Just The Two Of Us: Slow Club

It's amazing how music can change a listener's mood. In 1999 people claimed Marilyn Manson's music drove two children to kill at Columbine School (No one actually believed that though did they? .Ed), his music was so darkly motivated, in addition if you turn up The Horrors while walking home on a Saturday night you feel invincible. Whereas if you wake up listening to the wonderful sound of Slow Club, you know you are in for a glorious day. With their blissful harmonies and twee melodies they make a summer's day look surprisingly dull. The duo consisting of young school friends, Charles and Rebecca are just as bright as their songs. Tonight we are sat in the dark dingy setting of musical haunt The Washington yet the couple resemble the mood of a student barbeque. Rebecca, never seen in anything less casual than a summer dress is childlike as she twists her golden blonde hair, leaving Charles to provide the level headed approach. Today with a single, video and tour in the pipeline the band are stressed, although you'd never know it.
 
"We've got six hours to film this video. We've hired a room at the Lescar pub and we're going to do it up, we've got this dance" Rebecca begins to explain as she shuffles her feet in a dance like motion. "And then we freestyle which we need lots of people for and we have to organise it ourselves so I'm having a bit of a hernia about it."
 
You see Slow Club are poised as one of the most relaxing bands around. Just consisting of the two members they don't fit to the usual indie guitar set up. As Charles plays acoustic guitar Rebecca generates a wild variety of sounds through a bass drum, tambourine, an assortment of glass bottles, and erm, a chair. Creating such a cute relaxing sound you never expect the band themselves to be stressed, but in truth they are just like any other, especially when it comes to how they formed. "We were sort of messing about for a while. We were at school so we couldn't do it properly." Says Charles "We were in different bands and then we were in an indie band and that kind of fizzled out and then we decided to do it so it was kind of ages until we found something that worked," adds Rebecca.
 
But with such an unusual set up surely it was tempting to add more members?  "We thought it was quite unique to have two of us and we make quite a lot of noise so we definitely want to keep that, but if we get a career out of this we'll want to keep it fresh," explains Charles. However in many ways the band's small membership has worked to an advantage. Having only formed last July, Rebecca and Charles have managed to create quite a stir. In November they joined Tiny Dancers on a national tour and casually drop Das Wanderlust and Hot Club de Paris as their mentors. The latter liked them so much that they convinced their label Moshi Moshi to release Slow Club's first single.
 
"We went on tour with Hot Club De Paris and they're on Moshi Moshi and know the guys there and they'd seen us before and one of them weren't too fussed so they went to dinner with them and just battered them down!" Says Rebecca, "And they've got a singles club so…" "It's like a branch off the label," Charles cuts in, "We're not signed to them but it's a great start. It's a perfect label for us as well. I remember last year we looked around a few labels that were too big for us at the time and you (referring to Rebecca) were like 'Woah, Moshi Moshi!' Its exciting though because we've never done anything like this before."
 
Also it seems Hot Club de Paris are not the only band taken in by the Slow Club charm as Das Wanderlust persuaded the band to try for a Radio 1 session. "We met them (Das Wanderlust) on the Hot Club de Paris tour and they said 'Oh send a demo to Huw Stephens, and then he'll get you to do a session, we thought 'Oh that's easy' so we did. Next time we see a band we like we're going to recommend Huw Stephens!"