Five teenagers, a violin, and a shared obsession with pushing musical boundaries. It could be the plot of an avant-garde Channel 4 comedy, but it’s actually the origin story of Man/Woman/Chainsaw – the London art-punk sextet who have not only one of the best names in the game, but the musical talent to match.
They’re all at least 20 now, but hurtling towards adulthood has done little to temper their instrumental mayhem. There’s a phase in a young band’s development when they’re starting to find their form, learning to harness their collective power while letting traces of their raw, freeform chaos peek through. That’s exactly where we find Man/Woman/Chainsaw on the rising buzz-band timeline – an enticing moment for any listener.
We’re joined by all six members – Billy Ward (vocals, guitar), Emmie-Mae Avery (vocals, keys/synths), Vera Leppänen (vocals, bass), Clio Starwood (violin), Lola Cherry (drums), and Billy Doyle (guitar) – right after their set at Victorious Festival, on the sunny southern coast, waves in the background, to talk about everything from unwanted Windmill scene comparisons to European festival buffets and their plans for the next few years.
You’re coming towards the end of a summer of festivals. What’s it been like stepping out onto those big open air stages?
Vera: Hot! It’s nice to play outside.
Clio: I think we’ve been sounding a little bit better. With a six-plus piece lineup, it helps to each have a monitor and the space to spread out.
Billy W: It’s fun making a really big sound. We can do that in a small room, but outside it’s different. You can turn it up a lot more – it feels cleaner, tighter.
Last week you guys were in Germany, you’ve been in Belgium and Spain for the first time as well. What’s it been like taking your music around the world to places you haven’t been before?
Vera: They treat you SO well, it’s so good.
Clio: It’s amazing. We had the most incredible buffet at Pukkelpop in Belgium. Oh my God – there was mussels, ribs, steak, linguine, sashimi. It was endless.
Vera: They had a Pad Thai station!!
Billy W: Yeah, our van call was at, what, five in the morning? So we hadn’t eaten at all. The first food we got was after we played, in the afternoon, and it was just like – yeah, all the foods.
Lola: Other than that, it’s just nice meeting crowds from different places. London crowds… it can vary. I’m not gonna-
Billy D: At foreign festivals, there’s definitely more pressure. People are taking the time out of their day to give you a chance, so you want to give it as much as possible, you don’t want to be half-arsed. I think maybe we were a bit for Belgium, but… I don’t know. I think people liked it. They’re kind of a stoic crowd anyway, Belgians.
Vera: It’s cool hearing music you’ve never heard of before, too. Because I’m not going to know the biggest Belgian pop star, so it was nice to see some of the big Belgian stars playing. And they’re funny as fuck, the biggest Belgian pop star had like dubstep with dolphin noises in it.
Open-air stages must feel like a world away from the tiny club shows you started with. Do you play any differently at a big festival, or is it all the same?
Vera: Well, it’s silly because you think you’re moving loads, then you see a video back and it’s like – oh, mate, I’ve just been standing there the whole time. Also, today the stage was huge and none of us had jacks long enough. So there was all this space to move, but we couldn’t because the leads were too short.
Clio: Billy slipped on his monitor.
Billy D: Yeah, I tripped over it. I tried to jump on the monitor, then jump back off like it was a launchpad…
Clio: No – you stepped on it and slipped straight off, my friend.
Is it ever difficult making music with six people? Are there arguments about who gets which part, or is it quite democratic?
Clio: Of course you argue, you argue all the time. But then you get over it and move on – you just find a middle ground that works. Compromise!
Emmie-Mae: We’re all so different with our tastes and what we like, so a lot of the time it’s like, someone will say something and someone else really disagrees. Everyone’s going to veto one idea, getting over that can be quite hard.
Clio: But then there are really nice moments where everything suddenly clicks and we’re like, yeah we all fuck with this. That’s amazing.
Vera: I think we actually have more musical cohesion than stylistic cohesion. When it comes to names, visuals, artwork – that’s where the real beef comes in.
Billy W: Yeah musically it’s easy to argue and lock horns a bit, but if you just play through the thing, often what works best just kind of happens anyway. And sometimes that ends up miles away from both people’s original ideas.
You guys are often grouped with the ‘Windmill post-punk’ scene, compared to bands like Black Midi and Black Country, New Road. Is that more flattering or frustrating?
Billy D: Depends which band.
Billy W: Shady! We love the Windmill, but also we weren’t really playing there when those bands were around… or only occasionally. It’s a bit irritating as a comparison because there are so many bands out there, and we don’t sound that much like either of those.
Vera: Obviously, that kind of music – we were teenagers when it came out. But it’s the stuff you grow up listening to, and it’s really influential because it feels different to anything else you’ve heard before. That’s always exciting. And when you first get into those venues, it’s like – oh my gosh, these bands I really like have played here! But I’ve come to find those comparisons a bit… half-arsed, maybe. Musically, we’re not that similar anymore, and it feels like any band with more than six people sometimes gets compared to the famous ones. So yeah, it’s somewhere in between. It has exciting sides that feel quite rewarding, but it’s also like oh my god I don’t sound like that!
Clio: Being the one who didn’t go to Brit School, I actually didn’t know who these bands were because I was just at classical music school. So when they came up, I didn’t really understand the height of it didn’t listen to it at all. Then I wrote some stuff with Chainsaw and started listening to it. I was like, okay, I can see how maybe mine and Georgia Ellery’s work might be similar because we both grew up classically. It’s kind of frustrating because I thought that was my idea… but she actually had it first.
Your most recent single, Adam & Steve, feels a lot more radiant than your other tracks. Was it intentional to create something more joyous and lighter?
Billy W: We were like, yeah, let’s go radiant with this next one.
Vera: Radiant is such a nice word. Generally, we’re definitely getting poppier – I’m gonna say happy-go-lucky, song-focused kind of vibes. It’s good to branch out, to try making music that sounds different, not just write the same thing over and over.
Clio: Also, the main writers in the band, dare I say, are in love right now. So we’re getting nicer, more love-filled songs.
Vera: In love with eachother?!
Clio: NO, NO! They both have love in their lives, but not with eachother. But yeah, it’s producing nicer, loved-up music, which is a good thing.
It’s nearly three years to the day since your first single Any Given Sunday was released-
Vera: Oh, shit, really?
Yes!
Clio: Oh fuck! Three years. That was my first show, the launch gig.
Where do you see yourselves in three years in the future, what would you like to have achieved?
Billy W: Album… like, what, two, three? Album three. Having fun. Writing good music.
Emmie-Mae: Maybe album two and a half. Halfway through album three.
Billy W: I want a nice overcoat. A good, big, woollen overcoat.
Clio: Yeah, I’d like to have some kind of small animal, maybe. I really want a bearded dragon. One night we stayed in Birmingham, we did a show, and for some reason I stayed up till like four researching bearded dragons. Then I realised my student loan probably won’t cover that kind of heating setup.
Words: Donovan Livesey Photos: @maeve_w_photo