Dantevilles & Corella – Maintaining Manchester’s Music Legacy

Always being on the lookout for decent new music and bands, I recently came across a couple of new(ish) Manchester bands who I was quite impressed with. One is from a mix of Manchester and Lancashire, the other was formed at the Manchester music university, BIMM. Both have that ‘Manchester’ vibe and both deserve to be going places.

Dantevilles
First up are Dantevilles who hail from both Manchester and Darwen in Lancashire. They’re a four-piece who comprise Jamie Gallagher (guitar, vocals), Connor McNicholas (bass, vocals), Paul Tanton (guitar) and Cory Devine (drums). One of their most notable features being the twin lead vocals of Jamie and Connor.

They have been touring around the north for the past few years and their first release was a self-titled EP that came out at the start of the summer. It includes the track, ‘Blackjack’ as well as recent singles ‘It Might Be Tomorrow’ and ‘Daydreamer’. The EP was produced by Courteeners bassist and producer. Joe Cross and is an attempt to bottle the band’s energetic live performances which it achieves in droves. I do like Daydreamer, it's an upbeat indie track that maintains their trademark dual lead vocals whilst adding a psychedelic feel to the sound.

‘It Might Be Tomorrow’ is a particular favourite though having almost a sixties sounding feel to it. What’s it about? Well the band themselves are quoted saying “It’s the contrast of something morbid and something beautiful and ultimately turning that into a positive message and living every day as if it’s your last.”  Despite this quite downbeat theme it’s actually a very up-beat track, one that builds and builds to an irresistible chorus with those appealing duel vocals to the fore.

From what I’ve heard so far, Dantevilles create fresh sounding memorable tracks. They have a modern take on the Manchester indie pop sound with melodic guitars and standout vocals and most of all – a bit of soul! Track them down. You won’t regret it.

Corella
Corella are a fresh indie-pop four piece made up of a bunch of BIMM Manchester students. Joel Smith (Vocals/Guitar), Ben Henderson (Vocals/Bass), James Fawcett (Drums), and Jack Taylor (Lead guitar). It’s hard to pigeonhole Corella’s music into any particular genre, they’re quite an interesting mix of jangly, funky indie pop similar to the likes of Blossoms or the ill-fated Viola Beach.

Their influences appear to be a broad school of rock, pop and soul taking in acts as diverse as Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder and the likes of The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club. These influences really come across in some of their tracks. 

Despite being unsigned, Corella are slowly gaining a major following. Early releases Barcelona Girl and Waterfall have gained over a million streams on Spotify, some of their more recent singles have also featured on Spotify’s ‘The Indie List’, ‘Indie Road-trip’ & ‘Hot New Bands’ playlists. Their track, 'Caught Up' was used by BBC Sport during their coverage of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. They’ve even had the ultimate accolade of being featured on ‘This Morning’.

Their most recent release, ‘Island’ came out earlier this month. With ‘Island’ Corella continue to develop their sound, it still has the trademark jangly guitar riffs and catchy chorus we come to expect but there’s a lot more than just that. It’s quite an incredible, mature song for a young band to write and should see them go places. The production was by Sugar House of Viola Beach fame and it shows.

Corella have all the makings of a band destined for big things. They seem to pride themselves on their song writing along with the tight harmonies and overall band performance - not one member stands out. Hopefully they’ll get signed up soon and find the success their talent deserves.

Manchester Music – It’s Not Dead
Manchester has a rich music history which it continues to develop. These bands continue the legacy left by the likes of the Stone Roses, New Order and Buzzcocks, going all the way back to the likes of 10CC and The Hollies.

Like I say, Manchester’s still not short of some incredible bands but both Dantevilles and Corella are really beginning to rise head and shoulders above many of the others at the moment. Check them out I say!