They’re possibly the hardest touring act around at the moment. They almost certainly have the sunniest disposition too. Slackrr have amassed quiet a following for a band just six years old. And they deserve every success. Gary Trueman caught up with Scotty, Cait and Louis to discuss the toll that high mileage takes on their vans, what happens when you feel inspired to write while on the road and lost in translation, tales from visiting the US.
You’re still gigging like fury. Do you ever get to go home? Do you remember what home looks like?
Scotty: “Rarely and no haha. We get a handful of days here and there. We’ll get a few days before we head out to Europe a couple of times before the end of the year. It’s all go, it’s just crazy at the moment. It’s always crazy but as soon as it gets to festival season all bets are off.”
Does van life get a bit stinky at times?
Scotty: “No because I’m really strict on that. We’re pretty good. We have a few rules about no smelly food in there and make sure you have a shower. Because we’re on the road so much we try to make it as livable as possible. We try to be as comfortable as we can.”
You don’t really get any downtime at all so how do you write?
Scotty: “There are some funny stories about our writing. It’s not uncommon for me to suddenly stop the van somewhere and get a guitar out, at like service stations and stuff like that. Hotel rooms get written in. A lot of stuff happens on the road. We tend to load gear into our hotel rooms.”
For security presumably?
Scotty: “Pretty much yes. Then if the guitar is there and an idea pops up. So we might load in to a hotel at 2am and at 4am the other two are asleep and I might be thinking this might be good or that might work. Then I wake up the next day and can’t remember what it was.”
Cait: “And standing with guitars in car parks as well.”
Standing with guitars in car parks would be a great name for an album.
Scotty: “That’s not bad actually, we’re gonna take that.”
You clock up a shit load of miles so how does that work with logistics? Have you got your own van? And has it got like a million miles on it already? And what is this amazing vehicle that carries Slackrr around?
Scotty: “We have just bought out of necessity a new van. We’ve now driven three into the ground since 2018. The first vehicle we had was a C4 Picasso five seater. We drove that until one of the gears fell off. We were coming back from the studio for our second record and lost fifth gear. There was a crunch and a dink, dink, dink noise. We did manage to limp home. Then we had a seven seater and something major went on that. And we’ve just got rid of the most recent seven seater. It hadn’t failed but it was definitely about to. We’ve just bought a Ford Transit Custom because it’s Euro 6 compliant and clean air is a thing. It costs so much to keep paying fines.”
So you can drive it into the dreaded Ulez Zone legally?
Scotty: “I believe so, and you don’t have to leave by midnight or get another fine on top. So basically we destroy vehicles on a regular basis.”
You could be test pilots for van manufacturers. Maybe get a Ford endorsement?
Scotty: “Yes, say to them we’ll drive this around for you and tell you how many miles it’ll actually do.”
You’re very busy and also have a strong DIY ethic. So when does it come to the point when you need to take other people on to help with things like PR and management? All that stuff that people don’t see.
Scotty: “We’ve had a manager for nearly four years now. Eric is fantastic. He’s over in the states. He sorts out a whole bunch of stuff. He got us over to the states the first couple of times we went over. We were with Lost Music Collective for the last two records. They help out with the PR and stuff. In the last couple of months we signed with SBAM Records. They have loads of cool punk and ska bands. So we do have people but it’s kind of a new thing to have them invested and as interested in the band as we are.”
We need to talk about something really important now. You have a new drummer. Can you let people know who you are?
Louis: “Hi I’m Louis. I hit things with sticks and sometimes it’s in time. I’ve been with Slackrr since January and touring since mid March. It was a baptism of fire, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
Scotty: “It’s been refreshing. It’s been the three of us pretty much since the band started. Then Joe couldn’t do it any more for various personal reasons.”
You wore him out like you wear your vans out.
