EMQ’s With Slowmo75
EMQ’s With Slowmo75
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with UK Hard Rockers, Slowmo75. Huge thanks to their Guitarist/ Backing Vocalist, Stan, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
I’m Stan, I play rhythm guitar and sing backing vocals.
The band started a year or so before I joined. I had followed them from back then as I was friends with a couple if the guys, like many bands do the starting line-up changed and they thought about adding a 2nd guitarist to the band, I’d literally left a band and the same week got a invite to come down and jam, so I learned the set and 2 rehearsals later I was playing my first gig as part of the band. Now if you ask Mustang our vocalist, he will tell you that I never actually got asked to join I just turned up 1 day and never left!!
How did you come up with your band name?
Legend has it, one of the original members was sat in his car and saw the road markings in front of him that read SLOW on his side and SLOW on the opposite side but upside down from his point of view it read SLOWMO75.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
Were based in Sutton in Ashfied. Which we lovingly class as Robin Hood County … a.k.a. Nottinghamshire.
The scene in our town, like many towns isn’t heaving, but the wider picture we have some fantastic venues close by, in Nottingham, Sheffield, Derby and Chesterfield and lots of great bands.
What is your latest release?
We released a single Called ‘Freakshow’ a couple months back and it seems to be our best received track so far, we also had a beer brewed to coincide with the single and that sold too, however I think me and a couple of the band made a dint in that.
Who have been your greatest influences?
Personally my biggest influences were My uncle Eddie, who played Drums in a local band when I was growing up, he was a rocker and a biker with a big beard long hair and tattoos. I was just in awe of him growing up.
Musically I started with Nirvana and the whole Grunge/ Seattle scene bands. Alongside Guns ‘n’ Roses, Extreme… me and my mates would swap cassettes, but then I discovered the band Snot and that really opened my eyes to how a bunch of different styles could merge to create such an explosive groove with such power, likewise with the Deftones such subtle and brutal music all combined into huge walls of sound.
What first got you into music?
We always had music on at home. As a kid we would have the radio or records on more than TV my dad would have Queen, Leo Sayer, The Police on, my Mum would have Lionel Richie, Simply Red.
So, our house was full of music, weirdly though I dint get into playing music till about 16 when my mate was having guitar lessons, so we built a band around him. I was the singer and we all just picked up the rest of the instruments we needed to play as a band
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
For me it would be Florence Black. I absolutely love the band, to say they’re only in their mid-20’s they really strike a chord with an old, Nu-Metalhead like me ha ha! I spoke to Tristian and asked him about that and he said his dad got him into that stuff , so it makes sense.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
It would have to be Download. I go there every year and it’s the history surrounding Donnington that makes it special, the heritage. Every band that plays there says the same thing, a couple of my mates have played it with their bands too so I’m totally jealous ha ha!
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Not with Slowmo, but I once played an acoustic set in a beer garden one summer, whilst I was playing a kid came up and handed me a picture she had drawn of me playing. It’s not weird but it’s probably the only gift I’ve had, oh and someone once thew a slipper on stage …. I don’t know what that classes as??
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Keep going to gigs, take your kids, introduce them to the live scene let them experience it before we lose it, and especially come see us play
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
WOW!!!!! I genuinely don’t know who, there’s so many people that have sadly passed, I think when Taylor Hawkins passed away, myself and my wife shed a tear. I’d followed Foo Fighters throughout their entirety, from their first gigs over here in the 90’s up to the last time I saw them headline Leeds festival in 2019? I think.
I think his death impacted on me more than others.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I love making music and then standing on stage playing it, seeing how people respond to it, that’s a feeling like no other.
I don’t hate anything as such, I’m not great at promoting, making content for socials etc. so I guess that’s my least favourite part, but I do appreciate that, that is the way that the music industry is going and so it’s part of the job.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
I’d like to put more of the personal approach back into it, as I said before I want to make music but I don’t enjoy making “content”. But what you gonna do? The kids want it all instantly, and in their hand not out at a sweaty gig, ears ringing.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Again sooooo hard it’s probably easier to ask me which of my 4 kids a prefer !! I always say that “Appetite For Destruction” is a Masterclass in Rock ‘n’ Roll so it is 100% ONE of my favourites but the list is endless.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs or Downloads?
I have to admit that I use a streaming service for day to day listening. But when I buy music I like to have something physical, like a CD, however I currently don’t have a CD player, nor a record or tape player …. SHOCK HORROR!!
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
We recently played an all-day event at the Corporation called Steel Paws Festival and it was great. It had a fantastic vibe, a great sound and was for a great cause, it was also a really good gig for the band. We were really together and we were making one hell of a sound! It was a good performance to a very receptive audience.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I’m a Joiner by trade and a contract supervisor 9-5, so when I’m not trying to be a rock star that’s where you find me ha ha!
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Mark Tremonti, David Grohl, Justin Hawkins and the Wife (she wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t invite her) I know that’s only 4, but I only have a small dining room.
What’s next for the band?
We’re going back to the lab. We have a LOT of songs that need finishing and demoing ready to put the ep together and out so it’s a bit of time spent on that.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
Facebook and Spotify are our main accounts.
https://www.facebook.com/slowmo75band
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1aC6rXuDf40bY5IZcTXdGh
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
Oh its most definitely a COB.
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you for reading this, and please, please keep going to gigs spreading the word that music is best experienced live. Show your kids, take them to see bands and don’t forget to see them at the small venues too.
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
