Slow Club Are Kicking Against The Pricks

Whether dealing in fragile balladry or full speed ahead acoustic rock’n’roll, their debut album Yeah, So? pulled off the trick of sounding convincing right out of the gate. As our own review put it, they have “a lightness of touch and sweetness of mood even when the lyrics don’t seem to demand it. Slow Club may not belong to any one genre comfortably but they know exactly what they are.” The next single from the album, ‘Trophy Room’, is out on 12th October, with the duo currently on tour until just before that date – check their Myspace for full dates. Rebecca answered some questions for us.

Congratulations on the album. Are you pleased with how it’s been received?
Thank you, we are pleased with how it went, I think, yes. I’m not sure if it was received exactly as what we’d hoped, the word ‘twee’ popped up a few more times than we’d like, but I don’t suppose there is much we can do about that… The thing is we were just so ready to have it out and the songs feel so kinda tired for us now, I’m happy with Yeah, So? but I want to move on SO BAD!

There are a handful of old favourites that didn’t make the album proper – how difficult was it to decide what to put on the album?
It never felt that difficult, myself and Charles had gotten to a point where we knew what we could safely stand behind and be proud of, and what we felt a bit silly about and just arranged it from there.

How was the recording set up? It sounds pretty as-live.
Yeah, we went through a lot of difficult times figuring out how exactly to record. Some people want just what you see live, but it’s hard for us because it feels so boring and ugly, so we were constantly trying to find a happy medium, which ended up recording as much live as possible and then adding what ideally we’d want to hear if we had a few more members.

What was the idea behind putting a pretty much solo song each in the middle?
We never thought about them as ‘solo’ really, they were just a couple of songs that we both wrote totally alone and sometimes the message needs to get across without one or the other of us. It’s also nice to have a breather from each others voice.

Do you feel there are ultimately limitations with your setup or is that something to kick against?
Yes there are limitations, and we are currently finding that more difficult. But being a duo has served us well so far, playing small shitty late night shows are easy, load in is kinda easy, travelling cheap is easy, and a ton of creative things are great because it is just a very small team with one similar goal. But it can make you go insane sometimes, other people would just be nice to have around sometimes. Also some decisions reach stalemate because I think one thing and he thinks the other. And we just both sit with the face on until we either forget it, or one of us compromises (LOSES!)

What would you say are your main influences?
Our stupid little lives and brains, parties and dancing.

What inspires your lyrics?
See above. It’s different for the two of us, it can be a collection of words and phrases we’ve heard or thought about, or a sentiment we want to put across for people to connect to. For me it’s mostly feeling sorry for myself and trying to make my life like a movie.

You seem to really enjoy playing live – is it what you thrive at, in essence?
I guess so, although we’d love to be taken more seriously on record. But yeah, live is where we are best, I guess. If a crowd is paying attention and there with us, it can be magic.

How was the festival summer?
Good! I usually hate festivals but this year I invented a new way of coping, just drink LOTS OF ALCOPOPS, in every colour preferably. Oh. and don’t take a tent or anything heavy, just hope to lay on your face somewhere, and only go for one night if that. Our shows were OK-ish, it would be nice to be placed better on a bill or stage in the future. But the last night of Latitude headlining the lake stage was sooo awesome…

Who’s been your most memorable tour support?
We supported so many amazing awesome people, it would be hard to pick. Most memorable is probably supporting Jamie T, not only because it was the last one we did (and I forget EVERYTHING as soon as I sleep each night it seems) but it was a crowd we were scared to death of and they responded really well, every show was really fun. AND I got a wolf whistle every night bar one, HOORAY FOR ME AND FEMINISM.

You were briefly lumped in with nu-/anti-folk, thrown in with the twee epithet, compared to the White Stripes as all duos now are… do you admire how you seem hard to pin down genre-wise?
Erm, I’m glad we are, but a lot of people still manage to stick that pin down as quickly as they think that we’re a couple. We’d quite like to belong somewhere, and just be able to carry on making the songs that come out of us work and have people come along and enjoy it without being told we aren’t cool or we’re in a scene. But it’s cool anyone ever cares enough to write anything really…

How are Moshi Moshi as a label?
Ha ha, erm, they are really wonderful and handsome and funny and cool.

What have you been listening to recently?
The Drums! They have a song called ‘Down By The Water’ that I am obsessed with. I’m also struggling through Rumours cold turkey as no matter where I am, all I want to do is go to my flat, put my pyjamas on, get into bed and listen to Rumours. But I don’t think its good for my social life, I have to stop doing it.

What have you got planned for the immediate future? What’s your long term ambition for the band?
I’m about to tackle my enormous fringe with a hair dryer, then we are going to practice for the first time in years and try and get some new stuff sorted for the tour of the UK. PLEASE COME, IT’LL BE WELL SHIT IF YOU DON’T. Long term we want to make a second album that doesn’t get called twee or rockabilly, tour places we haven’t been before, I’d like to get married and have five babies and I think Charles wants to start a loop pedal band. Oh, I’d also like an r’n’b career and a canal boat, thanks.