Questa la mia intervista con gli Slow Pulp, band rivelazione il cui album d’esordio uscirà il prossimo 8 ottobre e la recensione di “Moveys” questo venerdì. Buona lettura.
1) When and how did you decide to form a band? Why did you choose your current name for a band?
-Teddy, Alex, and Henry had been playing music together as a three piece, and I (Emily) met them through the music scene in Madison, WI where we are from. We had all been kind of in between different projects, and the timing just felt right to start making music together. “Slow Pulp” was the name of an EP we had made in a different project, and someone had mistakenly thought it was our band name and we just rolled with it 🙂
2) You remind me of some bands from the 90’s, which bands or artist inspired you the most?
-Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, The Breeders, Garbage, Liz Phair, Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, Sheryl Crow, Duster
3) How was produced your debut album?
-We recorded most of the drums and bass for the album in our practice space in Chicago, and I (Henry) recorded the guitar and some additional parts at my apartment. Emily was back home in Wisconsin for much of the time we were recording, so she recorded most of the vocals at home with her dad and sent them to us. I did most of the mixing and production at my apartment
4) Do you have any rituals before the show?
-We do a thing called the “cinnamon roll” that our friend Celeste taught us. It’s kind of like a group hug but it’s pretty hard to explain.
5) Do you prefer playing in a club or working – recording in a studio?
-We like to do both! Playing a show is a pretty different experience altogether than the writing/ recording process, but both are very rewarding experiences!
6) How do you feel playing around? (Really hope to see you soon in Italy or during a summer festival)
-It’s both really amazing and also very exhausting. It’s fun to be able to connect with new people and to see new places, but the days can be very long and the nights so short! It’s a lot of driving and a lot of time spent in close quarters in the van but we have fun!
7) What did you learn during this lockdown? Do you have any surprise during your future shows for your fans?
-We spent much of the lockdown working on our album. We definitely did a lot of experimenting and ultimately developed a new process in terms of songwriting while we were recording. It feels like we became closer during lockdown, even though we were apart for much of it, and learned a lot about working together as a group. We can’t spoil the surprises! 😉
8) “Moveys” is a brilliant debut album and you made it during the lockdown, how did you arrange it?
-We just coordinated mostly over email and zoom calls. We luckily have a practice space in Chicago that each of us can go to in order to record our individual parts. It was unfortunate to not be able to play the songs together, but it didn’t disrupt our writing and recording process too much. It was actually really helpful to have more time than normal because some of our jobs had closed down at the beginning of the lockdown.
9) Could you tell me more about the lyrics?
-The lyrics overall were written at a time where I (Emily) was going through a lot of personal and emotional changes. I had recently gotten diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and was dealing with issues with my mental health. When we were finishing the record my parents got into a horrible car accident and I had to move back home to Wisconsin to take care of them. There were so many ups and downs throughout this time, and the lyrics reflect these inconsistencies of life and how we learn from them.
We hope to visit Italy soon, and look forward to sharing space with everyone again <3
