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It's amazing how music can change a listener's mood. In 1999 people claimed Marilyn Manson's music drove two children to kill at Columbine School (No one actually believed that though did they? .Ed), his music was so darkly motivated, in addition if you turn up The Horrors while walking home on a Saturday night you feel invincible. Whereas if you wake up listening to the wonderful sound of Slow Club, you know you are in for a glorious day. With their blissful harmonies and twee melodies they make a summer's day look surprisingly dull. The duo consisting of young school friends, Charles and Rebecca are just as bright as their songs. Tonight we are sat in the dark dingy setting of musical haunt The Washington yet the couple resemble the mood of a student barbeque. Rebecca, never seen in anything less casual than a summer dress is childlike as she twists her golden blonde hair, leaving Charles to provide the level headed approach. Today with a single, video and tour in the pipeline the band are stressed, although you'd never know it.
"We've got six hours to film this video. We've hired a room at the Lescar pub and we're going to do it up, we've got this dance" Rebecca begins to explain as she shuffles her feet in a dance like motion. "And then we freestyle which we need lots of people for and we have to organise it ourselves so I'm having a bit of a hernia about it."
You see Slow Club are poised as one of the most relaxing bands around. Just consisting of the two members they don't fit to the usual indie guitar set up. As Charles plays acoustic guitar Rebecca generates a wild variety of sounds through a bass drum, tambourine, an assortment of glass bottles, and erm, a chair. Creating such a cute relaxing sound you never expect the band themselves to be stressed, but in truth they are just like any other, especially when it comes to how they formed. "We were sort of messing about for a while. We were at school so we couldn't do it properly." Says Charles "We were in different bands and then we were in an indie band and that kind of fizzled out and then we decided to do it so it was kind of ages until we found something that worked," adds Rebecca.
But with such an unusual set up surely it was tempting to add more members? "We thought it was quite unique to have two of us and we make quite a lot of noise so we definitely want to keep that, but if we get a career out of this we'll want to keep it fresh," explains Charles. However in many ways the band's small membership has worked to an advantage. Having only formed last July, Rebecca and Charles have managed to create quite a stir. In November they joined Tiny Dancers on a national tour and casually drop Das Wanderlust and Hot Club de Paris as their mentors. The latter liked them so much that they convinced their label Moshi Moshi to release Slow Club's first single.
"We went on tour with Hot Club De Paris and they're on Moshi Moshi and know the guys there and they'd seen us before and one of them weren't too fussed so they went to dinner with them and just battered them down!" Says Rebecca, "And they've got a singles club so…" "It's like a branch off the label," Charles cuts in, "We're not signed to them but it's a great start. It's a perfect label for us as well. I remember last year we looked around a few labels that were too big for us at the time and you (referring to Rebecca) were like 'Woah, Moshi Moshi!' Its exciting though because we've never done anything like this before."
Also it seems Hot Club de Paris are not the only band taken in by the Slow Club charm as Das Wanderlust persuaded the band to try for a Radio 1 session. "We met them (Das Wanderlust) on the Hot Club de Paris tour and they said 'Oh send a demo to Huw Stephens, and then he'll get you to do a session, we thought 'Oh that's easy' so we did. Next time we see a band we like we're going to recommend Huw Stephens!"
For some a two person band can appear a little claustrophobic. With not many duo's playing there has to be times when Charles and Rebecca begin to annoy each other, but at this point in time its hard to believe. As Charles nips to the toilet ("Charles did you wash your hands?" Rebecca exclaims on his return) Rebecca shows me the dance routine in place for tomorrow's video shoot, yet as soon as it is revealed, it is instantly predictable. With swaying arms and cute movements you couldn't expect anything less from a band whose song topics includes miniature houses and titles such as the 'Slow Club Summer Shakedown'.
Playing over eighty gigs since October chances are Slow Club have visited your town in the past three weeks, and making themselves the band instantly available in Sheffield they are enthralling to watch. In a small lifeless venue they are the support band that brightens up your day, the type that makes you feel happy you turned up an hour earlier and usually outshine the headliners. However, after questioning them it's interesting to find they both have rather different views of playing live. "Playing live is amazing," quips Charles, "I dunno," Rebecca interrupts. "It's takes a lot out of you travelling all day and then you get there and you sit around for ages, that's the worse bit. I do love playing live when we get round to it but touring does take it out of you. There is a lot of waiting around but it's made us, us really, if we hadn't gigged like 200 times!"
"We're really good at loading the car now! Because of the gear we use we don't have boxes instead we have all this stuff. We have chairs so we have to find all these nooks and crannies in the van but now we can do it in five minutes, pop her (Rebecca) in the back and we're off. We haven't got like a crew or anything," says Charles.
"I can't wait until we do," adds Rebecca
"Get a bus" continues Charles,
"And a driver!" Rebecca chips in.
"So we can utilise the rider," says Charles, always the driver on long trips.
"Also the first proper tour we did was the Tiny Dancers tour and you get to know the crew, it's almost like a production of something," says Charles
"And because there are two of us the company is better than Charles going 'who would you rather go out with?' You laugh but this is ultimate car conversation!" Continues Rebecca.
A day later we head down to the Slow Club video shoot, and despite Rebecca running around like a headless chicken the band have, yet again created a fairy tale in a pub back room. It's full of balloons, cakes, a variety of party tricks, and as the small crowd gathers, preparing to dance in front of the cameras for a third time everyone is in high spirits. That is because even after a third playing of future single 'Because We're Dead' it still sounds fresh and a pleasure to listen to. As the remainder of the participants move outside to throw paper aeroplanes off the roof there's a part of you that wants to stay in the Slow Club forever. Be their driver, help them out, act as one of Rebecca's desperately wanted backing dancers but Slow Club don't need anyone's help, as long as they can load a van in five minutes they can do anything.
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