Puressence

After a similarly drawn-out apprenticeship, it's a mystery why Manchester's Puressence aren't as big as Doves. They have all the ingredients - dollops of agony and ecstasy, choruses the size of their hometown and songs that aim for a deep emotional connection - which may be why Island Records is persisting.

Four years in the making, the quartet's third album is their strongest yet, with James Mudriczki's troubled falsetto bringing a hymnal quality to songs of struggle, betrayal and redemption. Initially inspired by New Order, James and U2, the band have crafted their own sound, which now finds room for oriental tinges in the title track, electronic dub and even one-liners ("If it comes down to religion, I worship my old man"). But Mudriczki impresses most when raging against some unidentified injustice. In a heap of great songs, the shimmering She's Gotten Over You and anthemic Heart of Gold stand out. A "best-kept secret" that surely can't remain so for much longer. - The Guardian

Digging up treasure from the depths of our record collections


Formed in 1991, Puressence are the great lost Manchester band, who arrived just too late to capitalise on the Madchester boom. Whereas their idols The Stone Roses articulated the E-fuelled transcendence and bravado that characterised that scene, Puressence sketched the bleak comedown that followed, all icy atmospheres, cavernous reverb and self-doubt.

continued...

That sense of loss, of arriving out-of-time and after-the-event, coloured everything the foursome did. The artwork of their debut album, released in 1996, came plastered with images of rusting urban decay - a nod to their hometown’s post-industrial slump, with shades also, perhaps, of desolate communist Hungary, where singer James Mudriczki’s family had fled from, a generation before.


And it was Mudriczki’s voice that made Puressence so unique – an extraordinary, unearthly, soaring instrument that belied his geezerish demeanour, and meshed enthrallingly with guitarist Neil McDonald’s echoing guitar lines, recalling U2 at their darkest and most turbulent, circa ‘October’.



Those qualities came together in devastating fashion on opening track ‘Near Distance’ – a startling, ever-building epic, punctured with incongruous scally dialect (“Some little scabby young thing sucks me dry”), making it surely the greatest song ever written about searching for meaning and uplift in the wet streets of Manchester.


Of course, this being the height of Britpop, such expansiveness tended to be mocked as “bluster” by an unsympathetic music press. But here again, Puressence’s timing was out. Not long after, the qualities that made Puressence so unfashionable – soulful Northerners playing the Big Music – became a recipe for lasting success for the likes of Elbow and Doves.

It didn’t help that the band became overly slick on subsequent albums, losing some of their chilly, forbidding uniqueness. But this magnificent debut album – by turns both plaintive and gutturally anthemic - still stands as a towering miserablist masterpiece. - NME

Digging up treasure from the depths of our record collections


Formed in 1991, Puressence are the great lost Manchester band, who arrived just too late to capitalise on the Madchester boom. Whereas their idols The Stone Roses articulated the E-fuelled transcendence and bravado that characterised that scene, Puressence sketched the bleak comedown that followed, all icy atmospheres, cavernous reverb and self-doubt.

continued...

That sense of loss, of arriving out-of-time and after-the-event, coloured everything the foursome did. The artwork of their debut album, released in 1996, came plastered with images of rusting urban decay - a nod to their hometown’s post-industrial slump, with shades also, perhaps, of desolate communist Hungary, where singer James Mudriczki’s family had fled from, a generation before.


And it was Mudriczki’s voice that made Puressence so unique – an extraordinary, unearthly, soaring instrument that belied his geezerish demeanour, and meshed enthrallingly with guitarist Neil McDonald’s echoing guitar lines, recalling U2 at their darkest and most turbulent, circa ‘October’.



Those qualities came together in devastating fashion on opening track ‘Near Distance’ – a startling, ever-building epic, punctured with incongruous scally dialect (“Some little scabby young thing sucks me dry”), making it surely the greatest song ever written about searching for meaning and uplift in the wet streets of Manchester.


Of course, this being the height of Britpop, such expansiveness tended to be mocked as “bluster” by an unsympathetic music press. But here again, Puressence’s timing was out. Not long after, the qualities that made Puressence so unfashionable – soulful Northerners playing the Big Music – became a recipe for lasting success for the likes of Elbow and Doves.

