Sing & Tell :: Proletariat

Credit: Northernfacephoto

Manchester's Proletariat - a Little Indie One To Watch 2018 - burst onto the scene early last year with the fast and furious punk 'n' roll riffs of debut single 'Mr. Brown', taken from their debut EP 'Always The Same', released in May. Their new single, 'Nervous Energy' is out on March 23.


Who are you? 

Good afternoon guys! I'm James Cummins of Mossley band Proletariat. I play guitar and sing, and the rest of the band consists of Connor Dolan on lead guitar, Aaron Hall on bass and backing vocals, and Luke O'Reilly on drums.

Tell us something about yourself and how you came to be where you are today? 

I was born with a tooth! I suppose that's a bit different... I swallowed it when I was seven whilst eating some Quavers! I'm originally from Ashton-Under-Lyne, which is just five minutes outside of Mossley, and I've known Connor for probably 12 years. I always knew he was a great guitarist, so when I decided I wanted to pursue starting a band, he was always the first person I planned on asking. Aaron joined a few months afterwards and we started to play covers in our garage like most bands usually do. We actually poached Luke from another band - we supported his old band for our very first gig, and asked him to cover for a few gigs, which then became a permanent transfer, so to speak. And that's how the Proletariat you know was born.

Give us an idea of your musical style and influences.

One of the things I love about the band is we all draw from different musical influences... there's everything from your classic rock stuff like Sabbath, Zeppelin, Hendrix etc to The Stooges, Doors, Stones. There's early blues stuff like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf; there's obvious punk influences like The Clash, Ramones, Cramps, then there's more modern influences like Arctic Monkeys, RATM, QOTSA, Slaves, Trampolene and more. It's safe to say there's a mixed bag.

Explain the production and writing process behind your songs.

I wouldn't really say there's a strict production/writing template we follow, which I think is a good thing. We're always writing, there's always lyrics or riff ideas floating around. But when it comes to writing it's never really the same. We could just be jamming a riff and go from there, or the lyrics might come first and then we write around those. But yeah, pretty much every song comes about in a different way.

Tell us a little about your new single.

'Nervous Energy' is a call to arms. Its aim is to make people aware that they are the means for change, they are the future... they are the saviour. It's fuelled by angst and hunger, and a longing for a better, brighter world for the masses. One can dream. I can't wait to get it released, the response so far has been great, and I think it's easily one of the best things we'll be putting out to date.



Can we catch up with you at any forthcoming live shows?

Our next show - which is tomorrow, March 23 - is actually our biggest headline show to date at the Deaf Institute in Manchester. It sold out around six weeks in advance which is an incredible feeling. We're lucky to say we've sold out every hometown show we've put on so far, and hopefully that'll continue. We are also headlining a brand new festival in Manchester on April 28 called Either Way which has some great bands on it. Tickets for that are seven quid and there's 16 bands on, so anyone would be crazy to miss it.

How's the rest of the year looking, plans-wise?

The rest of the year is already looking exciting. We're confirming plenty of cool things, so there'll be announcements on the horizon - we're even planning our next headline show already. But I think the thing I'm most excited about is just to keep writing tunes; the writing has been getting better and better, and we're challenging ourselves more now which is a great feeling. I've been tackling things head on and writing about things I never thought I would, so that feels like a personal achievement for me too. There's plenty of new music to come, and we're excited to just keep adding to that.

Where can we hear more of your music?

You can hear our music on Spotify and Apple Music ('Nervous Energy' will also be released on the likes of Amazon Music, Deezer etc).

What social media platforms can we find you on?

Facebook // Twitter // Instagram