The Empty Page - When The Cloud Explodes
Meet The Empty Page, an alt-punk band from Manchester, up north. They just released a new single, called “When The Cloud Explodes.” And it’s lit!
The Empty Page
The Empty Page is made up of Giz (guitars), Kel (bass, vocals), and Jim (drums, vocals). Formed in 2015 in a dingy warehouse setting in Manchester, the band took its name from the lyrics of a song by Sonic Youth.
Producer Gggarth Richardson got wind of the band and invited them to Vancouver to record their debut album. Laying down the tracks took just over a week, followed by mixing and mastering and, voila!, Unfolding hit the airwaves to vast acclaim, along with beau coup airplay by Steve Lamacq on 6 Music, as well as oodles of features by the underground media types, those who like to think they’re in the know before everyone else.
The band hit big, winning Indie Week UK, which led them back to Canada to play a number of SRO shows. A bunch of shows in the UK are in the offing for 2019.
With voice akin to a fingernail slicing through paper, Kel’s voice spits, spews, and vomits grating tones that become more melodic on occasion.
“When The Cloud Explodes” is a quasi-love song, a song about where they come from. According to Kel, “Anyone that has ever spent much time in the North-West can attest to the fact that it’s always bloody raining. I think that’s one of the reasons why cities like Manchester and Liverpool are full of creatives. There is so much art, poetry, literature and music here. It’s because we’re always stuck inside having to find novel ways to entertain ourselves.”
The track opens on dirty, rampant guitars, jangly yet skintight. A cavernous, rumbling rhythm drives the tune with muscular force. The bass line, rough and tough and ready, thrums with relentless reverberations, pummeling your ears. And the drums are straight out of the bowels of Hell, thumping like the hammer of the gods in Niflheim.
With voice akin to a fingernail slicing through paper, Kel’s voice spits, spews, and vomits grating tones that become more melodic on occasion. Gleaming background harmonies fill in with sonic depth.
The Empty Page plays gritty, visceral alt-punk, punk music that cultivates turbulence and raw verve. No slackness here. These guys hold it down!