It didn’t help that the band became overly slick on subsequent albums, losing some of their chilly, forbidding uniqueness. But this magnificent debut album – by turns both plaintive and gutturally anthemic - still stands as a towering miserablist masterpiece. - NME

Puressence have confirmed details of their biggest UK headline gig to date - at the Manchester Apollo on Saturday 14th November. Tickets are available now from Townsend Records, via the link at the bottom. November might see like a long way away, but there's a special treat for those ordering tickets now - two instant, exclusive Puressence downloads alongside further exclusive download material throughout 2009.

The tickets cost £14.50 (including booking fees and postage) and the initial download tracks are acoustic versions of "Life Comes Down Hard" and "Sold Unseen", which were recorded in New York on the Matt Pinfield 'In The Mornings' show for NY's Rock Experience 101.9RXP.

If you can't wait until November, the band will be playing some more low-key gigs in places pretty easily accessible from Manchester as well as some further afield, specifically:

Thu 2nd April - London, Half Moon (Putney) - ACOUSTIC SHOW
Fri 24th April - Leigh, Bar Bliss - ACOUSTIC SHOW
Fri 22nd May - Preston 53 Degrees - FULL BAND SHOW
Sat 23rd May - York Duchess - FULL BAND SHOW

And with the band's enduring popularlty in Greece, they have just been confirmed as support for Depeche Mode at the 50000 capacity Terra Vibe Park in Athens on Tuesday 12th May. We at ManchesterMusic wish the band all the best for what must be the biggest crowd they've ever played to, and rather wish we could afford to go...

As for recordings, Puressence will be releasing a compilation 'Sharpen Up the Knives' on Monday 7th September 2009. The album will feature some brand new studio recordings, a selection of the band's own picks from their past material, and a piano / vocal version of the Judy Collins track 'Che' alongside a recently re-recorded version of old favourite "Traffic Jam In Memory Lane". A 16 page colour booklet will accompany this release, featuring a selection of exclusive photographs alongside sleevenotes written by all four band members.

And the best news? For just £19.99 you can order the album AND an Apollo ticket, including the free downloads. That's quite a lot of Puressence for your pound.

The final tracklisting for "Sharpen Up The Knives" is not yet confirmed, but we're told it will be something like this:

1. This Feeling
2. Standing In Your Shadow
3. All I Want
4. Traffic Jam In Memory Lane (2009 version)
5. It Doesn't Matter Anymore
6. Never Be The Same Again
7. Sharpen Up The Knives
8. She's Gotten Over You
9. India
10. I Suppose
11. How Does It Feel
12. Street Lights
13. Raise Me To The Ground (exclusive track)
14. Our Numbers Oracle (exclusive track)
15. Che (piano/vocal version exclusive track) - Manchester Music

Mani knows a good band when he inspires one. Actually, he probably inspired many on that day at the close of the 80s as he strode the stage at the infamous Stone Roses Spike Island mega-gig/absurd gathering. But none, I suggest, would launch a career as powerful if understated as Puressence. Hence they began, literally in the shadows of the Roses. Further down the line, as the band's name was scrawled all over the derelict buildings of pre-regeneration Manchester, there seemed further echoes of the 'Roses unholy early years.

The parallels might be said to end with that flurry of self-promotion. For Puressence would not become an iconic band; they would not flicker brightly and fizzle to a glorious pop! This would be a slow burner: understated to the point of sullenness; undiscovered to some extent. And yet, as Manchester's best kept secret, they would emerge tentative and unsure, albeit armed with a bulging stack of variable leanings ('tunes', you may call them, although something inside me dies, everytime I hear a DJ use this word). To the uninitiated, Puressence's eerie sound might recall prime-time U2.

But now, at last, their two decades of extraordinary songwriting are captured together on this (kinda) 'best of' package. Only now do they seem so accessible, so rewarding. The finest Manchester songwriters of the past 20 years? Guy Garvey, perhaps, is allowed a grimace there. But, strangely, Puressence have attained superstar status in Greece, where their own festival will take place this autumn (not in Warrington, alas).

To some extent, Sharpen Up the Knives will be viewed with disdain by those already loyal to the band. It's an exercise that aims to gather in stragglers such as myself. Having seen them just twice in as many decades, I hadn't really taken time to enjoy the perceptive, invigorating nature of the songs that lay beyond the outstanding breakthrough single 'This Feeling'. And, back then, in the days when it would take its place on 'alternative' radio, there was a tendency to bundle this heartfelt beauty into a lazy 'Manc classic' category, and leave it lying dormant. Those who saw the link with U2 were closer to the metal, however.


