Project Description
Interview with
LAURIE VINCENT
from
SLAVES (UK)
by Brittany Long
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“This pair are one of the most exciting and forward-charging rock bands currently active”– The Line of Best Fit
“Musically, ‘Acts Of Fear And Love’ is the most accomplished of Slaves’ three albums, switching things up and pulling off new sounds without losing sight of the band’s DNA.”– NME
“…it’s impossible to deny it is blazing with confidence and a witty, abrasive humour. What we loved about Slaves when they emerged into the DIY punk scene has returned into the mainstream, and about time too.”– CLASH
“The spirit of Ian Dury lives on in their witty observations of 21st-century living, not to mention their irresistibly rough swagger.”– The Independent
“Slaves is, all things considered, a pretty apt name for a band that represents a genuine alternative to much of what is subjugating about music, and life today.”– So Young Magazine
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So, how’s everything going?
Yeah really well we’re having a lovely time down under so far.
What are your first thoughts on Australia? How are you enjoying it?
It’s vast, it’s a massive country, everyone is very lovely and it’s hot and exciting.
What have you gotten up to so far?
So we flew into Perth and we played a headline show there, then we flew into Brisbane and played a headline show there, today we’re in Sydney and we’ve been to the driving range for a photoshoot, so it’s been pretty full on, like back to back stuff. But the shows have been incredible, couldn’t believe the response we had.
I know we spoke about your bucket list items last time, so tell me, have you managed to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge?
Not yet, but I should do that because we are here now, so I might get a cab into town later and go and see them. Actually, to be honest I have seen them, I saw them from the sky when we came in.
Now, Vegemite, have we tried it?
I’ve not tried it but I’ve got it in my suitcase, coz the first hotel had little plastic sachets of it so I put it in my suitcase.
How’s the photography going? Have you been taking many photos?
Yeah I was actually just taking photos earlier, stealing the shots that we were doing of Isaac at the photoshoot. So yeah, it’s going good.
How’s your girlfriend Emma?
Yeah, she’s actually six months pregnant, so she’s pretty uh big at the moment, and tired.
Do you know whether you’re having a baby boy or girl?
No, it’s gonna be a surprise we haven’t found out.
Have you got some names in mind?
Yeah we do but they’re secret. No-one’s allowed to know.
How old is Bart now?
Bart’s like 2 in 3 months. He’s talking, running around, practically making jokes already. I’m not that funny Emma’s the funny one for sure.
How are you feeling about the new arrival of the baby?
Yeah I’m excited, I can’t wait, like Bart’s old enough now that we’ve sort of gotten over the ‘trauma’ of having a one year old or a newborn baby and now I think we’re ready to dive back in again.
Considering it’s International Women’s Day today who are your female role models?
Ooh, uh I mean it’s probably gotta be Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill, umm my mum, my girlfriend Emma, I also love Patti Smith, Yoko Ono, Virginia Woolf, just all the women.
Girls seem to be under represented in punk audiences, why do you think that is?
I think there is an element of just like the safety and the inclusion aspects of it. I think in the past especially like maybe women feel less comfortable like going to the shows. Although last night in Brisbane I’d say our demographic was split straight down the middle like male and female, and women were in the front row, all the way back, everyone was having a really good, safe time. So I do think that there is that positive change being seen, but I guess it comes from this historic standpoint where maybe they don’t feel as comfortable at the shows.
Wow, That’s awesome that you had such a varied demographic of people in the audience at your show.
Yeah it’s the best, just like seeing everyone happy and all getting along, and different ages and in all walks of life is the best.
What would you say to the girls that love their punk music but are too afraid to get into the mosh?
Just go for it, because from my experience all punk bands now are all striving for the same thing, like for inclusion, whether its like Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes or Idles, or any of us, like we’re all pushing for inclusion and you’ve got like great female punk bands, like you’ve got ‘Dreamwife’ who are just like pushing it so hard for the females rights in music, and they’re having panels and discussions about how to involve young women more in the music industry, and Bikini Kill have just reformed so like there’s plenty of like female punk bands to go and get inspired by, so maybe that’s a good place to start. But you should just come to a show.
Is there any advice you’d give to women in general wanting to get into the music industry?
