August 8, 2024 • 44 mins
Laurie Vincent is one half of the electrifying punk rock duo Soft Play. In this episode, we discuss the band's recent flawless performance at the Glastonbury Festival. Laurie also opens up about the unique chemistry with his bandmate Isaac, revealing how their deep-rooted bond and shared musical influences shape their distinctive sound. We also dive into the band's emotional comeback, their bold decision to change their name, their raw and gritty songwriting process, and the evolution of their sound influenced by legends like The Pogues, Joe Strummer, and The Waterboys.
Plus, an unexpected collaboration with Robbie Williams, tattoos, Banksy, Vin Diesel, and the inspiring story behind their incredible new album, Heavy Jelly. As always, brought to you by Sailor Jerry!
https://www.instagram.com/thelaurievincent/
https://www.instagram.com/softplayplaysoft/
https://sailorjerry.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hell yeah, what up.
Laurie, how are you?
I'm good.
Been working hard.
You know Lots of work.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yeah, yeah, man, it sure seems like it.
I'm good man, I'm great.
We're writing a new recordright now at home and we're
still playing shows here andthere.
Just played a show inPennsylvania, played a show or
playing a show in Denver comingup, so we're getting our kind of
live gig fix and you know, lifeis good man, life is good.
How was Glastonbury?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
It was pretty life affirming.
I don't know how you feel aboutbig shows, but I think on those
really big platforms we'venever quite had the show I've
wanted to have.
And I sort of suffer with thisthing that if something goes
sort of like not even wrong if Ibreak a string or if a pedal
pedal glitches or if an amp cutsout I go inside my head and
(00:48):
then all of a sudden it's likeit's like someone turning the
lights on when it's been pitchblack and I can't get back in.
I find it so hard to get backinto the zone, whereas at
Glastonbury I was just in it, Iwas like I was enjoying it and I
never had to leave the zone andI've wanted that forever and it
got recorded and it was thebest show of our lives.
(01:09):
But it's because we've beenworking towards it and it's the
payoff oh man, that's amazing,dude, congratulations.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, I know I'm lucky as a standalone vocalist
that I don't really gotta tofuck with too much gear.
And I've seen, I've seen thegear nightmare happen a zillion
times.
I've seen the look on ourguitar player Joby's face, ken
Horn's face, you can, when yougo to a show and you see someone
else's gear like malfunctioningon stage, you just feel you can
(01:39):
feel it.
There's nothing worse.
It's like you're saying, withthe lights on, I quote that
there's this roller coaster,this famous roller coaster at
Disneyland called Space Mountain.
And yeah, yes, space Mountainis.
You're in space, you're flyingthrough space and every now and
then roller coasters break downand when they do, they got to
(01:59):
come in, they got to turn thelights on.
And when you're stuck in SpaceMountain, when you're stuck, in
Space Mountain.
They come in, they got to turnthe lights on, and when you're
stuck in Space Mountain, whenyou're stuck in Space Mountain,
they come in and they turn thelights on.
It just ruins everything.
You're no longer in space.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, the flow has been interrupted.
I mean, that is actually that'show we learn what we do, like
you see us live and you'll seethe storytelling and you see the
sort of like it's almost like.
I mean, in England we havethese, these, we have pantomimes
I don't know if you have themin the states, but it's this
really awful sort of slapstickhumor and our band sort of
(02:35):
incorporates that into the liveshow.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And that is because everything just used to break,
like we've done 30 minute, we'vedone 30 minute, we've done 30
minute shows, played one songand 25 minutes has been feedback
and that, if, like, that's theway to hone your craft and we've
kept the chat and just tryingto get rid of all the stuff
breaking get someone asking mehey, do you have any advice for
(03:07):
singers or like being like thefront person of a band and one
of the things I say is alwayshave a story in your back pocket
because gear's going to breakdown, gear's going to break down
, shit's going to happen, andit's your job to keep things
kind of moving while shit goeson behind the scenes, because
there's nothing worse than justthat awkward shit, you know, and
(03:28):
especially if you're just, ifyou just gotta work like you're
working on your shit.
So yeah, it's always in thepunk world, shit breaks.
I mean, shit breaks oneverybody.
But yeah, that's it.
I'm glad that glastonbury was aflawless gig.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Man, there's no greater feeling yeah, man, and
it was recorded, like so thepast two times that we were on
so early that the bbc didn'tswitch the cameras on, but this
time it was on and it gotcaptured and yeah, it's sort of
things just keep getting betterand better at the moment, so
we're very excited that's sick,man, that's sick.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
and as now as of the airing of this Sailor Jerry
podcast, heavy Jelly is out.
Okay, the Rebirth is complete.
Incredible record, my man.
So congratulations on that.
I want to dive into the record,of course, for our listeners.
I want to go back a little bit.
I want to get a little bit ofhistory with you personally,
(04:22):
with music and then, of course,getting into the band.
So, starting with you, wheredid kind of music first take
hold for you?
When did you get a guitar, allthat good stuff?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I told my parents I wanted to play guitar when I was
really young.
I must have been I was talkingabout this the other day I must
have been six or seven and I gota classical Spanish guitar and
got signed up for lessons at myprimary school and started being
taught how to play.
Happy Birthday.
(04:52):
And I was like this is not whatit's about.
I was like I fucking I want tolearn, I want to be slashed.
I remember we had I can't evenremember what the music channel
was called we had one that waslike maybe called VHS, it wasn't
even MTV.
I can't remember what the musicchannel was called.
We had one that was like maybecalled vhs, it wasn't even mtv.
I can't remember what it was.
And I remember watchingnovember rain on that and, sweet
child of mine, I was likefucking hell, I want to do that.
(05:13):
And then somehow I found out hewas from stoke on trent and so
that kind of made rocksuperstars that's right, that's
right, damn slash yeah, it madeit feel sort of more, sort of
achievable.
And then, I think the followingyear I didn't do very well at
lessons of guitar and then I gotbought like the squire
(05:34):
stratocaster starter pack whereyou got the little amp, the lead
, the pick, the guitar, and Ijust remember I used to just
turn it on and just like strum,I just wanted to be able to play
it.
But the hard work you had to gothrough was a lot Like my kids
now, like they try and playguitar and they're like this
fucking hurts your fingers.
Obviously they don't swear andI'm like, yeah, you have to put
(05:55):
a hustle in, it doesn't happenovernight.
So I went through tons ofguitar teachers and then I must
have been 10 or 11 and I metthis guy called Chris Waters and
I was really struggling withthe instrument, like I could do
Smoke on the Water, but Ibasically had stopped the guitar
to try and play drums to see ifI could have more luck with
that instrument.
(06:16):
But you know, I had that desireto be up the front and I met
this guy, chris Waters, and hesat me down, I remember, in my
basement and he had his guitar,I had my guitar and he showed me
how to play Wonderwall in 10minutes and he left the first
lesson and I was playing a songand that was it.
I was in, there was no fuckingaround.
(06:37):
He was like we can do all thetheory stuff later.
He was like, let's just get youplaying.
And yeah, I'm still in touchwith him now and I'm so grateful
.
He basically gave me the giftof music.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That's so cool, man.
Yeah, sometimes it just takes.
Everyone learns a different way.
Everyone kind of getscomfortable with music in a
different way, especially withan instrument.
I mean, it's a long processGuitar is insane and there's
people who have the giftnaturally.
There's people who pick it upthrough school and then there's
people who just learn a song,man, and it just unlocks that
excitement and that kind of justbasic knowledge of, hey, if I
(07:11):
can play this song, I couldprobably play another one and
maybe I can write my own.
That's fucking dope.
So how did you kind of get intofinding your own sound?
Were you in a band beforeSoftplay got started?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, so I started.
I think I tried to form bands.
From knowing Wonderwall onwards, I was trying to start bands.
So I would just, I'd hear thatfriends were having music
lessons and I'd be like what?
You play drums.
And then obviously they comearound and you realize that they
can't really play drums.
They can, just they just havelessons.
And it used to confuse me thatnot everyone wanted to make the
(07:45):
kind of music I wanted to make.
Because when you're a kid it'sjust such tunnel vision.
You're fixed in first playermode, you're like when you play
racing games, and you can changethe perspective.
You're just the perspectivewhere you can only see the road.
Like there's no steering wheeland I was just like, why does no
one else want to make thismusic?
And so I just went through.
(08:07):
I must have been in 10 or 11different bands by the time I
was like 15.
But that was just my.
Just write a few songs and thenit didn't work.
Start another one.
Write a few songs, didn't work.
People just coming around.
And then I was in like a littleindie band, because when we were
kids what was popular waseither everyone dubstep had just
(08:29):
come out I remember benga andcokie just released that tune
night so everyone was eitherlike becoming bedroom producers
or you had like, on the otherside you had the kooks foals,
yeah, and everyone wanted to bein an indie band.
So I couldn't find anyone thatwould wanted to make punk music
with me.
So I kind of settled to makeindie music for the meantime,
(08:51):
hoping to make it heavier, andyeah.
So I was about 16 or 15 and wewere all doing our options for
A-levels and my friends told methat they were going to go to
university and I was just likebetrayal.
I was like I want to be in aband and they're like, yeah, but
we're going to go to university.
And I was just like fuck that,and I quit the band because I
was like you're not loyal, yeah,and I just went off and tried
(09:15):
to find my people and so I wasin.
I played bass in another bandand then how I met isaac was he
was the front man of a bandcalled bareface and at the time
they were like doing bitslocally.
We grew up about 40 minutesaway from each other in like
neighboring towns and, um, Ijust thought his band were the
best fucking band I'd ever seenand I just was like I need to be
(09:37):
around these people.