For in truth there is something decidedly un-Manc about Puressence and the courage they have often displayed — they rock out beyond the city's famous reserve, and pull back to an unlikely tenderness. Both extremes live hand-in-hand on Sharpen Up The Knives, at times within the same song. This is indeed ironic, as the unbelievers have often lumped them in with less disparately gifted bands: your Turin Brakes and Starsailors, polished — elegant, even — but lacking the natural instinct to push beyond the boundaries.

Many look to the soul-dripped voice of James Mudriczki for the answer. It was the darkness in that voice that enticed Judy Collins into his fanbase; he returned the compliment by contributing a cover of 'Che' to the 'Born to the Breed' tribute album (alongside Leonard Cohen, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez and Chrissie Hynde). But there's much more, a vast lake if not an ocean to wade through. On the highlights alone — 'She's Gotten Over You', the new single 'Raise Me To The Ground' and the title track among them — Puressence fly between the black and the white, bounce from extreme to extreme. I've attempted, and now failed of course, to avoid using the word 'anthemic'; we're not talking about The Alarm here. On 14 November their tour concludes by crashing into Manchester Apollo, to seal their local enormity. Contained legends; it's a pressure cooker. - The Quietus

MANCHESTER four-piece Puressence play a rare acoustic set tomorrow night at Fibbers, York.

Led by the prowling James Mudriczki, the band specialise in simple love songs, funkadelic jams and symphonic grooves, as heard on their fifth album, last September’s Sharpen Up The Knives. Tomorrow, however, the sound will be more intimate. - The Press

Following on from their critically acclaimed eponymous debut album and its fantastic follow-up Only Forever, Manchester's Puressence return with another bagful of brilliance. Never needing to suck on to some scene or other to make themselves heard, this four-piece's first release in three years, this is the most essential single banged out by a guitar band this summer. From angst-ridden to uplifting, Puressence are the missing link between Joy Division and the Doves. Described by Primal Scream's Mani as "the best Manchester band about", the imminent release of their new album should see them selling out arenas - surroundings which best suit their atmospheric offerings.

Lead singer James Mudriczki's voice and lyrics, together with the tunes, will have you asking where this band have been all of your life? Absolutely unmissable. - MOJO

Britop Comes To China: Puressence and Mani at MAO Livehouse This Saturday
Submitted on Apr 16, 2010 10:00am byJonathan White

Interview Events Weekend Live Music Roundup Beijing News Live Music Nightlife Things You Should Know
Permalink

Puressence
Manchester has long been understood to be the musical capital of the UK and the city's Puressence have been part of that scene for the last two decades. The band formed having met as youngsters on the bus to The Stone Roses legendary Spike Island concert (and then climbing the fence to get in as they had no tickets). Fashioned in Manchester's longstanding guitar mould, the band gained fame for plastering the city with their name in a guerrilla campaign that took in such legendary sites as The Hacienda and TV's Coronation Street. Now the band have finally come to China. They appear this Saturday (Apr 17) at MAO Livehouse. They're heading a line-up that includes former Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist Mani's DJ set alongside local acts who have adopted the Mancunian music tradition. We had a chat with Puressence bassist Kevin Matthews - the man who having seen Mani live immediately went out and bought a bass guitar. Here's his lowdown on the city, its music and its football.

What are your top 5 Manchester bands ever?
The Stone Roses, The Smiths, Doves, Oasis, Happy Mondays
How do you rank yourselves in there?
We hope to have made our mark in the top 10 or thereabouts!

Why do you think Manchester has been such a hotbed of great guitar bands?
Because being northern means we tell it like it is and a great city spawns great bands. The desire to make it against all odds spurs us on, Manchester never had the big money that London had with all the record labels, you had to make something happen without them. So it was just about good music with no hype.

What’s the song on your iPod you hope no one ever finds?
Johnny Mathis - “Stone in love with you”

Manchester, so much to answer for - true or false?
True

Has Manchester got everything except a beach?
Yes and only one great football team.

Which of your Puressence guerilla flypostering sites were you most proud of?
The one we got on the (TV soap opera) Coronation Street. It was shown on TV for weeks!

Tevez as a red or as a blue?
He looked great in Red. Shame he left for money, it certainly wasn't for trophies or Champions’ League football.

