Marion: The Anti-Menswear

Mention 'Manchester' these days and people generally think of The Stone Roses, Black Grape, Northern Uproar and, of course, Oasis. It's not very often that you'll hear the likes of Joy Division, The Smiths or New Order mentioned. In light of the current crop of loud-mouthed Manc bands being served to us on a platter (and consequently grabbing us by the throat, yelling "'ave a go if you think yer 'ard enuf"), it's easy to see how a relatively mild-mannered band can get overlooked. Marion, however, are fast cutting their way through this matted overgrowth eager to remind us that life isn't just about cigarettes and alcohol (although some may strongly claim otherwise), being young and running free or drinking cups of sugary tea.

In fact, in amongst the current Britpop craze, Marion seem almost as out of place as a sulky child is at a birthday party. And it is this which has caused the British music press to not quite know how to handle them - they don't have the same boyish, young (although they are quite young), carefree whims of Blur, Menswear, Supergrass, etc, etc and they're not full of shouty brotherly love (or should that be hate?) a la Oasis. Instead they write about situations that they have had personal experience with (or at least feel strongly about, but not in a lectury kind of way). This has led them to be called (now, take a deep breath here): the Joy Division for the '90's, the '90's Smiths, the Manchester Suede, the teenage U2 (all by the same journo, mind you), the anti-Menswear and even a mid-period Siouxsie without the pomp, mascara and goth flourishes. Call them what you will, Marion are definitely one of the few bands around at the moment who can articulate the depression of youth today without the self-pity that this topic usually comes with. They are merely stating things as they see them.

But before dismissing Marion as a bunch of boring sods who are just trying to take after their hometown heroes Joy Division, one must take into account the circumstances surrounding their childhood in Macclesfield.

Marion came about in January 1993 when, after being in a number of previous bands together, schoolmates Jaime Harding, Phil Cunningham and Antony Grantham decided to create their 'own sound'. To complete the band, and provide the all-important rhythm section, they enlisted Murad Mousa (drums) and Julian Phillips (bass). Late 1993 and early 1994 saw the band touring throughout the UK as well as getting to meet Manchester producer Chris Nagle. This was to prove an important event in their so-far short career. In May '94, they released an EP through Rough Trade called "Violent Men". The song dealt with, well, basically, smalltown, domestic (although not necessarily physical) violence and it has been said that the song is about Jaime's own father. When listening to their debut album "This World and Body", you can see that a lot of their songs are about such topics and you may be forgiven for thinking that that is all they think about. Not so, but it goes back to the fact that they write about things that have affected them personally.

Between releasing their debut single and releasing their debut album, Marion gained extensive touring experience which included supporting such bands as Strangelove, Electrafixion and Morrissey (ironically, Marion happen to be managed by ex-Smiths manager Joe Moss), as well as taking part in the 1995 NME Brat Bus Tour. In this time, two other singles had been released - "The Only Way", released on tiny indie lable Spangle, and "Sleep", released on their current home - London Records. This track was produced by Stephen Street (he of The Smiths, Morrissey, Blur, Sleeper and The Cranberries (just to name a few) producing fame. Oh yeah, he was also Morrissey's songwriting partner in Mozza's early solo stages.) However this union was not to last.

"We were bored. We were in the studio and just bored. And drunk - just a couple of nightcaps, but drunk. It's a fatal combination. We just started chucking stuff around, then we chucked some bigger stuff around, then we broke some stuff...broke a cistern. I think some fire extinguishers went off. Stephen didn't seem too happy, anyway. Said he'd never work with us again. Ever. He was really angry."

Jaime Harding, NME, April 1995

While they may have upset one of the greatest producers in the indie world as well as parting ways with bassist Julian in July 1995 (Nick Gilbert is now doing the honours on bass), Marion have not let that stop them. As a precursor to the release of "This World and Body", two more singles were released: the very good "Toys For Boys" and "Let's All Go Together". If you have heard the latter single, you would have picked up on it's rather bleak subject matter. Jaime explains:

"This is about someone I knew in Manchester who killed themselves a while ago. She hadn't been able to get a job for years for medical reasons, then finally she found one - the whole family were really pleased. Then after a couple of weeks, she lost the job. She just went to pieces, couldn't tell her family, and ended up committing suicide."

Jaime Harding, Melody Maker,January 1996

As in the tradition of Joy Division and The Smiths, though, some of the best songs have come out of these sorts of topics. In fact, Jaime hopes that Marion can do for others what Joy Division did for him - which was something "amazing". Although he does think that the constant association the British indie music press has made between the two bands is starting to wear thin. Especially as they do have other influences. The Buzzcocks, for example, also The Beatles. But you can't but help thinking that they must be pretty unhappy people and that is something that, to an extent, they do not deny.

But this is at least something that sets Marion apart from other new (or newish) bands - there are so many that they can often get lost in the quagmire of faceless one-hit (although sometimes not even one-hit) wonders. Hopefully, with the revelantly successful release of "This World and Body", Marion will go on to bigger and better things before they get too depressed with the world. We can only hope.

Dominique Wall