SLAVES: SCALA, KINGS CROSS 07TH MAY 2015

So I stumbled across this glorious band whilst sat in the back of my friends car on the way home from Uni, I’ll admit I had heard the name ‘Slaves’ floating about here and there on my twitter feed and various other music platforms but being the lazy useless piece of shit I am I never bothered to investigate. It was fate that our paths would inevitably cross I mean this band is pretty much what I’ve been looking for in recent music. There

are a few bands coming through the ranks recently that I enjoy listening too like CATB etc. who doesn’t like a bit of chilled indie rock? But the shit that really gets me going, the adrenaline pumping and blood boiling has without doubt got to be the heavier stuff. For me there’s nothing better than a dirty old riff that makes you want to mosh like it’s your last day on this gracious planet earth. So there I was sat in the back of her car chatting away when ‘The Hunter’ came on her sound system, I’ll say at first I was shocked this isn’t the type of music I would expect to hear emanating from her music collection. But it did which filled me with an immense sense of pride, maybe after all of these years of friendship and my incessant need to control the music wherever we are she might actually like my music preference and not just pretend to because she’s a good friend!! Anyway I’m grateful nevertheless, from this moment forth I have been hooked much like my addiction to procrastination which is exactly what is going on at this moment in time.

This scenario was the catalyst to my impending investigation; so to my Spotify account I went with excitement in my heart praying this was not just a one off track. I came across ‘Sugar Coated Bitter Truth’ their only album at the moment released before the recent signing with Virgin EMI. IT IS FUCKING INSANE, every single track. It’s exactly what the doctor ordered popular music is primarily dominated by indie rock with a northern denomination so it was only a matter of time until an angry cockney punk band rose from the concrete jungle and graced our ears

with pure wonderment. The first analogy that popped into my head when I heard this band was ‘New Age Sex Pistols on Crack’ and I stick by it their sound is so refreshing and unique at this period in time.

Let’s discuss a few of their tracks ‘The Hunter’ is their new single which I have purchased on vinyl seen in the attached image, it comes in a translucent red colour which is pretty cool. It’s a great track with a very sinister riff and politically profound lyrical intent. This, I assume, is the single from their upcoming album which is due to be released in June however it may be the latest single ‘Cheer Up London’. I should probably know the solid facts before writing this blog but fuck it the internet has just gone down in the library! They will both be present on the new release that’s all that matters. Another fan favourite is ‘Feed The Mantaray’ a weird song about a killer Mantaray which can be seen in the music video posted below where the two of them drive through the ocean and come across this hungry beast. Finally my per

sonal favourite ‘Beauty Quest’ the final track on their Sugar Coated Bitter Truth album. An angry and heavy sentiment to women, empathizing with their daily struggle to look beautiful. There are many more cracking tunes that you can check out on YouTube or via Spotify that I would love to enlighten you on but I’m afraid if we do this blog could end up being longer than my dissertation and we don’t want that.

Having made this band an integral part of my daily music listening I craved seeing the real deal, so I scoured the internet only to find that their shows at Scala in London had sold out. Heart-breaking I know especially considering they played on my road in Oxford a few weeks back for the NME Awards tour before I knew who they were. I was desperate though so I managed to grab 2 tickets on Seatwave for just a little over standard price and I already had a partner in crime lined up who I knew would love Slaves. We met up in Kings Cross on Thursday pre gig for a few beers and were joined by one of my Uni mates who lives in the area, safe to say we got pretty steaming and missed the support bands. But we managed to get there for Slaves, my ticketless Uni mate thought he would try his luck to see if he could grab a ticket on the door and the jammy fucker managed to get in for a fiver!!! He’s got a knack for stuff like this it’s not his first time. The crowd was ROWDY, been a while since I’ve had a good mosh like that came out sweating, aching and in pain always the sign of a quality gig. Considering their rather sparse music back catalogue the set didn’t seem short and they parleyed with the crowd a lot at one point refusing to play any more music until their mate came down from the balcony and stage dived into the crowd. ‘If you drop him, I stop playing’ were the words guitarist Laurie Vincent commanded. Surprisingly the crowd managed to keep the geezer up for quite a few songs; he looked like he was having a whale of a time up there being groped by loads of sweaty young people. The best part of the gig for me was when they dropped into ‘Feed The Mantaray’ and a fan started crowd surfing in a Mantaray suit exactly the same as the one from their video, quality commitment there!

I suggest you listen to this band now if you’re a fan of Punk or even just Rock in general you will not be disappointed. They are still on tour at the moment playing Bristol, Brighton, Nottingham, Southampton and Birmingham over the next week so if you’re in them areas and have a free evening go check them out and keep your eyes firmly pealed for the upcoming release of their new album ‘Are You Satisfied?’ in June. I haven’t any pictures of the gig to share with you I was too engrossed to even think about the outside world or my phone so sorry but give the video below a listen and enjoy!! PEACEE, TRW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVJE0Jvmkgg