Guitarist Phil Manansala discusses the new album, breaking his hands and his journey into veganism – with head of comms, Faye Lewis
…and their new album Echo I
n 1998, Phil Manansala decided he wanted to play guitar. He was 10 years old and right in the midst of the nu-metal explosion. Watching punk bands like Blink-182, Metallica, Linkin Park, Deftones and System of a Down (SOAD) was a clarion call that woke up outcast alternative kids across the world, and Phil was no exception. “Watching all those bands made me just want to play guitar,” Phil reminisces. “So, I guess at 10 years old the dream started. My mum ordered me a $25 guitar and the crappiest amp you could ever have out of the back of a magazine and I had fun,” he laughs. His beginnings may have been humble – a talent show where he performed a cover of SOAD’s Sugar – but by 2008 he was playing guitar in the post-hardcore, alternative-rock outfit, A Static Lullaby. Initially formed in 2001, in Chino, California, they were the epitome of a local circuit buzz band that had made it big, with
16
life
major label endorsement from Columbia Records and four albums under their belt. “They were my hometown band, which was really cool. They were the band that got signed, that were playing all the big sold-out shows to 250-500 people so filling in for them was a dream come true.” While A Static Lullaby were lauded by critics for their own brand of alternative rock, it is their cover of Toxic, by Britney Spears, for which they will always be best remembered – a classic that’s stood the test of time. For Phil however, A Static Lullaby was way more than a band in which to cut his teeth. Touring led to the development of some great friendships, on which the foundations for Of Mice & Men were built. “I did three or four tours with A Static Lullaby, and that was where I met our drummer, Tino (Arteaga), who was in Lower Definition, I met Austin (Carlile, singer) who was in Attack! Attack! and Aaron, who was in