I actually thought like I'mnever gonna be as good as that
because that they just killed it.
And then I just went up to himone night like finally got the
courage, and I was like, oh, ifyou ever need a bassist or a
guitarist or anything, and thenext day he gave me the call and
I joined that band.
And then you shouldn't join yourfavorite band because you've
(09:58):
then destroyed the chemistry.
What made it a favorite band?
And you know, every member ofthat band went to him
individually to say do you wantto start something new?
And he chose me.
And then we couldn't get anyoneelse.
No one else wanted to be in apunk band, so it was just us two
and we had to work it out, butit was a blessing.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Hell yeah, man, that's dope.
And shout out to Isaac, anincredible front man, front
person drummer.
Just your guys' energy togetheris just really cool, man.
And it's different.
It's been different from theget-go.
We toured together briefly in2014, when the band was called
(10:38):
Slaves, and we had a show inHuddersfield that was legendary.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
The Parish.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah, shout out to Mikey at the Parish.
For so long they were sendingus messages please come to
Huddersfield, please come toHuddersfield.
And we went there together andhad so much fun and I remember
watching you guys and there'sjust something about the way you
guys play together between yourguitar playing, isaac's
drumming and just what's goingon lyrically, you guys just are
(11:07):
a perfect fit.
When it came to coming together, starting the band, how did you
guys kind of was it kind ofinstant rhythmically, with the
vibe between you guys and when?
How did he cause he wasn'tplaying drums in the first band,
right, when did he switch topsycho standup drummer?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, man, we're having this weird like viral
moment with punkstead at themoment, where we posted a live
clip on our Instagram reels andit's had 5 million streams and
it's kind of the first time alot of people in America are
finding out about us.
Is this clip?
And, like, these dudes are justlike get a fucking stall, like
(11:48):
get a kick drum, sit down, whatthe fuck are you doing?
But, yeah, I think we bondedover our influences and I just
this is like so specific, but Iwas really into crass and where
we're from in kent, there's atown called rochester where I
went to you university brieflyfor a year and they have this
(12:11):
garage rock scene where I don'thave you heard of billy childish
yes, I'm not from too familiar,but I know the name, so he was
in tons of bands like.
One of the more famous ones waslike the headcoats, but it's
this really specific sort ofjangly like punk it's.
It's a punk sound, but it'smore sort of like they're catchy
(12:34):
songs, they're like pop songsput through punk but really,
really nasty, and I was obsessedwith that.
And then I was obsessed with inthe belly of a shark by the
gallows, yeah, that song.
I was like I want to make aband that sounds like that song,
the way that the guitars alljangly and gnarly, and then
you've got frank, just goingpsycho over it.
(12:55):
Yeah, that was the likereference point.
And then we got together and westarted trying like I think I
took an acoustic guitar aroundjust to be like let's see if we
can start writing a song.
And then we were like sendingmessages out to musicians, like
do you want to play bass, do youwant to play drums?
One guy said I will be in yourband but you will be my second
(13:17):
priority and we were just likefuck that and funnily enough.
That's amazing.
Yes, you come second and he's areally he's a really nice dude.
Yeah, he did slide in a fewyears later and go do you still
want to join another member?
And we were like too late man.
So what happened was I?
Because I play drums as well.
I had a drum kit and I was likewhilst we're writing, let's
(13:39):
bring these drums over to yourhouse.
And I had two floor toms, asnare and two cymbals and I
plugged in like this littlepractice amp.
He had that.
He'd never played drums before,but Isaac's a crazy talented
musician Like he can make asound out of anything.
He's like that kind of guy.
It just comes naturally to him.
And we wrote two songs back toback straight away.
(14:01):
Like only played them for acouple of times and he was just
like I was like just hit them,like you're, like you're
drumming on the steering wheelwhen you're driving.
And he did that.
We wrote two songs and then hisdad came upstairs and was like
boys, I love it, but I've beenall the way down to the end of
the street and I can hear yououtside.
You're gonna have to stop.
There was this feeling in theroom when he did that drumming.
(14:24):
We just looked at each otherand we were like this is it,
isn't it?
And then his dad is like acrazy record head, like his
record collection's insane.
And he went boys, and he justpulled out this stack of records
and he was like this is all thestand-up drummers I know.
And he showed us like the straycats when they had one, and he
had the violent femmes, hellyeah, and you, you had for
(14:46):
periods of times the Cramps hada stand-up drummer.
And then Bobby Gillespie playedstand-up drums in I always
forget the name of the band hewas in before Primal Scream, but
anyway, yeah.
So that made it seem possible.
And then we were just likewe're fucking doing this.
And then we were like we'renever're never gonna.
This is so fun, but we justwon't play on a stage, we'll do
(15:06):
floor shows and we'll stoptrying to be like a famous band,
we'll just have fun.
And then that's when everythingclicked into place and that's
so sick.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That's so sick.
Yeah, there's something specialabout I just I feel like it
drives the song just a littlebit more of the drummer singing,
(15:42):
but the way he's playing and itjust adds to the frantic style
between you guys, it's just sucha cool sound man and it's so
rad to see and he does it sowell.
I'm curious, like, when youguys write songs, are you
writing, are you counting, or isit more feel?
You know what I mean.
Like, are you guys kind ofplaying the numbers game with
(16:04):
stuff or are you getting superintricate on rhythms?
Cause a lot of the stuff youplay on guitar is super rhythmic
and it also, you know, itreminds me of early Bronx stuff
when Jorma and Joby would write.
It was very like Jorma wasalmost playing the guitar riff
on the drums or trying to, andthere's a lot of syncopation
that happens that way and it'sreally cool and I hear that with
(16:25):
you guys as well.
Is it something you guys diveinto like numbers wise, or is it
kind of just a feeling?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So for me it's a feeling like I will play a riff,
like for instance, on the newrecord you've got, isaac is
typing and that's in, like it'sgot a crazy time signature in
the chorus and I like feel itout, and then I'll be like, oh,
if you do that and then add astop.
But Isaac can actually count itout, and then as soon as he
tells me to count it out, Ican't do it.
(16:54):
Like I find numbers so hard,like I'm really numbers dyslexic
I've never had it tested, butme in hotel rooms are a fucking
nightmare.
I can never remember where I'mgoing, and so it's a feel thing
for me and I have my own way ofgoing around it.
So I play ahead of the beat,everything I do is ahead of the
beat, and it means that whenkids try and cover our songs and
(17:17):
they play correctly, correctly,it sounds wrong because I'm
always pushing, because I'm nota very well trained guitarist.
But then that's my argument fornot being too well trained is
that you create a style, so alot of it is on feel and I lose
track of where I am when I'm inthe moment.
So I have to look over to isaacand see when he's about to drop
(17:41):
into the next bit.
It's really cool we've got thiskind of like symbiotic energy
going.
We're like twins on stage.
We just feel where it's goingthat's fucking sick man.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
And getting into the new record here a little bit.
This is.
You could call it your debut ifyou wanted to.
It's your fourth record.
Are you Satisfied?
It came out in 2015.
Is that gold?
By the way, Is that record gold?
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It is.
I've got the plaque in mybathroom.
That's fucking awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, congrats, dude, congrats.
So Are you Satisfied?
2015, take Control.
2016, acts of Fear and Love2018.
I know there was a couplethings you did with the gorillas
, but did you break up or didyou kind of chill for a bit?
What happened in between?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
So on our last ever tour as slaves, we were just
super disjointed.
It was like he didn't know howI was feeling and I didn't know
how he was feeling, and neitherof us had the ability to
communicate.
We were like stuck in thisreally sort of partly
self-inflicted make an albumtour, make an album, yeah, and
(18:54):
we were chasing something thatwas sort of like the craft, the
attention to detail was waswaning, but the gigs were still
big.
So then it was like this reallyhollow feeling of like oh,
we're not as critically likesuccessful as we were, but
people are still coming, and wewere only sort of the only thing
we had was our live show.
Like the writing partnershiphad fallen apart because our
(19:16):
friendship was falling apart.
I was like this is getting sostressful.
I was like let's take a yearoff, let's get to the end of
this album campaign.
We played a load of festivals insummer.
We set ourselves up let's havea year off and it's therapy, and
in therapy I spoke about Isaaca lot.
I was just like it's mychildhood dream to do this, but
then I wasn't doing it becausewe needed to work on ourselves,
(19:40):
and then so that's what happened, and then he moved back home
because he was having abreakdown and then slowly he
came and started rebuilding hislife and for the first time as a
band we lived in the same place.
I moved to Tunbridge Wells helives in Tunbridge Wells and we
started seeing each other asfriends and he'd babysit for me
and as things started likegetting better, we started
(20:01):
talking and then we got offered.
We didn't get offered.
We got asked if we wereavailable to play with blur at
wembley and this was a few yearsback and I was like this is a
fucking good opportunity and upuntil that point I'd been saying
no fucking way, I'm not doingit anymore, it's bullshit, I
don't need it, we're gonna.
We always promised we'd stopwhen it stopped being fun and it
(20:22):
felt really good that we haddone that and we were on really
good terms with it.
And then I was like I want toplay that show.
But I'd already decided that ifwe come back, we need a fresh
start, we need to rewrite thepast and we need to set it on
good terms and we need to beproud and we need to not be
arguing from a place of fear oranger and just accept that we
should have called our bandsomething else and that times
(20:44):
have changed.
So that was a really hardconversation.
And then the blur gig didn'thappen.
Then they came back in januaryand we're like we're doing a
second night.
Are you available for that?
So I was like, fuck it, let'sdo it.
Yeah, change the name, did thestatement and then we didn't get
that gig when I was like, yeah,well, now we're set up, let's
go.
