There’s a lot going on in Manchester. Some 30 years after ‘Madchester’ and the dominance of bands like Oasis and The Stone Roses, the Manchester music landscape has evolved into something appealingly eclectic.
But it’s easy to overlook just how deep the city’s music scene runs. Take Lure In who are at the forefront of Manchester’s metalcore scene, having made a name for themselves as a creative and diverse metal/punk band. The group was formed by lead singer, songwriter and producer, Cameron Wilson, who formed Lure In along with bassist Jonny Barker in July 2018. Around that time, the two released their first EP Derive, made in Wilson’s bedroom. After which, the band quickly expanded into a five-piece with several singles under their belt. Their latest offerings, Cynic and Agnostic, were released this year and their debut album, Subdued, dropped in May 2020.
Within his lyricism, Wilson enjoys inventing wild, vivid stories when writing songs. One is called Heaven’s Gate Cull in America, which the album Subdued was based on.
“This guy is saying ‘the end of the world is coming, there’s going to be this UFO and it’s going to come up and take us all to heaven’ and then ends up joining a cult,” explains Wilson. “The plan for the cult then is to commit suicide, so their souls go up and go into this spaceship.”
Wilson likens his stories to Quentin Tarantino’s films in which alternate realities are formed but based within day-to-day life. “I like to tell stories,” he says. “So I use acting within my vocal performance. It’s like building a script with your characters and story and trying to evoke what the characters might be feeling through the song, like a performance. The producer side of me really enjoys putting every song together perfectly, but the lyricist in me likes making a really tight concept.”
Along with inventive lyricism, Wilson’s creativity also manifests sonically where the band incorporate a wide range of genres.
“We’ve had jungle, dubstep, shoegaze and ambient influence,” says Wilson. “I’ve done a song where I’m influenced by Kanye West of all people, so I think we can go on record and say that we’re the only metal band influenced by Kanye West.”
“I’ve had the approach with the band of ‘if you’re influenced by something, let’s get it in’. Some other bands have one set style but because we’re all production savvy, we all mesh ideas.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Manchester has had its share of metal experience in recent years. “A few years back, there was this sub-genre of metal called ‘slam’, which had these low, chuggy guitars and vocalists gurgling. There was a whole scene for that in Manchester called Slam-Chester with big acts like Ingested.”
With last decade’s Slam-Chester alongside a metalcore scene from the mid-90s to the 00s, does Wilson think there’s still a scene in the region?
“There is a Manchester scene now, but it’s hard to determine if that’s going to make a full comeback. It’s growing with a few bands, but we’ll have to wait in due time to see where that goes and if it will increase or decrease.”
With Lure In’s debut album released earlier this year, Wilson is happy with the band’s progress but also looking to the future. “We are proud of it. It’s the first proper project we’ve all done, and we’ve been able to produce the sound we’ve actually wanted to show people. People are really enjoying it, so as soon as we can play live again, we can go out there and make a name for ourselves.”
He continues: “We still want to do metalcore, but we don’t want to release the same record again. We’re trying now to see what else we can do, move forward and create something interesting.”
With not being able to jam together during lockdown, much of the band’s activity has been centred around formulating and sharing new ideas.
“We’ve all got set ups so we can record things at home. We’ve been sending drums or riffs to each other. The best thing to do now is grab an interface, get your ideas down and send it off to people.”
So, what are Wilson’s goals for the band?
“I want to be an influence on people. Our whole thing has been DIY, so I want to show people you can do this at home. You don’t need a £10,000 studio or a mental microphone. I want to express myself, play a character and do what I wanted to as a kid. We just want to have fun and create music that’s interesting and that we’re proud of.”
All images by Alex Dixon from Blackbox Photo Co.
Watch Jason Simon’s footage of Lure In here:
To keep up to date on Lure In, you can follow their Facebook page. If you want to hear their music, take a look at Bandcamp.
