A playfully disrespectful song about having faith in an absurd creator, who has inspired generations of cruelty, ambivalence and suffering. Everyone sing along with Manbird!

THE SINGLE

Rich Vernon (The Mission), Paul Smith (Helter Skelter) and Steve Hands (Peter Perrett & The Only Ones) team up to create something special with a nod and a wink to icons such as Leonard Cohen, Bowie and The Dandy Warhols. Their Manbird single, Endless Suffering! is released on 27th January 2025

Endless Suffering! was written while taking in Velasquez’s and El Greco’s crucifixion paintings at El Prado in Madrid and inspired by the irony of both making Jesus look pretty sexy in a world full of pain.

The trio call it an angry atheist’s anthem, and a joyful ode to a world without God. It’s a dance through the absurdity of fantastical, fanatical belief. One that has inspired generations of cruelty and ambivalence in the face of suffering. Faced with such derangement, what else is there to do but celebrate and sing, “Endless Suffering la-la-la-la!“

THE VIDEO

WHAT IS? WHO ARE? MANBIRD

Richard Vernon struggles to account for the name. “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,” before adding “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. 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.”

THE MANBIRD STORY

Vernon and Hands met in 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. After touring with people like Steve Earle, REM, James, and Violent Femmes, they were championed on BBC Radio 1 by Andy Kershaw and Janice Long. In that period, Smith was also taken on by Sony-BMG Music as a songwriter.

Manbird online: Facebook / Youtube

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