It was like we had that basisand I think there was so much
(21:07):
fear about how it was gonna godown and then seeing the
response, I think that inspiredIsaac so much that there was so
much good faith behind us.
And then we went to the studioand we wrote Punk's Dead in like
an hour and then, yeah, it'severy little thing from then.
It's like you do something hardand then stuff just starts
(21:28):
appearing.
You're like, oh yeah, it wasworth doing the hard thing.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, absolutely, man .
That's an incredible thing, man.
Thanks for sharing all that,because I didn't know how deep
it went during that time off,man, and that's it's incredible
that you guys have found yourway back to each other and are
making incredibly inspired musiconce again, as the internet
does what the internet does.
When you guys changed your name, people freaked out and you
(21:54):
took that energy and you wrotepunkstead, which is one of the
best songs I've heard in a longtime.
I fucking love that song and Ireally do think you know that
the name Softplay.
I think it's great and I thinkit lends itself to.
You.
Guys have always kind of hadthat like Sex Pistols, sarcasm,
(22:15):
and I feel like your name suitsthe band more than the first one
did Like it just it feelsreally good and I like how?
more so than just changing theband name, because the old one
didn't feel like it was a properrepresentation of who you guys
were anymore.
The idea of it also being likea truly a rebirth for you guys
(22:37):
coming back together andstarting something new, is just
cool and it feels just there'sso much power behind it, which
is awesome.
And you got this new record outnow incredible record.
And I want to dive into some ofthe songs here because the
guitar playing is awesome.
The guitar playing is awesome.
It's a really fucking doperecord.
(22:57):
The doom riff on mirror MusclesI love.
Opening riff on all things Ilove.
There's this little on hey, I'mWalking here that line, that
little kind of black flag partthat you play right there.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, yeah, I love that little part.
So for you writing the record,how was it writing the record?
Where did you record the album?
Kind of give me some a littlebit of details on the writing
and recording process.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Well, firstly, thank you, I'm stoked you think that
about the guitar playing.
I really felt like I wanted tomake parts that I really wanted
to play and I really wanted tohear live, that I really wanted
to play and I really wanted tohear live.
And yeah, like Greg Ginn inBlack Flag, like that guitar
playing is some of the best likepunk rock guitar playing of all
(23:45):
time.
It's just I listen to it a lotand I'm just like fuck, like how
do you, how do you write that?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
and yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I just I, I just really.
I really like brutal simplicityand like the nervous breakdown
riff.
It's just, I want to writeriffs that annoy people.
They didn't write them, andthat doesn't mean shredding,
like.
I saw a comment that said thatpunk is for dudes that aren't
talented enough to play metal,and I love metal, but I think
that's missed.
That's missed the pointcompletely.
(24:17):
It's a's like, yeah, thatnervous breakdown riff or I
don't know, like those kind ofthings.
You're just like it's so simpleand it's so iconic.
It's I heard matty mathesontalking about cooking and like
removing ingredients till you'veonly got what you need left on
the plate, and I think our bandis like that, and so it's like
get rid of all of the excessbullshit and just boil it down
(24:39):
to the the best things, andthat's what I wanted to do with
the guitar playing.
But yeah, I just wanted someriffs.
Man, I wanted to like be ableto thrash out, and I've just
started playing a jackson andI'm just letting my inner child
out that's awesome, man.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And when it comes to, when it comes to lyrics, is
that all isaac's department?
Do you guys work together onthose, or how do the lyrics come
together?
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I sort of I see a lot of it as I spark an idea in him
.
Quite a lot of songs, I'll saya line or a word and it sends
him off on a journey and a lotof it will happen when we're
together or, equally, he'll bestuck on something or he'll have
a verse.
So for everything and nothing.
He had the first verse, I hadthe mandolin music and then I
(25:30):
was like, tell me what it'sabout.
I hear the reference to ourfriend passing away and I but
like what does the other stuffmean?
And he was talking about likepandemic and walking around and
not being able to talk to eachother and being like in the
kitchen on your own.
And that time and I had thisphrase saved in my notes folder
(25:50):
it was just everything andnothing.
And I said that to him and thenhis brain goes and then he puts
it into melody.
So he is the lyricist and he'san incredible lyricist.
Like, I think, what he lost hisconfidence on the last two
records and he says it like hecouldn't write.
He.
He got two in his own head,like, I think, the kind of
(26:11):
critical success the first albumgot spun him out and trying to
compete with his own musicbecame like a real problem,
whereas this record there's morelyrics on like Mirror Muscles
or Worms on Tarmac than like thewhole of our last album Just
one song and he would just goover and to the point where I'm
(26:32):
just like dude, let's justfucking lay it down.
But I admire his perfectionismand we're a real yin yang Like.
When you meet us we flippersonalities.
When we come off stage, likeI'm the guy you'll talk to off
stage, but when we're on stagehe looks like the guy that's
going to be the guy and we'rejust, we perfectly balance each
other out.
(26:52):
So I'm the one that's like thatfucking take will do and it's
just like all out tune and stuffand he's like maybe we should
do it again.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah, that's awesome, man, and that's cool how you
guys work together lyrically.
That makes a lot of sense to me.
I like band dynamics like that,where no one should be afraid
to be like, hey, I have an ideafor a song.
Or sometimes Joby will say thatto me.
He'll be like, hey, I've gotthis line stuck in my head and
that line could spark somethingfor me to write something off of
, or vice versa.
So he's an incredible lyricistand it's rad to see him kind of
(27:27):
back on his back on his bullshit, as they say, because he's
spitting some fucking some venomon this album.
I mean, it's pretty awesome,man, I.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I fell in love with Isaac as a rapper when I was a
kid because that band he rapped,and we've been trying to find
our way to that dynamic allthese years, and I think the
last five years, as well as ourbreak.
The Internet's changedeverything, like being
individual, embracing yourdifferences, embracing your
(28:01):
influences, and like thecrossovers between all the
different worlds in music is sobig.
No one gives a fuck anymore,like there really doesn't feel
any pressure to be one way orone thing, and it just meant
that when we were in the studioI was like let's just get it all
out, let's just throw it allout and then just work out what
we can make into the record.
(28:22):
But don't hold back becauseit's so amazing when you do that
stuff yeah, man, yeah, that'sfucking, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah, he crushed it on this album, everything or
nothing.
How did that guitar part comeabout?
Because it's got it's such acool feel, it's such a great way
to end the album.
And I always hesitate saying itreminds me of stuff, because I
don't know what you love ordon't love, but but has like a
kind of a pogues and a littlebit of a rem feel to it and some
(28:52):
Smith's type stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
But it's just sounds so good, someone said the
Replacements the other day.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, I hadn't thought about that.
Yeah, that's good, that's agood one.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Bastards of the Young .
Like that tune is like in myall time.
So I'm like some people don'tlisten to music when they're in
the studio, but like musicconsumes me, like I get obsessed
with a record and I listen toit on repeat for weeks and weeks
and weeks and weeks, and thenthere'll be a new one or I'll
make a playlist and over theyear of making the record, like
(29:22):
I just got obsessed with thepogues.
I was like deep diving thepogues, all this, I only knew
the hits and I was like I'mgoing in, I'm gonna find out all
the other ones.
And then I was like shit, joestrummer produced hell's ditch.
I was like that's why I likethat record so much.
And yeah, so, like joe strummerand the mescalaros coma girl,
that song means so much to me.
I had such an influence and I'ma huge like when I die they're
(29:45):
gonna play fisherman's blues bythe water boys.
As I'm lowered into the inferno.
And so the mandolin is justpart of that.
And I think I was thinkingabout REM, because my dad used
to play REM in the car and Ilove that song, and I was just
like I need a fucking mandolin.
I was like I'm listening to allthis music and I've got a good
hookup.
(30:05):
Shout out Dave at Fender.
I just sent him a check.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
You got a mandolin guy?
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah, I was like I'm in the studio, I need a mandolin
, but that didn't happen quickenough so we chucked it on the
internet and, as the internetdoes, someone came down to the
studio in Tunbridge Wells.
We recorded out the back of theforum for the first two
sessions and I had the mandolinand I was like messing around
and it was like basically one ofthe first things I ever wrote,
(30:32):
because it's like an upside downguitar.
It's tuned.
It's tuned to the same thing aviolin is, so it's got that
orchestral feel.
Yeah, and the beauty of notknowing an instrument is like
you just fiddle and you're like,oh, that note goes with that
note and it just came out.
It's like one of the mostannoying things ever because I'm
gonna try and recreate it and Ijust won't be able to do
(30:53):
anything as good as that, but itjust, it was just.
Yeah, it just fell from theheavens into my hands and it's
one of my favorite things we'veever done yeah, it's really cool
man.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
It's a really beautiful song, really beautiful
guitar part and an awesome wayto end the record because when
it comes on it like it does it,like it hits you whoa, it hits
you kind of like way out of theblue because the record is just
charging from jump street andthen when it switches up and
it's such a beautiful instrumentand the song is such a powerful
song, it was just a really cooladdition to the record and a
(31:28):
great way to fucking end it, man.
So nice work, cheers, man.
Yeah, all right, let's jump tothe internet here.
We had a shit ton of questions.
Okay, the internet, theinternet, loves you guys.
We got a lot of questions abouthow did the robbie williams
bromance, as they call it, howdid that come about?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
right.
So I, my parents are very, youknow, they're like new middle
class, so they were workingclass and but they don't have
much, they're not into the art,so that we were very much like
robbie williams was like the jamin the car, like that's what we
listened to, and my dad onlybought cds that were like three
(32:09):
for 10 pounds in hmv.
So I'm not dissing it either.
I enjoyed my musical educationand finding it myself, but
Robbie Williams has been a bigpart of my childhood.
