Paul Draper (musician)

Paul Draper grew up on Garmoyle Road in Wavertree, Liverpool before moving with his family to Connah's Quay, Deeside.[2] Draper described the area as being "the absolute nothing of Great Britain", and "a horrible, horrible place. In Liverpool, if you're 15 and you pick up an acoustic guitar in school and play a song, then people would listen. But in my school when I tried to take in a guitar, I was just a poof and a queer, and that was that".[3]

Draper attended St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint and Thames Polytechnic (now University of Greenwich) where he formed Grind with Steve Heaton and drummer Carlton Hibbert[4] who regularly played around London and released one 12" single before splitting.

Draper returned home to study at Wrexham Art College before forming Mansun with bassist Stove King, and guitarist Dominic Chad.[5] The band signed to Parlophone and released three studio albums before splitting in 2003 whilst recording their fourth.

The band's debut album, Attack of the Grey Lantern, was released in the UK on 15 February 1997 and was released in Japan 9 days prior to the UK release with bonus tracks. The album spent a total of 19 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number one.

Mansun's second album, Six, was released in the UK in September 1998 and peaked at number 6.

Little Kix, Mansun's third album, was released in the UK in August 2000 and peaked at number 12.

In 2004, Draper compiled Mansun's aborted fourth album recordings for release in the Kleptomania box set.

In 2006, Draper was diagnosed with cancer (during album sessions at Rockfield Studios), but responded well to chemotherapy, though he was unable to play for several months after the tumour was cut out and his finger swelled up following treatment.[6]

On 5 May 2014, the debut single "What Goes Around" by The Anchoress was released. A collaboration between Draper and singer-songwriter Catherine AD (Catherine Anne Davies), the duo have recorded an album's worth of material with Draper having co-written several of the songs and co-produced the whole album.[7]

Draper's first solo song "Feeling My Heart Run Slow" was premiered at a Mansun convention held at The Live Rooms in Chester on 23 August 2014. Recorded especially to play at the convention, Draper with the help of musicians from The Anchoress sessions, recorded five songs from his unrecorded solo album with a view to completing a whole album's worth.[8] Catherine Davies, who performs and records as "The Anchoress", asked Draper to perform on her Confessions of a Romance Novelist (2016).[9]

EP One was to be released via Kscope on 10 June 2016.[10]

On 25 November 2016, Draper released EP Two featuring lead track "Friends Make The Worst Enemies".[11] His full length album, Spooky Action, for which Catherine Davies (with whom he had a brief affair) co-wrote a number of songs,[9] was released on 11 August 2017.[12] The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the annual Progressive Music Awards.[13] The album reached 19 in the UK album chart, and stayed in the charts for one week.[14]

Draper undertook his first UK solo tour in September 2017. His performance at London's Scala was released as the Live at Scala album and subsequently released on 16 February 2018.[15] The gigs were Draper's first live shows since Mansun stopped touring in 2002 featuring tracks from his debut solo album Spooky Action, his solo EPs along with Mansun's Attack of the Grey Lantern and Little Kix.[16]

A second solo tour in February/March 2018 saw Draper performed 2 sets, first featuring his solo material, and a second set performing Mansun's debut album Attack of the Grey Lantern in its entirety.[17]

In April 2018, Draper toured the US as support to Steven Wilson, his first dates in the US since Mansun toured there in 1997.[18]

Following the solo US tour supporting Steven Wilson; Draper toured the UK in November 2018, playing an acoustic set with guitarist Ben Sink. Kscope also announced a new vinyl release, Paul Draper - Attack of the Grey Lantern - Live at the Ritz, recorded in Manchester on 1 March 2018. The show was recorded by Ronnie Stone who produced the original Mansun debut album.[19]

In January 2019, Draper with guitarist Ben Sink supported Steven Wilson on Wilson's headline French tour.[20] They also visited Japan and China for dates in Tokyo, Osaka, Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai in March 2019.[21]

In 2018, Draper began working on his second solo album.[22] On October 29, 2021, Draper released the "Cult Leader Tactics" title track.[23]

On 28 January 2022, Draper released his second solo album Cult Leader Tactics. It reached 22 in the UK album chart, and it stayed in the charts for one week.[14] The album features guest appearances from musician and producer Steven Wilson on "Omega Man" – a collaboration about Wilson and Draper's feelings of isolation during lockdown, Gamaliel "Gam" Rendle Traynor from the band Sweat, who played, arranged and engineered all strings, as well as a 288-person choir (assembled from clips provided by fans online) who provide backing vocals on "Lyin' Bout Who U Sleep With".[24]

In November 2022, Catherine Davies was granted a six-month stalking protection order against Draper, who was accused of stalking Davies and sending “abusive and sexually orientated” messages after their romantic relationship ended in 2018.[9]

Studio albums

• Spooky Action (2017)
• Cult Leader Tactics (2022)

Live albums

• Live at Scala (2018)
• Live at the Ritz (2018)

EPs

• EP One (2016)
• EP Two (2016)
• EP Three (2017)

Singles

• "Feeling My Heart Run Slow" (2016)
• "Friends Make the Worst Enemies" (2016)
• "Don't Poke the Bear" (2017)
• "Things People Want" (2017)
• "Grey House" (2017)
• "Jealousy Is a Powerful Emotion" (2018)
• "Cult Leader Tactics" (2021)
• "Omega Man" (featuring Steven Wilson) (2021)

• Attack of the Grey Lantern (1997)
• Six (1998)
• Little Kix (2000)
• Kleptomania (2004)