Neu Hyacinth Girl

We stumbled across Hyacinth Girls path via New Zealand import and drummer Neil’s other band, Mazes. Taking cues from Sonic Youth, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr among many others of a similar era while being fronted by Chorley boy Luke, it’s no surprise to find that the first band that lazily comes to mind on listening to the Manchester-based duo is The Cribs. Think louder, in your face, less pop, more complex.

Here, the boys introduce themselves, and answer a few of our questions.

Where are you both from, and how did you get together?
Neil’s from New Zealand and Luke’s from Chorley. We met over in NZ when Luke was visiting family back in ‘07. We bonded over a mutual love of Good-Time vibes.

You’ve got some really cool artwork, do you design it yourselves?
The logo thing on our MySpace? That’s by a Manchester illustrator called Tom Bingham.

For those who won’t have heard you yet, how would you describe your music?
PUNK ROCK. We’re influenced a lot by NZ bands such as Tall Dwarfs, 3Ds, Bored Games and Toy Love.

What’s it like being a band in Manchester, do you have to travel much?
Manchester used to kind of suck to be a band in a few years back but its been getting way better of late. Venues such as The Corner and awesome nights like The Medicine Shop, in particular the seminal all-dayer epic ‘Douche-Fest ‘08’ that went down on June 7th 2010. Recently our van got clamped and towed from outside our house so playing gigs is pretty hard, especially gigs outside of Manchester. Now we rely on public transport.

If Hyacinth Girl had a mission statement, what would it be?
I would say our long term mission or goal would be to conserve the worlds biological diversity, ensure that the use of renewable natural resources are sustainable and to promote the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. Our friends band Cargo Cult also have a mission statement and its the exact opposite. They’re bad-ass.

You’ve been chugging happily along for a year or so now - where do you hope to be this time next year?
As long as we’re making music that’s cool. We’re not very ambitious. Getting a record out and a tour of sorts would be cool I suppose. Stadiums only. Neil says he would like to be partying on a Cruise Ship with Lil Wayne. First Rock and Roll concert on the Moon is also a goal.

Do you have any releases or interesting projects in the works?
Recording is pretty much our main priority in the next couple of months. It’s super fun. We wanna put out an album or at least an e.p this year. Maybe a tape as well!

What other up and coming bands should we be checking out?
Well Neil drums for Mazes who are based mostly in London these days. They rule. Then there’s bands in Manchester who we play with a lot who are all tres rad. Check out Brown Brogues, Cargo Cult, Waiters, Former Bullies, Dinner Party…. Manchester is crammed with good bands these days. NZ has its fair share too… personal favourites being T54 from Christchurch, Rackets from Auckland and our total heroes Die! Die! Die! from Dunedin.