I tweeted him in 2015, and hebasically said I said Robbie
Williams is my favourite memberof Take that.
And then he replied which wascrazy at the time.
(32:31):
He said Isaac is my favouritemember of Slaves because he
looks like.
I don't know if you're familiar,but in the UK we have a very
famous set of presenters calledAnt and Dec.
Have you ever heard of them?
This is very Anglophile,they're like household names
here.
And he was like it looks likeif robbie and aunt mcpartland
(32:54):
had a love child, isaac would bethe child.
So anyway, that happened andthen about two years ago I woke
up to a video message from himrobbie williams, on my phone
saying I hope you don't mindthat I got your number.
I want to make music like youguys.
And I was just like it was sixin the morning and I like rolled
(33:14):
over, woke my girlfriend up.
I was like what the fuck isgoing on?
And then I just started likefacetiming him that day whilst I
was doing the washing up and wespoke for like an hour and then
we were trying to get a kidschoir to sing on punkstead.
But you can't get kids to swear, apparently like you're not
allowed, and I just floated itto the crew.
(33:35):
I was like why don't we getrobbie williams?
And they were a bit.
Isaac was like can we do that?
Right, because there'sobviously still this.
I mean, the whole punk scenedrives me mad, because there's
still this underlying hmm, isthis punk?
And I was just like this is thefucking most punk shit you
could do like fuck everyone likeget robbie williams on our song
and yeah.
So he said yes.
(33:55):
And then we put the tune outand he's in the video.
And then he announced that he'splaying this huge gig of a
lifetime at hyde park lastweekend and I was like, can we
support you?
And then we did and it turnsout loads of robbie williams
fans like us as well, a lot oflike drunk mums and dads, yeah.
And then we met him afterwardsand he basically just gave us a
(34:16):
pep talk and told us about how,like, everything's gonna be all
right, and it was just, it'sfucking mental that's fucking
sick man.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
That's awesome.
Shout out robbie williams.
Yeah, that's, that is he.
What does he sing on Punk'sDead?
Speaker 1 (34:32):
He sings the I love you, but I disagree.
This is bullshit, really Damn.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Okay, that is him.
Okay, I was like, yeah, thesnowflake part, yeah, yeah, okay
, yeah, awesome dude, that'ssick.
I didn't realize that, that'sfucking dope.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Okay, yeah, that's fucking rad dude.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
A couple of pickups here I'm fucking rad dude a
couple pick-ups here.
I'm gonna name a couple things.
You tell me which one youprefer.
Okay, we're going to start outwith johnny thunders or eddie
van halen.
Let's go with slash or randyrhodes.
Slash, ramones of the clash,the clash, iggy pop or david
(35:14):
bowie oh, that's fucking hardI'm, I'm gonna have to go bowie
yeah, yeah, I go iggy, but it'sunderstandable.
Guy richie or quentin tarantino, oh tarantino, j oh Tarantino.
Jason Statham or Vin Diesel.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Well, do you know?
Vin Diesel's real nameapparently is Mark Vincent,
which is my dad's name.
So I'm going to go Vin Diesel.
I like that, but Jason Stathamtold me to follow my dreams once
.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
That's pretty cool.
That's solid advice.
We were in London one time andwe were at some like super, just
like weird, like highbrow, likekind of speakeasy type bar and
he was there and I had no ideahow like small he was.
But he, I mean, he was a rock,but he was a small dude.
I couldn't believe it.
I was like, oh shit, it's JasonStatham.
(36:11):
Right on, right on.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah, he knows like Krav Maga and his multiple black
belts, isn't he?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Oh yeah, he'll kill you.
He'll kill you in a second.
He'll kill you in a second.
Elton John or Billy Joel.
Elton John, white stripes orblack keys.
Oh, white stripes yeah, yeah,kills the kills.
Are the carpenters the kills?
(36:39):
Nice, yeah, yeah, all right.
What about you?
Know, I want to get into someof your art stuff too.
But warhol or banksy, what doyou think?
Speaker 1 (36:48):
oh, warhol, I don't fuck with banksy what about
basquiat or Picasso?
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Basquiat nice, nice.
And let's see here in generalyou like street art or fine art?
Speaker 1 (37:08):
I think I prefer fine art.
You know I'm like I'm big intopaintings and I've never been as
I appreciate street, but it'snot my vibe as much mean you,
(37:35):
okay, are an old school tatdaddy, very old school tat daddy
, I know you, you've got to havesome sailor jerry tattoos on
you.
You've got to have some.
I do.
You know what?
I don't actually have anythingthat's like straight off of a
sailor jerry flash sheet.
I've got some stuff that'spretty close um I'd say like my
gaslight anthem.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Oh, nice, yeah.
But yeah, do you remember whatwas your first tattoo?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Shout out Brian Fallon.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Oh, hell yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
I got.
I got one life, Live it.
Hey it's true, I was like 16and I'm just glad that I didn't
get you only live once.
I think I did better out ofthose two sayings.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yolo.
Tat would have been tight,though.
What about?
Are you still actively gettingtattooed, or are you retired?
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I'm semi-retired but I'm ready to go again.
I've got the itch again.
It's been like I don't know howyou you feel, but I've got like
a good percentage of my bodytattooed and it hurts now I
heard matty matheson saying thisas well.
Just like it stops.
You're not.
You don't have the adrenalinebecause you know what you're
expecting and you becomecomfortable in the shops and,
like when I started gettingtattooed, which was like 15
(38:46):
years ago, it was still scary,whereas it's not scary anymore.
Like you know everyone to havea tattoo, everyone gets tattooed
and I yeah, the adrenaline todo it has worn off and now also
I really care about like theaftercare.
So I'm like shit, I need twoweeks where I'm not doing too
much because I want to make sureit stays nice and I'm ready to
(39:06):
go again.
I want to get my head done andI want to like I've got a few
gaps and I want to join stuff up.
But I think the last thing Igot was like I got some bits on
my neck like these, like littlesort of fine line bits yeah,
awesome man, awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
A couple more questions here and we'll let you
go.
A couple hypotheticals.
Let's talk about time travel.
Why not if, if a time machineshowed up at your doorstep, you
could go anywhere in history?
Where would you go first andwhy?
Speaker 1 (39:38):
the first thing that sprung to mind is just like
straight to a battlefield, likewatch some knights go at it.
When I was a kid I was.
I was obsessed with like suitsof armor and like knights and I
just I like, I like I can'tbelieve that maybe the Vikings
invading the UK, and just likejust to witness it.
(39:59):
I don't want to get involved, Ijust want to watch from like a
safe bubble.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yep, yeah, awesome man, real quick.
What's going on?
You're an incredible artistoutside of being an incredible
musician.
Are you still actively workingon art?
I'm sure that the band's gotyou pretty hyper-focused right
now, but is there anything goingon in the art department?
Speaker 1 (40:22):
I want to do some bits, but I've mainly been
focusing on putting my art intothe music.
So I've done a lot of thesleeve design.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I've got it here.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
actually, I'm so stoked it's like our best
looking, we'll send you one.
I'll get the label and send youone, yeah, we did this with the
sleeve nice, so my drawings areall over this.
I wanted it to look like a deadkennedy's sort of record, but
yeah, we fucked, we fucking wentfor it with this album.
It's just like it all looks sorad, dude, that looks so good.
(40:53):
So, yeah, like a lot of videoconcepts and we're working a lot
on that and with like creative.
So, yeah, that's where my artenergy is going at the moment
that's awesome, man.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Yeah, it's cool how they can kind of converge and
you're able to kind of put thatinto the band.
It's awesome.
I was just at the Punk RockMuseum in Vegas and they had a
Winston Smith exhibit who didall the Dead Kennedys art and
stuff like that.
And man, like some of thoseimages are just so fucking
incredible.
I mean, even just the logoitself is just so sick, you know
(41:26):
, mate.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I screenshotted or no , I took a photo of it.
I can't remember what albumI've got, but it's got this huge
fold-out magazine and the deadkennedy logo.
When it's got like the brickwall behind it, it's just iconic
, it's yeah.
Coming up with a logo like thatis rare, like not many bands do
it yeah, it's very true.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
It's very true.
All right, laurie, lastquestion here you know.
First of all, thank you so muchfor your time, man, it's, it's
been awesome talking to you.
Heavy Jelly is out now.
Soft Play you got to go get therecord.
You got to go see the band.
Oh, are you coming to theStates ever?
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
the states in the past that I've just basically
said we're like sitting tightuntil the right thing happens.
We've just taken on an agentand rise rise records have just
picked us up, which is prettysick like we've never really
we've never really had likeproper backing out there.
So I feel really um optimistic,but I think it'll be next year
and I'm hoping we get some goodfestivals and we can come
through.
We just need to like, like it'sso expensive, man, like the
visas.
(42:32):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's nuts.
It's nuts, all right, awesome.
Well, we'll look forward tothat.
Last question here what to you,laurie Vincent, is the meaning
of life?
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Oh man, it's about like trying to be present.
I've been thinking about that alot got asked it the other day
trying to just like sit thereand enjoy the actual moment.
That's the meaning of life.
Like good food, family, yeah.
Hugging your loved ones, like,yeah, holding your girlfriend's
hand, it's the really simpleshit.
(43:05):
It's like noticing the seasons.
And like your feet on grassyeah, yeah, the hippie shit.
Like being in, trying to linkin with the seasons, and like
watching the flowers come outall year round eating good food.
Like putting your feet in thegrass it's all the hippie shit.
I'm down with that.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah, yeah, hey, it's real man, absolutely.
