Music
Press
Finally, Em McManus is a young hotel pool lifeguard by day and a female Jack Johnson by night. She’s been playing coffee shops and bars as a solo strummer for years, but now she and her band The Em McManus Project—Will McManus (bass), Kirk Slater (guitar), Carlos Perez (drums)—landed a big break with a 9 p.m. Sept. 12 show at the Cosmopolitan’s Book & Stage. Her music is folk-based with a sultry, passionate vibe that’s almost bluesy at times; her voice is sensual and in it you can hear the sunshine, water and relaxation of her occupation; her band is dynamite. McManus is different from what I usually catch at Book & Stage. Fans of singer/songwriters such as Ben Harper will enjoy her music, no doubt. Looking forward to this. Again: free. Which means you’ll have plenty of money with which to buy books! - Vegas Seven Magazine
Discography
"When the Boys are Left Alone" single
"Any Song" single
"West Virginia" single
Photos
Bio
The McManus Project consists of songwriter siblings Em (guitar, lead vocals) and Will McManus (bass), along with Kirk Slater (guitar) and Carlos Perez (drums, vocals). Each member of the band had been in a separate individual pursuit of creating music through different avenues and genres of music. Em is heavily influence by the sounds of Neil Young, Brandon Boyd, John Frusciante, and had been traversing the open mic circuit with positive response. Will (influenced by Flea, John Paul Jones, Jack Bruce, Bootsy Collins) and Carlos (influenced by Radiohead, Incubus, Switchfoot) had formed a band that has seen the stages of House of Blues (Las Vegas) and Hard Rock Cafe (Las Vegas). On realizing that their particular folk and rock sounds were compatible, the group sought blues lead guitar chops from longtime friend Kirk Slater (influenced by Nels Cline, D. Boon, Frank Zappa). When The McManus Project comes together to song-write, the creativity and originality that results is from another time in music, and when performing live, the energy is mesmerizing. The soaring vocals and gut-checking lyrics will tug at your soul strings while ethereal electric guitar solos play with warm but aggressive acoustic guitars.
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