Brendan: Hey, everyone, Brendan the Blind Guy here. Today I'm speaking to the very

talented and beautiful Miss Paige Court, also known as MANE.

How are you, MANE?

MANE: I'm good, thank you. How are you?

Brendan: I'm very well, thank you. Now, I see, well read that you're recently back in the

country after a pretty extensive European tour. So how was that?

MANE: Yeah, it was amazing. I was over in the UK and Europe for three weeks. Last

month I played a lot of shows over there, including at the Edinburgh Fringe and

across Germany. It was just amazing, I had a great time. My manager did such a

good job of setting that all up and I don't think I've played one show that was not

good, like they were all pretty amazing so I was really stoked with how it all

went.

Brendan: Good, so the fans were good to you?

MANE: Yeah, totally. It's just like a whole different scene over there. Not that the scene

in Australia is bad, it's just different to be able to play your music in another

country and have people attend the shows and appreciate it and buy your CDs. It

was pretty incredible.

Brendan: That would be amazing. Just to be in Europe would be amazing.

MANE: Yeah, totally. It's beautiful over there.

Brendan: And congratulations on your new infectious hit ‘What If The Love Dies’. Now, this

is that infectious, I've had it stuck in my head all day. So, yeah, the video clip to

go with it, it's pretty amazing. Your lyrics and the video clip to go with it shows

some maturity that is beyond someone so young and so young in their career.

MANE: Thank you.

Brendan: Yeah no worries. I just want to know, I know the kind of gist of the story behind

the song, but for listeners, what's the kind of story and the path of how the song

was created and the video clip to go with it?

MANE: Yeah well, it's basically a friend of mine was going through a really intense longdistance

relationship where the person they had been with for a few years, had to

go back to another country. I just remember them being so upset, and just saying

to me in despair, "What if the love dies?" I thought it was, as sad as it was, it was a

beautiful line. I was on tour actually with a previous release and I wrote the song

then and I was like, this is going to be my next single! And then it was.

Brendan: Yeah, good choice, well as I said, it's very infectious and you know that’s like,

considering yesterday I had ‘Bitter’ stuck in my head all day so you're on the right

path there.

MANE: [laughs] Good. Thank you.

Brendan: With the comparison between ‘Bitter’ off your debut EP and your new single, I

noticed that you collaborated with a pretty amazing producer. If my shoddy sight

reads it rightly, Eric J?

MANE: Yes, that's correct. That was great to have him on board especially since he's

worked with some amazing artists, I think he's worked with Grammy stuff. I mean

he's worked with Meg Mac and Vera Blue and he's just got a real ear for

production. And yeah so I recorded the demo up in Gippsland in Melbourne with a

really good friend of mine, called Jack Cookie, and then once we got it to a

certain point we sent it on to him to work his magic and mix it and add in some

more things, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Brendan: Yeah nice and so, how do you think that Eric's influence has kind of well changed

your music from, well not really changed it, but accentuated your music

compared to your debut EP?

MANE: Yeah I think just in terms of sonically, the sound is just a step up and in the

direction I want it to be, I mean I think with music, it's important to always stay

true to the sound you want and but also never stay the same as well, so it's like a

fine line-

Brendan: Yeah definitely.

MANE: And I think just having a set of ears like Eric to help guide it in the direction I

wanted it to was really great.

Brendan: Wow, yeah that's perfect and so back to your video clip. So tell me about the

making of it and the kind of the theme and everything behind it?

MANE: Yeah well, I collaborated with a guy called Kieran Ellis-Jones who does Crystal

Arrow Films and he's amazing and really creative and we sort of caught up and I

told him I wanted it to be weird and a bit abstract, and we come up with this idea

and I guess the whole theme of it was sort of to create this image of two people

being together but also there's this sense of distance between them and we sort of

set it out in three different eras and tried to create that, and just make it a bit

weird; I just, I love the idea of things being a little, having a distorted sense of

reality and I think we created that.

Brendan: Yeah well definitely, I was watching the video clip and I was like, oh wow, this is

not your typical video clip and you know who wants typical, so well done.

MANE: Thank you. Thanks so much.

Brendan: That’s alright and I've noticed you've got blindfolds on there and having a bit of a

taste of what it's like to be blind yep...

MANE: [laughs] Yeah, yeah yeah I guess we sort of played on the narrative of love is

blind-

Brendan: Yep, I must be cupid then.

MANE: -yeah It sort of touched on that, yeah was kind of like a creative choice.

Brendan: Fantastic, yeah so, the name MANE, I think I read kind of how you got the name,

but I'm very intrigued. What's the story behind the name MANE?

MANE: [laughs] Well essentially, the music I was creating before I started the MANE

project was a little bit different and when I was releasing my ‘House of Horror’ EP,

I kind of thought it was fitting to release it under the moniker name. The actual

name came from, it was a bit of a nickname when I was younger, because I had

lots of hair, and I still do, which is still kind of still applicable. And yeah so it’s

still personal, but also it's just a short sharp, shiny thing for people to remember

and catch on to which is also helpful.

Brendan: Some of the most successful artists and bands around the world have short, sweet,

catchy names like that, so yeah definitely-

MANE: Thank you.

Brendan: Yeah well at least you had a good nickname for your wild hair, you know mine was

just you know just fuzzball and curly locks, which aren't exactly good stage

names.

