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about |
michael mancev is a guitarist, songwriter/singer who has worked with a diverse range of artists and is perhaps best known for his songwriting and guitar work with Paul Colman. He has also played with David Carr, Grant Norsworthy and Phil Gaudion. Michael has recorded with Phil Butson, owner and renowned house producer of Sing Sing Studios (producer/engineer Powderfinger, The Black Sorrows etc). He has recorded solo albums and co-written with a number of artists including well-known guitarist and songwriter Steve Housden from LRB and Paul Stewart from The Painters and Dockers – now that’s going back some time! He had his solo project, End of Days, distributed by Blah Records which also released two tracks as part of a compilation. Guitar-playing credits include artists such as Kate Phillips, live recordings with pianist Steve Sedergreen and jazz guitar maestro Bruce Clarke. vex is Melbourne's quintessential four piece rock outfit. The VEX sound is rich and swampy featuring a landscape of layered guitars and haunting melodies combined with evocative and poetic lyrics. VEX's debut concept album, End of Days, is the musical and lyrical vision of songwriter Michael Mancev who has had to wrestle with his own demons in order to record and release this album. All ten tracks were penned by Michael and recorded and produced by David Carr. David Carr used a myriad of analogue reverb units, begged borrowed and stolen from some of Melbourne's top recording studios, during tracking for guitars, drums and vocals. This gives Vex a quality and a sound which is reminiscent of some of the seminal British bands of the 60s and 70s. Vex Live features David Carr, guitars Michael has written songs and played in bands since the age of 14. He has also recorded and released CDs with several other Melbourne bands. He is a former journalist and has a serious obsession for reading and writing poetry. His latest musical and lyrical offering is his most powerful and honest endeavour.
Philosophical: End of Days is an album in two parts and depicts Michael's battle with depression during one of the most productive times of his life. The album moves through a myriad of emotions from anger, confusion and despair through to a renewed sense of hope and vitality for life as the album comes to a close. The title, end of days, refers to both an end of good days, the ushering in of part one of the album, and an end of bad days, which is how the album concludes. "This is captured and portrayed subtly on the record, as our budget and artistic instinct did not allow for more. However, the live show will attempt to flesh out this concept in more detail making use of live projection and AV effects," Michael explains. River of Life is in a way a microcosm of what the album is about lyrically. It delves into the human heart to find hope, fear, faith and doubt. A merging of opposites, which can sometimes be hard to reconcile. The river, in the song, is a place of peace and forgiveness which seems to be within reach but the writer still finds himself unable to kneel and be renewed by it. For me, Let You Be is about the effects of bottling up anger and pain. It's an angry invite to lie back on the therapist's couch, or throw back some beers with a mate (depending on which side of the Yarra you're from) and talk. Anti-hero and Religiosity ask where is God in moments of desperate need. The search takes the writer through a multitude of beliefs, philosophies and literature from Sartre's Being and Nothingness to Beckett's Waiting for Godot. None however, seem to offer any answers. And all the time there is a deafening silence and a seeming indifference in the universe. For some, this can deal a fatal blow to their faith, while others are strengthened by the struggle. Generation Gap - a posthumous conversation, albeit a one-sided one, between father and son. The son longs to be understood, to be praised for the good he has done and forgiven for those he has wronged. Much like Ridley Scott's Bladerunner, where Roy Batty confesses to his creator (the so-called god of bio-mechanics) "I've done questionable things". Well, neither replicant nor the son in this song find peace with their father. Nowhere is perhaps the bleakest track on the album. It reflects the entropy and despair which follow rage and self-hatred. Yet in the heart of all this darkness glimmers of hope and life once again emerge. Her Love Waits, Mustard Seed and I Long for it All try to redress the mess the writer has caused loved ones. All these songs find renewed hope and strength in the realisation that there are some people who can love unconditionally. And this is where the album comes to rest, although somewhat tentatively. One is left with the impression that the road ahead will be vexed, but therein lies meaning and hope - learning to make the most of the life you've been given.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. Albert Camus Light is sweet and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years you may live, enjoy them all. But remember the days of darkness for they will be many. Ecclesiastes
Technical The original 8-track demo of this album was recorded in an old timber church on a busy high street (ie Roadnoise Studios). Producer David Carr (My Colour Brain, Paul Colman, Girl Friday) was taken by the sound - unadulterated drums and guitars surrounded by a melancholic wail of words. The recording is now hi-fi, the band tighter but the spirit of the demo has well and truly been preserved; a credit to David's skills as a producer. For this project David used a plethora of analogue effects, begged, borrowed and stolen from the vaults of some of Melbourne's top recording studios. He also reverted to recording techniques used by some of the seminal British bands of the 60s and 70s. The sound he has achieved is aurally organic. No presets on an ubiquitous digital effect rack comes close.
Comical Thanks to Penfolds Wines for evoking the mirage (drink wine in moderation) that there are good cafes and take-away joints in Melbourne's outer suburbs where this album was recorded. Now was that Fasta Plasta or Fasta Pasta?
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