‘MANBIRD!? “I have no idea what it means. Ask Steve Hands, he came up with it. No, don’t ask him. He won’t know either”. Richard Vernon struggles to account for the name. ‘I can describe what MANBIRD! is though, It’s me discovering that Paul Smith is still writing songs, and playing guitar like Pete Townsend running out of patience with Tom Verlaine riffs. Me persuading him to sing and record, me bringing in Steve Hands to give it wings, and me bringing it back to Earth because I want people to hear this. And all in the kitchen because Smith won’t go in a studio’.
Vernon and Hands met in the band ‘The One’ with Peter Perrett from The Only Ones. Since then Vernon spent nearly ten years playing bass for The Mission, then The Almighty’s Ricky Warwick and a host of well-known artists.
Hands, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and performer in his own right, has been in The Band of Holy Joy and is now back with The Only Ones. Peter Perrett has described him as the most musical drummer he has ever played with.
Vernon and Smith met when they were signed to Rough Trade then Island Records, with Helter Skelter. Smith left the band and dropped out of view as their now sought-after debut album ‘Consume’ was released.
Previously Smith had been in The Doctor’s Children, produced by John Leckie (Stone Roses, Radiohead, XTC, Magazine) and released worldwide including on the legendary labels Glass, Upright, and Down There. The Doctor’s Children also toured with people like Steve Earle, REM, James, and Violent Femmes, twice appeared at Glastonbury, and were championed on BBC Radio 1 by Andy Kershaw and Janice Long. In that period, Smith was taken on by Sony-BMG Music as a songwriter. MANBIRD!
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