Slaves

Slaves. They rock my world. I first became aware of them at Latitude this year and since then have been a big fan. So I toddled along to The Owl Sanctuary last night to check them out again. This was their very first sold out gig! Since performing on Jools Holland a couple weeks ago they've had a lot of attention, which is great. The room was hot and sweaty but the audience was rather mixed; some young fanboys and some slightly older people who perhaps had come to see what all the fuss was about. The size of the the stage at this venue suited the duo perfectly, and also it was nice to see a band right up close and personal with their audience.They are very friendly with their fans, with lots of banter in between songs and funny stories, at which they excel. The great thing about Slaves is their humour mixed with the raw guitar and drums that could, in the right hands, feel pretty aggressive. Issac, the drummer, screams into the audience, staring his furious and luminous blue eyes, and then tells us a funny tale about Alan Titchmarsh. They are so likeable, and yet have a raw and very male sexuality that you don't see much on stage now. Their shirts are off and Isaac ends up being carried aloft into the audience at one point and then he encourages us all to hug our neighbour. Their rock/punk songs are intense, short and simple, but they have a sense of absolute hugeness to them. Despite providing only the bare bones of rock music, I never miss the other instruments at all. Their newer songs sound very much like early Nirvana, with Laurie's guitar riffs both catchy and dark, and the syncopation between the lyrics, drums and guitar is beautifully formed. They play favourites like Where's Your Car, Debbie?, Cheer Up London, Girlfight (which lasts 18 seconds) and new single Hey, and many people seem to be singing along. I really expect them to do great things and go far. Their album is due in 2015. Hoorah!!!