CityLife

Delicate hammers - oddball band of musical hitmen

Delicate Hammers - surreal treat

MC COCOEN - singer and multi-instrumentalist in Manchester oddball rockers Delicate Hammers - believes being in a band is the best possible cure for misanthropy .

"It's the greatest way to release all that anger and aggression," he tells CityLife, from deep within the Delicate Hammers' secret underground bunker in Salford.

He continues: "You just get up on stage, and in front of a big audience, you get all those things off your chest. You can bemoan all those evil things in the world that you hate.

''Y'know, like politicians, murderers, The Courteeners, Jools Holland...basically all the bad stuff. When you're on stage, you feel a king for the night."

 Insanely entertaining

All of which might suggest that Delicate Hammers are a belligerent, perhaps self-righteous bunch of Manc musicians. But that couldn't be further from the truth.

 For Delicate Hammers – featuring four shadowy men who hide behind their alter-egos of MC Coceon, Lord Stuchbury, Loopol The Goatboy and The Egg – are the most hilarious and insanely entertaining band in Manchester you'll see this year, or perhaps any year.

Consisting of four eccentric songwriters, Delicate Hammers became one musical unit around two years ago, and that combined creativity has been baffling and beguiling Manchester music fans ever since.

Like the Super Furry Animals jamming with Goldie Lookin' Chain with added surrealism provided by The Mighty Boosh, Delicate Hammers are less like a typical rock'n'roll band, and more a case of what happens when the lunatics take over the asylum.

Fits of laughter

Having gigged solidly for the past 12 months, they've left Manchester  audiences in multiple states of fear, curiosity, bemusement, and fits of laughter – and that's usually before they've even finished the first song.

Misanthropic rockers, comedy cabaret band, four Brian Wilsons after a bad LSD trip; you can call Delicate Hammers many things, but you could never call them predictable. 

 "No two gigs have ever been the same," sighs MC Coceon. "It's always unpredictable with us. We're not the sort of band who'll go up on stage and replicate exactly what's on our recordings.

''We're a bit more haphazard, with equipment breaking down and musical samples going wrong. I have been known to just start ranting in-between songs about how awful my life is. But y'know, it always keeps the audience entertained."

 Rather mysterious

Entertaining yes, but for us music journos and fact finders, also rather mysterious.

The band are reluctant to divulge too many personal background details besides the fact that they're originally from Wales (they've been known to perform whole sets in the Welsh language); and that they comprise two sets of brothers (Cocoen and Goatboy are siblings, as are Egg and Stuchbury).

 The Egg considers: "I think we must be the first great band in history to feature two sets of brothers. Can you name another band with two sets of siblings? I've always suspected Abba have two sets of siblings. I'm sure I will be proved right one day."

Surreal comic appeal

With their surreal comic appeal and tendency to theatrically improvise songs at their gigs, Delicate Hammers are all too aware of being slotted into 'comedy band' category.

 Certainly, they owe something to acts like Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and Goldie Lookin' Chain ("massively under-rated" says Coceon), but these four oddballs are also quite determined to earn their place amongst the real rock'n'roll elite.

They've picked up fans such as Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank ("he loves us – and Steve Lamacq hates us. A double bonus," says MC Coceon), and at regular Manchester band nights like Blowout, Delicate Hammers have converted many fans with their refreshingly eclectic approach.

   "We're the sort of band geeky bloggers REALLY like," says MC Coceon. "Middle-aged music anoraks love us, 'cos there's so many different influences in our songs.

Weird esoteric influences

They come and see us, then go home and write on their blogs about all the myriad of weird and esoteric influences in our songs. For the geeky music bloggers of the world, we're like a wet dream come true."

"We get asked to play all sorts of gigs though," adds Loopol The Goatboy. "We've done pagan weddings, even kids' parties. Although some of our 'fruity' language doesn't often go down very well at kids' parties."

Fantasists, visionaries, lunatics – Delicate Hammers are all these things. But surprisingly, they're also a fantastically engaging writer of pop songs; albeit pop songs which might give you strange nightmares.

Their best songs – like the brilliant 'Horror Hammer' – mix psyche-rock sounds, gothic harmonies and Monty Python humour (one of the band's biggest influences), into one beguiling sonic odyssey.

The next 12 months of Manc music might be overflowing with electro poppers, retro divas and swaggering indie-rockers – but in the shape of Delicate Hammers, it's looking the most fun might be provided by the unexpected joker in the pack.

Publically execute

"I think Manchester is finally ready for a band like us," declares MC Cocoen.

"Since Morrissey left Manchester, I think this city has been terribly devoid of a real figurehead, someone who sits on their throne and tells it like it is.

''This city needs someone who can cure all its spiritual ills and kill off all the mediocrity – and that someone is us. And if that means we have to publically execute The Courteeners, then so be it."

Delicate Hammers play Blowout at Chorlton Irish Centre on Friday, January 23.