Johnny Marr or Noel Gallagher?
Johnny Marr.

Would you ever tell your kids not to be in a band for a living?
No, It’s the hardest and greatest job ever.

Mani
If you could do it all again would you do anything different?
Yes, not sign to a major record label.

What’s the worst job you've ever had?
Packing Fairy washing up liquid bottles in boxes, I lasted half a day.

What’s your favourite song right now?
“In Harms Way” – a new song by Puressence

Who’s your top tip for the next big thing from Manchester?
Glass and Exit Calm (the band are not all from Manchester but they're great).

Manchester is …
Superlatively palatable

What's the best film about Manchester?
24 hour party people - check out the cameo from Mani!

Finally, what do you make of FC United?
I think it’s a great concept. One day there will be two great teams in Manchester: FC United and Manchester United. - The Beijinger

While rumours of their demise were running rife throughout Manchester, Puressence were jetting around Europe recording their third and most eclectic album "Planet Helpless". Pushing the rhythm section of Szuminsk and Matthews to the fore and bringing in Vee from London based hip hop groups Scaletrix was an inspired move which has seen them bring beats to the fore while still writing melancholic classics.

Q: "Planet Helpless", typically Manchester but at the same time out of step with everything that's going on right now. Do you revel in the fact that it's always been about Puressence rather than being one band in a scene?
A: Sometimes it's a rod for you're own back, but if you're looking for artistic integrity or not selling out it's a good thing to have. When you eventually do smash through and make it big time you've got your integrity in tact and your soul in tact.

We've never been a band that has been massively touted by the press or the radio or anything and our fanbase has still steadily grown and grown over the years. If you wanted to say it - you could say were a cult band because we've got a loyal band of people that follow the band. When you've not done anything for 3 years and you announce a gig in somewhere like Middleton and it sells out for 800 people it continually amazes me.


Q: I think the fans that jumped on board with the second album "Only Forever" are going to see a more eclectic Puressence on "Planet Helpless". If on "Only Forever" it was about building these universal well crafted guitar songs, was there that sense this time of we can do anything?
A: It's borne of a lot of things. I felt like I wanted to cut loose on this album and do what comes naturally. You can't keep doing the same thing all your life for the band, you've got to make it interesting for yourself. So it's still a song based album, but it's eclectic like you say with loads of different styles and almost taking on different personalities for different tunes.


Q: Wasn't the album recorded throughout the whole of Europe?
A: Paris, Athens, Surrey, London, Manchester - all the major capitals of the world!!! I think it keeps it fresh and you move round different place you get different sounds.

So while rumours were flying around back home that we'd split up or we'd been dropped by the label, we were recording away in Europe, but I can't really blame people because there'd been a few stages over the past few years where we didn't know whether the label had got us. The label was taken over by Universal, they had a few different people in A&R for a while who culled a load of bands. And we didn't know where we were up to so all we do is go to our rehearsal room every day and write great songs.


Q: It was the songs that dragged you through these times though. There was a feeling in the band that these were the best songs you had wrote ever. It's the first album where it had truly worked as a band with the rhythm section being pushed to the fore. How was it different this time?
A: I think the rhythm section has just come into it's own on this album. Kev and Tony have really got together and shown what a class act they are. And it's really inspired me what I've seen them doing in the rehearsals to come up with lyrics and tunes for it.

Vee used to be a band called Scaletrix and now he's he got a big deal on his own. He raps, scratches, samples and he's basically come up with some great stuff in conjunction with us. When I think about "Walking Dead" I always had this idea that we'd have the trumpets from 2001: A Space Odyssey and it was up for him to fit it in there.


Q: Going back to what we were saying about Manchester. You've almost straddled the gap between Morrissey's Manchester and the laddy 24 Hour Party People culture. It's taken everything in isn't it?
A: If you look at a band like the Roses they straddled both camps as well because they had these beautiful melodies with chiming guitars and there's the laddy gang element which they always had. I think you are a product of your surroundings and your upbringing, and even though our style encompasses much more than Manchester it's got to be in there somewhere.

