February 15, 2018

Mint: Leaving It Late

Rock quintet Mint were a student band at Trevelyan College, Durham University, UK. They recorded an album in 2001, a quick-and-dirty job that took them three days at Crossgate Studios. Guitarist Richard Thomas dug it out for a digital/limited CD release (50 copies) and it's nice snapshot what five politically conscious guys with a soft spot for classic rock were about back then. Rat Race is the best song, going through various moods to show real concern about the pressure to make it. The funky Afraid To Fly as a close second. They were on the brink to step into the real world, once their student days were over. That perspective must have filled them with some apprehension and music helped them to cope - besides having a lot of fun as captured in this video of one of their last gigs on the roof of Trevelyan College.

Playing universities can be tough - the crowds have little patience for unknown band playing their own songs, and that explains the inclusion of four lo-fi live covers to fill out the album. They can handle Crossroads and Fire, work their way to Dylan's Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (the line "Everybody must get stoned" is a perennial student favourite), but Itchycoo Park is way out of their league.

Mint:
Nathanael Ayling: acoustic guitar, piano, vocals
Benn Cordrey: bass, piano, vocals
Simon Edwards: drums, percussion
Andrew Gaines: electric guitar, vocals
Richard Thomas: guitars, vocals, tambourine

Leaving It Late is a self-released album. Buy it (CD, digital) from their website.

Tracks:
  1. Inexorable
  2. On Reflection
  3. Coming Apart
  4. Rat Race
  5. Need
  6. Afraid To Fly
  7. Eddy Cheese
  8. Gotta See The Sun
  9. Crossroads
  10. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
  11. Fire
  12. Itchycoo Park

» Mint on Bandcamp

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