I think my advice always sort of just like goes to generally all musicians, and that’s whether you’re male or female you’ve gotta make music that you want to make and that’s like first and foremost. So like maybe for women I would just say like always follow your instincts, and don’t let people like mould you into anything, because I do think I see that a lot more in the music industry. I think labels feel like they try and take control of women’s careers maybe more than men do. But I think all musicians have to stand up for what you believe in, make music you want to make and then the rest will follow. Like if you’re doing something for someone else it’s never gonna be as authentic. You’ve been employed by someone because you’re good you know what to do and they don’t so you’ve gotta just listen to yourself to an extent.
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Being on tour can be tough on mental health and general well-being. How do you guys go with touring and do you have any strategies to keep each others spirits up?
Yeah I think, I mean every band’s gonna be different, but for us, like we learnt to give each other space and I think not overwhelming each other and knowing when someone needs like a hug, or someone just needs to be left to like chill is really important. I think all the like cliché rock ’n’ roll stuff doesn’t help your mental state. Like, if you’re just like getting drunk and doing drugs you’re just gonna feel rubbish the next day, and then you’re gonna have a bad show, then you’re gonna be tired, and it’s just like a knock-on effect, so it goes round and round. So like I don’t drink anymore, so I don’t really party. I get well-rested and it makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable. I’m still knackered, I still feel tired, but like it’s been easier for me to manage playing a show and then travelling and then keeping happier.
Have you yourself ever suffered depression or any sort of mental illness?
Not like sort of diagnosed but definitely just like mood swings and just like dramatic highs followed by lows, because you have such weird moments where you’ll be onstage in front of however many people, and then you’ll just like be on your own doing some sort of like really mundane life thing. So I think, I mean everyone’s anxiety shows in different ways but I definitely do have it, I’m quite a manic person.
With the recent tragic death of Keith Flint do you think this needs to be a bigger focus and get addressed within the music industry?
Yeah definitely, I think there have been so many cases of this over the past few years that it’s like sorta getting a bit out of control. You have like Chester from Lincoln Park, and you have Chris Cornell, it’s just like, it feels like it’s happening every month at the moment. And its also like much more common in males, so I think there is definitely a problem with men opening up and talking more. A lot of them seem to be from like older times and I think it’s important for people to come out and talk more openly now because we don’t live in the world we used to live in.
What bands do you currently have on rotation on Spotify? I assume it’s not a CD player.
I usually like, I make playlists a lot so, one of my favourite, current acts is Willy J Healey, he’s sort of a singer- songwriter dude from England. I’m really into ‘The Cure’ at the moment. I love Cardi B, I think she’s just sick! I’ve just gotten into ‘The Beatles’, it’s taken me years but I’m massively into them. I listen to loads of like quite classic rock, like ‘Dire straits’, yeah there’s a big mixture really. I’ve just gotten into ‘suede for the first time as well. Suede are sort of like a Brit-Pop act, so they were around in the 90s with like ‘Blur’ and Oasis.
Just for a bit of fun, if you were ever to get one of your lyrics tattooed which lyric would it be?
I’ve actually got ‘Acts of fear and love’ written across my chest, so I’ve already done it.
If you were to get another tattoo which lyric would it be?
That’s really hard now, it’s like I love all of the lyrics, I reckon a ‘do something tattoo’ so maybe I’d do that.
The Foo Fighters have been legends for a long time, how are you feeling about playing shows with them?
Yeah good, this will be like our third show with them so it’s really exciting, and every time we’ve played with them, we end up sort of spending like a bit more time with them each time. They’re just legends so any chance you get to impress them and like win their fans over is amazing!
At Download or any other major festivals or events that you play, do you get much time to hang out with the other artists? Or does everyone sort of keep to themselves?
It’s sort of like every single festival’s really different, sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t, like a lot of the time people have gotta be places, like they’re on tour or they’ve got another festival to go to. But we’ve made a lot of friends at festivals over the years.
Have you had a chance to catchup with ‘The DMA’S’ yet? Is that still on the agenda?
Well we flew in from Brisbane to Sydney today, and they’re flying from Sydney to Brisbane today, so we’ve sort of like missed them. They’re really good friends of ours, we play with them all the time in the UK.
Who are you most excited to see at Download?
