The vocalist of two of Brighton's finest melodic hardcore and crossover thrash bands joins us for a chat!
Just when we started thinking we were a productive bunch at Punktuation, we encountered Andy Mansell, who fronts not one, but two excellent bands – melodic hardcore merchants Barriers and razor-sharp crossover thrashers RAD (whose debut EP, ‘Toxic Slime’, we reviewed earlier this year). How does he do it? Read our interview with the man himself and find out!
Hi Andy! How are you, and how’s your 2025 been?
I’m well, thanks! It’s been a good year. In terms of the music, I feel like we’re still building, still putting in the grind to get the kind of shows and opportunities that we want to get – but we have had some really good ones, and we’ve had a lot of fun! So now we’re just in full ‘planning for 2026’ mode.
How did you get into all this brilliantly gnarly music in the first place?
I guess my very first ‘gateway’ band was The Offspring – specifically, ‘Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)’! I heard it when I was very young, and it was just so different from anything else that was popular at the time. It was the late 90s, so everyone at my school was into stuff like the Spice Girls and boy bands, and even at that young age, I didn’t feel like that was my kind of music. So yeah, hearing ‘Pretty Fly…’, with its loud guitars and more in-your-face lyrics, it really connected with me!
Then I got into some nu-metal stuff and Nirvana, and from there, what really shaped me musically was the metalcore explosion – bands like Killswitch Engage and Bleeding Through. Bands like those were the ones that made me first consider becoming a vocalist; because as a hardcore or metalcore vocalist, it’s as much about putting on an aggressive performance as hitting the right notes.
You’re based in/near Brighton, aren’t you?
I’m originally from (and still live in) a town called Haywards Heath, which isn’t far from Brighton, so growing up there, the closest alternative scene was in Brighton. But it’s also an easy journey to and from London, so I used to go to gigs there too.
How do you rate Brighton in terms of punk/hardcore bands, good venues, etc?
Interesting question! I’ve been going to shows there since I was 16, and in fact, one of the earliest shows I saw there was a local band called Johnny Truant headlining, with Architects as main support, with their original vocalist. Crazy to think about it now, now that Architects are huge! That was a great time for punk, hardcore and metal in Brighton.
As for these days…indie rock’s always been big in Brighton, and some venues do kind of shun louder and more extreme music, because I guess it’s easier for people to meet up, drink and chat over an indie band! But there is a venue called The Pipeline which has really flown the flag for DIY shows like ours for some time; it’s really easy to book and put on a show there, it doesn’t cost much to do it, and it’s only about 50-capacity, so to play or book a show there is quite achievable in that respect.
There’s also another more long-established venue called the Cowley Club, which is different, because it’s an anarchist social club with its own vibe. But it’s still a great place for people to put on alternative shows and stuff like that. And more recently, there’s Daltons, which is on the seafront, and they’re very open to doing all sorts of stuff – particularly all-dayer gigs, because it means people are coming in and out and using the space all day!
How would you describe your two bands, RAD and Barriers? What would you say is the main difference between them?
To put it in black and white, I’d say that RAD is metal and Barriers is punk – but of course, in reality, there are plenty of grey areas and musical intermingling! Both take a huge amount of influence from hardcore, too. I guess when it comes to shows, I prefer Barriers to play with more punk-oriented bands, and RAD to play with thrashier, more metal bands.
RAD is definitely our guitarist Ben’s baby; he came up with the name and all the imagery, and then I came on board a bit later to do vocals and lyrics. He also organises a lot of the shows and is generally the ‘dad’ of the band, whereas in Barriers, I’ve taken on a lot of that stuff, even though the band started a long while before I joined. The other Barriers guys have known each other pretty much all their lives, and they were skate-punk guys first and foremost, before moving more in a melodic hardcore direction. They recorded and released an album in 2019, but then Covid happened, they lost their vocalist, and couldn’t quite get things off the ground after that. So when I saw they were advertising for a new vocalist, I went along and tried out, because I really liked the album.
I was looking for something with a fast punk beat going on, because I wasn’t hearing that in a lot of bands, and it’s something I’m really into. Comeback Kid are one of my favourite bands, and their kind of vibe was really the starting point for Barriers. So yeah, I joined, and we helped each other out, and that’s where we are right now!
