It’s been a long time since uncompromising Manchester alt-punks The Empty Page first unfurled their debut album ‘Unfolding’ back in 2016. It was never their intention to leave it that long, but founding member and original drummer Jim Cattell left the band during the recording process due to ill health, then there was the pandemic, then life stuff got in the way. Some one-off songs and seven- inch single releases kept the fire and desire to play burning, signalling the path to stunning new album ‘Imploding’, due for release this coming May 10th via the bands own Vociferous Records.
Drummer John Simm (who also serves as percussionist for Stockport indie band Blossoms) plays on the record and at current live shows alongside frontwoman Kel Page and guitarist Giz as The Empty Page prepare to enter their exciting next phase, which starts today in the guise of new single ‘Cock Of the Fifth Year’, the first track to be released from ‘Imploding’. The band waste no time getting established with conviction and power. The new single bristles with attitude and energy and hits hard from the moment it leaves the speakers and wallops your ears and guts.
“Cock of the fifth year is what we called the biggest jock types when I was in high school,” explains Kel. “Cocky, brash loud and overly confident. Puffed up and swaggering and often quite intimidating. I liked the name for a song and wrote it initially about a cartoonish bloke who unselfconsciously uses up all the space available and makes others feel shoved out of the way. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of blokes like that I encounter when walking around my home city of Manchester. Swaggering, mouthy bellends who can be pretty intimidating when you’re a woman just trying to get from a to b. I was thinking about the idea that being a big deal in high school is the peak of some people’s lives. I hated school with a passion and my own Ife has got better and better as my school days have receded in the rearview. Seems a weird flex now to have been a big deal in high school.”
Watch the video for ‘Cock Of The Fifth Year’ HERE:
For ‘Imploding’ the band worked with producer Morton Kong and for the first time found themselves with the luxury of not having to rush the recording process and took full advantage of the creative space, utilising the studios vintage gear and experimenting with sounds and fresh ideas (“we hit massive bells with hammers, dicked around with walkie-talkies, created elaborate bass feedback set ups,” laughs Kel) and generally pushed themselves and their music further than it has ever gone before.
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