1. Taxloss was originally called Albert Taxloss and was 21 mins long.
   There are bootlegs flying round of this apparently? This is a play on
   Albert Tatlock an old character from British TV show Coronation Street.
   The track is a pisstake of the Beatles, lyrical references include Alberts
   age as 74, as opposed to when I'm 64, he's got long hair and is from
   Liverpool.

2. Other characters earmarked for slots on the bands debut L.P. included
   Moronica, Flourella and The Grey Lantern.

3. Mansun's first two releases were on their own record label they set up in
   Chester, Sci Fi Hi Fi.

4. Chad studied Russian and French at Bangor University.

5. Steve Lamaq pronounced Mansun the best live band of the 1996 T in the park
   festival on his evening session show.

6. Mansun's first single on their Sci Fi Hi Fi label has their name spelt as
   Manson, a spelling mistake by the pressing plant, the perils of starting
   your own label, eh?

7. Andie played drums in a local group whilst selling cars at the local Audi
   garag before the group.

8. Chad is banned from the Columbia Hotel for fighting with an Australian
   hotel guest in the bar when he wasn't even a guest there, he was staying
   up the road at the Embassy Hotel at the time.

9. Stove is obsessed with the 70's Roger Moore period James Bond, disco
   period Bee Gees, The Muppets. He owns a 1977 white Lotus Esprit Turbo
   identical to the one in the Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me (sound
   familiar?). He owns an array of Safari Suits, and has a tailor who makes
   him authentic 1970's flare cords from an original Lee pattern he was given
   in New York. He also sports an original tattoo of Animal, the Muppets
   drummer.

10. The band professed themselves to be a rock group (most unfashionable in
   1996) but were booked to play the Mod revival club, Brighton Beach, in
   Leeds. A group of Mods started rioting in the venue and the moshpit turned
   into a large brawl as bouncers dived in to stand between the crowd and the
   group. Mansun finished their set, andre turned to the venue to play a less
   antagonistic set after the success of their album, they seemed to be more
   accepted as mainstream by this time.

