Puressence was a British rock band from Failsworth, Greater Manchester, England, formed in May 1992. Band membership The band, at their break-up, consisted of: James Mudriczki: Vocals Lowell Killen: Guitar Kevin Matthews: Bass guitar Tony Szuminski: Drums / percussion History James Mudriczki, Neil McDonald, Anthony Szuminski and Kevin Matthews met on a bus on their way to watch The Stone Roses play at Spike Island. Matthews watched The Stone Roses' Gary Mounfield play bass and Matthews bought himself a bass guitar. The rest of the members followed suit and bought the necessary equipment to complete a band, although they had little to no musical experience or training. However, this is a pure creation myth as Neil McDonald had been playing guitar for a number of years prior to the popularity of The Stone Roses, being heavily influenced by Eddie Van Halen. Through much practice their music developed and they decided on the name Puressence, a name instantly identified by most Mancunians for the paper letters 'P'-'U'-'R'-'E'-'S'-'S'-'E'-'N'-'C'-'E', which were plastered around Manchester city centre, on derelict buildings, and on bridges (the most notable being the railway bridge opposite the Haçienda). Manchester independent record label 2 Damn Loud released two singles and there was a further single with Rough Trade Singles Club. The band played a series of gigs at Manchester's In The City festival early in the 1990s. The big breakthrough came a couple of years later, when the band signed to Island Records. In August 2003, after more than ten years with Puressence, guitarist and founder member McDonald left the band and has since gone on to form the band Juno Ashes. He was replaced by Lowell Killen, who is originally from the Isle of Man. He has played in other bands and left Manchester band Dry Riser to join Puressence. In 2004, the band played at The Witchwood in Ashton-under-Lyne. In 2006, the band released a single titled "Palisades" on new Manchester label Reaction, followed by an album, Don't Forget To Remember, in September 2007. On 10 and 11 September 2008 Puressence played their first shows in the US. The first was at the Mercury Lounge in New York City. The next night they played the Apple Store in SoHo. The opening song at the Mercury Lounge was "I Suppose". They passed out free CD singles of "Don't Know Any Better" to many fans around the United States. In