The Mann and I

Who are you and what do you play?

Hi! We are The Mann And I. We are formed of vocalist Tara and guitarist/vocalist Edd Mann and we are sometimes joined by bassist Ash Thompson, and drummer Joe Savage, who you can hear on our new single. 

How would you describe your style of music?

When we perform as an acoustic duo we describe ourselves as 'edgy folk for edgy folk' but the songs get a lot heavier with a full band, which we would probably describe as 'edgy rock for edgy folk' (haha!)  

What would you say are your musical influences?

Edd: I suppose my biggest influences would be the bands I listen to the most which include Roy Harper, The Smiths and Tool.Tara: I'd say my musical influences vary drastically! I love musical theatre and take a lot of my singing style from it. However, growing up I listened to a lot of Dolly Parton and Connie Francis which helped shape my singing style and writing style. In recent years I'd say Father John Misty has been my biggest influence as his songs and lyrics are genius.

How did the band form?

Tara: We have actually been friends for around 7 years and supported each other's solo gigs around Brighton, so when we decided to play music together it seemed to just come naturally. We already knew each other's style of song writing and we both had the same idea for what we wanted to be as a band/duo.

Edd: We started performing together in early 2019 playing arrangements of my original songs and a couple of covers. Bad Publicity was the first song we started working on together using an old idea of Tara's. We wanted to get a full band together to record and we liked the sound so much we are going to gig with Ash and Joe in the future, as well as continuing to play acoustic duo sets.

Of the songs you have written, what’s your current favourite and why?

Edd: I'd say my favourite is our current and only single 'Bad Publicity' as it is our current and only single!

Tara: I'd also say 'Bad Publicity'. I remember writing the song around 5 years ago and I love what it's morphed in to. The song is basically about feeling like you're an awful person in a relationship. It's the idea of someone blaming the other party for everything that's gone wrong between the two people without taking any fault and being like "well hey! this is just who I am, you can't blame me!" The term 'Bad Publicity' is about the outlook everybody else has of you after a break up and how people read so much into things! It also has a sarcastic element to it, as any publicity is 'good publicity'