{"id":478165,"date":"2026-06-15T09:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/478165\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T09:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:43:08","slug":"get-sweating-with-man-woman-chainsaws-playlist-for-the-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/478165\/","title":{"rendered":"Get sweating with Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw\u2019s playlist for The Cover"},"content":{"rendered":"

NME\u2019s latest stars of The Cover<\/a>, Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw<\/a>, have created an exclusive playlist to accompany the story\u2019s launch \u2013 check it out below.<\/p>\n

The south London band are on this week\u2019s (June 15) edition of The Cover, a manifestation of NME\u2019s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover \u2013 you can read Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw\u2019s profile here<\/a>, written by Lisa Wright and featuring photography by Phoebe Fox.<\/p>\n

Alongside their The Cover story, Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw have curated an exclusive playlist that\u2019s sure to keep your blood pumping at the gym. Their \u2018HITS Workout\u2019 playlist includes tracks by Confidence Man<\/a>, FKA twigs<\/a>, My Chemical Romance<\/a>, Nirvana<\/a> and more. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw started as experimental teens and took their lead from bands like Black Midi<\/a>, who had managed to take unlikely instruments and strange sounds and turn them into overground success. Over the last couple of years, though, the south London six-piece have been allowing their more conventionally melodic side in, and finding that their idiosyncrasies and pop smarts can exist in satisfying harmony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember feeling so desperate to be outrageous as a kid, but it\u2019s actually chill to just be chill,\u201d grins vocalist and bassist Vera Lepp\u00e4nen. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not like we\u2019re going out of our way to make a Top 40 hit. We\u2019ve never sat in a practice room saying, \u2018Guys, we need to write a four-chord pop<\/a> song right now\u2019.\u201d \u201cWe still try to make weird choices because what makes great pop great are the things you wouldn\u2019t quite expect,\u201d agrees singer-guitarist Billy Ward. \u201cBut doing weird for weird\u2019s sake is something we [don\u2019t want to do anymore].\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaching this realisation has been a slow and steady process that began when the two vocalists started making music together in 2019, aged just 14. A couple of years later, they started performing as Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw, rounded out by a constantly shapeshifting line-up of \u201cmates playing random instruments\u201d. Pianist Emmie-Mae Avery joined shortly after that, having seen a formative incarnation of the band as her first ever gig. \u201cThey said I should hop on and play some keys, and it stuck,\u201d she remembers.<\/p>\n

In 2023, when they landed on the solid sextet that they remain today \u2013 completed by guitarist Billy Doyle, drummer Lola Cherry and violinist Clio Starwood \u2013 the group began to realise the potential that might lie beneath the chaos if they started to sharpen the tools they had. \u201cA lot before [their 2024 single \u2018Ode to Clio\u2019] was us solo-ing over each other and this mish-mash of parts,\u201d Avery recalls. \u201cBut that felt like the first moment where it sounded like a song rather than a lot of people playing at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw\u2019s full Cover story here<\/a> and find out who else has been on The Cover here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every year, NME produces 50 Cover stories, showcasing the future of music via in-depth profiles and exclusive photoshoots. Check out our coffee table book NME The Cover 2024-2025<\/a>, which features the likes of Kneecap<\/a>, Lola Young<\/a>, Amaarae<\/a>, LE SSERAFIM<\/a>, Oklou<\/a> and many more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NME\u2019s latest stars of The Cover, Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw, have created an exclusive playlist to accompany the story\u2019s launch \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-478165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}