You know, laurie, this has beenan awesome time, my man, I'm
such a big fan of the band andwe've crossed paths over many
years and it's just been reallycool.
It was great to see you guys at2000 Trees last year and just
you know, congrats on being back, man, welcome back, Congrats on
(43:47):
a kick-ass record and thank youvery much for being a guest
here in the Sailor Jerry podcast.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
Thanks, man, it's an honor.
Cheers for having me andhopefully we'll see you in the
States soon.
Yeah, hell, yeah Awesome.
Hell yeah, what up.
Laurie, how are you?
I'm good.
Been working hard.
You know Lots of work.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yeah, yeah, man, it sure seems like it.
I'm good man, I'm great.
We're writing a new recordright now at home and we're
still playing shows here andthere.
Just played a show inPennsylvania, played a show or
playing a show in Denver comingup, so we're getting our kind of
live gig fix and you know, lifeis good man, life is good.
How was Glastonbury?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
It was pretty life affirming.
I don't know how you feel aboutbig shows, but I think on those
really big platforms we'venever quite had the show I've
wanted to have.
And I sort of suffer with thisthing that if something goes
sort of like not even wrong if Ibreak a string or if a pedal
pedal glitches or if an amp cutsout I go inside my head and
(00:48):
then all of a sudden it's likeit's like someone turning the
lights on when it's been pitchblack and I can't get back in.
I find it so hard to get backinto the zone, whereas at
Glastonbury I was just in it, Iwas like I was enjoying it and I
never had to leave the zone andI've wanted that forever and it
got recorded and it was thebest show of our lives.
(01:09):
But it's because we've beenworking towards it and it's the
payoff oh man, that's amazing,dude, congratulations.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, I know I'm lucky as a standalone vocalist
that I don't really gotta tofuck with too much gear.
And I've seen, I've seen thegear nightmare happen a zillion
times.
I've seen the look on ourguitar player Joby's face, ken
Horn's face, you can, when yougo to a show and you see someone
else's gear like malfunctioningon stage, you just feel you can
(01:39):
feel it.
There's nothing worse.
It's like you're saying, withthe lights on, I quote that
there's this roller coaster,this famous roller coaster at
Disneyland called Space Mountain.
And yeah, yes, space Mountainis.
You're in space, you're flyingthrough space and every now and
then roller coasters break downand when they do, they got to
(01:59):
come in, they got to turn thelights on.
And when you're stuck in SpaceMountain, when you're stuck, in
Space Mountain.
They come in, they got to turnthe lights on, and when you're
stuck in Space Mountain, whenyou're stuck in Space Mountain,
they come in and they turn thelights on.
It just ruins everything.
You're no longer in space.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, the flow has been interrupted.
I mean, that is actually that'show we learn what we do, like
you see us live and you'll seethe storytelling and you see the
sort of like it's almost like.
I mean, in England we havethese, these, we have pantomimes
I don't know if you have themin the states, but it's this
really awful sort of slapstickhumor and our band sort of
(02:35):
incorporates that into the liveshow.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And that is because everything just used to break,
like we've done 30 minute, we'vedone 30 minute, we've done 30
minute shows, played one songand 25 minutes has been feedback
and that, if, like, that's theway to hone your craft and we've
kept the chat and just tryingto get rid of all the stuff
breaking get someone asking mehey, do you have any advice for
(03:07):
singers or like being like thefront person of a band and one
of the things I say is alwayshave a story in your back pocket
because gear's going to breakdown, gear's going to break down
, shit's going to happen, andit's your job to keep things
kind of moving while shit goeson behind the scenes, because
there's nothing worse than justthat awkward shit, you know, and
(03:28):
especially if you're just, ifyou just gotta work like you're
working on your shit.
So yeah, it's always in thepunk world, shit breaks.
I mean, shit breaks oneverybody.
But yeah, that's it.
I'm glad that glastonbury was aflawless gig.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Man, there's no greater feeling yeah, man, and
it was recorded, like so thepast two times that we were on
so early that the bbc didn'tswitch the cameras on, but this
time it was on and it gotcaptured and yeah, it's sort of
things just keep getting betterand better at the moment, so
we're very excited that's sick,man, that's sick.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
and as now as of the airing of this Sailor Jerry
podcast, heavy Jelly is out.
Okay, the Rebirth is complete.
Incredible record, my man.
So congratulations on that.
I want to dive into the record,of course, for our listeners.
I want to go back a little bit.
I want to get a little bit ofhistory with you personally,
(04:22):
with music and then, of course,getting into the band.
So, starting with you, wheredid kind of music first take
hold for you?
When did you get a guitar, allthat good stuff?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I told my parents I wanted to play guitar when I was
really young.
I must have been I was talkingabout this the other day I must
have been six or seven and I gota classical Spanish guitar and
got signed up for lessons at myprimary school and started being
taught how to play.
Happy Birthday.
(04:52):
And I was like this is not whatit's about.
I was like I fucking I want tolearn, I want to be slashed.
I remember we had I can't evenremember what the music channel
was called we had one that waslike maybe called VHS, it wasn't
even MTV.
I can't remember what the musicchannel was called.
We had one that was like maybecalled vhs, it wasn't even mtv.
I can't remember what it was.
And I remember watchingnovember rain on that and, sweet
child of mine, I was likefucking hell, I want to do that.
(05:13):
And then somehow I found out hewas from stoke on trent and so
that kind of made rocksuperstars that's right, that's
right, damn slash yeah, it madeit feel sort of more, sort of
achievable.
And then, I think the followingyear I didn't do very well at
lessons of guitar and then I gotbought like the squire
(05:34):
stratocaster starter pack whereyou got the little amp, the lead
, the pick, the guitar, and Ijust remember I used to just
turn it on and just like strum,I just wanted to be able to play
it.
But the hard work you had to gothrough was a lot Like my kids
now, like they try and playguitar and they're like this
fucking hurts your fingers.
Obviously they don't swear andI'm like, yeah, you have to put
(05:55):
a hustle in, it doesn't happenovernight.
So I went through tons ofguitar teachers and then I must
have been 10 or 11 and I metthis guy called Chris Waters and
I was really struggling withthe instrument, like I could do
Smoke on the Water, but Ibasically had stopped the guitar
to try and play drums to see ifI could have more luck with
that instrument.
(06:16):
But you know, I had that desireto be up the front and I met
this guy, chris Waters, and hesat me down, I remember, in my
basement and he had his guitar,I had my guitar and he showed me
how to play Wonderwall in 10minutes and he left the first
lesson and I was playing a songand that was it.
I was in, there was no fuckingaround.
(06:37):
He was like we can do all thetheory stuff later.
He was like, let's just get youplaying.
And yeah, I'm still in touchwith him now and I'm so grateful
.
He basically gave me the giftof music.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That's so cool, man.
Yeah, sometimes it just takes.
Everyone learns a different way.
Everyone kind of getscomfortable with music in a
different way, especially withan instrument.
I mean, it's a long processGuitar is insane and there's
people who have the giftnaturally.
There's people who pick it upthrough school and then there's
people who just learn a song,man, and it just unlocks that
excitement and that kind of justbasic knowledge of, hey, if I
(07:11):
can play this song, I couldprobably play another one and
maybe I can write my own.
That's fucking dope.
So how did you kind of get intofinding your own sound?
Were you in a band beforeSoftplay got started?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, so I started.
I think I tried to form bands.
From knowing Wonderwall onwards, I was trying to start bands.
So I would just, I'd hear thatfriends were having music
lessons and I'd be like what?
You play drums.
And then obviously they comearound and you realize that they
can't really play drums.
They can, just they just havelessons.
And it used to confuse me thatnot everyone wanted to make the
(07:45):
kind of music I wanted to make.
Because when you're a kid it'sjust such tunnel vision.
You're fixed in first playermode, you're like when you play
racing games, and you can changethe perspective.
You're just the perspectivewhere you can only see the road.
Like there's no steering wheeland I was just like, why does no
one else want to make thismusic?
And so I just went through.
(08:07):
I must have been in 10 or 11different bands by the time I
was like 15.
But that was just my.
Just write a few songs and thenit didn't work.
Start another one.
Write a few songs, didn't work.
People just coming around.
And then I was in like a littleindie band, because when we were
kids what was popular waseither everyone dubstep had just
(08:29):
come out I remember benga andcokie just released that tune
night so everyone was eitherlike becoming bedroom producers
or you had like, on the otherside you had the kooks foals,
yeah, and everyone wanted to bein an indie band.
So I couldn't find anyone thatwould wanted to make punk music
with me.
So I kind of settled to makeindie music for the meantime,
(08:51):
hoping to make it heavier, andyeah.
So I was about 16 or 15 and wewere all doing our options for
A-levels and my friends told methat they were going to go to
university and I was just likebetrayal.
I was like I want to be in aband and they're like, yeah, but
we're going to go to university.
And I was just like fuck that,and I quit the band because I
was like you're not loyal, yeah,and I just went off and tried
(09:15):
to find my people and so I wasin.
I played bass in another bandand then how I met isaac was he
was the front man of a bandcalled bareface and at the time
they were like doing bitslocally.
We grew up about 40 minutesaway from each other in like
neighboring towns and, um, Ijust thought his band were the
best fucking band I'd ever seenand I just was like I need to be
(09:37):
around these people.
I actually thought like I'mnever gonna be as good as that
because that they just killed it.
And then I just went up to himone night like finally got the
courage, and I was like, oh, ifyou ever need a bassist or a
guitarist or anything, and thenext day he gave me the call and
I joined that band.
And then you shouldn't join yourfavorite band because you've
(09:58):
then destroyed the chemistry.
What made it a favorite band?
And you know, every member ofthat band went to him
individually to say do you wantto start something new?