I’m excited to go and catch ‘Slayer’, I’ve never seen them before so it’s gonna be interesting.
Can you see yourself getting in the mosh and crowdsurfing?
Possibly, I think they’re more of like a headbanger band, more like dudes whipping their hair around, but we’ll see.
Let’s take a moment, when the day’s over, what do you think about when you put your head on the pillow?
It’s usually like, I usually lay there thinking about what I’m gonna do next, whether it’s like something to do with my art, or the band, or I’m just constantly thinking about the next move in my sort of life. So I’m laying there like imagining what’s the next move until I fall asleep. I can’t really switch off very easily.
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What’s it like to be a ‘star’ chased by fans? Do you like getting recognised or do you crave anonymity in your ‘private time’?
Some people’s actions are way better than others, and sometimes it’s really mind blowing and the way people approach it can be really amazing. But when people are drunk and they are just sort of hassling you, then times like that you don’t enjoy it as much. It’s sort of like, that’s the life you chose, so I would never wish it away, because it’s crazy that people feel that way about me and my music. You can’t expect to like have success and then be able to be anonymous as well, that’s sort of like having a cake and eating it.
What was your ‘FUCK YEAH’ how did I get here moment, that moment where you were onstage and realised this was what you wanted to do for the rest of your life?
I think the second one I just always knew I wanted to do it, like from the age of like 10 or whatever when I first got a guitar, that’s all I ever wanted to do. But then the ‘fuck how did I get here moment’ probably would’ve been, we headlined the Enemy tent at Reading & Leeds Festival this year, and like going on in darkness to like 20,000 people who all were just going crazy, that was definitely like a ‘fuck how did I get here moment’.
How do you handle long haul flights? Obviously you’re constantly flying between places pretty frequently and most of them wouldn’t be short flights either.
It’s like you get good at it the more you practice, it’s kinda like meditation you’re just like calm, and you just know that you’re in it for a long time. But I think when you’ve had kids as well like just sitting on a plane and not like having to do anything is like a luxury, so I see it like that. I’m lucky I get to go on a long haul flight coz Emma’s at home running around after Bart which is much harder.
What are your favourite foods to eat on tour? Do you like experiencing the local culture or do you have your go to staple foods?
Yeah I always like trying things, I mean the sushi in Australia has been really good so far, but sometimes, like we’ve had so many flights so we’ve had a lot of bad plane food, that’s been one of the main experiences of this tour so far.
Do you fly economy, or business or first class? Which airlines have you been flying?
Economy all the way, we can’t afford business, we’ve been flying Virgin and Emirates which have been decent.
Favourite TV show at the moment?
I’ve just been watching ‘The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’ which is written by Amy Sherman- Palladino which is the like creator of Gilmore Girls. I watched all like 8 series or whatever of Gilmore Girls with Emma when Bart was just like a newborn baby and then it was over and it was very sad. But yeah this marvellous Mrs Maisel is really great, it’s got the same really fast talking script. It’s about New York in the 1950s, where a woman wants to become a comedian, it’s really good.
Did you ever see yourself going on to do further study?
I did one year of illustration, but I don’t think art school was for me.
Have you been up to much painting while on tour?
No, I keep a sketchbook, so I’ve been drawing, but I always do my paintings at home because they’re quite big.
What have you been drawing? Like local architecture or?
No, it’s sort of like I see things that I like and I like pick bits of them out, I drew a self portrait yesterday, just stuff like that. Any sort of like random ideas I have.
What are your plans while you’re in Melbourne, apart from playing Download Festival on Monday of course?
My best friend lives in New Zealand and he’s flying in to see me, so I haven’t seen him in like over a year, so I’m like quite excited about that. So I’m gonna try and hang out with him for a bit.
Have you got any plans to bring the family to Australia for a holiday?
Yeah I was talking to Emma about it yesterday and we were like saying maybe next time we tour we’ll come and tour and then stay out somewhere and holiday here afterwards. I would love to do it.
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ACTS OF FEAR AND LOVE
TRACKLIST
1. The Lives They Wish They Had
2. Cut and Run
3. Bugs
4. Magnolia
5. Daddy
6. Chokehold
7. Photo Opportunity
8. Artificial Intelligence
9. Acts of Fear and Love
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