MANE: [laughs]

Brendan: Yea so, in your live performance ... see me being a live music journalist, the

things I look for, of course, number one is sound quality from both the artist and

the sound mixers, but on top of that, I really focus on interaction from the artist

with the crowd, and how they project energy, and also authenticity of the

performed sound, so like the sounds I hear on the recording, I want to know are

actually being performed live so, how do you kind of address all those points at

your live shows and what can we expect at your shows?

MANE: Yeah definitely when I perform live, I sort of let the whole experience take over

me. I've got some interesting takes on what it's like to see me perform live. I've

been told it's like I'm a witch casting a spell. That I'm totally about, I'll take that.

As far as the sound goes, I just recently I was a five piece, but I've had to go to a

three piece but we have to be a bit technologically savvy now, just because

there's just so many sounds going on in my music and I want to replicate that live

to the best of my ability but also have that sort of raw, live-ness to the set as

well. I've got a great band and the two boys I play with are such great friends, but

also just incredible musicians in their own right and they've really helped shape

my live set and I'm really excited to get back on tour and be able to come play in

different states and showcase that.

Brendan: Yeah wow, that's fantastic, so how did you meet the guys that you perform with

and kind of go, hey, do you want to be in a band with me?

MANE: Yeah well it was funny, Louis, who's my guitarist, we played this really weird,

random gig together years ago and we sort of hung out afterwards and went to an

open mic and we sort of supported each other in every way possible since then in

terms of our own music, so that started out as part of a really great friendship.

Our drummer Miles, he's just the sweetest man ever. In Adelaide there's not as

many musicians, I guess is there?..as there is around in other cities, so I knew he

was a drummer and a great one at, I asked him if he wanted to be a part of it all

and he said yes and he's been great.

Brendan: That's fantastic. Yeah, so I've read somewhere that you didn't come from exactly a

musical family or whatever, so what kind of made you get in to music and pursue

it?

MANE: Yeah, it was sort of, you ask my family and they'll be like, it was totally out of the

blue. I mean music's always been a big part of my life but I didn't start playing

until I was about 16, 17 before that I was actually a competitive swimmer for a

very long time, and I was gonna go to the Olympics, that was the dream, that was

the goal and I worked very hard for that; but I never loved it I guess and when I

gave that away, I just picked up my brothers old guitar that he didn't play

anymore and sort of taught myself and started writing my own music and that’s

when I found where my passion laid in doing that. It's pretty amazing to be able to

do that as my job full time now.

Brendan: Yeah wow, that's pretty much the dream, you know that's what I dream for. So,

your sounds that kind of incorporate a bit of electronic, quite a lot of blues, a bit

of pop and everything. So what are your influences for your music?

MANE: It’s funny, I listen to such a vast range of genres from like northern English rock to

Lorde and Florence and the Machine and I loved Missy Higgins, Amanda Clarke that

was one of the first albums that sort of really resonated with me. And yeah I

honestly just love listening to some local music, and seeing live music really

excites me and makes me motivated and inspired to write and be a better

musician, I guess..

Brendan: Yeah well amazing, yeah well you're on the right path.

MANE: [laughs} Thank you.

Brendan: That’s alright, see a lot of people think that touring the world with your music is

just all rainbows and butterflies and everything, and you know that it's just

completely breezy but a lot of people don't really comprehend the struggles and

the exhaustion behind it. Being back recently from Europe, touring over there,

how are you coping with all the touring and how are you finding it?

MANE: Yeah it's quite a raise, I have a lot friends who don't know anything about the

music industry, and that's totally fine, they have their own thing, but I think they

see my life as really glamorous when really I literally get changed in public toilets

on the way to a gig. I kind of embrace that whole touring thing, it's a fun

experience but it definitely gets a bit exhausting at times especially when you're

at the level I am when, where I don't have any fancy hotels to stay in, it's

backpackers and like fitting six of us in a tiny AirBnB all together, and it can be

challenging but it's also a pretty fun experience and we laugh often at the things

that are so ridiculous about it and take the good with the bad. I'm not sick of it

yet, so I'm just going to keep doing it for as long as I can. [laughs]

Brendan: Yeah fantastic. That's a fantastic attitude to have towards it. So what's kind of

behind the scenes at the moment in MANE land, like what's kind of brewing for the

near future?

MANE: Yeah, we're already sort of looking at another single at the moment, we're just

deciding on what it should be. I was just messaging my manager before about it

actually, yeah hoping to, after this tour and everything, get something out again.

We're just looking at singles at the moment, that will eventually go towards an

actual EP. I'm hoping I'll be back in Europe again next year, too. And yeah,just sort

of going with the flow and striding it out.

Brendan: Yeah nice. Fantastic. And finally, so what's your goals, what's your five year plan

like in five years time...you want to be here?

MANE: It's so hard to know. I think as long as I'm ... obviously, in whatever you do, you

want, there's always that desire to have success but I think it depends on what

you define as successful because I think as long as I'm releasing music that I am

happy with and that I am proud of, and I get to play live then I think I'll be totally

satisfied, but obviously, it'd be nice to be doing well and doing better than I am

now but we'll see what happens, I guess.

Brendan: Yeah nice, so kind of go with the flow and hope for the best.

MANE: Yeah totally and just to create music that I want to be creating-

Brendan: Fantastic.

MANE: -for myself, and for people that enjoy it.

Brendan: That's good that you're doing it for all the right reasons. Now, unfortunately, we

are out of time, I mean, I could talk about music and everything all day but it's

been an absolute pleasure talking to you and I can't wait to see you live later on

this year.

MANE: Thank you so much.

Brendan: Thank you very much. Bye.

MANE: Thank you very much. It was great chatting.