Harry Stafford and Marco Butcher - We Are The Perilous Men
Manchester underground music icon Harry Stafford, perhaps best known as the frontman and founder of groundbreaking post-punk band Inca Babies, and US-based trash blues guitarist Marco Butcher present their new album 'We Are The Perilous Men', released via Black Lagoon Records.
Following the resounding triumph of their 'Bone Architecture' album in 2021, the duo present the second chapter of this exploration, upholding their lockdown-inspired tradition of sending ideas back and forth between North Carolina and Manchester. Creating this album unconsciously - perhaps even telepathically - their musical connection has ignited this album with an infectious energy and spirit.
"When we decided to release the album back in January, we had to decide on ten tracks (now eleven) out of a possible twenty. We agonised long and hard, but it was actually quite a satisfying endeavour because we were unaware just how many great tracks we had and that, if we kept this up, there must surely be another album in a couple of years, but that we’ll probably have to choose ten out of a possible forty tracks by then," says Harry Stafford.
"This was also a moment we both realised that we had had such a great time working together on these tracks, which had now effortlessly merged into the great album, so we spent at least an hour feeling very pleased with ourselves."
In the lead-up to the album, the duo released the diabolical and swampy post-punk single 'The Rules of the House' and the lead track 'Walk Among The Spectres', which explores our own fragile mortality, with a video filmed in the expansive Southern Cemetery in Didsbury South Manchester, dating back to 1700 and used throughout the Victorian era. Now a public park, people are invited to wander among the tombstones... to literally Walk among the Spectres.
Based in North Carolina, Brazil-raised trash blues guitarist Marco Butcher (Jam Messengers, Jesus and the Groupies) provides a solid backbeat, jumping with a frenetic rhythm. This foundation ranges from a mess of blues to a stumbling electro beat with Dwayne Eddie funeral guitar. His forays into dance and Hiphop see him mess with the rhythmic DNA, often inspiring the creation of a new dance shuffle at will.
"I really like the fact the that we left behind all those rock music school rules and jumped into this new world of freedom and ideas, which could take us anywhere as long as we both are having a good time with it. So I guess I would say that the experimental part of it is my fave,” says Marco Butcher.
"I try to not overthink music as much as possible. For me, being able to play it and having fun with it is the paycheck already!"
As of September 8, 'We Are The Perilous Men' is available from fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. This album will be available on black vinyl, as well as digitally.
