If the name of the band Man/Woman/Chainsaw sounds familiar, that’s because its members took inspiration from Carol J. Clover’s 1992 book, Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, which explores the “final girl” horror film trope.
“Completely stolen,” says Emmie-Mae Avery (vocals, keys, synths), referring to the band’s name during a video call from London, where the group is based.
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Avery is a bit late to the call because she’s just finishing dinner. Vocalist-guitarist Billy Ward has already joined—and we chit-chat as we wait for her to get situated.
“Chorizo pasta-making went a little bit over expected,” says Avery, laughing, her screen on audio only. “Okay, right. I’m just joining on my laptop.”
She suddenly appears onscreen, and we get down to business.
I discovered Man/Woman/Chainsaw—an art-punk group steadily gaining mainstream traction—on KEXP’s YouTube channel, a raucous live performance recorded in-studio back in March, blown away by their symphonic grunge-punk sound.
The band started during the lockdown in 2021, when middle school (or secondary school, as they call it in the U.K.) friends Ward and Vera Leppänen (vocals, bass) began performing cover songs together. They eventually recruited other members in high school, evolving into their current six-piece lineup, which includes Clio Starwood (violin), Billy Doyle (guitar), and Lola Cherry (drums).
(Credit: Pooneh Ghana)
“From the get-go, there are spaces [in the U.K.] where you can get a show when you’re 16 and have never done anything before,” says Ward. “You can just kind of jump straight into that. Pretty much within two months, we were doing like three or four shows a week sometimes.”
Since the band’s inception, Man/Woman/Chainsaw has played well over 100 live shows; not bad for a group whose members are all 21 and younger.
“We’ve done our Hamburg, definitely,” says Ward, referring to the Beatles’ early days of playing long, grueling sets in the German city’s red-light district years before appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
The band actually did play Hamburg, Ward tells me, a few weeks prior to this interview.
Like the Beatles, playing so many shows helped Man/Woman/Chainsaw hone their craft and perfect their songs.
“I think especially in the start, we were always testing out new material, because we weren’t really recording anything,” says Avery. “We were just trying to make the best half-hour live set as we could. Whereas, I feel like if you go straight into recording stuff, you don’t always get that feel for it, which I feel is the most important part. Playing live is the most important thing.”
Man/Woman/Chainsaw put out a few singles, most notably “Any Given Sunday,” “Back/Burden,” and their 2023 breakthrough “What Lucy Found There,” which has garnered 362,800 streams on Spotify, before signing to Oxford, Mississippi-based indie label, Fat Possum Records, and releasing their first EP, Eazy Peazy, in November 2024.
The EP was recorded with Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox at Echo Zoo studio in Eastbourne, and is a thrilling, beautifully chaotic, cinematic sonic adventure, leading with the driving immediacy of “The Boss” and concluding with the electric-guitar-driven, symphonic passion of “EZPZ.”
(Credit: Pooneh Ghana)
Though Eazy Peazy hasn’t quite propelled them to stardom, it’s certainly afforded them much more global attention, including their most recent high-profile appearance at SXSW earlier this year.
“It felt like just a holiday, pretty much,” says Avery. “We played seven shows in four days, which was quite a lot. But it was really fun. It was so hot in March. We were like, ‘This is a holiday, let’s eat pizza and go out and get on Lime scooters.’ Yeah, it was lit.”
“I ate so much junk. It was great,” Ward chimes in.
I ask if they ate barbecue while they were in Texas. Because when you’re in Texas, you have to eat barbecue.
They did.
“It was possibly one of the nicest things I’ve eaten in my life,” says Ward.
Our interview is during a busy time for the band, as they’re in the middle of recording their debut album. At this moment, they’re not allowed to say much about it, other than the record will be released sometime next year.
The band, however, has a new single, “Only Girl,” which came out November 17. And, they’ve switched to a new label, Fiction Records, home to, most famously, the Cure and St. Vincent.
One of Man/Woman/Chainsaw’s big goals is to play more shows in America. Despite the success they had at South By Southwest, though, they say they’ll wait until things are a little less chaotic here in the States before returning. Until then, they’ll be playing more shows in the U.K. and continuing work on their upcoming album.
“Recording music has been really fun,” says Ward. “I think down the line we want to keep, just pushing it, like just do as many live shows as we can get in front of people, have fun…and see where that goes. And then have fun making records. Get a bit weird with it, try to just make good songs over the next few years.”
“Forever,” adds Avery.
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