The Slow Readers Club are an English rock band from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Their third studio album ''Build A Tower'' was a UK Top 20 hit album reaching number 18; follow up ''The Joy of the Return'' made it to the Top 10, peaking at number 9 in March 2020.

Omerta

The Slow Readers Club evolved from earlier band Omerta. They formed in 2003 and signed to fashionable Manchester label Northern Ambition in 2005 when they released three singles, each of which sold out on the day of release and became collector's editions. Their double A-side debut Everything Is Frozen / Learn To Love The System was followed by One More Chance and their final single One More Minute. Despite strong career prospects with support from

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. Early life He attended The Ramsey Academy ...

and others, the band dispersed around 2007 with no apparent prospect of further collaboration.

The Slow Readers Club

Despite the disbanding of Omerta, James Ryan and Aaron Starkie continued to jam together and eventually formed The Slow Readers Club. The band released their self-titled debut album towards the end of 2011, featuring various former Omerta songs, but also three new singles "Feet On Fire", "Sirens" and "Block Out The Sun". The band underwent a number of line up changes before settling on the current four-piece line-up of Aaron Starkie on vocals, Kurtis Starkie on guitar and backing vocals, James Ryan on bass and David Whitworth on drums, at which point their career progressed. In 2013, they released a one-off single "Forever In Your Debt", featuring a more radio-friendly sound. The B-side was "Days Like This Will Break Your Heart". Gradually, the band regained the old momentum that Omerta once had, as their live following around Manchester started to grow through a combination of word of mouth and support slots for such bands as

Catfish and the Bottlemen Catfish and the Bottlemen are a British indie rock band from Wales. The band's debut album, ''The Balcony'', reached number 10 in the UK Albums Chart and achieved Platinum status on 30 December 2016. The band have toured in South America, Japan ...

. Various eventual tracks from their second album, ''Cavalcade'', were introduced to the live set during this time. Brothers Aaron and Kurtis both hail from the Wythenshawe area (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newall_Green) of South Manchester.

''Cavalcade''

Prior to the release of ''Cavalcade'' in April 2015, the band released a series of singles - "Start Again", "Don't Mind" and "I Saw a Ghost" - that gained considerable airplay from such DJs as

(who played and discussed the track "Don't Mind" on his

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

show Roundtable in September 2014) and

Chris Hawkins Christopher Charles Hawkins (born 23 September 1975) is a British radio presenter, DJ, and music pundit. Hawkins is a regular early morning presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music. He can also be heard presenting documentary programmes on BBC Radio ...

on 6 Music as well as Hattie Pearson on

XFM Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...

. They played XFM's First Friday club night at the

Band on the Wall Band on the Wall is a live music venue in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, England. History Early history The building dates back to around 1862 when a local brewery, the McKenna Brothers, built it as the flagship pub of their operation. I ...

in Manchester and were filmed performing "I Saw a Ghost" acoustically in

Manchester Central Library Manchester Central Library is the headquarters of the city's library and information service in Manchester, England. Facing St Peter's Square, it was designed by E. Vincent Harris and constructed between 1930 and 1934. The form of the buildin ...

, months after they had become the first band to play the newly revamped library. The show was recorded for release as ''Live At The Library'', a digital only album featuring songs from both albums to date. The band were playing bigger Manchester shows and also playing gigs further afield such as in Italy and Ireland. By the time ''Cavalcade'' was released in April 2015, a

Manchester Academy The Manchester Academy, originally known as the University of Manchester Main Hall, is composed of four concert venues, located on the campus of the University of Manchester, in Manchester, England. The four venues are: Academy 1, 2 and 3 and ...

show had sold out three weeks in advance. This was to herald a summer of festival headline slots at Far Out Festival, Headlander and the Manchester Food And Drink Festival as well as well-received sets at the

Isle Of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...

