Slaves (UK Band) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Soft Play (formerly known as Slaves) are an English
punk rock duo formed in
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...
in 2012, consisting of Isaac Holman (lead vocals, drums) and Laurie Vincent (backing vocals, guitar, bass). Their music has been described as "
British punk with harsh
bluesy
garage
A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include:
*Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...
riffs".
History
As Slaves, the band released their first
EP, ''Sugar Coated Bitter Truth'', under Boss Tuneage Records in 2012. Their first single, "Where's Your Car Debbie?", was released by Fonthill Records in early 2014; they were then signed by
Virgin EMI
Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records.
History
Virgin ...
. They released their first single under Virgin, "Hey", in November 2014, and released "The Hunter" later that month. They gained more exposure in late 2015 when "The Hunter" was featured on the
Sky One series ''
You, Me and the Apocalypse
''You, Me and the Apocalypse'' (working title ''Apocalypse Slough'') is a British-American comedy-drama miniseries. The series was green-lit on 8 January 2015. It debuted on Sky 1 on 30 September 2015 and on NBC on 28 January 2016. Sky 1 said ...
''. They also appeared on ''
Later... with Jools Holland'' and were nominated for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's
Sound of 2015.
In May 2015, ''
The Fader
''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes.
It is o ...
'' featured the group in an article about provocative names for music artists.
Vincent told ''The Fader'' that criticism of the name came as a surprise to them, describing how they chose the name while trying to think of "an abrasive sounding word, like
Clash". He further said, "We just liked the word. We weren't trying to provoke."
The two also addressed the controversy around their name in a statement on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
: "Our band name relates to people not being in control of their day to day lives. Slaves was our way of getting off the paths we didn't want to walk down anymore. The music we make is motivational and aimed at people personally as well as collectively."
The duo released their debut album, ''
Are You Satisfied?
''Are You Satisfied?'' is the debut album of English punk duo Slaves. It was released on 1 June 2015. It reached number 8 in its first week on the UK Albums Chart. The album was nominated for the 2015 Mercury Music Prize. A deluxe edition was ...
'', on 1 June 2015. It reached No. 8 in its first week on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
. The album was nominated for the 2015
Mercury Music Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
and has since gone Silver in the UK. They released their second album, ''
Take Control
"Take Control" is a song by the American singer Amerie from her third studio album, ''Because I Love It'' (2007). It was released as the album's lead single on October 17, 2006. The song was written by Cee-Lo Green, Mike Caren and Amerie, and wa ...
'', on 30 September 2016.
Beastie Boys member
Mike D
Michael Louis Diamond (born November 20, 1965), better known as Mike D, is an American rapper, musician, and music producer. He is best known as a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys.
Early life
Diamond was born in New York Cit ...
produced the album, and was featured on the track "Consume or Be Consumed". The album fared better in the charts than the first, climbing to No. 6 in its first week on the UK Albums Chart. On 20 March 2018, the band announced its third album, ''
Acts of Fear and Love
''Acts of Fear and Love'' is the third studio album by English punk rock duo Slaves, released on 17 August 2018. It was the final studio album released by the band before they changed their name to Soft Play in 2022.
Track listing
Charts
...
'', was released on 17 August and reached number 8 in the UK album charts.
In July 2019, the band released a four-track EP titled ''
The Velvet Ditch
''The Velvet Ditch'' is the second EP by English punk rock duo Slaves, released on 18 July 2019. It was the band's final release before they changed their name to Soft Play in 2022.
Track listing
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velvet Ditch
2 ...
'' and played a headline set at
Truck Festival
Truck Festival is an annual independent music festival in Oxfordshire, England. It was started in 1998 by the Bennett family (including the brothers Robin and Joe of the band Goldrush), who decided that mainstream festivals such as Glastonbu ...
.
In December 2022, the band changed their name to Soft Play, agreeing that "the name Slaves is an issue" and that it "doesn't represent who we are as people or what our music stands for any longer".
Members
* Isaac Holman – lead vocals, drums, trumpet, flute
* Laurence "Laurie" Vincent – backing vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
Discography
Studio albums
*As "Slaves"
Extended plays
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Songwriting and production credits
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2012 establishments in England
English musical duos
English punk rock groups
Musical groups established in 2012
Musicians from Royal Tunbridge Wells
Rock music duos
NME Awards winners
Musical groups from Kent
Virgin EMI Records artists