{"id":69509,"date":"2021-05-25T16:30:08","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T15:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=69509"},"modified":"2021-05-27T20:01:01","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T19:01:01","slug":"cold-water-swimmers-frontman-chris-bridgett-on-the-manchester-bands-debut-album-holiday-at-the-secret-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2021\/05\/cold-water-swimmers-frontman-chris-bridgett-on-the-manchester-bands-debut-album-holiday-at-the-secret-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"SHORE THINGS – Cold Water Swimmers’ Frontman Chris Bridgett On The Manchester Band’s Debut Album ‘Holiday At The Secret Lake’"},"content":{"rendered":"

They celebrated their first anniversary with a gig in a boxing ring<\/span><\/a>, now pugnacious Manchester trio Cold Water Swimmers\u00a0<\/strong>are celebrating their third with the release of their debut album.<\/h4>\n

Formed in Prestwich in 2018,\u00a0<\/strong>the band is fronted by\u00a0Chris Bridgett<\/strong>of Dub Sex <\/strong>and more recently The G-O-D<\/strong>, which also featured long time Fall <\/strong>drummer Simon Wolstencraft.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Completing the trio is bassist\u00a0Carrie Lawson\u00a0<\/strong>and drummer Selina Woolnough<\/strong>, who also plays in The Flamingo Diaries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

An eclectic collection of songs, Holiday At The Secret Lake <\/strong><\/em>is essentially a document of the band’s three years together.<\/p>\n

There’s dystopian futurist post-punk (Re<\/strong><\/em>placed By Robots<\/em><\/strong>), melodic folk pop (Be My Sunshine<\/strong><\/em>), along with Stooges’ style garage rock (Love<\/em> Is Insane<\/strong><\/em> and Burn Your Idols<\/strong><\/em>).<\/p>\n

Hardhitting political anthems sit cheek by jowl with lighter, lilting acoustic\/psych – highlighting the band’s versatility and instinctive musicianship.<\/p>\n

Matt Catchpole\u00a0<\/strong>caught up with Chris to discuss the new album and found him in typically effusive mood – just don’t expect him to share his Robbie Williams <\/strong>story.<\/p>\n

\"Cold
TOP OF THE LAKE – Cold Water Swimmers, picture by Paul Husband<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hey Chris, can you start by explaining the album\u2019s title (great cover by the way)\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The secret lake is a real place near my home in Manchester. It nestles in a post-industrial landscape just past the local tip where the parishes of Reddish, Gorton and Levenshulme meet. People discover <\/span>its<\/span> whereabouts through word of mouth<\/span>, it\u2019s certainly not signposted. When you first lay eyes on the lake it\u2019s a surprise; why is it here, how come I didn\u2019t discover it earlier, <\/span>it\u2019s beautiful. <\/span>Yes, it\u2019s a bit rough around the<\/span> edges – often strewn with litter and a hapless victim of fly-tippers<\/span> despite the best efforts of the \u201cfriends of the secret lake\u201d community group – but it\u2019s beautiful and it feels like my s<\/span>ecret, my place on my doorstep. C<\/span>an you see where I\u2019m going with this?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Was there an overall theme you had in mind for the album? There seems to be a lot of references to entrapment of various kinds, but also stories of redemption too?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no theme<\/span> as such<\/span>, the album has 10 songs. Each one tells a story, an experience, a hard won wisdom shared, a vision, a truth – the songs were recorded over the first three years of us as a band sporadically, so a theme was something we didn\u2019t have the luxury of conceptualising<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span> Three years of songs<\/span> about 40 years of living.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s more of an acoustic psych influence on the record, compared to the straight up power punk of your previous band The G-O-D. What made you decide to get the acoustic out?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The acoustic guitar came out in 2018 just after the band got together and seven out of the 10 songs on Holiday at the Secret Lake <\/em><\/span>were born on the instrument, so the acoustic psych label is fair.<\/span> Much of the time <\/span>we\u2019re together as a band, it\u2019s at <\/span>our drummer <\/span>Selina\u2019s,<\/span> playing music in the wee conser<\/span>vatory at the back of her house – <\/span>it\u2019s<\/span> low volume, parlour level<\/span> music.<\/span> T<\/span>hen we take that into the rehearsal<\/span> room<\/span> at rock ‘n’ roll volume. It\u2019s my tool of choice for writing songs. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What happened with the G-O-D? Why did you split? Are you still on good terms with Si <\/span><\/b>Wolstencraft<\/span><\/b>?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Funky<\/span>\u00a0Si is my pal, always will be, I wouldn\u2019t let something like a band come between 33 years of friendship. Towards the end of The G-O-D I could sense Si was missing the funk, the pull of the funk was too strong for him and he broke away. It\u2019s all good and how it should be. We split two months after opening for The Stone Roses<\/strong> <\/a><\/span>at Wembley Stadium – <\/span>which I guess is <\/span>perfect. <\/span>The l<\/span>ast time <\/span>we <\/span>met a one skinner<\/span> was shared and laughs were had.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n