The Sailor Jerry Podcast
Inspired by Norman 'Sailor Jerry' Collins' Old Ironsides radio show on KTRG, we present THE SAILOR JERRY PODCAST! This is a wild homage to all our favorite things – Music, tattoos, travel, spiced rum, and more. Partnering up with our pal Matt Caughthran, the frontman of The Bronx, we're spilling these tales in our own damn style. Brace yourself for biweekly episodes, dishing out killer interviews with musicians who fuel our fire. Buckle up for The Sailor Jerry Podcast – where the coolest stories come to life.
The Sailor Jerry Podcast
74 - Laurie Vincent of Soft Play
Laurie Vincent is one half of the electrifying punk rock duo Soft Play. In this episode, we discuss the band's recent flawless performance at the Glastonbury Festival. Laurie also opens up about the unique chemistry with his bandmate Isaac, revealing how their deep-rooted bond and shared musical influences shape their distinctive sound. We also dive into the band's emotional comeback, their bold decision to change their name, their raw and gritty songwriting process, and the evolution of their sound influenced by legends like The Pogues, Joe Strummer, and The Waterboys.
Plus, an unexpected collaboration with Robbie Williams, tattoos, Banksy, Vin Diesel, and the inspiring story behind their incredible new album, Heavy Jelly. As always, brought to you by Sailor Jerry!
https://www.instagram.com/thelaurievincent/
https://www.instagram.com/softplayplaysoft/
https://sailorjerry.com
Hell yeah, what up. Laurie, how are you? I'm good. Been working hard. You know Lots of work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, man, it sure seems like it. I'm good man, I'm great. We're writing a new record right now at home and we're still playing shows here and there. Just played a show in Pennsylvania, played a show or playing a show in Denver coming up, so we're getting our kind of live gig fix and you know, life is good man, life is good. How was Glastonbury?
Speaker 1:It was pretty life affirming. I don't know how you feel about big shows, but I think on those really big platforms we've never quite had the show I've wanted to have. And I sort of suffer with this thing that if something goes sort of like not even wrong if I break a string or if a pedal pedal glitches or if an amp cuts out I go inside my head and then all of a sudden it's like it's like someone turning the lights on when it's been pitch black and I can't get back in. I find it so hard to get back into the zone, whereas at Glastonbury I was just in it, I was like I was enjoying it and I never had to leave the zone and I've wanted that forever and it got recorded and it was the best show of our lives. But it's because we've been working towards it and it's the payoff oh man, that's amazing, dude, congratulations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know I'm lucky as a standalone vocalist that I don't really gotta to fuck with too much gear. And I've seen, I've seen the gear nightmare happen a zillion times. I've seen the look on our guitar player Joby's face, ken Horn's face, you can, when you go to a show and you see someone else's gear like malfunctioning on stage, you just feel you can feel it. There's nothing worse. It's like you're saying, with the lights on, I quote that there's this roller coaster, this famous roller coaster at Disneyland called Space Mountain. And yeah, yes, space Mountain is. You're in space, you're flying through space and every now and then roller coasters break down and when they do, they got to come in, they got to turn the lights on. And when you're stuck in Space Mountain, when you're stuck, in Space Mountain.
Speaker 2:They come in, they got to turn the lights on, and when you're stuck in Space Mountain, when you're stuck in Space Mountain, they come in and they turn the lights on. It just ruins everything. You're no longer in space.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the flow has been interrupted. I mean, that is actually that's how we learn what we do, like you see us live and you'll see the storytelling and you see the sort of like it's almost like. I mean, in England we have these, these, we have pantomimes I don't know if you have them in the states, but it's this really awful sort of slapstick humor and our band sort of incorporates that into the live show.
Speaker 2:And that is because everything just used to break, like we've done 30 minute, we've done 30 minute, we've done 30 minute shows, played one song and 25 minutes has been feedback and that, if, like, that's the way to hone your craft and we've kept the chat and just trying to get rid of all the stuff breaking get someone asking me hey, do you have any advice for singers or like being like the front person of a band and one of the things I say is always have a story in your back pocket because gear's going to break down, gear's going to break down, shit's going to happen, and it's your job to keep things kind of moving while shit goes on behind the scenes, because there's nothing worse than just that awkward shit, you know, and especially if you're just, if you just gotta work like you're working on your shit. So yeah, it's always in the punk world, shit breaks. I mean, shit breaks on everybody. But yeah, that's it. I'm glad that glastonbury was a flawless gig.
Speaker 1:Man, there's no greater feeling yeah, man, and it was recorded, like so the past two times that we were on so early that the bbc didn't switch the cameras on, but this time it was on and it got captured and yeah, it's sort of things just keep getting better and better at the moment, so we're very excited that's sick, man, that's sick.
