were heading into their almost-unfinished third album, Transmute, as Lewis explains. “We kind of just threw our hands up and said ‘we might be breaking up after this, but shall we just go and write an album just for the sake of writing an album’. It was for our own sakes, you know, for us to remember why we did this in the first place and to remind ourselves that we can do this thing so if we do end up going into another project, we can go forward like ‘we’re not shit’ because we’ve actually made something we’re proud of.”
One of the turning points that took the band from their burial plot to being back on the brink of breaking through the barriers of British rock’s brightest hopes was the arrival of longtime friend and ACODA bassist Jake Crawford. For Luke, it was the booster shot they were searching for: “bringing Jake on board, that was a huge injection of life into the band, by just getting us enthusiastic about being in a band again. Me and Lewis always love writing together and being around each other but being in a band is tough regardless of who you’re in it with, so I think having Jake come in, it’s like, we have fun just being in a room together now, and that combined with having nothing to lose, was actually the most liberating thing.”
For Jake, it was a match made in heaven, and a moment he’d been waiting patiently for, for half a decade, as he explains. “I’ve been on the sidelines for a good five or six years, like we toured together previously with one of my old bands and we really did hit it off instantly. I’d heard demos of the album before it was even spoken about that I’d even potentially join the band, and I’d loved what I heard, because even though we were friends, I was legitimately a massive fan of the band beforehand, so hearing the newer demos leading up to the album, I immediately knew this was possibly going to be my favourite album of PRESS TO MECO, so for me to eventually have the opportunity to join and collaborate a little bit on the backend of the songs was an absolute privilege and I really appreciate them letting me shout over a lot of it.”
The contagious chemistry the trio possess is utterly infectious; it’s impossible not to be charmed by their boys-in-the-band banter that harks back to the golden age of bands being in it for the music more than the money. So much so that if you were to ask the band, it’s a little like they orchestrated it all. “We forced Jake in because we didn’t have a bass player and we weren’t going to get anyone else so he had to join the band otherwise we were going to break up,” asserts Lewis, losing at keeping a straight face, as Luke adds, “we would remind him for the rest of the year like ‘do you remember when you broke our band up Jake?’”
It’s a sentiment Jake shares and suits so well, chiming in nonchalantly. “Being one of my favourite bands, I simply could not allow it to happen and the only stipulation was that I get to go ‘ahhh’ over some songs.” Laughter erupts over our conversation, as Luke quickly asserts, “Jake could just vocalise the inner hate so much better than we could.” Constantly outwitting each other, Jake raises the stakes. “These two little choir boys haven’t got enough angst, that’s it – you said I bring a lease of life, it’s definitely more a lease of death.”
PRESS TO MECO can laugh and joke around all they like but Transmute is certainly a breath of fresh air for the threesome. Another Day is guns ablazing alt-rock, think BOSTON MANOR and All These Countless Nights-era DEAF HAVANA, whilst Smouldering Sticks boasts a chugging machine of a melody that explodes into arena-sized choruses; elsewhere Rusty Nails breaches pop-sensibility with post-hardcore a la DREAM STATE. COVID-19 could’ve derailed the train from it’s tracks, but they found themselves rolling with the punches.
Written and recorded in a makeshift studio at a 18th-century hunting lodge Lewis describes it as ‘a grand designs home’ and produced by long-time collaborator Machine [AS IT IS, LAMB OF GOD]; Transmute is truly an album of the times both sonically and thematically. “A lot of what kept coming up in the writing was this idea of change, for better or for worse, and change in ourselves and society as well and what that might mean,” explains Lewis, amused at how an album written largely pre-pandemic took on a mind of its own once the world found itself changing its ways. “It has aged fairly well thematically and it’s just this question of how are we being affected by some of our practices around our technological life, and hygiene and what does that future look like and should we be taking any actions to protect ourselves, or not.” Ironically, for an album introspectively interrogating technology’s impact on us, the title came from technology. “I’ve literally had the word Transmute in one of my iPhone notes for eight years and I always come back to it like ‘I really like that word.’”
As much as they’re engaged with inciting a call to arms, PRESS TO MECO refuse to position themselves as the people’s champions, opting for a more conspiratorial role instead, as Luke suggests, “Lewis isn’t the solution guy, he’s the ‘ignite the gunpowder’ guy. He’s the guy who’ll light the match and let everyone have it out, standing around like ‘I don’t have the answer to this.’” It’s met not only with a roar of laughter, but with agreement from Lewis too, via way of the year’s ultimate DIY analogy. “If you’re putting up a shelf, I’ll be standing behind you going ‘that’s not straight.’”
Whether they’re asking the questions or providing the answer, on Transmute, PRESS TO MECO present their proudest moments in the form of an album. They knew early on that they were on to something, even if their self-doubt was trying it’s best to settle in. “We knew fairly early on just because our workrate was kind of quick for us, which means we weren’t getting caught up on certain songs that then we scrapped or reworked a load,” explains Lewis. “We weren’t pulling our hair out whilst doing it, so I think the fact there were not many creative hurdles was a bit of a telltale sign of ‘I think we’re quite happy with how this is going’ and then you get the mixes back and your mum goes ‘oh that sounds really good!’” Of course, as is mandatory for PRESS TO MECO, what goes up must come down, as Luke adds. “I think we said that just to big ourselves up, to be like ‘we really smashed it this time’, so what’s the opposite of cheerleaders? (‘Hecklers’ shouts Jake emphatically!) we’re our own hecklers, we hate us.”
No matter how they may feel, it’s hard to hate a band so blindingly brilliant and bedazzling as PRESS TO MECO. Whether they opt to break up or forage on, Transmute is an album that they can be proud of, an album which truly provides, as Lewis insists, “the connection we all require as talking monkeys on this rock in space.”
Transmute is out now via Marshall Records.
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