Slaves To Gravity Talk To Us Ahead of Lacuna Coil Support Tour (Interview)
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Written by Adam Simpson
Hard rock band Slaves To Gravity, spare some time with their front man Tommy Gleeson to talk about their new album and upcoming support tour.
Taking a break from pulling pints at work, Tommy shares his excitement ahead of the tour with headline act Lacuna Coil and the new album which is to be released sometime around the New Year.
How much are you looking forward to the upcoming tour?
“Yeah, very much looking forward to it. We’ve been a bit absent from the live scene recently, we’ve been busy getting ready for a new album and new singles and all that sort of stuff so to get out on the road and play at some sold out venues is gonna be fucking brilliant.”
You are supporting Lucana Coil, are you looking forward to that?
“To be honest with you I don’t know their stuff all that well, but the venues are gonna be really nice, probably a bit smaller than they’ve played in the past so we're gonna be playing loads of little gigs that are gonna be totally sold out which is gonna be really, really cool.”
Do you enjoy the intimacy of playing the small venues?
“Yeah, definitely you get a great feeling from all the fans who are right in front of you and you get a real connection with them compared with when you play bigger shows.”
Tell me about your new album, Underwaterouterspace.
“We’re very happy with it and we just want to get it out. It’s a really strong album, we’ve really pressed ourselves and gone forward with the song writing and playing in every department, we really wanted to raise our game as much as we can and I think we’ve managed to do that. We just want to get it out so we can share it with everyone now.”
What are your plans for the release?
"We have a new single coming out on the 21st September, that’s called Honesty and we’ve just made a video for that. We haven’t got a definite release date for the album yet. It’s gonna be either the back end of this year or very early next year depending on a whole host of different factors, but it’s all done and ready to go we just need to make sure we release it properly and don’t waste the opportunity that we have to make a real impact with it."
How was it to work with Bob Hartman?
“It was a really good experience, I’ve worked with a lot of producers in the past and scratched my head as to what they do for their money but working with Bob was a real education. He’s a really talented musician and a brilliant songwriter so he really knew his stuff and did his stuff in a way that wasn’t treading on our toes and becoming a Bob Hartman ego thing, he really reflected on what we did and what we saw and he was able to use that in a really positive way, he worked hard and he really forced us to take risks and trust each other perhaps more then we already did, so it was a really good experience.”
You played a small UK tour last year, playing songs from the new album, how well were they received by fans?
“People had never heard those songs before but after a few shows people were singing the songs back to us really, really quickly and the general consensus for me was people were getting it and getting where we were going with it and everything worked out really well. The feedback was positive and everyone we spoke to seemed to notice the shift in what we were doing. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're just trying some new things and trying to be bigger and bolder and easier to get hold of, whilst retaining the depth and texture that we’ve always tried to play with, so everyone seemed to be really into it. No one said we were shit anyway.”
How difficult has it been to adjust to line up changes?
“To be honest, not at all. It was difficult to adjust to Gemma leaving initially. She’d been with us for years so it was really weird to turn around and Gemma not be there, but Jason has come in and he’s got his own style and a really positive attitude and he’s very creative and professional. It’s so much fun playing with him that we don’t want to dwell on losing Gemma too much.”
Who has influenced your music?
“There’s a range of influences within the band, but the common ground influences for us have been 90’s grunge stuff like Stone Temple Pilots but I think fundamentally as a band it’s been the influence of classic songs rather than specific genres or fads.”
Have you used the eclectic influences, to create your own sound?
“Definitely I think we're probably more diverse then a lot of groups out there at the moment, for us it’s all about packaging all the dynamics into a point where we can express ourselves how we want to be heard, we're not trying to be too clever or anything but it’s definitely about the dynamics and the ebb and flow.”
Do you think that the fact that you are willing to change things will help you to stand the test of time?
“I hope so, I hope it helps us remain fresh, we don’t want to write the same stuff over and over its all about wanting to push things further, so you write a record and you look back at it and then look at what we’re going to do next to keep things interesting and not just for the fans but for ourselves, so we keep interested. So it’s always about the next song and pushing yourselves forward.”
Is there anywhere on the tour you are particularly looking forward to playing?
“Everywhere really. You know while I’m talking to you I’m on a break from pulling pints in a pub for city boys who look right through you, so just to get the fuck out of here and get on the road and hopefully see people enjoying the music that we play is going to be great.”
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