Former Bullies on new album Stranger
Dreamy new album Stranger is another fine addition to the Former Bullies canon – here singer Nick Ainsworth talks longevity, Evan Dando and the universality of sadness
If, as the old saying goes, slow and steady wins the race, Manchester’s Former Bullies should be easing their way to the finishing line by now. Since coalescing around singer Nick Ainsworth 14 years ago, the band have been a regular presence in Manchester’s pop underground, becoming spiritual godfathers to more recently emerged artists such as Kiran Leonard, Irma Vep, and PINS. Though prolific performers, the pace of their recorded output has been somewhat slower, with new release Stranger being just their fourth long-player in all that time.
“It’s taken us a long time to get it sorted,” Ainsworth admits. “The recording started about three or four years ago, but because of life happening to us and organisational issues it’s taken to this point to reach the listening public. But now it’s here I’m chuffed – it arrived at my house today from the record company and it’s a joyous feeling.”
Harnessing this joyous feeling is key for a band keen on keeping things simple. Sparse arrangements allow Stranger’s jangle-pop tunes to spring into life, with the listener left wondering if they’re listening to the demos of some classic 60s garage band rather than the home-recorded dabblings of three college friends from Manchester.
“We recorded it in Matt (Taylor) the bass player’s basement; it was ultra-relaxed and done over a really long space of time,” says Ainsworth. “It feels like we did exactly what we wanted to do and there was no pressure. The influences are worn like a heart on a sleeve on this record – I hope people can tell there’s loads of Byrds in it, and Velvet Underground. The Bachs’ Out of the Bachs [the 1968 debut album by the Chicago garage outfit] was probably the one record that we really wanted it to sound like – pop songs with a haunting backdrop to them. I love [California psych-poppers] The Mantels too. I think you can pick out the influences on each song which I’m not too bothered about.”
If this all sounds too happy go lucky, a quick scan of Ainsworth’s lyrics suggests not everything was hunky dory in the 33-year-old’s personal life.
“I didn’t know if it was abundantly clear but there is definitely a bit of heartbreak about the recordings,” he laughs. “In a lot of the music that was influential on us writing this album there is that poignancy, and a knife edge between joy and sadness. I find that irresistible so I wanted to present something that could be very dark a bit of life but with bounce and a bit of joy. I wouldn’t want people to listen to it thinking this is dark – I want them to be uplifted. They are natural human emotions and everyone understands them so I wanted to invite people in.”
Mention the band’s longevity and the member’s ages and the frontman gets understandably defensive, especially when we question the band’s ambitions.
“If you asked me ten years ago if I would still be playing in a band now I’d have probably said no, but until that feeling of being 'on the outside, looking in' creeps in, I feel it would be stupid not to do it,” he argues.
“Everyone’s growing older but the idea of being creative doesn’t get old. If a visual artist was making art at 33, people would be like ‘he’s a young pup’ and it’s the same for a writer or a filmmaker, but being in a band is often seen as a young man’s game. People are getting married when they’re older and now they’re staying in bands when they’re older. Besides, I feel like I’ve only just got my head screwed on.”
When Former Bullies first formed, the possibility of a Manchester band being scouted, signed and sent out on the road to stardom was still very real, but no matter how wonderful or fashionable their brand of dreamy 60s psychedelia is today, it feels the goalposts have shifted in the intervening years.
“When we started it felt like the tail end of that whole era when you could sign a big deal and get in thousands of pounds of debt with a record label,” Ainsworth sniffs. “For a band like us it would make no difference if we went to Abbey Road and spent loads on a record because the heart and the spirit of the band would still be as rickety as ever.
“We measure our success by whether we want to carry on and if we’re enjoying making music together. At the same time, we’re not insular or wanting to separate ourselves from anyone else – the main aim is always to make music that other people are going to enjoy.”
Touring is another traditional root to the top rejected by Ainsworth, whose job as a secondary school teacher makes such fripperies rather tricky and difficult – especially when you’ve already had the sainted experience of touring Europe alongside the Lemonheads.
“I went to see Evan Dando at Manchester University,” remembers Nick. “I was having a few beers and was just knocking about. I took a demo with me just in case and I bumped into him in the toilet! A few months later his wife emailed me – she said they’d both listened to it and loved it, and then he took me on tour for three months. We were playing huge venues we hadn’t played before and haven’t since – I paid my rent for about four months when I got back.
“There’s a lot of industry pushing and shoving but for everyone who acts like that you hope there’s someone acting and behaving in the way their heart tells them.”
Stranger is out now. Former Bullies play Gullivers, Manchester with Irma Vep and Toucans (10 Mar)