The Kent punks: successful yet less well-known artistes

English duo Slaves have to be one of the most successful yet less well-known artistes in the music business.Their third studio album, Acts of Fear and Love, shot straight to number eight on the UK chart. It has given punk-rock duo Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman another top ten hit following 2015’s Are You Satisfied? and 2016’s Take Control. But the thing about Slaves which always seems to draw most comment is not their music.“It’s always our name,” said singer and multi-instrumentalist Laurie, 25. “It came as a complete surprise to us that so many people would take offence. We wanted a name which was an abrasive sounding word. Something like Clash but that name had long since been taken.”“Our aim was to find something which sounded aggressive but definitely not to offend,” added singer and multi-instrumentalist Isaac, 27. “We weren’t trying to provoke anyone when we picked Slaves. We just thought it sounded like a good name for an act who play our style of music.”After splintering from a previous band and joining forces in 2012, the Royal Tunbridge Wells natives released their debut EP, Sugar Coated Bitter Truth, later that year. A solid concert schedule allowed Laurie and Isaac to quickly build a following. Their first single, Where’s Your Car Debbie?, was issued in 2014. Major labels had expressed their interest by now and Slaves signed with Virgin EMI.“We refer to our music as stories and observations over a rock guitar and tribal drumming,” Laurie explained. “We’ve always loved playing live because we get the instant reaction to songs. We could spend months in the studio trying to perfect a song but there’s no point if it doesn’t make people react in some way. We get this feedback when we play live.”Are You Satisfied? was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. But the boys were not afraid to amend their style on Take Control.“We wanted to create an album which was more well-rounded than our first record,” Isaac commented. “The songs on Take Control dipped a bit further into politics and encouraged listeners to have an opinion. We also wanted the songs to be heavier and more guitar-based.“We basically tried to progress as artistes. We’ve had the same intention on our new album. The tunes are better, the sound is bigger and more expansive. Some of the song lyrics are more personal in that they’re about people we know. I think the new record has really moved on from our last album.”Their career might have progressed but there has been no let-up in the complaints about their name. “We had a few people question us about it right from the start,” Laurie remarked. “But things really snowballed after we signed our record deal and started getting a lot more publicity.”Those people who always seem to delight in being offended by anything gave Laurie and Isaac a hard time. The Fader magazine even ran an article headlined ‘Why Did a Band of White Dudes Name Themselves Slaves?’ “Someone actually wrote on our Facebook page: ‘Nobody but African Americans have a right to use the word slaves,’” Isaac stated. “Lots of words have two meanings. If you say something like ‘I’m a slave to the routine,’ that’s not being disrespectful to the slave trade. The interpretation we have of our band name is in the sense of people not being in control of their day to day lives.”Despite this, Laurie and Isaac have constantly faced accusations of disrespect and racism mostly from people who obviously have no idea about historical slavery.The terrible wrongs done to African Americans is kept fresh in the memory by African Americans themselves. But people of all races and religions have been subjected to slavery at some period throughout history. Acts of slavery still exist today with human trafficking, forced prostitution and even some ordinary people having usually young girls as house slaves.“If you look up the word ‘slaves’ in the Oxford English Dictionary, there is no mention of any racial context,” Laurie confirmed. “A slave is a person who is owned by another person and forced to work for free. Those who deem us racist are being incredibly small-minded because this type of servitude has affected all kinds of people at some time. Slaves is not a racist term.”“There have been times when we wished we’d chosen a different name,” Isaac admitted. “We wouldn’t have received so much unjustified abuse and criticism. We also wouldn’t have had to spend so much time defending ourselves.“But we actually now believe it’s a good thing that we called ourselves Slaves. We live in a time where freedom of speech almost doesn’t exist. Everything is over-analysed, certain words can’t even be used. People are pilloried for having an opinion which is contrary to what is perceived as politically correct. It’s good that people look at white guys named Slaves and maybe realise there is nothing racist about the word.”in briefRazorlightFans must have wondered if they would ever hear new songs from English indie-rock quartet Razorlight.It was 2008 when the band released their third studio album, Slipway Fires. Although still a big hit, sales figures did not match those of their 2004 debut album, Up All Night, or their 2006 UK chart-topping self-titled second album.But this slight downturn in the band’s fortunes did not precipitate the ten-year gap between albums. After extensive touring to promote Slipway Fires, frontman Johnny Borrell said Razorlight were working on another album and felt eager for fans to hear the new songs. As things transpired, recording sessions during 2010 were deemed unproductive. There was also discord within the band. Drummer Andy Burrows had left in 2009. He was followed early in 2011 by guitarist Bjorn Agren and bassist Carl Dalemo. Johnny was the only remaining original member.Despite releasing no new material, Razorlight have performed numerous concerts during the intervening years. Further internal issues have also arisen with the replacements for Bjorn and Carl, Gus Robertson and Freddie Stitz, deciding to leave the band.The current line-up sees Johnny on vocals and guitar, David Sullivan Kaplan playing drums, Joao Mello on bass and David Ellis playing guitar. It is these artistes who have created the songs on Olympus Sleeping, Razorlight’s fourth studio album, which is set for release on October 26.Although no official singles have been issued, the band have released performance videos for four of their new songs. Japanrock can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4YhJca6fug. Got To Let The Good Times Back Into Your Life is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FhP50-CVa8. Sorry? is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbMNNLfcIoQ while the album title-track is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DoW5Ar6xekBTSThere seems to be no limit to the popularity of South Korean boy band BTS. The all-singing, all-dancing septet recently set a new record for the most watched music video on YouTube in the first 24 hours of release. The visual for their latest single, Idol, notched up more than 45 million views. It comfortably eclipsed the 43.2 million mark achieved last year by Taylor Swift with her video for Look What You Made Me Do.Perhaps of even greater significance is that BTS more than doubled their own record for the most watched K-pop video in the first 24 hours. The previous mark was 21 million views for their 2017 single, DNA.Idol is the lead single from the group’s new compilation album, Love Yourself: Answer. It is one of the seven new songs which accompany 18 other tracks, 19 on the digital version, mostly taken from their previous two albums, Love Yourself: Her and Love Yourself: Tear.The new album surpassed Love Yourself: Tear as the most pre-ordered LP in South Korean music history. Love Yourself: Tear topped the Billboard 200, peaked at number eight in Britain and proved massively popular throughout much of the world. Love Yourself: Answer may well become even more successful.The video for Idol is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBuZEGYXA6EKT TunstallKT Tunstall’s albums have always sold well. Only one of her five previous studio albums failed to reach the U.K. top ten. This was 2013’s Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon which peaked at number 14. Further chart success is anticipated when the Scottish singer / songwriter issues her new studio album, WAX, on October 5. Singles success has proved far more elusive. A few songs have achieved reasonable chart positions but only two, Other Side of the World and Suddenly I See, cracked the UK top 20. Both were released in 2005 and came from her top three debut album, Eye To The Telescope.Perhaps KT will have more luck with her latest single, The River. A lyric / performance video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsholeFEoR4