Dogbite - Manraze

As is often the case, the most exciting and inspiring new music regularly comes from the most unexpected of sources. You see, Man Raze is not your average debut artist - they are a band whose members have already achieved multi-platinum sales worldwide in previous guises but are going back to their roots in the form of a straight up rock three piece. Their debut single, “Skin Crawl”, was released in the UK in October 2005.

Man Raze is:

Phil Collen (vocals/guitar) – Phil joined Def Leppard in 1982, and with band mate and best friend Steve Clark was able to create the bands highly influential and incredibly successful trademark dual guitar sound. Def Leppard have sold over 55 million albums worldwide to date. The band recently co-headlined an arena tour in the US and Canada with Bryan Adams and had a greatest hits album “Rock Of Ages: Definite Collection” released in May 2005.

Paul Cook (drums) – Founder member and mainstay with one of the most influential bands of all time – the Sex Pistols. The bands 1977 album “Never Mind The Bollocks…” has launched a thousand imitators and is constantly name checked by generation after generation of musicians. Paul Cook has also played with the likes of Johnny Thunders, Edwyn Collins and Greedy Bastards (alongside Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham).

Simon Laffy (bass) – long time friend of Phil Collen and member of Collen’s pre Def Leppard outfit Girl. Simon handles the bulk of Man Raze’s production duties also.

But Man Raze is much more than a sum of its parts. Freed from the expectations of their former (or current) outfits, the band can play whatever they like. The sound is truly eclectic – a mix of the classic and contemporary influences that have shaped the individual members as musicians - from the Police and Trojan Records through to Hendrix, Bowie and Nirvana. The band has released their debut single through their own label and all recordings are self recorded and produced.

Man Raze debut single, “Skin Crawl”, was released through Surrealist Records on the 31st October 2005 and is available through Amazon.co.uk. Surrealist Records is a new independent label distributed in the UK through Shellshock/Pinnacle (Sub Pop, Acid Jazz, Grand Union). An album is set to be released in 2007. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.