Interviews

The Slow Blade

Alison Kerry 20/04/2009

New Band Feature

Interview with Cian (keyboards)


In times of economic decline, it's not unusual to see a rise in popularity of brooding, dark, ethereal rock music. Proving every cloud does indeed have a silver lining, our current recession couldn't be a better time to introduce London based five piece The Slow Blade.

Formed in 2008 and made up of a fierce baritone from singer Andrew, moody synth from Cian, jagged determined guitar from Ben, with Joseph on drums and Sam on bass.. The post-punk electro atmosphere created by The Slow Blade is visceral and austere without being miserable.

The band's song writing is a collective effort with all five making their mark on the overall sound. The highlights of the demo tracks on their myspace page are 'She Burns', 'Everybody Swings', and 'Dead Lights'. It's hard to ignore the sombre feel throughout these tracks, but are they really all so discontented? Unassuming and softly spoken keyboardist, Cian, explains this is most certainly not the case.

"There has been drama in our lives. I can't say that we're terribly happy people all the time but we don't come across as tortured. We're not miserablists and sit back thinking 'why don't we write a gloomy song'. The songs are what they are. We just have stewardship of them and that's it."

When asked where his own personal inspiration comes from, Cian says, "I like the stone cold clarity of Mark Lanegan's writing". In addition to Lanegan, Cian's ability to relate to "Catholic boy gone wrong", Greg Dulli, also helps inspire his song writing contributions to the band. Collectively, other obvious influences come from Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode and Tool.

Their live show is impressive, particularly owing to singer Andrew's stirring stage presence as front man. With notable musicianship from the rest of the band, The Slow Blade are making an entirely fresh variation on this style of post-punk alternative rock.

This year has seen a steady increase of plays and positive feedback from myspace fans. More demos are planned as well as more live dates. It's clear this is only the beginning for The Slow Blade. Theirs may be a dark star, but it's a star on the ascendant nonetheless.


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