"Streaming Enabled Me to Perform Live in China" Says Paul Draper, Former Lead Singer of Mansun

Will Griffith | Mar 9, 2019 5:00 pm | Add a comment | 724 reads

It's not uncommon for a musician to find a second life in the music industry in this day and age. Look at the roster of festival headliners in recent years, or the comebacks forged by some of the '90s seminal acts. Simply put, easier access to record back catalogs online and the splintering of the industry across various mediums, markets, and fanbases, an artist can nowadays rise from the ashes, wiser and more humble, with their chops still firmly in place. Prime example: Paul Draper.

Draper was once the frontman of Mansun – one of the UK’s most talked-about bands of the late '90s – who rose fast through the ranks after the release of 1997’s Attack of the Grey Lantern. Over the course of three albums (a fourth was issued after their demise), they skirted the line between radio-friendly Britpop and theatrical prog-rock, rapidly amassing a following. And then, just like that, it was over, Mansun disbanded in 2003 after Draper was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy. Fortunately, the treatment was successful, but the band was to remain quiet.

Fifteen years later, Draper returned to the fore with his solo debut, the autobiographical and vigorous Spooky Action. The embers of Mansun were once again ablaze and the singer found himself once again hitting the road, performing to a whole new generation of fans as well as the ones who never left. For his first ever China tour, Draper will strip down his songs for a special acoustic set alongside his longstanding guitarist Ben Sink.

Before the singer touches down in Beijing next Tuesday, Mar 12, at Omni Space, I asked him about his journey from Mansun to now, and discussed his newfound love for the stage.

Just from listening to last year’s recording Live at Scala, it’s clear you’re enjoying the hell out of playing again. Why did it take so long to come back to the stage?
I have been working as a writer and producer since Mansun split. I had my own studio in London and I worked with various artists such as Skin from Skunk Anansie, The Anchoress, and The Joy Formidable. I had various offers to perform again or to make an album, but nothing felt right until I decided to release my solo album, Spooky Action.

I was busy working continuously on music, but just behind the scenes and I was happy doing that. The opportunity to perform again took a while for me to agree to, but I’m happy I finally decided to do it. Once my solo album was released I decided to do a short UK tour soon after its release, but as the album sold well and had critical success, more shows were added, so I have ended up touring North America and Europe as well as the UK and Ireland. And when the offers for Japan and China came in it was irresistible to come and play in the Far East, as it’s been a dream of mine to visit China for many years. Now I’ve got the opportunity to visit and play I literally can’t wait to come over. I’m hoping the shows will be really special. I’ve spoken to so many Chinese fans on Weibo already and I’m amazed at how knowledgeable they are about Western music.

How has the industry transformed in the time between Mansun's demise and dropping your solo debut?
Obviously streaming has become a big part of consuming music that didn’t exist when I was in Mansun. Personally, I think this is a good thing as many Chinese fans have discovered my solo material and Mansun through streaming platforms, which has enabled me to finally come and perform live in China. So I view it as a positive thing for music and by far the biggest change since Mansun were together.

Other factors have changed the industry more recently, such as the growth in vinyl sales. My vinyl sales in the UK are growing dramatically and we are speaking to a Chinese label about licensing and distributing my music physically in China. If this happened it would be tremendous and would pave the way for bigger concerts in China with my full band in the future.

Now that enough time has passed, how do you view the music you created with Mansun? Do you think you guys were ahead of the curve?
I certainly think Mansun have been treated kindly over time. I think the band is more relevant to a host of new musicians in the UK now compared to some of the Britpop bands that were out in the '90s. The Mansun records are being reissued in the UK and have all made the national charts, so it seems Mansun has been appreciated more over time than it possibly was at the time.

Also when I look at a lot of modern bands, especially in the UK, I can see a shift to a more flamboyant, possibly androgynous look that Mansun had back then. It was out of place then but seems a lot more accepted now in the mainstream. Sonically, Mansun used a lot of drum machines and synthesizers in our music, which was very out of place in '90s Britpop in the UK. However, over time this has become much more prevalent with left-leaning pop acts today. Each Mansun album has sections of drum machines on it, so when I came to make my solo album in 2017, Spooky Action, I did not feel out of place using drum machines and synthesizers, I felt it was a natural progression from where Mansun left off.

