The new album has been finally mastered and the artwork completed!

With a good headwind and weather, we are on course for our Autumn release schedule. (OK, that's enough of the sailing imagery I think).

'Charlestown' is made up of six new recordings including the epic mulit-sectioned title track. The album features the new band line-up (except Conor, who arrived afterwards) and includes Dave Albone's last work with the band before his retirement.

Once again, some extra guests have been drafted in to help add to that unique sound which is MANNING music! (See our BIOGRAPHY section)

The front cover has been especially created by Rosie Manning (who also did the 'Bilston House' artwork).

"Definitely a more challenging listen this time around, lots of quirky time signatures, stark light and shade plus more band ensemble / orchestral playing...I always liked albums that I maybe did not get into right away, but kept coming back to time after time to really appreciate...A Passion Play and Topographic Oceans spring to mind...my first reaction was a 'what the *?/*@!'...but now I love them dearly' (Guy Manning).

Material from the new album will be featured in the late 2010 UK dates.

Check out the promotional file that Steve Dundon has put together to accompany the track "DOMICILE" (taken from "THE CURE" album).
It is now available on YouTube and Steve tells us that more are on the way!

Also now published are the 2 video blogs we filmed on our way to RoSFest 2010. Sample international life on the road with the band
(on a very low budget)!

You can get to all these via our PRESS pages.

More LIVE dates are being booked as we speak, so make sure you subscribe to the MANNING Mailing List (see box above) for all the latest bulletins or check back here regularly!

We are pleased to announce that we will be playing at The Venue in Stocksbridge, near Sheffield on Friday 3rd December supported by Molly Bloom and Crimson Sky.

Tickets are available now on our Live page priced at £10 advance including postage, or you can buy them from The Venue in person.

Announcement: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the planned Sept 2010 date at the Robin2, Bilston has had to be postponed until May 1st 2011.
Any ticket holders, please hold onto your tickets or contact us or the Venue.
We are very disappointed, but this new date will now form a part of our Spring 2011 tour.

Guy Manning
“Following on from Manning’s triumphant appearance at RosFest 2010, the band has to sadly announce the departure from the line-up of drummer/percussionist, Dave Albone.”

Dave Albone
“After a fantastic 2 years working with Guy, I have taken a very difficult decision to not only leave Manning, but retire from any kind of regular live playing for good. This decision includes a number of personal reasons, the key one being gradually increasing problems with pains in my elbow and wrist joints, making the physical side of being a drummer very difficult – and quite painful! The timing – after our highly successful and hugely enjoyable trip to RosFest in the USA – seemed right, going out on a massive high.

I’m not leaving music behind entirely – my first instrument was actually piano and I will be reviving my interest in this later in the year – purely for personal pleasure though!

I’d like to say a massive thanks to Manning – to Guy for giving me the opportunity to do some really good things in my last 2 years of playing (Cambridge Rock Festival, RosFest USA, recording the new album); to Julie for feeding me every Tuesday rehearsal night; to Kev, Kris, Chris, Steve, and Tim for being excellent companions and such top notch dedicated musicians – it’s been a privilege. I’m very proud to have been involved in what Manning has achieved in the last 2 years.

Big thanks also to anyone who has ever supported me or attended a gig I’ve done over the last 36 years of playing – from rough houses in Manchester to The Royal Albert Hall, I’ve had a ball. And finally – a colossal and heartfelt thanks to my long suffering wife Christine – she has quietly supported me, put up with many absences, late nights and grumpy mornings and never, ever once asked me to give it up.

I wish Guy and the rest of Manning all the very best for the future – I’m sure they’ll now go on to build on the success of Cambridge and RosFest and get the wider recognition that the music deserves.

Anyone want to buy a drum kit!”

On from that sad news, we are delighted to welcome Conor Lawrence to take up where Dave left off. Conor, at just 17, is the youngest in the band - but don't let his age deceive you - he is a very powerful and competent drummer and very experienced. Conor's first outing with the band will be at the Robin2 in September and it will also mark some changes to the live set.

We're sure you'll welcome Conor into the fold - he's already been rehearsing for a few weeks with us and is certainly shaping up to be a more than adequate addition to the band.

We are pleased to announce that The Cure (originally released in 2000) will be released onto itunes worldwide, Amazon mp3 and Napster in early June. Release dates vary but it should be online at all stores by 8th June.

The Cure is one of the four albums also re-released as 10th Anniversary editions, which currently are only available to buy on this site, via Festival Music (F2) or at our gigs.

Finally, we have the RoSfest (April) Manning Newsletter online. This was originally going to be produced and distributed at RoSfest, but due to the volcanic ash cloud preventing us sending any airmail just before the event,
we had to abandon those plans. However, you can now view, download and print your own copy of this combined newsletter and RoSfest programme.

We have our first block of RoSfest photos online. None of us onstage as yet, but these will follow soon.

With all the new fans from RoSfest wanting to be kept up to date and our clunky old system failing rapidly, we have decided to update our mailing list and are now using those lovely chaps at Aardvark Mailing Lists to manage this for us.

We promsie that we won't spam you or pass on your details to anyone else and you can unsubscribe at any time.

If you do decide to subscribe, you'll find the link at the top right of this page... so why not go along there now and get the latest Manning news delivered into your inbox?

After much discussion and soul searching, it has been mutually decided that Guy will no longer be partaking in future Tangent activities. Both Guy & Andy (Tillison) would like it to be known that this decision has been reached amicably.

The reasons are simply the fact that Guy's band MANNING and The TANGENT are both working hard on projects (both on stage and in the studio) and over the past two years, progress for both bands has been halted as a result of intense activity by one or the other.

This leaves Guy free to focus entirely on his own music and for the Tangent's new four piece lineup augmented where possible by Theo Travis, to arrange gigs and recording sessions equally independantly.

Both Guy and Andy are sure that this will not be the end of musical collaborations between them.
They are parting company in just ONE respect, i.e The Tangent.

Both MANNING and The TANGENT have recently had successful and very well received performances at major festivals and the future looks good for both parties.

On a personal note, Guy and Andy would like to add that their work together in the Tangent has been very rewarding and also a lot of fun! They both feel very proud of what the band has produced/achieved.

Best wishes from both.

We are now back from our amazing visit to the Rites of Spring festival in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA and are preparing to knuckle down and finish the new album Charlestown, but before all that we thought we would share a message and some memories of our experience with you.

We'd really like to thank George Roldan and all the team at RoSfest, the backstage crew, drivers, roadies, technicians, noise boys, lampies, venue crew, bar staff, and the people who loaned us keyboards and other gear to help us perform our set at RoSfest. We mean it when we say without you lot it wouldn't have happened.

We'd also like to say a big thanks to all the other bands, and the people who bought the tickets and supported what is one of the best festivals on the prog calendar... without people buying tickets these things don't happen.

And finally - a massive Hi to Connie... who served us disproportionately large numbers of beers and entertained us with stories and anecdotes in the bar of the Eisenhower Hotel.

Thanks to all the band members - but the man of the festival is of course Tim Leadbeater, whose fine sense of balance and excellent composure allowed him to finish the gig even when his seating arrangements failed him, although an honourable mention must also also go to Chris "I don't know that one" Catling whose knowledge of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird is uncanny.

We're sure photos will be rolling onto the internet over the next few weeks and months, and if we find any photos, videos or reviews we will share them with you. We are also currently compiling a RoSfest blog video which we hope to release online on the Official Manning Youtube sometime in the near future. A few band photos have made it online on Kris's Picasa for you to see...

And now... back to Charlestown...