Willingdon Releases ‘Vicious’ New Indie-Rock Romance

Silvery chimes, chugging bass and a spare yet soaring guitar line kick off Charlotte indie-rock trio Willingdon’s latest single “Vicious,” which released this morning. 

With the tune’s hook line, “When I feel your hand in mine/ I’m amazed at what you do to me…” band co-founder, lyricist and bassist John Blake MacManamy establishes the song’s gentle, nostalgic and deeply romantic tone. 

“The title is playful,” says MacManamy, who reveals that the tune is about falling in love with his wife Grace. “[It refers to a] ‘looks can kill’ sentiment.” 

“Vicious” showcases Willingdon’s musical influences, including Spoon’s amped-up guitars, Jimmy Eat World’s chugging rhythms, and Radiohead’s whiplash song structures. With plain-spoken poetry and a focus on everyday yet evocative details, MacManamy’s lyrics imbue his storytelling with the melancholic majesty of Bruce Springsteen.

“You got no business being so vicious/ Giving me a grin like that/ With that dress off your shoulder/ I’ll pull this car over/ We’ll hide under the overpass…”

The couple’s courtship is summed up in the swelling chorus: “Two star-crossed lovers finding one another/ Just across the street…”

“My wife and I had been friends for a while before we started dating and we lived right around the corner from each other,” MacManamy explains. The single’s art features a picture of the couple having dinner together at their wedding in June.

MacManamy and drummer Alex Vasilly first started playing music together 10 years ago. In 2021, the pair formed Willingdon, which takes its name from a road in Huntersville where they used to skate together. 

Initially, the band included vocalist and chief songwriter MacManamy, drummer and producer Vasilly, lead guitarist Jackson Miller, and bassist Cohen Malz. When Malz left, MacManamy moved over to bass but remained on vocals. 

The band’s debut 2022 single, “It’s Not Over,” is an indie prog-rock epic featuring a spoken-word collage, heavenly synths, chugging guitars and a coda of mysterious, majestic noise. Follow-up “Bruiser,” released in March of this year, was enhanced by Miller’s musical contributions.

“Jackson and I hung out one night and he played the guitar hook that’s featured in the song,” MacManamy says. “I was like, ‘This is a real song now.’ That guitar hook makes it all click.” Miller contributes a similarly infectious and dynamic guitar hook for “Vicious.”

“Jackson keeps to himself and doesn’t always talk, but whenever he talks, it’s very well put together,” MacManamy says. “It’s the same thing with guitar. He’ll play something, and it’s exactly what needs to happen.”

The band will head to GAT3 Productions studio in February to cut three new songs for a currently untitled EP. Unlike previous tunes, which were written by MacManamy and brought to the rest of the band, the new material was composed in a more collaborative manner with the entire group having their say. 

In the meantime, Willingdon will play Snug Harbor on Saturday, Jan. 25, sharing a bill with Charlotte trio Camisole and Athens, GA combo Schmooze.

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MacManamy says the lyrics to his early songs like “It’s Not Over” and “Bruiser” are chasing a feeling, indulging in nostalgia for his adolescence where he was growing up too fast to enjoy it.

“I get caught up being sad about so many things all the time,” he explains. In contrast, “Vicious” is more upbeat.

“I want people to listen to this song and feel like they’re in love, even if they’re not,” MacManamy says. “I want it to [feel like] rolling your windows down and driving through the falling leaves.”