11. Andie Rathbone lives in an old
   brothel in Chester City Centre 12. Police stopped the Stripper Vicar video shoot in the Welsh valleys after farmers from up to 20 miles away thought a UFO had landed. 13. Mansun's original name was Grey Lantern, the band have said they wanted a name like Pink Floyd? 14. Chad
drop-kicked a ?000 statue of the Venus de Mil and broke it in half at the Holiday Inn hotel in Cambridge during the band's support tour with Shed Seven, the group are banned from all Holiday Inns in the UK 15. Paul met Prince in Tokyo's Lexington Queens club, neither had much to say to each other apparently. 16. Mansun were the first Guitar band to play at Cream in Liverpool. 17. Paul was detained by Japanese customs for trying to leave a Jumbo Jet not cleared for immigration in Tokyo's Narita airport.
18. Dominic Chad was nominated Indie Chick o the Year a
t 1996 Gay Pride Weekend. 19. Legend has it that Mansun kicked the Fun Loving Criminals out of their dressing room at Soho Live event in 1996 at London's Astoria 2 Club? Noel and Paul Gallagher attended this gig. 20. Andie Rathbone was returned to his hotel by a Sky TV news crew after a heavy night out at the Brit awards 1997. 21. Skin Up Pin Up/Flourella was recorded at the now defunct Angelshare studios in Ewloe, North Wales, location for many of the sessions of the Stone Roses' Second Coming. 22.
Stove once hit a heckler over the head with his Fender Precision Bass at Leicester De Montford Hall because he was shouting out homophobic statements. The bass was cracked in half. The band were never prosecuted 23. Mansun arrived at the Harlow Square on one of their early tours but refused tp play after they opened the back of their van and all their beer fell and smashed all over the road, Steve Lamaq recalled this incident in his Q
magazine famous venues article. 24. Chad cut his hand open and the band had to cancel the rest of their UK tour when he tried to punch his own reflection in a mirror, Taxi Driver Style. 25. Damon Albarn and the Prodigy have cited Mansun as one of their favourite bands. 26. The manager of the Hard Rock Cafe in Hong Kong apparently fought onstage with Paul Draper after the band trashed the place in protest of the Chinese authorities harsh handling of fans. 27. After a stage invasion at the Wolverhampton
Varsity the band jumped into the audience while four members of the audience played the band's instruments, E-Mail us if you were there. 28. Original Skin Up Pin Up/Flourella (Sci Fi Hi Fi) on vinyl can still be found in some shops for around ?0, see article in record collector. 29. Mansun caused two riots after their LP went to No.1 but had been previously booked into two small clubs in the west country. There was ?,000 worth of damage at the Bristol Bierkeller and electrical cabling was ripped out of
the ceili
ng and the stage was invaded at Bath Moles club in early 1997. 30. Originally the cover of 'Attack of the Grey Lantern' was going to be a cartoon strip featuring Grey Lantern, Albert Taxloss, Egg Shaped Fred, Dark Mavis, The Stripper Vicar, Flourella and Moronica. 31. After a night out on an illegal drinking den on the river Thames, Chad and legendary Melody Maker journalist Paul Mathur, narrowly escaped broken limbs after Chad drop kicked the bar with a pint glass. A chase ensued along the embankment
by rather large and rather illegal security men. 32. All of the first 4 EP's had limited runs of 30,000. All sold out and were impossible to get hold of until Parlophone re-issued them at the end of 1997. If more had been printed the EPs would almost certainly have had higher chart placings. 33. Mansun are
banned from all Hard Rock Caf荥 worldwide and also all Happy Eaters in the UK. 34. The final show of the 1995 Charlatans' tour was at the Brixton Academy in front of 6,000 people, yet was only Mansun's tenth ever gig. 35. The band had a record played on Radio 1 (Take it Easy, Chicken) before they had ever played a gig. 36. Stove had to be escorted out of the Northgate Arena in Chester after the gig in order to avoid a female stalker, one of many for the band including the Japanese girl who followed them
around Tokyo while they were there in April 1997 and then trailed them to the city's famous Milk Club one evening and tried to cut herself with a knife in front of them, and also one particularly obsessed young lady in Leicester who turned up at the Nov '96 Wolverhampton Varsity gig and managed to find her way past security and into the dressing room three times dressed in different disguises in order to give Paul copies of bizarre poetry which she had written for him. 37. Residents of Paul and Chad's
street i
n Chester tried to get them evicted from the area when the band first started working. A petition was drawn up claiming that 'sex and drugs were going on in the house'. Strangely, though, these parties were apparently taking place on weekends when the band were away on early tours, and in light of the band's more recent success the boys are finding themselves much more welcome in the area these days. 38. Whilst the band were involved in one of the final recording sessions for 'The Attack of the Grey
Lantern' at Mayfair studios in Primrose Hill, North London, Chad could reportedly be seen out shopping in the city wearing any of a collection of antique ball gowns that he was building up at the time. 39. Chad was nominated 'biggest drinker of the night' at the NME Brat Awards party in Jan '96. Not surprisingly it took him four days to turn up at home after the event, no explanation has since been given, however. 40. After the Torquay show on the Dec '96
Sleeper support tour, Sleeper and their crew all chipped in a bet that Mansun's tour manager, at the time Mark Dempsey, wouldn't go naked in the sea. Mark happily obliged, slashing his feet on the rubbish and broken glass at the bottom, and contracting a blood infection which meant that for the rest of the tour he would be pulling the van over every 5 minutes to be sick at the side of the road himself. 41. Mansun are the only band ever to have been nominated for a Brit Award BEFORE the release of their
debut album. 42. During the Cast tour in March '96, Paul went on the rampage in the hotel in Newcastle with Pete and Keith of Cast trashing not only their own rooms but anyone else's they could get into, and then setting off the hotel's alarms causing the evacuation of the whole building. The Cast chaps retired to their room while Paul was chased around the hotel by a team of night porters who eventually tackled him to the floor and locked him in an empty room until the police arrived. Quick-thinking
Paul engag
ed his arresting officers in a conversation about 'footie' and they let him off on account of his being such a sound fellow. The hotel management, however, were not nearly so understanding and presented the band with a ?,000 bill for damages. 43. The band were asked to play on the Saturday morning 'Recovery' TV show in Melbourne, Australia in April '97 during their world tour, but the cameramen had a rule that they wouldn't film anyone who played louder than 95 decibels. Mansun registered 120. In fact,
