Loud Symbols – A Geoff Mann Band: The Definitive Edition

Please note this is a PRE-ORDER and will not be shipping until September 2023.

We are delighted to announce the forthcoming ‘Definitive Edition’ release of Loud Symbols, by A Geoff Mann Band.

To complement the original thirteen track album, the second disc will contain a mixture of demos, alternative mixes/re-mixes and live versions to complete this ‘Definitive Edition’.

After The Bond, Geoff re-convened with bassist Paul Keeble and drummer Gary Mitchell who had also been in The Earthlings (Geoff’s first short-lived post-TN band), and new guitarist John Maycraft. Being more established musicians, the band presented a more accessible/mainstream rock sound, with less emphasis on the ‘wobbly music’ Geoff had hitherto produced. His songwriting had clearly developed, and although most of the songs on the album were by Geoff, ‘The Kingdom Is Coming’ and ‘What In the World?’ were composed by Paul Keeble. The album also includes a couple of songs credited to the whole band, the first songs Geoff had co-written since his time in TN.

The album contains songs written between 1988 and 1990, plus a re-working of ‘Dance’ from Psalm Enchanted Evening… and a rockier version of Seriously Siblings that had originally appeared on the second album by The Bond (coming soon!). Loud Symbols is characterised by John’s sparkling guitar work which is prominent throughout.

The themes of the songs? ‘Love, war. God and faith, the consumer society and urban poverty… said Geoff in 1990. Rock with slightly progressive touches, many bridges between the tracks, sound effects, some keyboards and above all fluent guitars…’

The cover painted by Geoff for his son Thomas featured the family home in Duchy Street, Salford. The artwork is being updated and expanded by our good friend Spencer Rowbotham. The booklet will contain all of Geoff (and Paul’s) fantastic lyrics, as well as some of Geoff’s artwork, photos, sleeve notes, etc.

Geoff was rightly proud of Loud Symbols. The call to arms in his newsletter was typically strident: ‘Let’s get one thing straight from the start: We are dealing with serious ROCK! You are about to enter a Radio 2-free zone. You are about to encounter The Bass Sound That Time Forgot. The Song that Ate Salford. The Segue That Takes No Prisoners. The Snare Drum That Blew Up Two Mixing Desks Before It Could Be Recorded, the Bishop of Manchester, and much, much more.’

Here is some more info taken from His Love – the forthcoming biography, courtesy of Andrew Wild and publishers, SonicBond.

‘By the middle of 1989,’ recalls bassist Paul Keeble, ‘Geoff was curate in a church in Bolton, but with permission to maintain his music. Both The Bond and [my previous band] Alphabet had ended, and we found that we were all available, music-wise.’

‘The musical ‘clicking’ of this line-up was, if anything, even more pronounced, and the first full day’s rehearsal produced ‘Obsessed’ and ‘More To This’.

Rehearsals were usually in the lounge of Brunswick Parish Church, Manchester [just around the corner from Manchester Apollo]. There was a room with nice acoustics next to a kitchen with kettle, and with a nearby chip shop. Ideal really. First the kettle would go on, then we’d set up. Quite often a jam would start from one of us playing a few chords or notes, or a drum pattern from Gary and the others improvising over it. Sometimes these would fizzle out, sometimes a song idea would emerge, with Geoff providing flow-of-consciousness lyrics. We learned to have a tape machine ready as part of the set-up so that a good idea could be recorded for future use and development.’