Boston Manor’s Henry Cox: The 10 songs that changed my life

Jazz bands, lad anthems and causing mischief with doom riffs? All in a life’s work for Boston Manor vocalist Henry Cox...

“I vaguely remember sitting in the back of my dad’s blue Vauxhall Astra as we drove through the Midlands, and I was looking out the window at the trees and hearing that song. It’s a fairly pleasant memory.”

“This was the first song where I was, like, ‘Holy shit! What the hell is this?’ when I was about 10. I have two older cousins who were probably about 16 at the time, and they got me into bands like Reuben, Million Dead and all sorts of heavy shit. My cousin Owen was a huge Slipknot fan and he showed me this music video with thousands of crazy white trash people smashing up a house in America and I was just like, ‘This is anarchy! I need to know more…’”

“I worked a million and one shitty minimum wage jobs from the age of about 14 to 18 and this song’s about hating that dead-end life and wanting to get out. Henry Rollins was originally a huge fan of Black Flag and when he saw them live he asked if he could get onstage and sing Clocked In. And he did, so when they needed a new singer they were like, ‘That guy was pretty good,’ and suddenly he was in his favourite band. I remember reading that story as a kid and thinking, ‘That’s so fucking cool – anyone can be in a punk band.’”

“It was on local radio, and I was like, ‘Fuck yeah!’ I was buzzing. It was definitely a trippy experience. And it sounded different on the radio – I don’t know why.”

“My ex bought me this record and we went to see Justin Vernon live. He’d been kicked out of his band, his girlfriend had dumped him and he’d been having medical problems, so he went to a cabin and wrote this.”

“Wow, it’s difficult trying to condense your work into one song. It’s too tough to answer and I actually don’t want to, in case it comes across wrong. We probably haven’t written it yet anyway.”

“I love playing this song because it’s so energetic. When we start our shows with it, that sets the tone every night.”

“This always makes me feel good. I played drums in a jazz band in school and we flirted with a little bit of soul, Otis Redding and Ray Charles. The band Microwave, who are one of my favourites, are from Georgia and they’ve covered this. Their version is incredible, too.”

“This is such a stupid ‘Lads! Lads! Lads!’ song. Me and my mates used to joke that it was the ultimate lad anthem and whenever it came on we’d get really lairy – almost always ironically – but it would often get out of hand and I’ve been thrown out of a few clubs and bars for throwing myself around to it too much. I’m not a violent person at all, but when you’re pissed and out with your mates it can sometimes escalate.”

“I’ve always joked that this song would be really funny to play at a funeral. It’s basically just one doom riff that gets slower and slower and slower as it goes on and that’s it – there’s no vocals at all. I think it would make the experience really uncomfortable for everyone involved, which I always thought would be hilarious. I used to put it on at full blast when I lived with my friends at university. I had a friend who had to do a dissertation once, but he refused to get out of bed, so I’d put this on in his room so he’d have to get up and turn it off.”