Introducing #150 - Proletariat
Let us introduce you to Manchester’s Proletariat, who’s recent single ‘I’m Not Alright’ was released to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, and who took a minute to introduce themselves.
Hey guys, how are you? Thanks for answering our questions, can you introduce yourselves?
Hey! We’re doing great thanks, hope you guys are all good. So, we’re Proletariat, and we consist of James Cummins (vocals, guitar), Connor Dolan (lead guitar), Evan Armstrong (bass) and Rob Burton (drums). We were originally founded in Mossley, Greater Manchester back in 2016, and have since returned from a two-year hiatus, in which I (James) went travelling throughout South America. It feels amazing to be back and to have hit the ground running; we can’t wait to keep moving forwards.
Your track ‘I’m Not Alright’ is out now - can you tell us what it is about?
‘I’m Not Alright’ is a song that means a great deal to me, it’s all about one’s inner struggle with mental illness, and aims to spread the message that it’s okay, and important, to talk about the topic. We first started writing it a few years back when I was actually going through a bit of a rough period with anxiety and depression myself, and it really helped lift me up and out of the stint I found myself in. Weirdly enough it certainly wasn’t the song I intended to be writing at the time, but it was probably the song I needed to write, if that makes sense? I had thoughts and feelings I needed to address, and the track allowed me to do that through opening up a dialogue that I hadn’t done so before.
It’s released to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week. How important is it for you guys to support such an event.
As the track and the campaign share very similar objectives and messages, it’s extremely important for us to voice our support for the event. ‘I’m Not Alright’ is actually the sixth single we’ll have released since we returned back in December, and we purposely held on to this one so we could release it during Mental Health Awareness Week, it just felt right. As I mentioned, writing and recording the track provided a great deal of comfort for me, and I just hope it connects and resonates with people in the same way. There’s been so much great work that’s been put into strengthening the message that talking about mental illness is okay and to remove the stigma that once surrounded it, and I’m glad we’ve given ourselves the opportunity to add some weight behind that too.
How did you get together and start playing as a band?
Originally the band consisted of myself and Connor as well as two different previous members, but since our return we’ve gained two new members in the form of Rob and Evan. It’s weird, we actually knew Evan fairly well as he used to come and watch us at the gigs we played first time round, he’d always be right at the front singing along - and we knew he was a really great guitar player, so it felt natural we asked him to join us moving forward; plus we knew he enjoyed the songs too which is always a good start! Both Evan and Rob have brought a great deal to the table, and we’ve got a seriously strong unit now - we’re all on the same page and ready to dig deep moving forward, and I’m looking forward to achieving great things with the lads. We’ve worked incredibly hard for the past 12 months, and it’s been a hugely rewarding journey so far.
What are the key influences when it comes to your sound?
Strangely enough I wouldn’t say there are any, not ‘key’ ones anyway so to speak. We obviously all love our music and enjoy listening to different styles and genres, but we never try and put ourselves in any boxes, because once you do that it can be hard to get out of them. The variety of artists we all listen to allows us to vary our own creativity, which is always exciting - and, as much as I’d say we do have a certain style to our sound, I’d say there is a lot that can fit into that too. Recently we’ve just released an acoustic-based track which was unlike anything we’ve ever done before (thankfully it went down a treat), and we’ve got plenty of different stuff we’re working on too - i’d like to think we’re heading in a direction that makes us unpredictable; we want to keep people on their toes.
How would you describe your music to someone who’s never listened to it before?
I’d describe our sound as viscerally passionate, highly-energetic (in most cases), and brutally honest. There’s a good chunk of our tracks which pull you in with an irresistible force from the very first few seconds - as a whole it’s fairly explosive, and that’s certainly reflected in our live show too; we’re always knackered after a set because we give it our all and the tunes demand that of us; I don’t see the point in it being any other way really.
Finally, what can we expect from you as the year progresses?
There’s a LOT of exciting things in the pipeline, however as is usually the case, I can’t spoil the surprise(s) at this moment in time. Even though we’ve already released six singles since our return, I can say there’ll be a lot more new music, and there’ll be some really great shows too. We’ve really got our heads screwed on this time round, and we’re already looking two/three steps ahead, we’re anticipating the strides we’re going to take, and we’re ready to keep growing bigger and better; we can’t wait.