So I feel the musical landscape has changed around Mansun and myself, and the band is a bit more credible thanks to the changes in fashions and attitudes. I wouldn’t be arrogant and say Mansun was ahead of its time, I’d say just out of time, and the fashion is right today for Mansun to be appreciated and me to have my own niche as a solo artist.

What was the seed of the idea behind the ‘acoustic’ tour in the UK? And what was the response like?
Firstly, the idea of playing acoustically was something I thought of as a challenge to myself, maybe to just play one show in London to see if I could cut it as a singer and songwriter. I thought we would do it somewhere small but highbrow and as a test for myself, but also to show people what I can do.

However, after each acoustic show, myself and my guitarist Ben Sink seemed to think we were taking giant strides and that individual shows could become a full tour. We put together a set comprising a cross-section of songs from right across my career, and we put together a UK tour. Thankfully the reviews were very good and the crowds turned up and sang along and it was very much like a party atmosphere, singing Mansun songs and my own solo songs. I initially did it to challenge myself and see if I could be a "real artist" and I’m glad I proved I can do it, even just to myself.

How did it feel to strip down your sound to the bare essentials? What did you take away from the process?
Well stripping the song back to its origin is the ultimate test of how good it is. You also wonder if your voice can carry the song without production, if your voice is good enough to emote the original song, and if the song in itself is a good one. This is the crucial test.

It felt good stripping the songs to the bare essentials. The songs we picked for the hour and a half set all work acoustically, with Ben Sink adding guitar to my bare arrangement. However, we have had to change and juggle things a bit to make them work, so seeing the songs stripped back is quite different from listening to the record or watching me with a full band. It doesn’t feel second-rate though, these acoustic shows have been some of the best I’ve been involved in and have gotten some of the best audience reactions I’ve ever had.

I took away from the process that when you get criticism in music, ultimately if you can sit there 20 years into your career and hold an audience for an hour and a half with the songs you’ve wrote, the lyrics, the tension of the melody moving against the chords and a voice that can deliver it and everyone comes away happy, then it sort of puts a lot of those old criticisms to bed. It’s the ultimate test, and the shows are great fun for the audience and me.

This will be your first time in China – how did the tour come about? Any expectations?
I’ve wanted to come to China for so long. I thought I would eventually come as a tourist, but to come as a headliner is mind-boggling (do you have a Chinese word for that?). Shanghai is already sold out, and I’m in disbelief that after all these years and the distance from the UK to China I have a fanbase there.

It literally is what I live for – to come to China and play music is beyond my wildest dreams. The tour came about as our Chinese promoter AJ saw I was coming back from a Japanese leg, and he asked if I’d be interested in playing in China on the way back. I jumped at the chance. If any of you know me from my Weibo account, I’ve had it for quite a while now as I was born in Liverpool, not far from Liverpool’s Chinatown, and I feel such a close connection to everything Chinese. It’s been such a huge part of my life that I just joined Weibo and met fans of Mansun, and I was amazed at how knowledgeable the Chinese audience is about my old band and other British music.

READ: Under a New Generation of Promoters, Beijing Becomes an International Musical Haven

When the promoter put the tour on sale I didn’t know if anybody would know me, but Shanghai sold out and hundreds of tickets in Beijing and Guangzhou have been sold, so I’m literally packing my suitcase already and am eager to come and play in China. It feels like a whole new challenge, to come and play across China is unbelievable but it is happening – thanks to AJ and the promoters who have done an amazing job coordinating it.

What are you most looking forward to about this China tour?
My expectations are to experience China and walk the streets, go and see the Great Wall, explore not only Shanghai's skyscrapers but also the old buildings, and see Guangzhou; I hear some of the world's tallest buildings are there. The whole experience is going to be amazing and I want to do my best performance so I am invited back with my full rock band in the future, and we can license our records, vinyl, and CDs in China and see where it goes. It’s just the most exciting thing for me to be part of, and I hope all the fans who come to the gigs feel part of it too. I literally can’t wait.