And he chose me.
And then we couldn't get anyoneelse.
No one else wanted to be in apunk band, so it was just us two
and we had to work it out, butit was a blessing.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Hell yeah, man, that's dope.
And shout out to Isaac, anincredible front man, front
person drummer.
Just your guys' energy togetheris just really cool, man.
And it's different.
It's been different from theget-go.
We toured together briefly in2014, when the band was called
(10:38):
Slaves, and we had a show inHuddersfield that was legendary.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
The Parish.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah, shout out to Mikey at the Parish.
For so long they were sendingus messages please come to
Huddersfield, please come toHuddersfield.
And we went there together andhad so much fun and I remember
watching you guys and there'sjust something about the way you
guys play together between yourguitar playing, isaac's
drumming and just what's goingon lyrically, you guys just are
(11:07):
a perfect fit.
When it came to coming together, starting the band, how did you
guys kind of was it kind ofinstant rhythmically, with the
vibe between you guys and when?
How did he cause he wasn'tplaying drums in the first band,
right, when did he switch topsycho standup drummer?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, man, we're having this weird like viral
moment with punkstead at themoment, where we posted a live
clip on our Instagram reels andit's had 5 million streams and
it's kind of the first time alot of people in America are
finding out about us.
Is this clip?
And, like, these dudes are justlike get a fucking stall, like
(11:48):
get a kick drum, sit down, whatthe fuck are you doing?
But, yeah, I think we bondedover our influences and I just
this is like so specific, but Iwas really into crass and where
we're from in kent, there's atown called rochester where I
went to you university brieflyfor a year and they have this
(12:11):
garage rock scene where I don'thave you heard of billy childish
yes, I'm not from too familiar,but I know the name, so he was
in tons of bands like.
One of the more famous ones waslike the headcoats, but it's
this really specific sort ofjangly like punk it's.
It's a punk sound, but it'smore sort of like they're catchy
(12:34):
songs, they're like pop songsput through punk but really,
really nasty, and I was obsessedwith that.
And then I was obsessed with inthe belly of a shark by the
gallows, yeah, that song.
I was like I want to make aband that sounds like that song,
the way that the guitars alljangly and gnarly, and then
you've got frank, just goingpsycho over it.
(12:55):
Yeah, that was the likereference point.
And then we got together and westarted trying like I think I
took an acoustic guitar aroundjust to be like let's see if we
can start writing a song.
And then we were like sendingmessages out to musicians, like
do you want to play bass, do youwant to play drums?
One guy said I will be in yourband but you will be my second
(13:17):
priority and we were just likefuck that and funnily enough.
That's amazing.
Yes, you come second and he's areally he's a really nice dude.
Yeah, he did slide in a fewyears later and go do you still
want to join another member?
And we were like too late man.
So what happened was I?
Because I play drums as well.
I had a drum kit and I was likewhilst we're writing, let's
(13:39):
bring these drums over to yourhouse.
And I had two floor toms, asnare and two cymbals and I
plugged in like this littlepractice amp.
He had that.
He'd never played drums before,but Isaac's a crazy talented
musician Like he can make asound out of anything.
He's like that kind of guy.
It just comes naturally to him.
And we wrote two songs back toback straight away.
(14:01):
Like only played them for acouple of times and he was just
like I was like just hit them,like you're, like you're
drumming on the steering wheelwhen you're driving.
And he did that.
We wrote two songs and then hisdad came upstairs and was like
boys, I love it, but I've beenall the way down to the end of
the street and I can hear yououtside.
You're gonna have to stop.
There was this feeling in theroom when he did that drumming.
(14:24):
We just looked at each otherand we were like this is it,
isn't it?
And then his dad is like acrazy record head, like his
record collection's insane.
And he went boys, and he justpulled out this stack of records
and he was like this is all thestand-up drummers I know.
And he showed us like the straycats when they had one, and he
had the violent femmes, hellyeah, and you, you had for
(14:46):
periods of times the Cramps hada stand-up drummer.
And then Bobby Gillespie playedstand-up drums in I always
forget the name of the band hewas in before Primal Scream, but
anyway, yeah.
So that made it seem possible.
And then we were just likewe're fucking doing this.
And then we were like we'renever're never gonna.
This is so fun, but we justwon't play on a stage, we'll do
(15:06):
floor shows and we'll stoptrying to be like a famous band,
we'll just have fun.
And then that's when everythingclicked into place and that's
so sick.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That's so sick.
Yeah, there's something specialabout I just I feel like it
drives the song just a littlebit more of the drummer singing,
(15:42):
but the way he's playing and itjust adds to the frantic style
between you guys, it's just sucha cool sound man and it's so
rad to see and he does it sowell.
I'm curious, like, when youguys write songs, are you
writing, are you counting, or isit more feel?
You know what I mean.
Like, are you guys kind ofplaying the numbers game with
(16:04):
stuff or are you getting superintricate on rhythms?
Cause a lot of the stuff youplay on guitar is super rhythmic
and it also, you know, itreminds me of early Bronx stuff
when Jorma and Joby would write.
It was very like Jorma wasalmost playing the guitar riff
on the drums or trying to, andthere's a lot of syncopation
that happens that way and it'sreally cool and I hear that with
(16:25):
you guys as well.
Is it something you guys diveinto like numbers wise, or is it
kind of just a feeling?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So for me it's a feeling like I will play a riff,
like for instance, on the newrecord you've got, isaac is
typing and that's in, like it'sgot a crazy time signature in
the chorus and I like feel itout, and then I'll be like, oh,
if you do that and then add astop.
But Isaac can actually count itout, and then as soon as he
tells me to count it out, Ican't do it.
(16:54):
Like I find numbers so hard,like I'm really numbers dyslexic
I've never had it tested, butme in hotel rooms are a fucking
nightmare.
I can never remember where I'mgoing, and so it's a feel thing
for me and I have my own way ofgoing around it.
So I play ahead of the beat,everything I do is ahead of the
beat, and it means that whenkids try and cover our songs and
(17:17):
they play correctly, correctly,it sounds wrong because I'm
always pushing, because I'm nota very well trained guitarist.
But then that's my argument fornot being too well trained is
that you create a style, so alot of it is on feel and I lose
track of where I am when I'm inthe moment.
So I have to look over to isaacand see when he's about to drop
(17:41):
into the next bit.
It's really cool we've got thiskind of like symbiotic energy
going.
We're like twins on stage.
We just feel where it's goingthat's fucking sick man.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
And getting into the new record here a little bit.
This is.
You could call it your debut ifyou wanted to.
It's your fourth record.
Are you Satisfied?
It came out in 2015.
Is that gold?
By the way, Is that record gold?
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It is.
I've got the plaque in mybathroom.
That's fucking awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, congrats, dude, congrats.
So Are you Satisfied?
2015, take Control.
2016, acts of Fear and Love2018.
I know there was a couplethings you did with the gorillas
, but did you break up or didyou kind of chill for a bit?
What happened in between?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
So on our last ever tour as slaves, we were just
super disjointed.
It was like he didn't know howI was feeling and I didn't know
how he was feeling, and neitherof us had the ability to
communicate.
We were like stuck in thisreally sort of partly
self-inflicted make an albumtour, make an album, yeah, and
(18:54):
we were chasing something thatwas sort of like the craft, the
attention to detail was waswaning, but the gigs were still
big.
So then it was like this reallyhollow feeling of like oh,
we're not as critically likesuccessful as we were, but
people are still coming, and wewere only sort of the only thing
we had was our live show.
Like the writing partnershiphad fallen apart because our
(19:16):
friendship was falling apart.
I was like this is getting sostressful.
I was like let's take a yearoff, let's get to the end of
this album campaign.
We played a load of festivals insummer.
We set ourselves up let's havea year off and it's therapy, and
in therapy I spoke about Isaaca lot.
I was just like it's mychildhood dream to do this, but
then I wasn't doing it becausewe needed to work on ourselves,
(19:40):
and then so that's what happened, and then he moved back home
because he was having abreakdown and then slowly he
came and started rebuilding hislife and for the first time as a
band we lived in the same place.
I moved to Tunbridge Wells helives in Tunbridge Wells and we
started seeing each other asfriends and he'd babysit for me
and as things started likegetting better, we started
(20:01):
talking and then we got offered.
We didn't get offered.
We got asked if we wereavailable to play with blur at
wembley and this was a few yearsback and I was like this is a
fucking good opportunity and upuntil that point I'd been saying
no fucking way, I'm not doingit anymore, it's bullshit, I
don't need it, we're gonna.
We always promised we'd stopwhen it stopped being fun and it
(20:22):
felt really good that we haddone that and we were on really
good terms with it.
And then I was like I want toplay that show.
But I'd already decided that ifwe come back, we need a fresh
start, we need to rewrite thepast and we need to set it on
good terms and we need to beproud and we need to not be
arguing from a place of fear oranger and just accept that we
should have called our bandsomething else and that times
(20:44):
have changed.
So that was a really hardconversation.
And then the blur gig didn'thappen.
Then they came back in januaryand we're like we're doing a
second night.
Are you available for that?
So I was like, fuck it, let'sdo it.
Yeah, change the name, did thestatement and then we didn't get
that gig when I was like, yeah,well, now we're set up, let's
go.
It was like we had that basisand I think there was so much
(21:07):
fear about how it was gonna godown and then seeing the
response, I think that inspiredIsaac so much that there was so
much good faith behind us.
And then we went to the studioand we wrote Punk's Dead in like
an hour and then, yeah, it'severy little thing from then.
It's like you do something hardand then stuff just starts
(21:28):
appearing.
You're like, oh yeah, it wasworth doing the hard thing.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, absolutely, man .
