Currently leading the crop of post Royal Blood guitar duos, affable Kent punk pair Slaves are a force to be reckoned with.
To mark the release of their new single The Hunter, Gigwise spoke to Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent about touring with Fat White Family, surreal gig sights and why you should never call them an Oi!' Band.
On your appearance on Jools Holland, you had an embarasing moment with Bono. Has anything else surreal happened recently?
Issac: That cross dressing, completely naked man at our Hastings show was quite weird. It felt quite normal as well…
Laurie: One member of the original Sugababes followed us on Twitter the other day, which was weird, I think it was Siobhan. I think she’s in some new band now or something.
Issac: Are they any good?
Laurie: Well they can’t be if they were in the Sugababes…
Issac: No similar incidents to Bono, but I’d say it just feels weird for us being around really famous bands, we’ve been on tour with Jamie T and now Biffy, so all still a bit surreal.
What did you learn from seeing Jamie T night after night?
Laurie: We learnt how a dedicated fan base is something we can really learn to strive for. How everyone sings every single word of his set to him every single night is just phenomenal.
Was there anything surprising you had in common with him?
Laurie: I think he’s just a really normal bloke like us.
Issac: Him and me share a really big love for Rancid and he knows Tim Armstrong so I kept asking him loads of geeky questions about him.
What’s the best live band you’ve seen recently?
Issac: I’m probably going to say Fat White Family.
Laurie: Baby Strange are the best band in my opinion at the moment, but I haven’t seen them live. Just recordings wise I think they’re writing the best songs.
How do you prepare yourselves for going on tour with Fat White Family?
Laurie: Well we’re not drinking anymore and everyone keeps tweeting us like “Oh it’s gonna be well messy”... but we’re not massive drinkers or messy at all. So probably some early nights and I want to get fit. I’m riding a bike now so that’s how I’ll prepare.
What’s the best album you heard last year?
Laurie: It’s between Pleasure by Baxter Dury and Bombay Bicycle Club’s So Long, See You Tomorrow
Issac: Definitely not Bombay Bicycle Club for me, but Baxter Dury is probably mine as well
What do journalists get wrong about you guys?
Issac: Our names, who plays what, the lyrics to our songs, what our songs are about… Laurie: That we’re scallywag troublemakers or just punk. I mean I don’t think that we’re just straight up punk, but we just get roped in to that category which can be annoying
Issac: I hate being called an Oi! band and stuff like that.
Laurie: After half an hour of talking to someone about just punk it just feels like punk’s kind of already been done.
What questions are you bored of answering already?
Issac: "How long have you been together?"
Laurie: "Where are you from?" "First can you start by introducing yourself and saying what you play?"
Issac: "Where did the name Slaves come from?"
Laurie: "What’s the most rock’n’roll thing you’ve ever done?" As you can tell we’ve got quite a few already...
Describe your worst gig.
Issac: One of our strangest memories is playing in Wales to 4 people and we went onstage and everyone just hated us. They all seemed to have dreadlocks in the crowd too, but luckily that was about three years ago now.
Zane Lowe supported you very early on and played before your Relentless Live gig. What’s your favourite Zane moment?
Issac: When he played the Hunter, our new song, twice in a row in one night. Then when he was taking photos of us at Radio 1 Rocks everyone was taking photos of him taking photos of us and they were going “look he was taking photos of you”
Your sound reminds me of Gallows back in the day, do you think the music scene at the moment is missing a British punk band that can lead a movement?
Laurie: 'In The Belly Of A Shark' is the song that I said I want our music to sound like when we started. I don’t think it necessarily has done but I’m more than happy with that comparison.
I’m not sure about the movement point though, but I think we’re lacking a band that’s saying much in any way musically or lyrically. I always think the lyrics are important but I think sometimes you don’t need lyrics to make a movement or something sound passionate.
So do you aspire to the Gallows?
Issac: Not anymore, we used to, but now we prefer listening to pop music. We don’t aspire to be like any big punk band.
What music trends do you think need to die out?
Issac: I went through a phase of hating auto tune, like those T-Pain tunes but he’s sort of gone already.
Laurie: I don’t know if this really relates to music but topknot haircuts maybe. That haircut is so strange.
Your new single Hunter came out a couple of days ago, what were the motivations for writing that song?
Issac: It’s less politically led but more social documenting - we’re not political in the slightest, I don’t even know enough to comment on it.
Laurie: It focuses on the immediate every day and how you can change something. I read a quote the other day that said music and politics shouldn’t be mixed - we’re not going to start running for government or anything it’s not in our interest.
What can we expect from the album?
Laurie: I think the Hunter is a stepping stone towards the overall sound but there will be moments where it’ll be more pop and accessible, there’s also an acoustic song, then there’s some much more post-punk sounding songs. I think it’s just going to be much more accessible and developed.
The Hunter is out now now on iTunes and red vinyl. youareallslaves.com
Slaves are playing alongside Fat White Family, Palma Violets and the Amazing Snakeheads on the NME Awards tour 2015. Full tour dates below. Buy tickets here.
12 February Forum Tunbridge Wells w/Baby Strange (headline)
13 February Shipping Forecast, Liverpool w/Baby Strange (headline)
19 February The Leadmill, Sheffield
20 February O2 Academy Leeds
21 February O2 Academy Newcastle
22 February O2 ABC Glasgow
24 February Rock City, Nottingham
26 February The Ritz, Manchester
27 February, O2 Academy Oxford
28 February The Institute, Birmingham
02 March O2 Academy Bristol
03 March Portsmouth Pyramid Centre
04 March The Forum London