Speaker 2:and as now as of the airing of this Sailor Jerry podcast, heavy Jelly is out. Okay, the Rebirth is complete. Incredible record, my man. So congratulations on that. I want to dive into the record, of course, for our listeners. I want to go back a little bit. I want to get a little bit of history with you personally, with music and then, of course, getting into the band. So, starting with you, where did kind of music first take hold for you? When did you get a guitar, all that good stuff?
Speaker 1:I told my parents I wanted to play guitar when I was really young. I must have been I was talking about this the other day I must have been six or seven and I got a classical Spanish guitar and got signed up for lessons at my primary school and started being taught how to play. Happy Birthday. And I was like this is not what it's about. I was like I fucking I want to learn, I want to be slashed. I remember we had I can't even remember what the music channel was called we had one that was like maybe called VHS, it wasn't even MTV. I can't remember what the music channel was called. We had one that was like maybe called vhs, it wasn't even mtv. I can't remember what it was. And I remember watching november rain on that and, sweet child of mine, I was like fucking hell, I want to do that. And then somehow I found out he was from stoke on trent and so that kind of made rock superstars that's right, that's right, damn slash yeah, it made it feel sort of more, sort of achievable.
Speaker 1:And then, I think the following year I didn't do very well at lessons of guitar and then I got bought like the squire stratocaster starter pack where you got the little amp, the lead, the pick, the guitar, and I just remember I used to just turn it on and just like strum, I just wanted to be able to play it. But the hard work you had to go through was a lot Like my kids now, like they try and play guitar and they're like this fucking hurts your fingers. Obviously they don't swear and I'm like, yeah, you have to put a hustle in, it doesn't happen overnight. So I went through tons of guitar teachers and then I must have been 10 or 11 and I met this guy called Chris Waters and I was really struggling with the instrument, like I could do Smoke on the Water, but I basically had stopped the guitar to try and play drums to see if I could have more luck with that instrument.
Speaker 1:But you know, I had that desire to be up the front and I met this guy, chris Waters, and he sat me down, I remember, in my basement and he had his guitar, I had my guitar and he showed me how to play Wonderwall in 10 minutes and he left the first lesson and I was playing a song and that was it. I was in, there was no fucking around. He was like we can do all the theory stuff later. He was like, let's just get you playing. And yeah, I'm still in touch with him now and I'm so grateful. He basically gave me the gift of music.
Speaker 2:That's so cool, man. Yeah, sometimes it just takes. Everyone learns a different way. Everyone kind of gets comfortable with music in a different way, especially with an instrument. I mean, it's a long process Guitar is insane and there's people who have the gift naturally. There's people who pick it up through school and then there's people who just learn a song, man, and it just unlocks that excitement and that kind of just basic knowledge of, hey, if I can play this song, I could probably play another one and maybe I can write my own.
Speaker 2:That's fucking dope. So how did you kind of get into finding your own sound? Were you in a band before Softplay got started?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I started. I think I tried to form bands. From knowing Wonderwall onwards, I was trying to start bands.
Speaker 1:So I would just, I'd hear that friends were having music lessons and I'd be like what? You play drums. And then obviously they come around and you realize that they can't really play drums. They can, just they just have lessons. And it used to confuse me that not everyone wanted to make the kind of music I wanted to make. Because when you're a kid it's just such tunnel vision. You're fixed in first player mode, you're like when you play racing games, and you can change the perspective.
Speaker 1:You're just the perspective where you can only see the road.
Speaker 1:Like there's no steering wheel and I was just like, why does no one else want to make this music? And so I just went through. I must have been in 10 or 11 different bands by the time I was like 15. But that was just my. Just write a few songs and then it didn't work. Start another one. Write a few songs, didn't work. People just coming around.
Speaker 1:And then I was in like a little indie band, because when we were kids what was popular was either everyone dubstep had just come out I remember benga and cokie just released that tune night so everyone was either like becoming bedroom producers or you had like, on the other side you had the kooks foals, yeah, and everyone wanted to be in an indie band. So I couldn't find anyone that would wanted to make punk music with me. So I kind of settled to make indie music for the meantime, hoping to make it heavier, and yeah. So I was about 16 or 15 and we were all doing our options for A-levels and my friends told me that they were going to go to university and I was just like betrayal. I was like I want to be in a band and they're like, yeah, but we're going to go to university. And I was just like fuck that, and I quit the band because I was like you're not loyal, yeah, and I just went off and tried to find my people and so I was in.
Speaker 1:I played bass in another band and then how I met isaac was he was the front man of a band called bareface and at the time they were like doing bits locally. We grew up about 40 minutes away from each other in like neighboring towns and, um, I just thought his band were the best fucking band I'd ever seen and I just was like I need to be around these people. I actually thought like I'm never gonna be as good as that because that they just killed it. And then I just went up to him one night like finally got the courage, and I was like, oh, if you ever need a bassist or a guitarist or anything, and the next day he gave me the call and I joined that band.
Speaker 1:And then you shouldn't join your favorite band because you've then destroyed the chemistry. What made it a favorite band? And you know, every member of that band went to him individually to say do you want to start something new? And he chose me. And then we couldn't get anyone else. No one else wanted to be in a punk band, so it was just us two and we had to work it out, but it was a blessing.
Speaker 2:Hell yeah, man, that's dope. And shout out to Isaac, an incredible front man, front person drummer. Just your guys' energy together is just really cool, man. And it's different. It's been different from the get-go. We toured together briefly in 2014, when the band was called Slaves, and we had a show in Huddersfield that was legendary.
Speaker 1:The Parish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, shout out to Mikey at the Parish. For so long they were sending us messages please come to Huddersfield, please come to Huddersfield. And we went there together and had so much fun and I remember watching you guys and there's just something about the way you guys play together between your guitar playing, isaac's drumming and just what's going on lyrically, you guys just are a perfect fit. When it came to coming together, starting the band, how did you guys kind of was it kind of instant rhythmically, with the vibe between you guys and when? How did he cause he wasn't playing drums in the first band, right, when did he switch to psycho standup drummer?
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, we're having this weird like viral moment with punkstead at the moment, where we posted a live clip on our Instagram reels and it's had 5 million streams and it's kind of the first time a lot of people in America are finding out about us. Is this clip? And, like, these dudes are just like get a fucking stall, like get a kick drum, sit down, what the fuck are you doing? But, yeah, I think we bonded over our influences and I just this is like so specific, but I was really into crass and where we're from in kent, there's a town called rochester where I went to you university briefly for a year and they have this garage rock scene where I don't have you heard of billy childish yes, I'm not from too familiar, but I know the name, so he was in tons of bands like.
Speaker 1:One of the more famous ones was like the headcoats, but it's this really specific sort of jangly like punk it's. It's a punk sound, but it's more sort of like they're catchy songs, they're like pop songs put through punk but really, really nasty, and I was obsessed with that.
Speaker 1:And then I was obsessed with in the belly of a shark by the gallows, yeah, that song. I was like I want to make a band that sounds like that song, the way that the guitars all jangly and gnarly, and then you've got frank, just going psycho over it. Yeah, that was the like reference point. And then we got together and we started trying like I think I took an acoustic guitar around just to be like let's see if we can start writing a song. And then we were like sending messages out to musicians, like do you want to play bass, do you want to play drums? One guy said I will be in your band but you will be my second priority and we were just like fuck that and funnily enough.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. Yes, you come second and he's a really he's a really nice dude. Yeah, he did slide in a few years later and go do you still want to join another member? And we were like too late man. So what happened was I? Because I play drums as well. I had a drum kit and I was like whilst we're writing, let's bring these drums over to your house. And I had two floor toms, a snare and two cymbals and I plugged in like this little practice amp. He had that. He'd never played drums before, but Isaac's a crazy talented musician Like he can make a sound out of anything. He's like that kind of guy. It just comes naturally to him.
Speaker 1:And we wrote two songs back to back straight away. Like only played them for a couple of times and he was just like I was like just hit them, like you're, like you're drumming on the steering wheel when you're driving. And he did that. We wrote two songs and then his dad came upstairs and was like boys, I love it, but I've been all the way down to the end of the street and I can hear you outside. You're gonna have to stop.
Speaker 1:There was this feeling in the room when he did that drumming. We just looked at each other and we were like this is it, isn't it? And then his dad is like a crazy record head, like his record collection's insane. And he went boys, and he just pulled out this stack of records and he was like this is all the stand-up drummers I know. And he showed us like the stray cats when they had one, and he had the violent femmes, hell yeah, and you, you had for periods of times the Cramps had a stand-up drummer. And then Bobby Gillespie played stand-up drums in I always forget the name of the band he was in before Primal Scream, but anyway, yeah. So that made it seem possible. And then we were just like we're fucking doing this. And then we were like we're never're never gonna. This is so fun, but we just won't play on a stage, we'll do floor shows and we'll stop trying to be like a famous band, we'll just have fun. And then that's when everything clicked into place and that's so sick.
