Words: Ellie Ward
Boston Manor, the Blackpool-based pop-punk five-piece have unveiled not one, but two new tracks.
Both ‘On A High Ledge’ - which explores the prevalence of male suicide - and ‘Ratking’ - about the inability of humanity to work together - are taken from their forthcoming album ‘GLUE', set for release on May 1 via Pure Noise Records.
‘On A High Ledge’ is a song that’s very important to vocalist Henry Cox, save explains:
“When I was seven years old I saw a man commit suicide by jumping off the bus station in Blackpool a few feet in front of me. Growing up, I always rejected the idea of what a 'boy' should do; I never liked football, I thought fighting was stupid, and at age six I spray painted my bike pink. I’ve always hated the term 'man up'. I think it is such a damaging thing to say to little boys.
"A big problem that we have to tackle is men’s inability to seek help; it’s this ‘man up culture’ that is baked into young men from a young age that makes them think - it’s wrong to cry, it’s wrong to share your feelings, and being vulnerable is weak. The biggest killer of young men today is suicide. Obviously, mental health support in the UK and most of the world is not what it should be, and mental health issues affect everyone not just men. But I wanted to write a song dedicated to that man who died when I was young.
"I hope, as a society, we can teach little boys being born now that being sad is okay. Strangely, the day after we wrote this song, one of the guys in the band was driving home and saw a man on a bridge over the motorway about to jump. He quickly pulled off the road and managed to talk to the guy until an ambulance came. A strange coincidence, but I really hope that man is doing better now.”
Second track ‘Ratking’ refers to a phenomenon that occurs when several rats’ tails become intertwined and they get stuck. This causes them to struggle harder which only makes the knot tighter; eventually they’re unable to move and they die.
“‘Ratking’ is about our inability to empathise with each other and work together as a collective," states Henry. "Even those who consider themselves tolerant should look at their inbuilt biases. I think our inability to show compassion to people who think differently to us is what is holding us back. We’ve seen this so much over the last few years. Just because someone voted differently to you, it does not automatically make them a bad person or invalidate their feelings. Even if someone is a hateful person, don’t deny that person the opportunity to change. We need to help each other to grow rather than trying to cancel, shout down, ridicule or attack each other.”
Boston Manor will celebrate the release of ‘GLUE’ with a headline tour around its release, with support from Trophy Eyes, including a date at London’s Electric in Brixton on May 7.
Live dates
APRIL
30 Southampton Engine Rooms
MAY
02 Bristol SWX
03 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
04 Glasgow The Garage
05 Manchester Academy 2
07 London Electric Brixton
08 Birmingham O2 Institute 2
09 Leeds Stylus
JUNE
05-07 June Rock am Ring / Rock im Park, Germany
11 Nova Rock, Austria
12 Greenfield Festival, Switzerland
20 Graspop, Belgium
26 Full Force Festival, Germany
27 Vainstream Festival, Germany
JULY
04 High Five Summer Festival, Sweden
10 2000 Trees Festival, UK
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