Scotty: “Basically yes. We’ll go with that. We’re still friends. I was speaking to him the other day. Life got in the way for him on a personal level. Louis found us, we all found each other. Everything is new to him, like being here at Rebellion. Going to Europe was new to him. The relentless touring is all new too. You see someone else getting excited and you remember how it was for you. I still get excited but it adds to it. It’s spurred us on to writing again more.”
Has it been the case that being able to see Louis’ reaction to things you have become accustomed to makes you realise how interesting your lives are and how far you’ve come?
Scotty: “I don’t really think about that, we just do it, keep our heads down and do it. So when he points things out it is…. Oh Ok! We are very fortunate to have the privilege to do this. We like to keep it real and do it for the love of music.”
It does shine in your attitude. You seem as enthusiastic now as you did when we first saw you a few years ago now. You stiull have that glint in your eye.
Scotty: “You hear about these bands that are going through the motions. We’ve always said we don’t want to be that. If it’s not fun any more, if we’re not enjoying it, why do it? Obviously for huge rock star bands it’s a comfortable living, I get that. For me though if I didn’t have the enthusiasm for it any more I’d do something else. I don’t know what I’d do though haha.”
Cait: “Because we’re on the road as much as we are if we weren’t enjoying it it would just be incredibly draining. Enjoying it is the most important part, and that coming across in our live shows is really important to us.”
You touched on the US earlier. And a phrase that comes to mind is ‘gee are you British’. There are language difficulties aren’t there?
Scotty: “We went to America before we went to Europe. The first time we went overseas to tour was 2022. It was a culture shock to us. We landed in Orlando and nobody bats an eyelid that you’re British. And we drive up to Gainsborough and we all speak English but with very different phrasing and meanings. Our sarcasm absolutely does not translate. Like if you say you’re disappointed. We use that word so much over here, it’s a throw away thing. You say that over there and they’re like, oh no are you going to be OK? It’s a big thing over there. Then when they find out you’re British they ask if you drink tea. Yeah. Do you know the Queen? Not personally. Getting food too. Asking for chocolate bars and crisps and you get the what is that look. Chips and candy, oh yeah we got that why didn’t you say. You kind of have to remember everything you absorbed through American TV as a kid.”
Cait: “I asked for toilet roll for the hotel room. It took me a while before I realised I had to translate it to toilet paper. I had to remember not to use a lot of our slang. Words like sick and wicked which I use quiet a lot, weren’t going to go down well.”
Scotty: “You’re sick and you feel evil at the same time? Yeah kinda! Haha.”
What have you got lined up for the next year or so?
Scotty: “Nothing. This is it! After this interview we’re done. No, really, we have a lot more touring. There will be new music on the way which we’re doing in between all the touring. Festivals are already booked in for next year which is cool. More Europe, hopefully going back to the states because we’re not going this year.”
Cait: “It’s our first time in Germany at the end of the year which we’re excited for. We’ve had supports from radio stations already in Germany which is cool.”
Scotty: “ We never thought we would ever get to do all of this. We thought we’d just be three kids from Southampton playing in a run down rehearsal room having fun.”
Which you are but playing to a much wider audience.
Scotty: “Yes, and that blows your mind. If I could tell, the 16 year old us, you’re going to be tired a lot but you’ll be having the best time, meeting so many people, making so many friends, we’d be like, we don’t think so. It’s such a privilege to do this. Even the hard days, it’s still fun, it’s memories.”
Have you got a message for the fans that found you early on and the ones that are still finding you now?
Scotty: “We can’t express out appreciation enough. To anyone that’s stuck with us over the past six years, anyone who’s discovering us now, I find it hard to put into words how much it means to us. It’s special, it’s amazing, from the bottom of our hearts thanks you for being so kind and allowing us to enjoy this with you. It’s about the community. Music brings people together, that’s the reason we are music fans and still are. That’s why when we’re not playing or doing interviews we’ll be watching other bands play and we’ll be staying to watch them play on other days. That’s what it’s all about for us.”
Interview And Photos By Gary Trueman