{"id":759486,"date":"2026-09-04T07:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/759486\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T07:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:56:13","slug":"man-woman-chainsaw-meet-the-south-london-six-piece-fuelling-the-uks-indie-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/759486\/","title":{"rendered":"Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw: Meet the south London six-piece fuelling the UK\u2019s Indie revival"},"content":{"rendered":"

How would we describe our music? Really f***ing good.\u201d So says Vera Lepp\u00e4nen, bassist\/vocalist and one of many frontpersons in Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw, who don\u2019t just possess the best band name since The Horrors, but have also backed it up with a recent debut album, Cannonball, which has been met with foaming-at-the-mouth acclaim. It is part of an exciting rush of summer releases by new British bands including Mary in the Junkyard<\/a>, Really Good Time and Westside Cowboy \u2014 all suggestive of an indie revival not seen since the early 2000s. It\u2019s led by south London\u2019s DIY scene, from where M\/W\/C emerged, and it\u2019s all about unconventional songs, odd instruments, kooky members, homemade visuals and a total rejection of the boring old trad male band set-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe play rock music,\u201d ventures guitarist\/vocalist Billy Ward in an empty London Bridge pub. But they don\u2019t. Well, they do; it\u2019s just that they also play multiple other styles at the same time, so it\u2019s barely recognisable. This is what happens when there\u2019s a million of you in the band \u2014 OK, six \u2014 operating as a collective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I describe it to people I say, we play rock music, but we have two violins,\u201d says keyboardist Emmie-Mae Avery. Ward considers it. \u201cMaybe I should just say it\u2019s quite melodic, or poppy melodic,\u201d he reasons. \u201cNo\u2026 that sounds terrible. You can\u2019t describe it in any way that just doesn\u2019t sound awful. Just listen to the damn thing, it\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw\"<\/p>\n

Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw <\/p>\n

Charlie & Charlie <\/p>\n

The buzz around Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw has skyrocketed since people have been listening to \u201cthe damn thing\u201d \u2014 meaning their debut album \u2014 to the extent that they\u2019ve added an extra date at Kentish Town Forum after their upcoming UK tour sold out. You can see why they appeal. Besides looking great and having a live reputation to put Iggy Pop to shame, their music is like a distillation of the best alternative acts since the 1970s. Tracks on Cannonball veer from Cramps-y garage piss-taking (Goddamn, Lizard Man!) to PJ Harvey raw folk balladry (Still Angry) to a budget version of LCD Soundsystem (Nosedive).<\/p>\n

Yet it\u2019s an album which, despite the multiple writers, traces a loose narrative around young life today, and is a carefully considered listen. Indeed, the final track, Something Else to Give, loops back to the first track, Only Girl, the kind of thing that used to happen when albums \u201cmattered\u201d. Lepp\u00e4nen has a characteristically straighter way of thinking about it: \u201cBasically, it\u2019s f***ing perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe picked names out of a hat and split into two groups\u201d<\/p>\n

The three members who are here today \u2014 missing are violinist-as-frontwoman Clio Starwood, guitarist Billy Doyle and drummer Lola Cherry \u2014 talk about their ripping up of the template for bands, which included splitting up into songwriting teams for the album. Says Lepp\u00e4nen, \u201cNosedive was probably the most important song because it came together in a very special way. When we were writing it all together, we picked names out of a hat and split into two groups \u2014 when we came back into the room, the other group had written something like that was one key below what we had done and the same tempo. Bang! Mesh. Everything else came together around it like a nice warm hug.\u201d<\/p>\n

M\/W\/C was initially formed by Ward and Lepp\u00e4nen at the Brit School when they were barely in their teens but already heavily influenced by the technical yet primal wizardry of the older Brit alumni Black Midi. The line-up of fellow school members changed over the following years before the final incarnation settled a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all went to school together in Croydon,\u201d says Lepp\u00e4nen. \u201cWe had the practice studio where we could just mess around at lunchtime, which was very cool to have. It just came quite easily from school and also we did start recording quite early. We had music out when we were in sixth form.\u201d Ward jumps in: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t recommend that anyone listen to it, but it\u2019s still something we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was nothing careerist about them at this point, it was just about straight-up fun and a sense of working together collectively in a way that felt free and natural. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a kid, all of your friends at school want an excuse to go out,\u201d continues Lepp\u00e4nen. \u201cWhen we were first starting, really first starting, the gigs would be busy because our friends would be there wanting to have a nice time. Then the next day when you\u2019re hungover, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, we actually have to work on this\u2026\u2019\u201d Avery agrees: \u201cIf we want people to watch us, we have to actually get good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s have fun, let\u2019s mess around, but let\u2019s try and be the best band we can be with what we\u2019ve got, without any insane pressure. Just trying to get better,\u201d says Ward. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s still shits and giggles, isn\u2019t it?\u201d adds Lepp\u00e4nen.<\/p>\n

