Photo: Wenn
A stone’s throw away from The George Pub in London stands the superb Shard building. A modern day skyscraper overlooking the capital with a super life-affirming view over the capital that makes you feel on top of the world.
That feeling is mutual with Kent’s resident punk duo Slaves. Especially after the success of their first album Are You Satisfied? which peaked its aggressive, mantaray shaped head at number eight in the album charts. That, coupled with a recent appearance for the first time on the main stage at Reading & Leeds festival, has set the duo up for world domination. Now with album number two, Take Control, on the horizon I meet up with Laurie Vincent (guitar) and Isaac Holman (drums/vox) in the aforementioned pub to get to know more.
But first I break the ice by getting to know about their recent trip to Japan's Summer Sonic festival. After all, they've seen a lot of the world recently and they may have an informed view on the place. "It was a physically grueling journey but worth it. It’s definitely a place everyone should visit...it's one of the most amazing places on earth,” reveals an excited Laurie.
Watch the brand new video to 'Take Control' below
Japan is notorious for fans going the extra mile to show their appreciation with material gifts and gestures and I ask if there was anything they noticed in particular. “The front row of people in the crowd had cut-out masks of our faces and little dog masks from the album,” smiles the guitarist, as he sips from his pint casting the smallest details that suggests Slaves have well and truly caught on over there, despite having not even played a headline tour there yet.
Our chat turns to the new album, which the band are brave enough to bring out just one year after its predecessor. Some might consider this a risk, but the band have an immense amount of faith in it.
“Without a doubt the new album sounds bigger, helped in part by the production,” Laurie explains. “The first record had an identity that you could associate to the album, the guitar tone is pretty much the same throughout, and there’s this underlying synth wobble, but with the new album it really takes you to different places. We don’t want to tell people what to think in terms of themes, we want to inspire people to have opinions on current things.”
A somewhat bizarre coming together of minds occurred while Slaves were in the early stages of creating Take Control. Former Beastie Boy Mike D had got hold of Are You Satisfied? through a friend which led to the guitarist receiving an interesting phone call. “When he rang me he started sussing me out talking about music and what he’d want to do and then he said, 'Right, let’s get in a studio together'," reveals an excited Laurie.
Mike D is credited on the third track from the album, 'Consume Or Be Consumed'. Meanwhile, the band used a lot of vintage equipment that the Beastie Boys used on their classic records all over the album giving it similar characteristics.
"It was a very natural chain of events, which was quite surreal looking back on it as they’re such an important band for our genre so it’s crazy that that happened, all our music has been indirectly influenced by the Beastie Boys.” Even Issac, who had been very quiet up to this point, wades in agreeing with his band mate: “It was very surreal but by that point we were good friends, it’s only when you look back on it and you think, shit, that actually did happen.”
It’s clear form their attitude that Slaves have taken more responsibility for themselves and their music this time around. “I think we have both switched on more this year,” explains the guitarist. "I've even become a vegan...the damage the meat industry is causing to the world terrible. As humans we’ve got to look after the planet."
Given Laurie's moral awareness, I wonder if perspective has any influence on the new album. So is it a reaction to Brexit which was being built up to as the album was being recorded, and to the UKs decision to bomb Syria? “Lots of things like that were cropping during writing and recording and I think the album is a reflection of those events,” he answers.
Brexit crops up again in our conversation, with the duo agreeing that it was a sad day for the country. But how do they see it impacting on touring? "It was a scandal. I don’t think we saw it coming did we? I felt confident that we were going to win and stay in Europe but we didn’t. It’s heart-breaking, especially as we’re a band that loves Europe and tours Europe a lot.”
It's this relentless touring that has helped them transition from playing in front of five people to playing on the main stage at Reading & Leeds, and selling out gigs in 3000 capacity venues. Laurie is still in disbelief: “It's absolutely crazy...It feels like we’ve really achieved something but it’s also the fact we’ve sustained it,” he says.,“It’s just nice to know that you’re still relevant,” adds Isaac.
Relevant the band most certainly are. The duo are at an exciting and critical point in their life as a band and with so much support behind them and a strong belief in what they’re doing Slaves will be looking to sustain and build upon there early success. Let's just hope Article 50 doesn't get in the way of other bands being able to follow in Slaves' footsteps, and they can travel as freely as they have in building their success.
Slaves will release Take Control on 30 September. Pre-order here