the loudest band to appear on the show previously were Silverchair, registering 97 decibels, and Andy on his own was louder than their entire band. 44. Whilst on tour with the Charlatans, Chad beat up the hotel manager in Southampton after the Charlies and the Melody Maker's Studd Brothers repeatedly called his
room pretending to be the manager complaining about the noise. Chad was insistent that he was merely getting quietly pissed and therefore causing no disturbance and was obviously annoyed at the constant interruptions. 45. Whilst in Malaysia on their World tour, all Mansun records were banned from the radio on account of their religious content, the 'Sex Pistols' being the only other band to suffer such a fate in this country. Mansun were also banned from all TV shows in the country because Chad's hair
was too long, and the night before their gig in Kuala Lumpur another venue was firebombed by Islamic fundamentalists because there was a Western band playing there too, this obviously put everyone on edge the following evening. 46. Chad's guitar heroes are Jimi Hendrix and Mick Ronson 47. Whilst in Melbourne the band were taken to see an Australian rules footy game, and Andie decided to start a Mexican wave around the ground forgetting that he had a full beer in his hand which flew into the air and
rained down o
n the disgruntled Aussies around him. Surprisingly he left the ground with only threats to his name. 48. Chad can be found at the Wednesday meeting of the Chester AA when the band are not on tour. 49. Paul is friends with Jacques Vielneuve, world champion racing driver. 50. Mansun were banned from the Sheffield Leadmill venue after Chad threw pint glasses at the mirrored walls and optics behind the bar one night. He was then beaten up by taxi drivers after drop kicking a cab outside, please e-mail us if
you were there. 51. Mansun's managers used to manage the legendary La's. 52. Stove never played a musical instrument before joining Mansun 53. Chad was
followed round Canada by a girl who thought he was the reincarnation of Brian Jones 54. Paul played acoustic guitar and wrote his first songs from the age of 11. 55. The band tried to persuade their record company to make a video for Naked Twister, so they could play the game for the cameras. 56. Mansun were so loud when they played at a Washington DC venue that a neighbour shot a brick through the front window of the venue as they were sound checking. 57. Chad is banned from the Columbia hotel in London
for fighting with an Australian tourist in the bar, other bands notably banned from the hotel include Oasis, The Fall and The Mission 58. Chad started playing the guitar when he was 18, but never got round to getting the group together until his early 20's. 59. Paul has been described on many occasions as a Kurt Cobain/Richey Edwards type suicide candidate. 60. Chad worked at the Fat Cat Pub in Chester before joining Mansun, Paul and Stove worked in Graphic Design companies and Andie sold Audi cars. 61.
Mansu
n insisted on having 2 Sony Playstations as part of their record deal, they also insisted on releasing 4 EP's that would all be self produced. 62. Chad and Paul live together in Chester. 63. Chad plays a rare black Gibson ES335 guitar, he had this customised at one time with a skull and cross bones across the body. 64. Mansun's first ever gig was at the Lomax club in Liverpool. 65. Paul lived in Garmoyle Road, Liverpool as a child, the same road where John Lennon shared a flat many years earlier. 66.
Mansun made wearing make up fashionable again, but were ridiculed in their early days for this as well as professing to be a 'rock group' when only Britpop was fashionable. As soon as make up and dressing up became fashionable again for groups Mansun seemed to have abandoned this, as is there way. 67. Paul is friends with ex Buzzcocks and Magazine mainman Howard Devoto, as well as Jacques Vielneuve and David Bowie. 68. After leaving
school Andie's first job was working in an abatoir. 69. Chad is friends with Brian Jones first girlfriend, Pat Andrews 70. In Thailand the group had fans hold an all night vigil for Paul outside their hotel, they claim they were praying for his health and that he didn't end up like Kurt Cobain or Richey Edwards. 71. Stove buys his 70's flares from The Vintage Clothing Company in Liverpool. 72. Mansun track Lemonade Secret Drinker has the same initials as The Beatles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, LSD,
is there a connection? 73. Paul was presented with a Buddhist pendant by fans holding a vigil for him in Thailand, he can always be seen wearing this round his neck with a Catholic Cross. 74. Mansun have written a song yet to be released called 'Pussy' Based on a shop in the lanes in Brighton of the same name. It sells Russ Meyer influenced 50's items. 75. Stove claims to be both David Soul (from Starskey and Hutch) and Sid Vicious in the same body. Vicious Soul maybe? 76. Andie has played the drums
since the ag
e of 3! 77. Stove and Chad are both vegetarians. 78. The British music press have speculated repeatedly about Pauls sexuality, but he refuses to discuss it, in one interview with the Melody Maker he said, 'I wouldn't tell you even if I did swing.' 79. Mansun song 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' is after the book of the same name by Henry Lincoln. 80. Mansun stories have surfaced repeatedly in the tabloid newspapers concerning their riotous gigs and in particularly the infamous Isle of Man gig. The
Taxloss video also caused a stir in the national newspapers as well as many TV news shows. 81. Two bands are banned from Malaysian radio (if they had any!) The Sex Pistols and Mansun 82. Mansun hardly
ever discuss drugs as they were reported to be hedonistic, and the band most likely to smash up a hotel room by a music press intent on painting them as drugged up madmen. (This isn't far from the truth at those early gigs, I can assure you.) 83. Chad is a follower of the 7000 year old Chinese philosophy of Taoism. 84. Paul assumed the character of The Grey Lantern for the video of She Makes My Nose Bleed. 85. Mansun always have their black and white photos taken by legendary photographer Pennie Smith,
who shot all the classic shots of the Clash. 86. Attack of the Grey Lantern was the first concept LP of the nineties to go to No. 1 in the UK. 87.Paul was thrown out of art college for producing all his paintings with a ruler? 88. Andie has two peircings on his body, one in his eyebrow, and the other in his penis. 89. Chad's full name is Dominic Brian Chad, the Brian added by deed poll. 90. At the end of Dark Mavis you can here the crowd chant Duncan Ferguson if you listen carefully. Duncan is the
Everton Centr
e forward. 91. On the reprise of Naked Twister there is a monologue by Chad that can be heard if the record is played backwards. 92. Mansun's favourite other band is Magazine 93. EP No.7 features paintings from original Beatle and acclaimed artist, Stuart Sutcliffe. 94. The end of EP 1 track 'Thief' has the early beginnings of Taxloss in it 95. 'The Most To Gain' off EP5 was originally due to be