\"Vera<\/p>\n

Bassist and vocalist Vera Leppanen of Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw<\/p>\n

AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The youthful enthusiasm of the band \u2014 \u201cOur driver told us off recently for playing hot potato: \u2018Guys, the van is shaking\u2019\u201d \u2014 carried them to bigger rooms, festival slots and before they knew it, they\u2019d reached the point of no return. Ward says, \u201cWhether or not it was all viable or not, a career was never the goal. Although I guess you always want to be a rock star.\u201d Lepp\u00e4nen gulps, \u201cI don\u2019t know about you guys but I worry if this doesn\u2019t work out, what do I do? I don\u2019t have a degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have a lovely job [to support me], but I\u2019d rather not have to do it for the rest of my life,\u201d adds Avery.<\/p>\n

Such are the perils of a career in music. The fact of the matter is, it\u2019s a relentless grind more than ever; the band had just passed the milestone of their 200th gig. Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw\u2019s seeming overnight success has been worked on for years. They say part of the reason they\u2019ve successfully persisted to this point is their \u201csix-way democratic approach\u201d, which involves group voting over issues and listening to \u201cthe collective gut\u201d. But juggling all the big personalities in this manner is, says Avery, \u201cnot the usual rock group dynamic; we\u2019re more like a sitcom\u201d.<\/p>\n

Do they ever fall out? \u201cOf course, yeah,\u201d says Lepp\u00e4nen. \u201cNothing crazy, we\u2019re not always at each other\u2019s throats, but you disagree with your friends outside of work \u2014 I also don\u2019t think it\u2019s a normal thing to spend so long away with even your best mate. We are all insanely close, but of course there\u2019s gonna be little things in there, when you\u2019re sharing a bed or a hotel room with someone and their breath is so f***ed. But that\u2019s just a part of life \u2014 the next day you\u2019ll be happy cracking jokes with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw: How they got their name<\/p>\n

Thus far, it has been them essentially in their own mad world, but as more and more people get turned on to Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw \u2014 oh, and the name? It\u2019s from a book of feminist essays about horror films \u2014 life is changing. <\/p>\n

Ward says, \u201cWe were at a festival the last weekend and I went and said hey to Frank Black of the Pixies because like I learned to play guitar from Surfer Rosa and he was conveniently chatting to Keanu Reeves. So it was very quick. I said, \u2018I just wanna say thanks for Point Break, and also thanks for Surfer Rosa, on the surf theme.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dIt\u2019s not all premieres and fashion parties quite yet, but they are on their way\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI yelled at Damon Albarn to say I loved your Gorillaz show recently, and he looked at me a bit disgruntled,\u201d offers Lepp\u00e4nen. Alright, it\u2019s not all premieres and fashion parties quite yet, but they are on their way, and if nothing else, you need to see them live as soon as you can. \u201cIt really is a communal experience,\u201d says Lepp\u00e4nen. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so much fun and there\u2019s a lot of us to watch \u2014 so if you get bored with looking at one of us, you can move on to the next. Same with the songs. There\u2019s a lot of variety. So, come on, bring the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw\u2019s playlist<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coolest girl band right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your Graduation \u2014 Modern Baseball<\/p>\n

\u201cA bittersweet and honest emo revival with heartbreaking vocals.\u201d<\/p>\n

PHENOBARBITAL_ f tmongleaux \u2014 Tailtiu<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coldest electro-clash hyperpop production ever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How would we describe our music? Really f***ing good.\u201d So says Vera Lepp\u00e4nen, bassist\/vocalist and one of many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,14809,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-759486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-music-interviews","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}