In The Studio With |Mandy, Indiana

Recorded in caves, crypts and shopping malls, Mandy, Indiana chat to Danny Turner about their extreme sound

Deriving from Manchester, experimental noise band Mandy, Indiana’s debut album, I’ve Seen a Way, reflects on the chaos of global instability and misogynistic attitudes through a sonic palette of tribal drums, distorted feedback and degenerated electronics. The four-piece initially came to fruition after vocalist Valentine Caulfield and guitarist/producer Scott Fair appeared on the same live bill with former bands – the duo would later team up and enlist Simon Catling (synths) and Alex Macdougall (drums).

Keen to explore different sound environments in an attempt to capture unpredictable frequencies in their production process, I’ve Seen a Way was recorded in a variety of unlikely off-site locations including a West Country cave, Gothic crypt and a shopping mall in Bristol. Spliced together by Fair’s edgy production, it’s a raw, propulsive and aggressive debut LP catapulted by Caulfield’s craving to fight societal injustice in her native French tongue.

What can you tell us about how the band formed and the meaning behind the name?

Scott Fair: “We were originally named after a city in America called Gary, Indiana, and thought it was a funny name because Gary is quite a common man’s name and the city’s called Gary. We didn’t really contemplate the wider implications of giving ourselves that name until we signed to Fire Talk Records in the US, who advised us to change it. We brainstormed a bunch of things that had an equally nice cadence to them. From that perspective, we think Mandy, Indiana has a similar bounciness and is even nicer to say!”

“THERE ARE A LOT ELECTRONIC INFLUENCES IN THE SOUND, BUT WE WANTED IT TO BE MORE OF A BAND THAN AN ELECTRONIC PROJECT”

Val Caulfield: “Scott and I met in 2016 after being on the same bill with previous bands. He quite liked my band and I quite liked his, so we stayed in touch, and when both projects ended I had an idea for a new one. I also liked the idea of doing something in my native French language. We started making each other playlists and brainstormed until the beginning of 2020 when we started playing with our former drummer and began to think of ourselves as a three-piece. Then we decided to add synths to our live shows to make Mandy, Indiana a foursome.” SF: “There are a lot electronic influences in the sound, but we wanted it to be more of a band than an electronic project so we could perform as much of what we recorded live without relying on backing tracks. There are some things that are still very hard to recreate on stage that we still have to rely on a sampler for, but for the most part we’re recreating everything with live drums, vocals and guitar.”

Were you influenced by Manchester’s post-punk scene?

SF: “Not so much. There are very strong ties with bands like The Fall and Joy Division, but they were never touchstones. When I moved to Manchester from North Wales those bands were obviously a point of pride for people who came from the area, but I didn’t grow up in that culture. I’ve not lived in Manchester for a while, so the connection is more about where we met than where we’re based, but our other band members, Simon and Alex, are still based in Manchester.”