One and a half month after the recent release of their video for the new song “Goodby Mr. Dandy”, Duisburg, Germany’s groovy hardcore punks SLOPE are less than 2 weeks before the official premiere of their new LP “Losin’ Grip” on BDHW Records, a nifty 6-track follow-up to their debut record “Helix” (2014). What are the details behind it, what does it mean to them, how have they spent last 3 years, and what can they say about their local scene? We sit down with them to find out.
Hi guys! Thanks for joining us here on IDIOTEQ. Given it’s been over 3 years since your debut EP “Helix”, it’s really nice to see you back in shape. What kept you busy for so much time?
Hi guys, thanks for havin us. Yea, it took us a lot of time and effort to keep us satisfied with the new EP. Songwriting means for us: sitting in the rehearsal room with five different guys, five different heads, at least five different ideas and five different ways to say: “I don’t like this, I don’t like that”. It is disgusting how critical we are with our own music, haha. Sometimes we’re working for weeks on just one short changeover and later this part is 5 sec. long on the record, fuck. This is often very exhausting, but it is part of our writing process.
After completing and releasing our first EP “Helix” we were one year struggling for a new drummer. After Patty (our Drummer) joined us in 2015, we worked our asses off, 3 times a week in the rehearsal room, we played as much shows as we could and then finished “Losin’ Grip”. And now we’re more than happy with everything.
What inspired you to come back with a follow-up EP this Summer?
Honestly our intention behind Losin’Grip were never “Lets write an EP or write an LP neither”. We just started writing new songs and after we finished “The Void” we just felt like this record is ready.
The record lets the listener escape the struggles of everyday life. What issues did you try to tackle with “Losin’ Grip”?
Different things like every day struggles, self-issues and insecurities.
All is written from our point of view and our own experiences. It’s not difficult to find things in this world to write about. There is so much shit going on, but people are too busy with work, perfecting their social media ego or getting the next exclusive brand and often have no interest/time to face problems. If you live in the western world and grew up with such things it’s difficult to escape. You start as a child with kindergarten, then school and at the latest you recognize that you’re directly drifting into “real life”. Work, tv, sleep, work, tv, sleep, work, tv, sleep, drink, fun, work, tv, sleep, work, tv, sleep, work, tv, work, work, holidays, work, tv, sleep, pension, sleep forever.
How did you team up with BDHW Records?
The first time we talked to Toni of BDHW was 2014 when we finished the HELIX EP.
We stayed more or less over the next years in contact with him and so things came together.
Will you hit the road in support of “Losin’ Grip’?
We are planning a lot of shows right now and trying to make things work out for a winter tour in 2017 with our boys in ASHES. There will also be a weekender with our lovely lads in DELUMINATOR and we are workin on some more.
We are planning a lot of shows right now and really wanna tour a lot with our music in 2018.
Speaking of live shows, how’s Duisburg hardcore scene doing these days? How’s thriving is your local DIY environment?
In my opinion Duisburg´s scene is in a pretty good condition right now.
There are like handful of booking crews which are keepin’ the wheel spinnin.
Everybody should be thankful for that! Times were pretty bad but those guys didn’t stopped doin it. Much love and respect for that.
Lastly, what are some of the most underrated records of 2016/2017?
There is just one answer: KEEP THEM SHUT – Stray rats. If you never checked them out, please go for it. These guys kickin asses on a fuckin high level.
If you had to pick one gig to show someone who has never seen a punk show before, that best encapsulates the spirit and passion of hardcore, out of all of the concerts you’ve attended, what show would it be and why?
Difficult to answer. After nearly ten years attending shows there were a lot of good ones. What I can say is, if there is a small room with too much people in it and some great bands playin, this would be the perfect place to show someone whats going on. I remember the release show of Keep them shut’s “Stray rats” last year. The small brother of my girlfriend came to this show, I guess the first hardcore-punk show for him. It was exactly the scenario I described one sentence before: a small room, too much people, stagedives, mosh, sing alongs and everything what someone would expect from a good hardcore show. And of course, he absolutely loved it. Yes, you can watch good sets on youtube and you can also have fun at bigger shows, like Persistence Tour or something like that. But if you search for the spirit, you definitely need to dig in the underground of hardcore-punk. That’s my opinion. My first show was one of the persistence tours in Oberhausen, it was fun. One week later we went to “Meiderich Proberäume” in Duisburg (it was a legendary location for all kidz from the Ruhrpott) and we had no idea what was going on there. This was a kind of life-changing experience for me/us. After this show we went to nearly every underground show near the Ruhrpott. From then on we were addicted haha
Cool, thanks! Thanks for your time guys! The last words are yours.
Thank you guys
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