What happened to the Slip?

[johnhk4]

SMMD I can see myself going to check out at a bar. The Slip, I'd love to see at the Narrows, or an art space, or somewhere that commands attention and respect. I hate when I see the Slip at a club and you can hear the basement pumping dance music and some drunk girls screaming.

[Kevin_Kjr]

one of the coolest places i've ever seen them was an outdoor festival at falls river, Mass where they just played outside on a stage that was in the middle of a street. Another time was this old church in new hampshire converted into a venue although it was a pain in the ass to get to from school in CT.

[booher]

one of the coolest places i've ever seen them was an outdoor festival at falls river, Mass where they just played outside on a stage that was in the middle of a street. Another time was this old church in new hampshire converted into a venue although it was a pain in the ass to get to from school in CT.

I was at two of those shows, although the "church" one they've played a bunch of times.

Fall River Arts Festival was awesome. And the Stone Church in Newmarket, NH is an awesome venue. I've seen them there 3 times, and the first time I did they pulled out So Dope....something i wasn't expecting. Nor was I expecting to hear Solomon as the encore the last time I saw them there.

[tote]

More than any of us, there were dozens of interviews in the 2005-6 range that asked them about the new direction. From just one:

S: The more song-driven approach is apparent on a lot of the newer material, and it seems a more radical departure. Any fear you might alienate some of the older Slip fans?

B: I wouldn’t call it fear at all because you have to be brave when you are making music, confident that the music that you are making is the music that moves you and that will move people, and that there are a lot of things you do that people won’t like. We realized that if we were just trying to please the fans that want to groove and trance out then we'd be fuÇking ourselves.

I hope and I really do trust that the die-hard Slip fan, the one who understands the music and really loves it, can see where this is going and where it came from. When we recorded Gecko songs like Weight of Solomon or Honey Melon (they were) much more straightforward and pop oriented than some of the stuff we are doing today. So, it’s actually comical to me when people say bring back the old Slip, because we have always been writing new songs and we’ve always been stretching out on them live. Like the record we just made. We love it. It’s a more direct experimental take on the songs as opposed to the long form improvisation. But actually there is more improvising on the new record than the last one due to the freedom within the new songs.

http://theslip.tribe.net/thread/eac3317 ... 4a31c49c29[/url]

I am also amused by the fact that just four years ago, we had a thread debating the relative merits of tapes vs. CD's. Eisenhower came at a time in our technological history when the music industry was just beginning to change over to MP3's and itunes. It strikes me as a turbulent era in Music Industry history to try to launch yourselves as a band... they did try. They played Conan, were in Rolling stone and had that set of live-in-the-studio on Rollingstone.com... They had a well-received, industry respected indy-pop album on a relatively large and respected label with good distribution. They had the guitar hero thing.

I am interested in this concept called postmodernity. For what I mean by it see this little blog entry I wrote last year: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/4/ ... tmodernity In what David Harvey calls The Condition of Postmodernity in his landmark book of the sam name, I feel that musicians can't become big on their own. I remember Brad talking about how hard it was to take a risk with Eisenhower, and how lucky they were to be able to do so in such a professional and public way. But things have been tough for musicians seeking to take the road less travelled. WHy?

One reason is that people are overwhelmed with information. My friend Hall points out how easy it is to binge on information these days.. it's like too much all at once. The Slip, for example, have like four websites now. Their music is available from a plethora of sources free online as we speak. I can go download Eisenhower from a dozen torrent sites. Why update your website when people don't cloister on one particular website anymore?

In daily (read: non-virtual) life too, it is harder to find this cloistering effect that makes us human, as people are required to move faster, process/digest more information for professional purposes, and on and on. Their are a new and growing number of statistics majors for undergraduates in the USA to deal with the fact that there are suddenly vast databases for everything under the sun. We are thus spending more time in internet cafes, planes, offices, and culturally speaking, in front or the television or online, and less with each other, less in cars, less in bars, less in large numbers and more in small numbers and alone. It is all a part of the corporate plan to extinguish working class power, and it is a tragedy.

If the middle class is required to chase this dragon constantly to stay the middle class, then the lower class, the non-conformists and the purists (artists included) have less benefactors. They are forced to join the chase or become increasingly marginalized.

Somewhere in that dynamic, I believe, you find the answer to your questions of what happened to The Slip.

[Kevin_Kjr]

yeah I mean i understand that their change in direction was more about playing the music they wanted to and not just to try and please fans but I still dont understand why their set lists the last few years of them touring were almost the same night in and night out. Yeah you want to showcase the new album but still.