That's an incredible thing, man.
Thanks for sharing all that,because I didn't know how deep
it went during that time off,man, and that's it's incredible
that you guys have found yourway back to each other and are
making incredibly inspired musiconce again, as the internet
does what the internet does.
When you guys changed your name, people freaked out and you
(21:54):
took that energy and you wrotepunkstead, which is one of the
best songs I've heard in a longtime.
I fucking love that song and Ireally do think you know that
the name Softplay.
I think it's great and I thinkit lends itself to.
You.
Guys have always kind of hadthat like Sex Pistols, sarcasm,
(22:15):
and I feel like your name suitsthe band more than the first one
did Like it just it feelsreally good and I like how?
more so than just changing theband name, because the old one
didn't feel like it was a properrepresentation of who you guys
were anymore.
The idea of it also being likea truly a rebirth for you guys
(22:37):
coming back together andstarting something new, is just
cool and it feels just there'sso much power behind it, which
is awesome.
And you got this new record outnow incredible record.
And I want to dive into some ofthe songs here because the
guitar playing is awesome.
The guitar playing is awesome.
It's a really fucking doperecord.
(22:57):
The doom riff on mirror MusclesI love.
Opening riff on all things Ilove.
There's this little on hey, I'mWalking here that line, that
little kind of black flag partthat you play right there.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, yeah, I love that little part.
So for you writing the record,how was it writing the record?
Where did you record the album?
Kind of give me some a littlebit of details on the writing
and recording process.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Well, firstly, thank you, I'm stoked you think that
about the guitar playing.
I really felt like I wanted tomake parts that I really wanted
to play and I really wanted tohear live, that I really wanted
to play and I really wanted tohear live.
And yeah, like Greg Ginn inBlack Flag, like that guitar
playing is some of the best likepunk rock guitar playing of all
(23:45):
time.
It's just I listen to it a lotand I'm just like fuck, like how
do you, how do you write that?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
and yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I just I, I just really.
I really like brutal simplicityand like the nervous breakdown
riff.
It's just, I want to writeriffs that annoy people.
They didn't write them, andthat doesn't mean shredding,
like.
I saw a comment that said thatpunk is for dudes that aren't
talented enough to play metal,and I love metal, but I think
that's missed.
That's missed the pointcompletely.
(24:17):
It's a's like, yeah, thatnervous breakdown riff or I
don't know, like those kind ofthings.
You're just like it's so simpleand it's so iconic.
It's I heard matty mathesontalking about cooking and like
removing ingredients till you'veonly got what you need left on
the plate, and I think our bandis like that, and so it's like
get rid of all of the excessbullshit and just boil it down
(24:39):
to the the best things, andthat's what I wanted to do with
the guitar playing.
But yeah, I just wanted someriffs.
Man, I wanted to like be ableto thrash out, and I've just
started playing a jackson andI'm just letting my inner child
out that's awesome, man.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And when it comes to, when it comes to lyrics, is
that all isaac's department?
Do you guys work together onthose, or how do the lyrics come
together?
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I sort of I see a lot of it as I spark an idea in him
.
Quite a lot of songs, I'll saya line or a word and it sends
him off on a journey and a lotof it will happen when we're
together or, equally, he'll bestuck on something or he'll have
a verse.
So for everything and nothing.
He had the first verse, I hadthe mandolin music and then I
(25:30):
was like, tell me what it'sabout.
I hear the reference to ourfriend passing away and I but
like what does the other stuffmean?
And he was talking about likepandemic and walking around and
not being able to talk to eachother and being like in the
kitchen on your own.
And that time and I had thisphrase saved in my notes folder
(25:50):
it was just everything andnothing.
And I said that to him and thenhis brain goes and then he puts
it into melody.
So he is the lyricist and he'san incredible lyricist.
Like, I think, what he lost hisconfidence on the last two
records and he says it like hecouldn't write.
He.
He got two in his own head,like, I think, the kind of
(26:11):
critical success the first albumgot spun him out and trying to
compete with his own musicbecame like a real problem,
whereas this record there's morelyrics on like Mirror Muscles
or Worms on Tarmac than like thewhole of our last album Just
one song and he would just goover and to the point where I'm
(26:32):
just like dude, let's justfucking lay it down.
But I admire his perfectionismand we're a real yin yang Like.
When you meet us we flippersonalities.
When we come off stage, likeI'm the guy you'll talk to off
stage, but when we're on stagehe looks like the guy that's
going to be the guy and we'rejust, we perfectly balance each
other out.
(26:52):
So I'm the one that's like thatfucking take will do and it's
just like all out tune and stuffand he's like maybe we should
do it again.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah, that's awesome, man, and that's cool how you
guys work together lyrically.
That makes a lot of sense to me.
I like band dynamics like that,where no one should be afraid
to be like, hey, I have an ideafor a song.
Or sometimes Joby will say thatto me.
He'll be like, hey, I've gotthis line stuck in my head and
that line could spark somethingfor me to write something off of
, or vice versa.
So he's an incredible lyricistand it's rad to see him kind of
(27:27):
back on his back on his bullshit, as they say, because he's
spitting some fucking some venomon this album.
I mean, it's pretty awesome,man, I.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I fell in love with Isaac as a rapper when I was a
kid because that band he rapped,and we've been trying to find
our way to that dynamic allthese years, and I think the
last five years, as well as ourbreak.
The Internet's changedeverything, like being
individual, embracing yourdifferences, embracing your
(28:01):
influences, and like thecrossovers between all the
different worlds in music is sobig.
No one gives a fuck anymore,like there really doesn't feel
any pressure to be one way orone thing, and it just meant
that when we were in the studioI was like let's just get it all
out, let's just throw it allout and then just work out what
we can make into the record.
(28:22):
But don't hold back becauseit's so amazing when you do that
stuff yeah, man, yeah, that'sfucking, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah, he crushed it on this album, everything or
nothing.
How did that guitar part comeabout?
Because it's got it's such acool feel, it's such a great way
to end the album.
And I always hesitate saying itreminds me of stuff, because I
don't know what you love ordon't love, but but has like a
kind of a pogues and a littlebit of a rem feel to it and some
(28:52):
Smith's type stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
But it's just sounds so good, someone said the
Replacements the other day.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, I hadn't thought about that.
Yeah, that's good, that's agood one.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Bastards of the Young .
Like that tune is like in myall time.
So I'm like some people don'tlisten to music when they're in
the studio, but like musicconsumes me, like I get obsessed
with a record and I listen toit on repeat for weeks and weeks
and weeks and weeks, and thenthere'll be a new one or I'll
make a playlist and over theyear of making the record, like
(29:22):
I just got obsessed with thepogues.
I was like deep diving thepogues, all this, I only knew
the hits and I was like I'mgoing in, I'm gonna find out all
the other ones.
And then I was like shit, joestrummer produced hell's ditch.
I was like that's why I likethat record so much.
And yeah, so, like joe strummerand the mescalaros coma girl,
that song means so much to me.
I had such an influence and I'ma huge like when I die they're
(29:45):
gonna play fisherman's blues bythe water boys.
As I'm lowered into the inferno.
And so the mandolin is justpart of that.
And I think I was thinkingabout REM, because my dad used
to play REM in the car and Ilove that song, and I was just
like I need a fucking mandolin.
I was like I'm listening to allthis music and I've got a good
hookup.
(30:05):
Shout out Dave at Fender.
I just sent him a check.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
You got a mandolin guy?
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah, I was like I'm in the studio, I need a mandolin
, but that didn't happen quickenough so we chucked it on the
internet and, as the internetdoes, someone came down to the
studio in Tunbridge Wells.
We recorded out the back of theforum for the first two
sessions and I had the mandolinand I was like messing around
and it was like basically one ofthe first things I ever wrote,
(30:32):
because it's like an upside downguitar.
It's tuned.
It's tuned to the same thing aviolin is, so it's got that
orchestral feel.
Yeah, and the beauty of notknowing an instrument is like
you just fiddle and you're like,oh, that note goes with that
note and it just came out.
It's like one of the mostannoying things ever because I'm
gonna try and recreate it and Ijust won't be able to do
(30:53):
anything as good as that, but itjust, it was just.
Yeah, it just fell from theheavens into my hands and it's
one of my favorite things we'veever done yeah, it's really cool
man.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
It's a really beautiful song, really beautiful
guitar part and an awesome wayto end the record because when
it comes on it like it does it,like it hits you whoa, it hits
you kind of like way out of theblue because the record is just
charging from jump street andthen when it switches up and
it's such a beautiful instrumentand the song is such a powerful
song, it was just a really cooladdition to the record and a
(31:28):
great way to fucking end it, man.
So nice work, cheers, man.
Yeah, all right, let's jump tothe internet here.
We had a shit ton of questions.
Okay, the internet, theinternet, loves you guys.
We got a lot of questions abouthow did the robbie williams
bromance, as they call it, howdid that come about?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
right.
So I, my parents are very, youknow, they're like new middle
class, so they were workingclass and but they don't have
much, they're not into the art,so that we were very much like
robbie williams was like the jamin the car, like that's what we
listened to, and my dad onlybought cds that were like three
(32:09):
for 10 pounds in hmv.
So I'm not dissing it either.
I enjoyed my musical educationand finding it myself, but
Robbie Williams has been a bigpart of my childhood.
I tweeted him in 2015, and hebasically said I said Robbie
Williams is my favourite memberof Take that.
And then he replied which wascrazy at the time.
(32:31):
He said Isaac is my favouritemember of Slaves because he
looks like.
I don't know if you're familiar,but in the UK we have a very
famous set of presenters calledAnt and Dec.
Have you ever heard of them?
This is very Anglophile,they're like household names
here.
