In their strongholds, especially Manchester and southern Europe – in Greece, they play to tens of thousands – Puressence are treated as idols. Elsewhere, they’ve had chart success in the days when the charts mattered, though they’ve never benefitted from being part of any trend. When schoolmates James and Tony Szuminski (drums) met Kevin Matthews (bass) and founding guitarist Neil MacDonald on the bus to The Stone Roses’ legendary Spike Island show in 1989, they formed a band that married the presence and attitude of the Roses to a darkly haunting and molten guitar rock that last hit the heights during the era of Joy Division and Echo & The Bunnymen.
Most recently, reviewing Puresssence’s homecoming show at Manchester’s Ritz in April 2011, John Robb wrote, “This is the real sound of Manchester- just like the Chameleons or the early Roses- those fluid rock bands with imaginative guitar players and charismatic singers building soundscapes- this is the very core of Manchester that has nothing to do with fashion or the much edited lineage that dominates the city’s narrative.”
20 years since Puressence formed, they’re still improving, still refining, still expanding. The clichéd press approach to the band – that they deserve to be much more widely recognised – becomes less relevant as time goes on.
“It makes me laugh when people underestimate me,” a combative James grins. “My appetite for music is just getting whetted. To me, the band is massive because we write massive music, and through word of mouth, we get bigger every year. As long as I can find the germ of an idea and create something from it, and get it across live, with passion, and people tell me they love it, I’ll keep going. And we’ll only stop when we stop feeling that.”
“It’s only a matter of time before the world catches on how earth shatteringly important Puressence are.” The Guardian
“An epic quartet fronted by a voice of rare power & distinction” Mojo
Agent – Colin Keenan
October 3rd, 2011 | Posted in Artist | Comments Off