In took some five years, but Freebass, the Mancunian bass supergroup comprising of three of music’s most notable strummers, Peter Hook (Joy Division), Gary “Mani” Mounfield (The Stone Roses/Primal Fear), and Andy Rourke (The Smiths), finally has a record to its name. In fact, this time next month, they’ll have two.
This week, Freebass released its debut EP, Two Worlds Collide. Coming some five years after its initial formation, the four-song effort hears the all-star bassists teamed up with the likes of The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, The Mighty Wah’s Pete Wylie, and Howard Marks, all of three of who lent their vocals. The band had planned for even higher levels of supporting star power, such as Liam Gallagher and Billy Corban, but scheduling conflicts prevented them from making an appearance. After all, they only had five years to make it work!
“We asked them but we’re all jobbing musicians so it’s impossible to fit it in,” explained Hook in an interview with the BBC. “I get asked, and Mani gets asked, to do a lot of sessions and stuff. Literally you have the best intentions of doing it. We had Liam at one point but you really just can’t fit it in.”
Two Worlds Collide serves as precursor to the band’s forthcoming full-length, which is due out next month. On that particular release, former Haven singer Gary Briggs will make his debut as the band’s full-time vocalist.
“We had a sort of indie Pop Idol,” Hook went on to explain. “It took us about a year and a half to find a singer and we came up with Gary Briggs.”
“In the mean time we’d asked a few friends of ours – Tim Burgess, Howard Marks, Pete Wylie – to help us out and we submitted some vocals. So we ended up with four guest vocalists and a proper vocalist… We thought we’d split it in two. So the EP with the guest vocalists is coming out first, and the LP will be coming out in four weeks with Gary.” Make sense?
Hook also jokingly called the band’s lightning fast gestation a “living hell.” “The problem with it was that when it started, we had a lot of time on our hands – Mani, Rourkey and I. And then as soon as we started it, our respective band leaders, in their wisdom, decided to work. So it’s had a lot of false starts.”
The EP can now be purchased from Hook’s Hacienda website. You can preview a few tracks here.
In support of the releases, Freebass has also announced its first two gigs: June 1st at 100 Club in London and June 3rd at FAC251 The Factory in Manchester.
