Slackrr are one of a new wave of hungry young bands pushing through at the moment. They have a vibe that fits well with a wide range of music and that means they’re getting plenty of festival bookings. Aggy Gillon caught up with Scotty (guitar and vocals), Kate (bass/backing vocals) and Joe (drums) to talk about their ongoing success, radio airplay and getting signed.
This is your first Rebellion, what does playing here mean to you guys?
Scotty: “It’s been two years in the making. We have been waiting a while because of COVID and it means a lot to us to finally get here and do it. We are really excited. We have been touring since 2018 and today is our 425th show”
You have done so many shows in such a small amount of time! You must be very dedicated.
Scotty: “It started with the first single we released getting played on BBC Introducing. After that show offers started coming in and we just didn’t say no to anything. There are so many of our friends here and bands we have played with over time. We kind of ended up networking which makes it sound a bit official. We just made friends with a lot of people and promoters came and saw us after hearing us on the radio. I always say when people ask normally that it started off as a bit of fun and it just got out of hand *all laugh*”
How did it come about you playing on BBC Introducing?
Scotty: “We submitted our songs to the show. They always put the disclaimer on there that you will hear from us in the next six months maybe…We have got friends who have submitted to them for years and they never play anything. The first thing we submitted they liked and played within a couple of weeks. The same happened with the next single. They have supported us ever since and have been amazing really. I think every single we have released has been on BBC”.
You were previously featured on Kerrang radio as well?
Kate: “Yeah a few times now”
Scotty: “The first time was Alex Baker’s show ‘Fresh Blood’. It was our third single off of our new album. He listened to it and sent us the nicest email saying how much he loved the song. He made us featured artist of the week which was crazy. Then every single after that has been played on there and they just played our most recent one which came out with the album in March. We were played on mainstream, daytime prime time Kerrang radio and we were the only band who weren’t signed to a major label that was on that show. Honestly, we were just like, this can’t be real! One of the dudes from Kerrang hit me up and said you guys are being played between I think it was Paramour and Deftones. It was crazy, we were like wow!”
One of your EPs sold out in 48 hours, can you tell us about that?
Kate: “Yeah, that was our first physical release”.
Scotty “That was the ‘I Know’ EP with the single of it being ‘I Know’. We were with a manager at the time. We had released two or three singles just digitally. He said you have got nothing physical to sell. We were doing all these shows, we’ve got T-Shirts but no physical music as we assumed physical was dead. But that’s what everyone tells you. Turns out it’s not which is amazing. We are just humbled by the amount of CDs people have bought. So we put our EP on our online store and in 48 hours it was gone. A good few hundred units just went”.
Can you tell us about your other releases?
Scotty: “The first album came out in 2019 which is called ‘Time, It Waits For No One’. We released that on the same day we played our first appearance at the Isle of White festival. We headlined one of the stages there. Which was amazing! That came out in June 2019. Our second record came out in March of this year which is called ‘A Place That Feels Like Home’.
You have played the Isle of White twice now?
Scotty: ‘’Three times now”
That must have been quite an experience for you guys
Scotty: “Do you want the long boring story of how it came about?”
Go for it!
Kate: “Oh no not this story!” *all laugh*
Scotty: “We are from Southampton so we just get on a boat to go to the Isle of White. We went and played a show over there and it was during the World Cup and England lost…We went on after that happened. They were showing the match at the venue we were playing at on a big projector. A band went on at the halftime when it was a tie, that was fine and then we went on after they lost” *laughs*
Oh dear…
Scotty: “There were people there but the mood was horrible! And we were trying to be upbeat. This guy comes up to us afterward. You know when people come up to you after shows and they are kind of drunk. They say things like you guys are great and I’m going to book you here and I’m going to do this for you…You hear it a lot. We are a young band and you hear it and it’s nice to hear but we had learned at that point people can just say stuff and then actually don’t contact. He says to us he’s going to get us on the Isle of White festival. We are like of course that’s cool *all laugh*. He asked for our card and we didn’t hear anything from him. We then played again in January 2019 and he came along with a mate. Once again we hear ‘we’re going to get you on the Isle of White festival’ and were like thanks very much guys I know you have had a couple of drinks and you have enjoyed it and that’s amazing thank you very much…Then after a couple of weeks we get a formal offer come through saying were playing. I was just like this can’t be real I’m not going to tell the guys. These guys are yanking our chain. So it gets to about six weeks out and they were like we want you to headline this stage on the Friday night. I was like you got to be kidding! Here is the actual offer with a contract that you will sign for it. I was then like this is happening! So we stopped at a service station, we were still on the road in between shows. They thought I was going to say something really bad. I didn’t know how to tell them”.
Kate: “It just sounded really ominous for a few minutes” *all laugh*
Scotty: “After that, they just kept inviting us back. The first year was amazing as we were headlining and our first album was coming out. We were blown away by the people that turned up, they were wearing our shirts and were singing along to songs that had been released on the album. The second time was even better. We had new singles out and the pandemic had happened in between, it was September 2021. It was also our first time in the main arena. We had just done it in June and the stage we were on was absolutely packed. We handed out like 400 hundred flyers to get some more people in in the days beforehand. As we were going on there was a rapper on stage and there was a massive crowd. I was just like oh okay.. he’s obviously really popular. What we didn’t realise is people had come in a couple of bands before to wait at the barriers to watch us. They were singing along to every word. People came with flyers who couldn’t get in the tent. Honestly, at that point we were just like that’s fine we could just end here”. *laughs*
Have you got any other festivals on the bucket list then?
Scotty: “Absolutely. Slamdunk, Reading, Punk Rock Holiday. Download would be another one. Glastonbury would be cool. There are loads actually I think we have got a list. Rebellion has been on our hit list for a while now this is a dream. It’s our first time here, the first day and everyone has been amazing. It was on our wish list of festivals to do and we are so happy to be here”.
What are your thoughts on your set coming up and playing Rebellion this weekend?
Scotty: “How are you feeling Joe?”
Joe: “Yeah it’s doing good”
Scotty: “Joe is the silent type”
Joe: “I’m just here for moral support” *all laugh*
Kate: “I think it’s going to be from now onwards that the nerves start hitting you a little bit but hearing people saying to us how excited they are for the set has been really encouraging. I’m feeling really excited right now”.
How did you guys all meet and decide to form Slackrr?
Scotty: “We all live like ten minutes away from each other. Kate and I have been friends since we were teenagers”
You guys recently got a new record deal?
Scotty: “So we signed to our management in 2021 in the States, in New York. They have been shipping us around to a bunch of labels. We have spoken to a bunch of people and then Vinnie Fiorello from Less Than Jake expressed a massive interest. We spoke to him and it seemed like the right fit we signed a deal with him in January this year and put the record out. We recently signed with TKO Booking as well. It’s just been crazy.
It’s amazing how much stuff you have managed to achieve in such a short space of time. Of course that comes with putting the work in as you have but just want to say congratulations on all of your successes.
Scotty: “Thank you so much. We are having the best time. We always said when this started if this lasts six months we will have the best six months doing it. It’s now been four and a half years”
Would you like to send a message to your fans
Scotty: “The biggest oh my god thank you for allowing us to do what we do! When in 2018 when we started doing this we couldn’t have dreamed we would be doing all these festivals and touring this much. When the lockdown happened we didn’t know when we were going to get to see all of these people, all of our friends. When everything opened up everyone has been so kind and so welcoming and it’s the best! It’s just so nice to meet everybody and hang out with people. Talk music, seeing people enjoy themselves at the show, just all of it! Thank you is all I can say!”
Interview and photos by Aggy Gillon