Music / Feature

MP3 Chainsaw: The five piece band distorting genres and reality

By Issy Packer  Saturday Mar 9, 2024

MP3 Chainsaw can be described as unique, surreal and genre-bending but what they cannot be is pigeonholed.

Formed in 2021 with members from other bands and labels such as Jesuits, Empty Pools, Illegal Data and Soz Lad, the five piece released their debut single, Clydecore, earlier this year.

Self-described as “GMO heroes wielding maximalist pop forged from disparate genres”, their superhero identities are: Auntie Climax, BigCapyDamaNRG, Johnny Email, cutmesum.flac and Arty Pops.

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What got the superheroes into the music industry?

“We’ve been told we were created in a laboratory for industry plants,” they tell Bristol24/7.

“Cultured in a petri dish, we were designed to be another bland, soulless, apolitical commercial act for a local music svengali who only wants acts that he can completely control.

“Turns out we were too ‘spicy’ and unruly too keep, so the business demons at Profit Entertainment™️ took us under their wing. They seem nice.”

This unruly nature is evident in their first recorded release, Clydecore, an amalgamation of genres, from pop to punk and shoegaze to UK garage, it’s not a track that cannot be categorised.

Of the track, the band say they were inspired by “the 90’s, our infancy on the streets, classic two-step garage bangers, horrible people.”

The track is “a tale of coercive control told through the romanticised lens of a survivor and offset by imagery of the real experiences of the Barrow Gang,” they explain.

“In an instant, guitars and electronics switch from atmospheric to stabbing in a dance of freedom and rage.”

A fast-paced, chaotic, synth-fuelled track, it’s a polished and well-crafted debut from a band that are have burst onto the scene with little fanfare.

Recorded and mixed by Alfie Tyson-Brown, mastered by Dylan Mallett and with the single’s artwork designed by Mun Sing (aka Giant Swan‘s Harry Wright), the impressive roster of credits on the debut single prove just what a formidable band they are.

Following the track’s release, MP3 Chainsaw joined Simple Things Festival for their 10th anniversary edition and will also be performing at Outer Town Festival on April 13.

The band describes themselves as “five unlikely anti-heroes fighting crime and evil (i.e. bland music and fuckboys at clubs).” photo: Olga Dubrova

How was it performing at Simple Things Festival, at the newly renovated and refurbished Lantern Hall in the Bristol Beacon?

“Proper blinder! We like being let out every now and then,” they tell us.

“The facilities were fantastic at the renovated Bristol Beacon, the handmade hummus and miso soup were to die for. We even drank water from a can…Can you believe it?!”

So, following their successful debut single and appearances at two of the most exciting day festivals in the city, what else do they have planned for 2024?

“Everything! Yes, everything.”

Tickets for Outer Town Festival can be found at https://www.outertownfest.com/tickets

Main photo: Olga Dubrova

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