Bio:
The first Roger Manning album was released in 1989 by California punk recording
label SST (Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.). Manning toured the U.S. and
occasionally Europe, for over 10 years performing lyrical-solo-rock accompanied
by highly amplified bass-heavy guitar playing.
The viewpoint conveyed in the dense lyrics is shaped by a life of hitchhiking,
street singing, low-income living, disgust with authority, and pondering the
mysteries of love and beauty.
"People work hard and end up with nothing. I ain't got nothing either, but
at least I didn't work hard for it" (from Manning's 'Pearly Blues').
In the fall of 2007, after being invited to perform in Berlin, Manning started
performing again here and there. Work on a new album has been on and off over
the past couple of years. Since early 2009, Manning has also been playing clarinet with
radical street band, The Rude Mechanical Orchestra.
Press:
Austin Chronicle -**** (4 stars) "Manning's most realized effort to date...well
honed songsmithing...he explores intimacies with a thorough brush that nails
difficult shades of gray with remarkable accuracy."
Cake - "...strands of genius"
Rolling Stone (Germany) - **** (4 stars)
Option -"Writing the lyrics to be dense and then tossed off, it's a clever way
way to insure that you get something whether you're listening to the words or
not. But the real clincher is the way Manning and company ride the riffs like
they were breaking in a colt."
Village Voice - "Always angry about the right thing, and with that rare skill of
putting the feeling appropriately to both guitar and lyric, Manning's truly an
unsung hero overflowing with passion."
Why He's So Antifolk:
"Folk was for folkies, antifolk was for everyone. I jumped on the latter
bandwagon."-RM