, Sheffield's Tramlines festival and a set at Ramsbottom Festival, which saw queues of festival attendees for the tent in which they were playing. The band finished the year with a sold out concert at Gorilla in Manchester as part of a successful national tour. ''Cavalcade'' took first place in Manchester blog's Even The Stars' albums of the year 2015 poll. There was another sold-out Manchester show at St Philips Church followed by a bigger national tour and dates in Montpellier and Dublin, While writing songs for their third album, they performed at a sold-out

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

tribute event at Sound Control in Manchester where they performed an acoustic version of "

Life on Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

" to the audience of Bowie fans. Around this time that

Jim Glennie James Patrick Glennie (born 10 October 1963) is the bassist for and eponym of English rock band, James. He is the band's longest-serving member—having been there from the first line-up through to the present day—and now only remaining origi ...

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tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

a video of the Starkies performing an acoustic version of "I Saw a Ghost" in

for video blog Matter Of Sound produced by Radio X's Hattie Pearson. Following on from this, The Slow Readers Club supported James on their Girl At The End Of The World tour in May 2016 personal invitation of Glennie and

Saul Davies Saul Davies (born 28 June 1965 in Liverpool) is a British musician best known as a member of the rock band James. Davies is a multi-instrumentalist whose primary instruments are the violin, guitar and percussion. Career Saul Davies was hired ...

. The tour encompassed venues such as Bristol Colston Hall, Southend Cliffs Pavilion, London Kentish Town Forum and

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...

, Llandudno Venue Cymru,

Manchester Arena Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights s ...

, Hull City Hall and Newcastle City Hall. One special night was at Bournemouth O2 Academy where the Starkies performed an acoustic set as Whitworth was absent to be at the birth of his children. The remaining band were joined on stage by Saul Davies who played violin on "Forever In Your Debt". Prior to the tour, the band made their first visit to Ireland and sold out The Workman's Club solely on the basis of word of mouth and the support of local radio station

TXFM TXFM (formerly Phantom 105.2) was a Dublin based radio station, founded in 1997 as a pirate radio station. TXFM broadcast under a contract awarded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). The station ceased broadcasting on 26 October 2016 ...

. In the wake of the success of the tour, the band played at several major festivals, filling out a tent at

Kendal Calling Kendal Calling is a music & arts festival, held annually at Lowther Deer Park in the Lake District, Cumbria in the North West of England. It has grown from a two-day, 900 capacity event in 2006 to a 25,000 capacity 4-day music festival. Kendal C ...

, playing two sets at

Victorious Festival Victorious Festival is a three-day music festival held in Portsmouth, United Kingdom. It was founded in 2011. In its first year, the festival was named the Victorious Vintage Festival. For the first two years, the festival was held in Portsmou ...

in Portsmouth as well as appearing at Yorfest, Tramlines in Sheffield and Castlepolooza in Ireland and finally headlining the second stage at Ramsbottom Festival. Despite still being unsigned and maintaining day jobs, a show at Manchester's Ritz on 18 November 2016 sold out two months in advance. The show was streamed online live and featured seventeen songs from the first two albums plus two new songs "Lunatic" and "Through The Shadows" from the upcoming third album. The ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...

'' stated of the show "It would be wrong to call them Manchester's best kept secret, because any band who can sell out the Manchester's Ritz is clearly not a secret. But alongside the likes of

Cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...

and

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, The Slow Readers Club are currently one of the most exciting sounds coming out of our fair city." Further gigs at the 500-capacity Whelan's venue in Dublin and the 600-capacity Hackney Oslo in London also sold out. The band played three further dates with

Nottingham Royal Concert Hall Nottingham Royal Concert Hall is a concert hall in the English city of Nottingham. It is owned by Nottingham City Council and is part of a complex that also includes the city's Theatre Royal. The Royal Concert Hall's striking modern architectur ...

, Sheffield Academy and Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall in December.

''Build a Tower''

Released in May 2018, ''Build a Tower'' is the band's third album. It stayed briefly in the Top 20 of 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 C ...

. The band went on tour to support the album. According to the '' Lancashire Post'', The Slow Readers Club are the band you probably have never heard of, and yet they manage to sell out venues like The Apollo and the Ritz in Manchester.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slow Readers Club English rock music groups Musical groups from Manchester