Mannequin Death Squad may only be a "two-piece grunge punk band singing pop songs," but their genre range belies their diminutiveness.
"Most of the songs were jammed out and arranged," says vocalist Elly Vex, "but some were written back when we were even 16! It's like a really eclectic mixing pot for us to move into the next release, which will be more of one sound."
It's been a funny old journey for MDS, who initially encountered each other on the other side of the music coin. "The band was formed after we both met studying music business together," Vex says of meeting her bandmate, Dan. "After playing for six months, we recorded our first release, Eat Hate Regurgitate, which we released through Integrity Records UK."
Working with studio stalwart Josh Eales, the band found some new nuggets of creation while recording the EP. "I guess it's always inspiring to hear your own songs playing back to you in the studio," Vex says, "But temptation doesn't take long to creep in; next thing you know, you have about 20 guitar layers for no reason," the singer laughs. "Working with Josh definitely helped add some extra goodies to the music."
While it was always enjoyable for MDS to record, Vex is acutely aware of the trials and tribulations that went into creating Eat Hate Regurgitate. "Time was definitely working against us the whole way," she recalls. "Being so short on money, we ended up recording all of the music and half of the vocals in two days. Apologies to our trooper of an engineer! It was a long couple of days!"
