A world where there is no war. No hunger, no poverty, no suffering. Doesn’t exist. Sorry for misleading you, but this is the world we live in. Slime Lush are a band that will take a thematic approach to music. Might not work for everyone, but these guys make it work. This is their debut album, Custom Slaughter.
No one has publicly heard their sound. Nixon Peace Fingers opens up their world to ours. A sludge rock styled track, laid back vocals and simple chord changes dominate this track. It’s a steady ride, with a tasty solo around the 4 minute mark. The last minute is a transitionary aura of a sound. It creates a new texture for the band to play with, and we are underway for something special.
Most bands send a tester out with a single. Why did you choose to make yourselves known with an album first?
Cole: In all honesty we just happened to get enough songs together to make an entire album. We did a very limited release of “Super Friendly Vikings” but it was pretty raw and didn’t sound a whole lot like the one on the album. Most of the band prefers the album format, it’s just how we consume music. However, we are considering to release future music in EP or single format.
The making of hysteria
That’s how you hear them as well. In one, undeterred flow they create a thread of music, something you can hold on to. World War XIII begins in that same ether, using the simple stringed symphonies of the previous track. This allows for a different kind of flow, a story format with the instruments each telling a tale. Flip Flop Brunch changes this bands sound for a disco pop vibe. The synths continue to make their play in the background as well. A much shorter track, this is a mild taste changer before we shoot for the rainbow.
From blues to hard rock inspirations, there seems to be a melting pot in your music. What would you say is your unique addition to the mix?
Joe: The guitars should sound cool/nasty and there should be a pop song in there somewhere. That’s what I want. The secret ingredient is we have all been playing together for a long time and learned to play our instruments together. We probably make music that’s like a secret language between twins and it makes sense to us and is probably confusing to outsiders.
Isolation is a part of the equation to, living in rural areas, Oklahoma is basically the moon. We wrote all of this in an old converted barn in the middle of nowhere, plenty of time and space to get weird. I think we will only get weirder.
Treating a theme
Flip Flop Brunch. What is the intention behind this style and your ideation to reach this kind of composition?
Flip Flop Brunch is actually a spin off of a early demo of “Super Friendly Vikings”. (Ryan): Flip Flop Brunch goes back to the idea of repeating motifs and tying things together, while its more of a song in between songs. If you listen closely you’ll hear riffs and themes from other songs mixed back together. And also somehow a banjo ended up in there (a mandolin too).
Slime Lush make music because it comes to them naturally. As a band. If it gets weird, its because the moment demanded it. Unusual chord progressions are used in Creepy National Anthem. We still love the sound and how the background is never echoing with silence. Something is always going on. There is a funky addition to the song, and then there’s the pop rock core that keeps peeping back in.
Will you always choose to have thematic music relating to a certain topical effect in your albums?
Cole: Timmy wrote pretty much all of the lyrics, and to him I think the theme was very important. For myself, the music writing process, the chord progressions, song structuring, riff writing… that stuff was a stream of consciousness. That’s just how my brain works.
Joe: What’s going on makes its way into the music, it just happens. The grapes taste like wildfire smoke and shit…
Moments that made them
Their early track Super Friendly Vikings is the next track. It is a beautiful, catchy melody that dominates this track. The background distortion keeps the fuzz in, while the guitar riff keeps the melody in motion. The song transitions and builds to a creative breakdown and makes its own character known.
Whiskey King is the track after, and has a soul belonging to The Smiths in some ways. The psychedelic soul is onto us, and we should be enveloped in the haze by now. A palette cleanser is World War Eight, the sound is towards an indie rock sound. The stringed instruments guide the ascending chord progression, to a mountain of hope. Ironic that the track is called World War Eight.
The final track is a prog-rock style track, with an avant-garde lyrical delivery. How did Custom Slaughter come about?
As David Berman said, “All my favorite singers couldn’t sing”.
What are you plans on touring or recording another album maybe? Same year, double album release?
It’s so hard to predict. We are all really busy people with careers and families and aspirations of bigger and better things outside of the music stuff. We are currently working on a few songs, and should have them released by fall (being really optimistic).
It would be nice to be signed by a little small label that could help book us some shows… it’s really hard to find an audience in rural Oklahoma for what we do. We already made the album, we did the hard part, we just want to get it out there for people to hear it.
To float among clouds
The final track is a mellow number, making its way as a earworm into our heads. The simple two chord change allows for greater variation and helps focus on the lyrics. By the 3rd minute, you hear a memorable solo, and a prolonged instrumental section. A small moment with the verse reunites, and Slime Lush proceed to another soulful instrumental section.
Is it fair to call them experimental? In many ways, they are. Their songs are pop-catchy and have many moments of relatable simple melodies. The lyrics, sound and core principle of constructing the songs are neo-psychedelic rock. They lean into a heavier sound sometimes, and create a lighter synthescape sometimes to renovate and recreate magic on. Slime Lush are onto a portal of dreams:
Check out our playlists here!
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Promotional Disclaimer: The content in this post has been sponsored by the artist, label, or PR representative to help promote their work.Promotional Disclaimer: The content in this post has been sponsored by the artist, label, or PR representative to help promote their work.
Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
