Manassas

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Biography:

‘a clockwork banana backdrop which made you look and feel with fresh eyes.’

Manassas was in existence from 2001 until 2005 until I realised there was a Stephen Stills backup band of the same name. The Manassas vibe has carried on under the new name of Clutter.

Manassas released 2 albums ‘Vague Recollection On Lost Highway’ and ‘Live At The Cavendish’ on Hypermnesis records. They have both now been remastered and released on Earth Monkey Productions

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Releases:

Vague Recollections On Lost Highway (emp003)

Download: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Stream: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Download: Cover Art - Disc Art

Tracklisting:

Vague Recollections On Lost Highway @ The Internet Archive

Vague Recollections On Lost Highway @ Last.fm

Written as a soundtrack for preview evening for artist John Hall’s exhibition Figures on Abbey Road, held at The Dock Museum, Barrow-in-Furness on 14th January 2002. Released as a CD on hypermnesis records, to great local acclaim.

Live At The Cavendish (emp002)

Download: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Stream: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Download: Cover Art - Disc Art

Tracklisting:

Live At The Cavendish @ The Internet Archive

Live At The Cavendish @ Last.fm

Recorded live at the Cavendish Arms in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK, featuring Shaun Blezard and John Hall. This gig was part of the final Cavstock festival at the Cav before Ian and Donna moved on to pastures new. Cavstock was a 3 day mini festival where countless bands, poets and singers played for fun and some free beer. manassas for 1 dearly miss those lost hours in the Cav and wish Ian and Donna all the love in the world.

Relic Once Lost (emp019)

Download: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Stream: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Download: Cover Art - Disc Art

Tracklisting:

Relic Once Lost @ The Internet Archive

Relic Once Lost @ Last.fm

Cousin Silas gives Manassas a complete make over with this remix EP of Vague Recollections On Lost Highway

Reviews:

Innovative sounds for largest spaces

‘’Manassas: Vague Recollections on Lost Highway, a musical project from Shaun Blezard with collaborations from artist John Hall, had it’s public debut this month.

This darkly claustrophobic yet strangely appealing musical offering was written as a soundtrack for the preview evening of John Hall’s latest exhibition, Figures Crossing Abbey Road, which runs until February 10th at The Dock museum

It is one of the most intriguing and exciting pieces of music I have heard from the Furness scene in the past year, an atmospheric ambient riffing with bizarre industrial samples and loops, which either offers a soothing rattle in your head or drives you insane with it’s sonic clanking depending on your mood.

It is the sort of music you would not want to be locked in a lift listening to but in the brilliant art space of The Dock recently, it made perfect sense; given freedom in a big room it worked, a clockwork banana backdrop which made you look and feel with fresh eyes.

With an increasing market for soundtrack music our Shaun is definitely on to something.

Shaun Blezard is one of a number of local musicians who are able to reinvent themselves, having played bass with country and western band The Clementines and indie pop outfit The Peach Thieves - he appears finally to have found his own voice with this collection of offbeat electronica.

Vague Recollections on Lost Highway holds more complex meanings than many local rock and roll bands and is a sign that Furness musicians are starting to branch out and find their own voice rather than follow trends’ - Review of Vague Recollections On Lost Highway in North West Evening Mail

‘groundbreaking stuff. apparently recorded live in a bar, this is cutting edge Brit psychedelica, streets ahead of anything i’ve heard in this vein. played on household appliances rather than guitars, conjures up an f.lips landscape of shifting weirdness, bits of country, bits of a lost country somewhere out there on the border between the butthole surfers and boards of canada, if you want points of reference you have to make yr own, this is uncharted land.’ - Review for Live At The Cavendish on The Internet Archive (5/5 stars)

Contact:

Manassas @ soundclick.com

Cluttermusic.com - The Home Of Clutter

Clutter @ Myspace