Following the release of their highly anticipated debut EP 'Cut The Colours', we caught up with Manchester Post-Punk band Church Party to find out more about what influences their eclectic sound. If you enjoy the bands picks be sure to check out 'Cut The Colours' below.
1. Tommy Stewart (vocals and guitar) picks: The Fall - New Big Prinz
"I fucking adore The Fall. In a hyperbolic world where the word genius is adorned on anyone who can write a half decent tune, Mark E. Smith is one of the few cultural figureheads who actually warrants that title. I could pick any Fall song from any era, but ‘New Big Prinz’ just kicks you in the bollocks from Mark’s Salfordian slur “rockin records, rockin records” which bleeds into THAT simple, thudding and brilliant baseline. It’s a ‘fuck you’ ring entrance song that to me says we are here, this is The Fall, you’re either with us or against us. Its self-referential lyrics (HE is NOT appreciated) gives me a guttural sensation I can’t really put justice to in words. It’s funny, it’s Northern, it’s simple and to the point, and it’s just cool as fuck. This live YouTube version where Brix in particular looks every inch the perfect, pouting and strutting rock star with her Rickenbacker, and the band sound at their very best. I wish Mark could hear Church Party, even if it was to say we were crap. "
2. Matt Downes (guitarist) picks: Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
"SLF are one of the greatest punk bands in history, not just the music and attitude but the braveness to shout about the things they did, in the time and place they did. It's tough to choose a favourite of theirs but it's got to be their debut single. It questions authority, calls out corruption in ruling powers and stands up to oppression, what's not to like?
It's probably one of the main reasons I properly got into music, especially punk, made me realise how powerful a message can be when it's being barked out by an angry man with a guitar. The lines "Don't believe them, question everything you're told" helped shape my younger years and have stuck with me all my life, it's probably still the cause of a bit of conflict between myself and authority every now and then haha. The guitar tone on the intro is so hard hitting, it smacks you in the face from the get go. Nothing fancy, just ballsy and loud. This combined with the raw aggression from Jake Burns vocals is an all round winner for me. Their sound played a big part in me wanting to start a band and play guitar as a kid, the feeling of a cranked guitar amp rattling through you is like nothing else. Even though I've listened hundreds of times it still gets me pumped up now."
3. Michael Copp (drummer) picks: Song For The Dead - Queens of the Stone Age
"I think this song is a favourite of most drummers, and it 100% should be. CP love a good intro, and a quick stop in a song, which I think you can hear coming through a lot in our new record. It’s so powerful from start to finish and doesn’t let up for a second, and I think our track God Bless This Mess lends from this song.
This live video is awesome because you can see Grohl absolutely hammering the drums, and wearing those sick gloves, which I may adopt."
4. Richard Stewart (bass) picks: Scott Street - Phoebe Bridgers
"I went to see Phoebe Bridgers at the Apollo in Manchester in July 2022. The next night I went back and unsuccessfully tried to buy tickets from a tout. It was one of those occasions where seeing an artist live for the first time completely elevates your admiration for them as a performer.
Scott Street is my favourite song of hers. The song is so beautifully paced and is carefully built upon layer by layer over the course of the 5 minutes of the track. I love how the drums don't kick in until around the 2 minute mark, halfway through the second verse, just as Phoebe sings the lyric "I asked you how was playing Drums?". As for the outro... that outro gets me in a way that I really struggle to articulate properly, which is exactly what great music should do. The strings come in. The bass picks up. All the little bells and whistles chime in. The solemn refrain as she sings "anyway, don't be a stranger". Everything opens up and comes together in such an understated and melancholy way.
That night at the Apollo Phoebe mentioned that the last time she had played Manchester was at Soup Kitchen in 2017. For an artist to go from playing smaller venues like Soup, to multiple sold out shows at the Apollo is hugely inspirational."
5. The Replacements - Unsatisfied
"First of all, let’s talk about the reverb drenched, acoustic opening riff. It sets up the song perfectly before Paul Westerberg comes in with his yelp to kick it off. I only got into the replacements during the pandemic, but they changed everything for me. Lyrically, he’s up there, especially on songs like androgynous and Here Comes A Regular, and even though Unsatisfied is simple and direct, it’s impactful and meaningful. It’s an indie pop banger, and a song the band all agree on, because our tastes cover a vast pallet of genres. When we were recording Cut The Colours, this is a song we referenced a lot and listened to in the car on the way to the studio or to practice when we were writing these songs. It’s the exact type of song we’d like to write, and we think in some aspects, we’re not far off."
LISTEN TO CHURCH PARTY "CUT THE COLOURS'