Manrae

"Manrae came out of England like a shooting star; blink and they were gone. They released three tracks on the Pacata Hibernia 7" and also one track on the Heartattack #10 compilation. The songs have an almost sad or melancholy feel to them and yet they are alive with a very passionate energy. Emotive hardcore from the mid '90s." In reality Manrae were a slow building band formed by Glenn Bowen, drummer of then, seminal straight edge band Crossfire from Leicester, England. Glenn formed the first incarnation of Manrae in 1991. Disgruntled with the direction that Crossfire were going in, Glenn wanted to form a different band more akin to the music that inspired him at the time & at the same time make the move from behind the drum kit to singer. The first line up of Manrae was Philip Welding - Guitar, Sean Atkinson - Bass, Glenn - Vocals / Drums. Manrae's break came when they were asked to appear on the Heartattack #10 compilation LP released by Ebullition Records of Goleta, California USA when owner Kent Mclard heard a demo tape of theirs. The band went into the studio in July 1994 & recorded 'Running On a Treadmill' for the LP. The track was well received & put Manrae firmly on the map & the band were suddenly in more demand for live appearances. At this point Adam Boot (ex Aviculture) joined as drummer. Within 12 months Ebullition offered Manrae a seven inch release of their own & the band headed back to the recording studio in May 1995, this time recording six tracks in total. Three ('Pacata Hibernia', 'Sleight of Hand' & 'Mr. Leuchter') for the upcoming seven inch a re-recording of 'Running On a Treadmill' & two new tracks 'Collusion' & 'Or Am I Somewhere Else?' which were never released. Pacata Hibernia (Gaelic for 'Conquered Ireland') was released later that year & gained the band even more noteriety. Shortly after the recording of their first seven inch, Phil left the band & pursue his other band, Schema. Sean then stepped up to play guitar & Kevin Battley was drafted in to play bass. This was the final & most stable line up of the band that went on to play live for a further 8 months until Glenn disbanded Manrae 5:30am one cold February morning in 1996 after returning from what proved to be their last show in Bradford. After a short break, Glenn Bowen & Sean Atkinson then went on to form Post hardcore 4 piece Half Seas Over who appeared on several compilation records & released a self titled CD EP in 1998. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.