I don't think Manchester ever goes away though. It's a vibrant city and the people have got a good attitude. Every now and again the magnifying glass spins and it focuses on Manchester and the bands that come from there.
- Designer Magazine

Two big acts are coming to Shanghai’s Mao Livehouse this Friday (April 16th). Hailing from the UK, Puressence and Mani (Gary Mounfield), of Stone Roses and Primal Scream fame, are visiting China for the first time on a two stop, two-gig tour of Shanghai and Beijing.
Here’s Shanghaiist’s interview with Puressence’s bass guitarist Kevin Matthews. An interview with Mani, who will be doing a dj-set, coming this Friday.

Could you tell us about the background to Puressence’s China tour?

Kevin: It was really just an off chance opportunity that came through John McCauley, but it’s been coming along for a couple of years. We’re going to be five days in China, Beijing and Shanghai; a five days roundtrip really, just the two gigs.

That’s a short time, is it Puressence’s first time coming to China?

Kevin: Yeah, it’s our first time coming to China, so we don’t really know what to expect, we’re just hoping that people will come and listen to our music. Come to the gigs and see what Manchester is all about. We’re bringing Mani as well, who was in The Stone Roses and Primal Scream.

What is the relationship between Puressence and Mani, we understand that he is doing a DJ-set at Mao Livehouse on April 16th?

Kevin: Well, Mani’s been a friend of mine for many years, before we even started Puressence really, as The Stone Roses were getting together. So we’ve always kept in touch really and because we started up from Manchester he’s helped us in some production of records to our career and now he’s in Primal Scream. He does DJ events, he’s coming with us and he’s never been to China also, so it’s very exciting for Mani as well. We want to try and help promote Manchester music in China, in Shanghai and see what the reaction would be.

You were talking about bringing a piece of Manchester to China. If a Chinese young person wanted to hear a bit more about Puressence for the first time, how would you describe yourself?

Kevin: Britpop was a big movement in the 90s and, while Britpop was around, Manchester music was a little bit darker-edged really. Like Joy Division, The Smiths, Stone Roses - quite dark, melancholic guitar music, dark lyrics I suppose. Really we’re based around quite melancholic, windswept guitars, dry drums, if you’ve not heard us, and that’s it in a nutshell.

How developed a fan base would you say Puressence has in Asia and China? What kind of reception have you guys had prior to these Beijing and Shanghai gigs?

Kevin: We started promotion, with John’s help, things like that. Because of the Internet you can get really good promotion on it and there’s been a lot of sites and magazines that have been picking up on us making a trip to China. We certainly picked up a bit of interest really. Douban, I think it’s the social networking site, have been picking up on some Puressence songs, so people can listen instantly. I think the interest is there, so I’m sure that it will build over many years, hopefully. If we do well and we start to create some interest, then we’ll come back every year and bring different acts, or Manchester music, or John will help bring in more UK acts that have never been to China, but would like to go.

China covers such a huge area and it’s got a massive economy and yet there still seems to be a comparatively small number of Western rock or pop artists that tour here on a very regular basis. What do you see as the future of China and Asia’s music scene?

Kevin: It seems to have a great youth culture, China and Asia is opening more to the Western world and it’s going to be very exciting. I suppose it’s like what we were going through in the late 80s, late 60s where youth movements and cultures just really started to take over music. I’ve listened to a few bits of Chinese music and it seems to be young bands, young guitar bands, starting to make marks in China. Music does transcend many boundaries and China’s not going to be the exception to the world.

Aside from the China tour, what’s the current situation with Puressence?

Kevin: Well, at the minute we’re just finishing off writing the new album so this is a little trip before we start to record. We’ve virtually finished the new album, going to China’s going to be a bit of a break and as soon as we get back to the UK we will be in the studio. We do well in Greece, so we’ll be touring there again soon and maybe America, but that will be September again.

Do you think China will be the next Greece?

Kevin: I hope so! I’ve done my homework recently, looking into China because of the youth movements and the culture and guitar bands that are there. So it does seem exciting that the opportunity might be there for us and for Chinese bands as well. We could maybe do a swap? Bring some Chinese bands over next time to play in the UK.

Finally, gigs aside, what else are you guys excited about re: coming to China?

Kevin: We certainly want to get a bit of sightseeing in and some of the Chinese food. We’ve got Chinatown in Manchester and we are frequent visitors! Also in Shanghai when we’re visiting the Grand Prix is going to be on as well, which I’m a big fan of. Really it’s just a stroke of luck and Mani knows a few people…Eddie Jardin, and Jenson Button. We’ll be inviting the British crews and stuff from Formula One!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips. - Shanghaiist.com