Also why did they all of a sudden decide to just stop touring? It seems like they took this new direction and then all of a sudden things werent as clear anymore on what the future would hold. Did they get too much negative feedback from fans? Did they just get bored and frustrated with each other? Who knows.

[stephen]

You WILL love the Soft Machine! (and we'll keep playing it until you do!)

[Kevin_Kjr]

i dont think it was so much that old slip fans didnt like the new direction but it was the way they did their shows that they just repeated the same set lists night in and night out so the hardcore fan was turned off from seeing them often. I dont mind their new music, some of its great, but mix it in with other songs from other albums or other unreleased stuff.

[booher]

I never really said to "bring back 'old' Slip." I think it was just more of a "bring back more classic slip songs to the setlist." it's just disappointing to see the same interpretations on a lot of even their newer stuff. And for some of the songs that they came out with....when did The Slip ever even play Mothwing Bite live? I guess that's a little besides the point, though.

I just wish they wouldn't scoff at the idea of playing some of their older songs, because it's not that, and I speak for myself here, I want to hear the long, drawn out drone/grooves, but it's more like I'm generally intrigued by their approaches to music when it comes to their more improv material. I like hearing what they have to say through their instruments. It's inspiring and a whole lot of fun to watch and listen to. I thought that what they were doing for music in some of those stages was pretty incredible as they had a really unique ability to create music from a different approach with three people, and their ideas are just so genuine and true to themselves, too.

Which is why I get a little disappointed when I hear them use the backing track for even rats at every show I go to. Whatever happened to Brad making the loops himself there on stage? He's really good at creating them, including textures and just generally interesting stuff.

I could go on. But I'm still quite happy to see them when I can.

[Kevin_Kjr]

Theres so many songs that they have done (older stuff) that dont fit the Honey Melon- Weight of Solomon trance groove thing he mentions in the interview. I'd kill to hear a Eube or 6-Sided at a show once. They could do the same thing they did with the New Weight of Solomon and give it a little rock twist. We'll see

[bradm]

I'm listening to Eisenhower right now, and I realized something: forget about The Slip overplaying "Eisenhower" songs vs. other songs, there are even big, good chunks of the Eisenhower record they haven't played much, like "Life In Disguise" and "Mothwing Bite", neither of which were played on the late-June-2009 four-show run. I'm OK with hearing three or four or five tunes from Eisenhower a night, but I think it'd be better to select three or four or five tunes from the pool of the whole album, rather then a small select group of tunes.

Aloha,
Brad

[johnhk4]

the intro to softmachine and the intro to landlord and even the end of landlord certainly bear more similarity to jammy "old"-slip

[Kevin_Kjr]

meh, I thought eisenhower was ok. I thought it was way too overproduced. im not crazy about Mothwig or Life in disguise.

[booher]

I'm listening to Eisenhower right now, and I realized something: forget about The Slip overplaying "Eisenhower" songs vs. other songs, there are even big, good chunks of the Eisenhower record they haven't played much, like "Life In Disguise" and "Mothwing Bite", neither of which were played on the late-June-2009 four-show run. I'm OK with hearing three or four or five tunes from Eisenhower a night, but I think it'd be better to select three or four or five tunes from the pool of the whole album, rather then a small select group of tunes.

Aloha,
Brad

I've seen Life in Disguise at least once...which was at The Stone Church in Newmarket, NH in February of '07 (they also closed with the "rock" version of Solomon that night...the first time I ever heard it live...I was estatic...if you have that recording and hear a guy yell "Providence!"...or in the Paradise Dec. '08 show, for that matter...that was me). That show was a little bit of a weird vibe...I felt like Brad was a bit distant at that show...that was the beginning of a different Slip for me. But opening with "The Shouters" was awesome nonetheless (not to mention the first time I heard "There's a Lie").

meh, I thought eisenhower was ok. I thought it was way too overproduced. im not crazy about Mothwig or Life in disguise.

As far as Mothwing Bite goes...I picked it up right away because Brad had a song on his myspace at the time called "Little Brian", and I picked up the melody alongside with the lyrics with a new hook to it, and I immediately loved it.

And people talk about Life in Disguise and being featured on Grey's Anatomy...I wonder how many people actually care about the song (or the band) specifically after watching that show. I mean, I was watching Criminal Minds recently and I noticed that they had Monsters by Band of Horses featured in an episode....it kind of just fits in the background for purposes of the show and not for the band.

Ramblings. Certainly.

[bear]

LOVE "Mothwing Bite"...who else just throws a reference to sweet sweet Little Compton other than the White Thighs...love it. I believe theyve only played it once live, with marco on keys. not sure when

[Carl Crawford]

i'd like to see them twice in a month like i once did. not maybe once a year.