I really like your new track ‘French Bulldog’, it’s a belter!
Thanks! It’s one of four singles we’ve released since I joined the band, and although I’m happy with them, I feel like we were still figuring things out when we wrote them. We’ve got a bunch of other songs which I feel are a step-up from that, because we really know ourselves and each other better now. So we’re very much looking forward to those coming out!
Any particular highlights from your time with either band?
Plenty of great shows, definitely! Last summer, with RAD, we did a show that was part of a skate jam – a big part of our identity as a band is in skate culture – in London at Blondie’s Brewery. It was for the launch of a video called ‘Blokes 2’, which I’d encourage everyone to watch! It’s hard to describe, but it’s kind of like a skate video interjected with elements of horror, gore and comedy; the guy who does it is really good with special effects. The crowd were amazing that night – someone did a backflip off the stage at one point during our set! So yeah, that was a really cool show.
And for Barriers, we recently got to play Face Down club at the Scala in London, which was really fun. Again, the crowd was really up for a good time. We were on quite late in the night, but they didn’t hold anything back – the place went crazy, and that’s exactly what you want to see!
You sound like you gargle gravel – how do you do those kinds of vocals, night after night?
Just practice, really! That’s a difficult question – it’s just something I’ve figured out after a lot of practice. The first few times, you’re just testing the waters, and maybe you push it too hard and lose your voice, but these days, it’s something I can just turn on and off when I need to.
And finally, how are the next few months looking for you?
We’ve got a Brighton show in October with Barriers, at the Cowley Club, opening for a crust band called Barren, and then we’ll be starting to record. We’ve got about five tracks that we’ve been playing live, and we’re pretty confident that we’re good to go in terms of recording them. Then we’ve got two shows with Equals What? – one in London at Deptford Endeavour on Friday 14th November, and then another the next day in Brighton as part of an all-dayer at Daltons.
As for RAD, we’ve got a Midlands weekender at the end of November, doing three cities in one weekend, then we’ve got a London show later that month. Not much will happen in December and January, we’ll have some down time then, but next year we’re already starting to figure out more gigs and more recording. And from then on, it just depends how things go, really! We’d like to hit a few places we haven’t been before, and go back to Scotland and Wales, maybe even pop overseas for a few shows – that’d be amazing!
Cheers, Andy! Check out details of future RAD and Barriers happenings on the links below.
Follow Barriers/RAD on Their Socials:
Need more Punk In Your Life?
Live review: Disorder at Reading Facebar – 11th Oct 2025
Disorder, Healthy Junkies, and local punks Tape It Shut and Skinhawk brought the generations together at Reading Facebar. Disorder are still angry and all the
Book review: ‘Early Days, a conversation about art, punk & otherness’ by Penelope Houston with Maria Elena Buszek
‘Early Days, a conversation about art, punk & otherness’ by Penelope Houston of The Avengers with Maria Elena Buszek was recently published in the USA
Rats With Wings Records 5th Anniversary, The Prince Albert, Brighton 05.10.25
The Stereotypes (UK), Family Of Strangers, Noir Mates and Thee Derelique put on a punk party at Brighton’s Prince Albert to celebrate Rats With Wings
Album Review: The Menstrual Cramps say ‘We’re Not Ovaryacting’
Formed and based in Bristol, UK, The Menstrual Cramps have applaudingly never held back with their righteous manifesto. They are proudly, self described as a
Album Review: Omega Tribe prove ‘Power Pop Punk Rock’ has a future!
A particularly big fixture in the anarcho-punk scene of the early 80’s, Omega Tribe were much more tuneful than many of their peers, which made
Undercover Festival makes its unforgettable debut in Essex – Day Two review!
The second day at Undercover Festival 2025 saw even more of the best bands and artists playing, including The Stereotypes, Wyrd Sisters, Hinge, The Fanzines,
I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
Did you know that we are 100% DIY? We run our own game. No one dictates to us, and no one drives what we can or cannot put on our pages – and this is how we plan to continue!
