The Manchester band on the city’s flourishing scene and the place of aggressive and vulnerable political intervention through music.

Nestled in the corner of Gullivers, the Northern Quarter pub where they’d blown the roof off supporting Legss a few days prior, Manchester four piece Holly Head are happy to admit that they haven’t had things all their own way of late. They’ve had a rotating cast of guitarists since Paddy Murphy departed to pursue Westside Cowboy full-time, influences that the band started out with have waned, and the political issues central to frontman Joe Moss’ songwriting have become more divisive than ever.

“There’s definitely been a lot of ups and downs in the last year – we’ve kind of been through it all. It has been really hard at times, but we’re lucky that we’ve got really good friends that we’re able to play with. It’s been tough but we’ve written two new songs recently, we hadn’t written any in ten months before that. And the shows we’ve played recently have been some of the best we’ve had in three years.”

The resurgent strength of Manchester’s music scene played a massive part in carrying the band through. “Martial Arts have helped us a lot, we toured with them back in February and I don’t know if we would have been able to do that tour without them. We’ve had members of The Great Unwashed fill in for shows and keep us going” says bassist Liam Kelly. “We’re all friends with Westside Cowboy and they’ve done just about everything with their position to help us and other bands. Like, there are executives at huge labels who’ve heard us and our friends because Westside Cowboy have chatted about us in meetings and stuff,” adds Joe. “They’re partnered with War Child now too which is amazing. That thought of all helping each other out but also focussing on bigger things, I think there’s something really special happening in Manchester around that idea. At times we’ve hit slopes and it felt kind of difficult to get out of, but I do think having that support has been super important and inspiring”.

Debut single ‘No Gain’ was released at the very start of the tricky year that Joe is talking about. Fusing elements of 90s hardcore and Midwest emo with a groove that feels much closer to home, worthy perhaps of an A Certain Ratio record, it’s a really succinct statement of intent. Lyrically, it pulls no punches whatsoever. “Nothing in my life has made me trust in the people who run the country that I live in” screams Joe at the end of the song. “It’s kind of on the nose”, he laughs. “But I like it, I like how direct it is”.

Writing sincerely about injustice is incredibly hard to do. As deeply politicised as the underground music scene in Manchester is, Holly Head stand out as perhaps the most willing to confront issues within their music itself. “I’ve got personal experience to draw on, having been arrested five times over about a year between late 2023 and 2024 for protesting with animal rights and other groups, being viscerally involved with the power of the state,” says Joe. “It’s a lot. Having to get up at three in the morning to go to court where it happened, having to travel, having to try to find the money to travel, finding the money to pay a potential fine, knowing that you could be charged with terrorism over legitimate protests. It’s really disheartening”.

‘No Gain’ was written in a police cell as a direct snarling reaction to the government’s draconian protest laws and brutal policing of demonstrations. More recently, Joe says he’s writing about more “normal” everyday failures of government that affect more than just those involved in direct action. “I wrote a song about trains being privatised. My grandma’s developing Alzheimer’s and it’s really hard for me to go and see her. Everybody’s had a train been cancelled or has been like, ‘Fucking hell, I can’t afford to do the things that I want to’ or whatever. I try to tackle things from a more vulnerable point of view rather than an aggressive one now.”

That shift in perspective, from drawing directly on personal experiences with state violence to exploring the slower crushing impact of austerity measures is mirrored sonically. The assault of the first single is made all the more impactful by the slower and more reflective parts of their current set. “We used to have an ethos of ‘nothing but high energy.’ It didn’t matter how out of time we’d play a note or anything,” admits Liam. “The intensity is still there but now we’re more focused on what we’re actually playing — those more toned down and intricate new songs have probably bled a bit into how we play the older songs now too”.

“I like him a lot!” says Joe as our conversation turns to newly-elected Green Party leader Zach Polanski. “I think he’s got a decent ability to speak to people’s concerns around affordability and such and softly linking that with the environment. Ultimately, we need an affordable country to live in. It’s not been great to see Your Party not organising properly, but I hope they get it together too. We can’t just be a cult of personality around one person, we need as many voices as possible on the left.” We also need as many voices as possible rising above the parapet within culture. That’s something that, encouragingly, seems to be happening more and more in Manchester and Holly Head are right at the centre of that.