And he was like it looks likeif robbie and aunt mcpartland
(32:54):
had a love child, isaac would bethe child.
So anyway, that happened andthen about two years ago I woke
up to a video message from himrobbie williams, on my phone
saying I hope you don't mindthat I got your number.
I want to make music like youguys.
And I was just like it was sixin the morning and I like rolled
(33:14):
over, woke my girlfriend up.
I was like what the fuck isgoing on?
And then I just started likefacetiming him that day whilst I
was doing the washing up and wespoke for like an hour and then
we were trying to get a kidschoir to sing on punkstead.
But you can't get kids to swear, apparently like you're not
allowed, and I just floated itto the crew.
(33:35):
I was like why don't we getrobbie williams?
And they were a bit.
Isaac was like can we do that?
Right, because there'sobviously still this.
I mean, the whole punk scenedrives me mad, because there's
still this underlying hmm, isthis punk?
And I was just like this is thefucking most punk shit you
could do like fuck everyone likeget robbie williams on our song
and yeah.
So he said yes.
(33:55):
And then we put the tune outand he's in the video.
And then he announced that he'splaying this huge gig of a
lifetime at hyde park lastweekend and I was like, can we
support you?
And then we did and it turnsout loads of robbie williams
fans like us as well, a lot oflike drunk mums and dads, yeah.
And then we met him afterwardsand he basically just gave us a
(34:16):
pep talk and told us about how,like, everything's gonna be all
right, and it was just, it'sfucking mental that's fucking
sick man.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
That's awesome.
Shout out robbie williams.
Yeah, that's, that is he.
What does he sing on Punk'sDead?
Speaker 1 (34:32):
He sings the I love you, but I disagree.
This is bullshit, really Damn.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Okay, that is him.
Okay, I was like, yeah, thesnowflake part, yeah, yeah, okay
, yeah, awesome dude, that'ssick.
I didn't realize that, that'sfucking dope.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Okay, yeah, that's fucking rad dude.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
A couple of pickups here I'm fucking rad dude a
couple pick-ups here.
I'm gonna name a couple things.
You tell me which one youprefer.
Okay, we're going to start outwith johnny thunders or eddie
van halen.
Let's go with slash or randyrhodes.
Slash, ramones of the clash,the clash, iggy pop or david
(35:14):
bowie oh, that's fucking hardI'm, I'm gonna have to go bowie
yeah, yeah, I go iggy, but it'sunderstandable.
Guy richie or quentin tarantino, oh tarantino, j oh Tarantino.
Jason Statham or Vin Diesel.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Well, do you know?
Vin Diesel's real nameapparently is Mark Vincent,
which is my dad's name.
So I'm going to go Vin Diesel.
I like that, but Jason Stathamtold me to follow my dreams once
.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
That's pretty cool.
That's solid advice.
We were in London one time andwe were at some like super, just
like weird, like highbrow, likekind of speakeasy type bar and
he was there and I had no ideahow like small he was.
But he, I mean, he was a rock,but he was a small dude.
I couldn't believe it.
I was like, oh shit, it's JasonStatham.
(36:11):
Right on, right on.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah, he knows like Krav Maga and his multiple black
belts, isn't he?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Oh yeah, he'll kill you.
He'll kill you in a second.
He'll kill you in a second.
Elton John or Billy Joel.
Elton John, white stripes orblack keys.
Oh, white stripes yeah, yeah,kills the kills.
Are the carpenters the kills?
(36:39):
Nice, yeah, yeah, all right.
What about you?
Know, I want to get into someof your art stuff too.
But warhol or banksy, what doyou think?
Speaker 1 (36:48):
oh, warhol, I don't fuck with banksy what about
basquiat or Picasso?
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Basquiat nice, nice.
And let's see here in generalyou like street art or fine art?
Speaker 1 (37:08):
I think I prefer fine art.
You know I'm like I'm big intopaintings and I've never been as
I appreciate street, but it'snot my vibe as much mean you,
(37:35):
okay, are an old school tatdaddy, very old school tat daddy
, I know you, you've got to havesome sailor jerry tattoos on
you.
You've got to have some.
I do.
You know what?
I don't actually have anythingthat's like straight off of a
sailor jerry flash sheet.
I've got some stuff that'spretty close um I'd say like my
gaslight anthem.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Oh, nice, yeah.
But yeah, do you remember whatwas your first tattoo?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Shout out Brian Fallon.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Oh, hell yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
I got.
I got one life, Live it.
Hey it's true, I was like 16and I'm just glad that I didn't
get you only live once.
I think I did better out ofthose two sayings.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yolo.
Tat would have been tight,though.
What about?
Are you still actively gettingtattooed, or are you retired?
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I'm semi-retired but I'm ready to go again.
I've got the itch again.
It's been like I don't know howyou you feel, but I've got like
a good percentage of my bodytattooed and it hurts now I
heard matty matheson saying thisas well.
Just like it stops.
You're not.
You don't have the adrenalinebecause you know what you're
expecting and you becomecomfortable in the shops and,
like when I started gettingtattooed, which was like 15
(38:46):
years ago, it was still scary,whereas it's not scary anymore.
Like you know everyone to havea tattoo, everyone gets tattooed
and I yeah, the adrenaline todo it has worn off and now also
I really care about like theaftercare.
So I'm like shit, I need twoweeks where I'm not doing too
much because I want to make sureit stays nice and I'm ready to
(39:06):
go again.
I want to get my head done andI want to like I've got a few
gaps and I want to join stuff up.
But I think the last thing Igot was like I got some bits on
my neck like these, like littlesort of fine line bits yeah,
awesome man, awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
A couple more questions here and we'll let you
go.
A couple hypotheticals.
Let's talk about time travel.
Why not if, if a time machineshowed up at your doorstep, you
could go anywhere in history?
Where would you go first andwhy?
Speaker 1 (39:38):
the first thing that sprung to mind is just like
straight to a battlefield, likewatch some knights go at it.
When I was a kid I was.
I was obsessed with like suitsof armor and like knights and I
just I like, I like I can'tbelieve that maybe the Vikings
invading the UK, and just likejust to witness it.
(39:59):
I don't want to get involved, Ijust want to watch from like a
safe bubble.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yep, yeah, awesome man, real quick.
What's going on?
You're an incredible artistoutside of being an incredible
musician.
Are you still actively workingon art?
I'm sure that the band's gotyou pretty hyper-focused right
now, but is there anything goingon in the art department?
Speaker 1 (40:22):
I want to do some bits, but I've mainly been
focusing on putting my art intothe music.
So I've done a lot of thesleeve design.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I've got it here.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
actually, I'm so stoked it's like our best
looking, we'll send you one.
I'll get the label and send youone, yeah, we did this with the
sleeve nice, so my drawings areall over this.
I wanted it to look like a deadkennedy's sort of record, but
yeah, we fucked, we fucking wentfor it with this album.
It's just like it all looks sorad, dude, that looks so good.
(40:53):
So, yeah, like a lot of videoconcepts and we're working a lot
on that and with like creative.
So, yeah, that's where my artenergy is going at the moment
that's awesome, man.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Yeah, it's cool how they can kind of converge and
you're able to kind of put thatinto the band.
It's awesome.
I was just at the Punk RockMuseum in Vegas and they had a
Winston Smith exhibit who didall the Dead Kennedys art and
stuff like that.
And man, like some of thoseimages are just so fucking
incredible.
I mean, even just the logoitself is just so sick, you know
(41:26):
, mate.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I screenshotted or no , I took a photo of it.
I can't remember what albumI've got, but it's got this huge
fold-out magazine and the deadkennedy logo.
When it's got like the brickwall behind it, it's just iconic
, it's yeah.
Coming up with a logo like thatis rare, like not many bands do
it yeah, it's very true.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
It's very true.
All right, laurie, lastquestion here you know.
First of all, thank you so muchfor your time, man, it's, it's
been awesome talking to you.
Heavy Jelly is out now.
Soft Play you got to go get therecord.
You got to go see the band.
Oh, are you coming to theStates ever?
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
the states in the past that I've just basically
said we're like sitting tightuntil the right thing happens.
We've just taken on an agentand rise rise records have just
picked us up, which is prettysick like we've never really
we've never really had likeproper backing out there.
So I feel really um optimistic,but I think it'll be next year
and I'm hoping we get some goodfestivals and we can come
through.
We just need to like, like it'sso expensive, man, like the
visas.
(42:32):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's nuts.
It's nuts, all right, awesome.
Well, we'll look forward tothat.
Last question here what to you,laurie Vincent, is the meaning
of life?
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Oh man, it's about like trying to be present.
I've been thinking about that alot got asked it the other day
trying to just like sit thereand enjoy the actual moment.
That's the meaning of life.
Like good food, family, yeah.
Hugging your loved ones, like,yeah, holding your girlfriend's
hand, it's the really simpleshit.
(43:05):
It's like noticing the seasons.
And like your feet on grassyeah, yeah, the hippie shit.
Like being in, trying to linkin with the seasons, and like
watching the flowers come outall year round eating good food.
Like putting your feet in thegrass it's all the hippie shit.
I'm down with that.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah, yeah, hey, it's real man, absolutely.
You know, laurie, this has beenan awesome time, my man, I'm
such a big fan of the band andwe've crossed paths over many
years and it's just been reallycool.
It was great to see you guys at2000 Trees last year and just
you know, congrats on being back, man, welcome back, Congrats on
(43:47):
a kick-ass record and thank youvery much for being a guest
here in the Sailor Jerry podcast.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
Thanks, man, it's an honor.
Cheers for having me andhopefully we'll see you in the
States soon.
Yeah, hell, yeah Awesome.
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