Laurie’s jumping on the table playing his bass while Isaac and another man are sat, seemingly chanting at him. You can’t help but feel boring, walking in to their dressing room, announcing you’ve come in to do the interview, and they probably need to stop. Laurie leaves the room to get rid of his guitar, then walks back in to declare ‘Isaac, I’ve become pen pals with your mum’. It’s the sort of quote you’d attribute to the duo even if given it anonymously; on the surface at least, they come across as a pair of schoolkids. Cheek has become such a defining element Slaves, their live shows bringing a mix of primal sounds, hyperactivity and humour.
When you’re doing your gigs you’re always incredibly psyched up, how do you get yourselves that pumped?
IH: We eat a banana an hour before stage time… and as of today we do the Knee Bounce Bend… Laurie’s got a bass guitar that plays a beat and he plays ‘Smoke on the Water’ and we just chant ‘knee bounce bend’…
LV: Whilst Isaac and Ollie (on the merch) do freestyle bars
IH: Freestyle rapping…then Laurie does a dance. That’s how we get psyched up for a gig.
LV: I think we should do that today, we should come on to the Knee Bounce Bend, or do a guest… we’re doing a 45 minute set tonight, so Ollie from the merch could do some guest bars!
IH: Maybe.
…have you ever considered doing it on stage?
IH: What, the Knee Bounce Bend? Well we’ve only just come up with it four minutes ago…so, yeah, considering it now!
we met a producer that we fell in love with deeply… I think we always struggled before, conveying our live energy and putting it on a record
I’m excited to see this then. You’ve built up a reputation for these intense live shows- like the Knee Bounce Bend I guess- do you worry that when you record your tracks people can’t get the full ‘Slaves experience’?
LV: Yeah
IH: We did, but then we met a producer that we fell in love with deeply… I think we always struggled before, conveying our live energy and putting it on a record but I think now we’ve met a producer who completely gets it
LV: It’s almost topping our live shows
IH: We’re really chuffed with our recorded sound now
Because he lets you express your energy?
IH: We were getting better with our instruments, and in a controlled environment there’s more you can do, if you’re running around a stage you just can’t do the same things
It’s about letting it go as crazy as possible
So is it about channelling it, controlling it?
LV: No. It’s about letting it go as crazy as possible. We’re definitely going to be bringing out some other instruments on the album, like a piano, acoustic guitars and basses. We’re broadening our horizons, there’s no point trying to keep to the same formula.
Same sort of sound on the album then, or are you changing it?
IH: It’s still us, it’s still definitely us, I just think there’s loads of different sides to this shape.
LV: I feel the way I play guitar or bass and the way that Isaac sings are so distinctive that it will always sound like us, just maybe playing different genres possibly, I think Isaac’s got a really distinctive voice, it’s always going to sound a bit like Slaves now, no matter what the backing music is
So you say ‘sound a bit like Slaves’, what do you think sets your sound apart from other bands? Other duos, even?
LV: Quite primitive, Hip-Hop style drum beats, that are stripped back. I feel like even though two-piece bands are stripped back, they tend to have a drummer that plays full beats on a full kit, I’d say the set up with the drums is probably the main thing which sets us apart. I don’t know, it’s hard to say, I think stylistically we’re very different, but I wouldn’t be able to put my finger on why. Just different sounds we make.
I’ve always been massively in to Hip-Hop and I love like flow and I’ve always been massively into lyrics and the rhythm of lyrics, with most of our songs if you put the lyrics over a Hip-Hop beat, it works
Not being able to put your finger on it is probably a good thing, is Hip-Hop an influence for you guys?
IH: Definitely, I’ve always been massively in to Hip-Hop and I love like flow and I’ve always been massively into lyrics and the rhythm of lyrics, with most of our songs if you put the lyrics over a Hip-Hop beat, it works
There’s nothing worse than watching angry people in a moshpit, I feel like it’s fucking horrible
Any key artists?
IH: I love old-school Hip-Hop, I love all Hip-Hop really, I like UK Hip-Hop aswell…
LV: I’ve always been really really into Eminem and Biggie, just quite, obviously, mainstream rappers. I think we’re both really into the Reggae, Dancehall sort of style, like pre-Dancehall sounds. That’s influenced our music so you can tie in the sort of Ska, Punk element. Not that we play Ska-Punk but you can hear influences from those two different genres. Not Ska-Punk, we don’t really like that.
Don’t worry, we won’t file you with Reel Big Fish. So at a gig, what is it you want to see people doing?
IH/LV: Smiling.
IH: There’s nothing worse than watching angry people in a moshpit, I feel like it’s fucking horrible… I don’t know, yeah, I just want to see smiling faces and seeing our music connecting with people, you can see it in the face, when someone’s getting it.
Ian Fillingham
Ian is listening to: Pond – ‘Fantastic Explosion Of Time’
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