12 Questions with Manchesters MCRAE
Northern towns aren’t renowned for their progressive politics. Whether you take Rochdale or Redcar, Bradford or Blackpool, these provincial towns share a milieu that succeeds in fostering a certain mindset not often seen in cities. This is something that Manchester’s MCRAE understands perfectly. Hailing from the mill towns scattered across both Lancashire and Yorkshire, the four-piece eschew the swaggering indie-boy Oasis imitations so often seen in such towns, in favour of something slightly subtler, more intelligent, that bridges the gap between punk, indie, and pop effortlessly.
NSG: Hi guys and welcome, how’s your weekend been and what did you get up to?
MCRAE: Hi guys thanks for having us! We spent last weekend recharging, it was supposed to be our first gig since lockdown but the pandemic gods said no, so Jordan got pissed – and we all watched the football which was actually nearly as good as a gig this time.
NSG: Prior to the pandemic, how was 2020/2021 looking for the band? What did you have planned and how much has that plan, if at all changed?
MCRAE: Yeah our plan was to really hone in on our live shows (lol) we had some big support slots we were really excited for, as well as planning for a headline in our favourite venue. That changed pretty quickly too – ‘we just need to get some material out’ as it’s about the only productive thing we could do in lockdown.
NSG: We read you guys are from mill towns scattered across both Lancashire and Yorkshire, would you tell us a little bit more about this, and do you think where you’re from influences your music at all?
MCRAE: So Joe and I come from the Lancashire Yorkshire border, basically fields – spent quite a bit of time jamming in barns pretending we were the black keys, Jordan and Aidan are from Barnoldswick (yes real place) and being from where we’re from if you play an instrument it isn’t long till paths cross. But no I don’t think where we’re from influences our music, I mean you could say the Arctic Monkeys are from Yorkshire and some influence draws on that but we’re hardly listening to The Lancashire Hotpots for inspo (icons btw).
NSG: We love your song ‘Lucy‘, Is she a real girl? If so, did you ever win her over?
MCRAE: Haha, no no she’s not a real girl I’m so sorry! Don’t get me wrong, it is the story of a boy who sees a mythical creature in a bar whilst tripping and tried to pull it! But I think in the end he kinda worked out ‘she’ wasn’t for him/wasn’t real.
NSG: Who’s got the coolest or strategist hobby in the band and what is it?
MCRAE: Joe is a great vegetarian/vegan chef and has his own Instagram pages with his recipes!
NSG: How did the band form and how did you all meet?
MCRAE: Joe and I are cousins, I met Aidan through a mutual friend (big up joe smith matchmaker) and Jord we met in college. Joe was already in a band when we formed but as soon as he was able he joined up and it all fell into place
NSG: Writing and rehearsing during lockdown must have been hard, how did your new song ‘How to start a fire‘ come about? Was the process of writing and recording different with all the restrictions the pandemic brought about?
MCRAE: Yeah like many others we became really disillusioned with the industry when the pandemic hit, the lack of support in an already suffering business model really drained a lot of our motivation – it was Aidan who was the positive and driving force behind writing and recording the EP, he gave us structure moving forward in every sense of the word and the fact we were writing over FaceTime and sending demos backwards and forwards became less and less of an issue.
MCRAE
NSG: So, what artists would you say are your biggest influence as a band?
MCRAE: Aidan -We have the obvious answers like The Strokes, Catfish And The Bottlemen, The Cribs, etc. But recently bands like The Hubbards, The Academic, Sea Girls, and Vistas all have a certain musicality we’re all into at the moment.
NSG: If you could invite three famous people to dinner past or present who would they be and why?
MCRAE: Donald Trump – By no means a great guest but I reckon he’d tell me all about aliens/Epstein after a line, Bowie – Do we need a reason, and Jeremy Corbyn – Just tryna balance the Trump out.
NSG: How is the rest of 2021 looking for you? Where can we expect to see you?
MCRAE: You’ll be seeing plenty of us. Our EP ‘How To Start A Fire’ releases in all its blazing glory next month, along with a music video, another new single before the years out! We’ve got dates coming up in Manchester and Liverpool keep an eye on our Instagram to keep up to date with tickets!
NSG: What has been the most enjoyable gig you’ve played and why?
MCRAE: Joe – Deaf institute, great venue, and great atmosphere. Somewhere we’d always wanted to play and it hit all expectations. The crowd was a buzz and we were all on a perfect level of intoxication.
NSG: If you could have one wish as a band what would it be?
MCRAE: What like anything? Like World peace??
NSG: Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed, is there anything else you’d like to add?
MCRAE: Just to thank you for your time and all the work you do for artists.
To follow MCREAE on social media click on the links in pink below.
Listen to MCRAE on Spotify.