Speaker 2:That's so sick. Yeah, there's something special about I just I feel like it drives the song just a little bit more of the drummer singing, but the way he's playing and it just adds to the frantic style between you guys, it's just such a cool sound man and it's so rad to see and he does it so well. I'm curious, like, when you guys write songs, are you writing, are you counting, or is it more feel? You know what I mean. Like, are you guys kind of playing the numbers game with stuff or are you getting super intricate on rhythms? Cause a lot of the stuff you play on guitar is super rhythmic and it also, you know, it reminds me of early Bronx stuff when Jorma and Joby would write. It was very like Jorma was almost playing the guitar riff on the drums or trying to, and there's a lot of syncopation that happens that way and it's really cool and I hear that with you guys as well. Is it something you guys dive into like numbers wise, or is it kind of just a feeling?
Speaker 1:So for me it's a feeling like I will play a riff, like for instance, on the new record you've got, isaac is typing and that's in, like it's got a crazy time signature in the chorus and I like feel it out, and then I'll be like, oh, if you do that and then add a stop.
Speaker 1:But Isaac can actually count it out, and then as soon as he tells me to count it out, I can't do it.
Speaker 1:Like I find numbers so hard, like I'm really numbers dyslexic I've never had it tested, but me in hotel rooms are a fucking nightmare. I can never remember where I'm going, and so it's a feel thing for me and I have my own way of going around it. So I play ahead of the beat, everything I do is ahead of the beat, and it means that when kids try and cover our songs and they play correctly, correctly, it sounds wrong because I'm always pushing, because I'm not a very well trained guitarist. But then that's my argument for not being too well trained is that you create a style, so a lot of it is on feel and I lose track of where I am when I'm in the moment. So I have to look over to isaac and see when he's about to drop into the next bit. It's really cool we've got this kind of like symbiotic energy going. We're like twins on stage. We just feel where it's going that's fucking sick man.
Speaker 2:And getting into the new record here a little bit. This is. You could call it your debut if you wanted to. It's your fourth record. Are you Satisfied? It came out in 2015. Is that gold? By the way, Is that record gold?
Speaker 1:It is. I've got the plaque in my bathroom. That's fucking awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, congrats, dude, congrats. So Are you Satisfied? 2015, take Control. 2016, acts of Fear and Love 2018. I know there was a couple things you did with the gorillas, but did you break up or did you kind of chill for a bit? What happened in between?
Speaker 1:So on our last ever tour as slaves, we were just super disjointed. It was like he didn't know how I was feeling and I didn't know how he was feeling, and neither of us had the ability to communicate. We were like stuck in this really sort of partly self-inflicted make an album tour, make an album, yeah, and we were chasing something that was sort of like the craft, the attention to detail was was waning, but the gigs were still big. So then it was like this really hollow feeling of like oh, we're not as critically like successful as we were, but people are still coming, and we were only sort of the only thing we had was our live show. Like the writing partnership had fallen apart because our friendship was falling apart. I was like this is getting so stressful. I was like let's take a year off, let's get to the end of this album campaign.
Speaker 1:We played a load of festivals in summer. We set ourselves up let's have a year off and it's therapy, and in therapy I spoke about Isaac a lot. I was just like it's my childhood dream to do this, but then I wasn't doing it because we needed to work on ourselves, and then so that's what happened, and then he moved back home because he was having a breakdown and then slowly he came and started rebuilding his life and for the first time as a band we lived in the same place. I moved to Tunbridge Wells he lives in Tunbridge Wells and we started seeing each other as friends and he'd babysit for me and as things started like getting better, we started talking and then we got offered. We didn't get offered. We got asked if we were available to play with blur at wembley and this was a few years back and I was like this is a fucking good opportunity and up until that point I'd been saying no fucking way, I'm not doing it anymore, it's bullshit, I don't need it, we're gonna. We always promised we'd stop when it stopped being fun and it felt really good that we had done that and we were on really good terms with it. And then I was like I want to play that show. But I'd already decided that if we come back, we need a fresh start, we need to rewrite the past and we need to set it on good terms and we need to be proud and we need to not be arguing from a place of fear or anger and just accept that we should have called our band something else and that times have changed. So that was a really hard conversation.
Speaker 1:And then the blur gig didn't happen. Then they came back in january and we're like we're doing a second night. Are you available for that? So I was like, fuck it, let's do it. Yeah, change the name, did the statement and then we didn't get that gig when I was like, yeah, well, now we're set up, let's go. It was like we had that basis and I think there was so much fear about how it was gonna go down and then seeing the response, I think that inspired Isaac so much that there was so much good faith behind us. And then we went to the studio and we wrote Punk's Dead in like an hour and then, yeah, it's every little thing from then. It's like you do something hard and then stuff just starts appearing. You're like, oh yeah, it was worth doing the hard thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, man. That's an incredible thing, man. Thanks for sharing all that, because I didn't know how deep it went during that time off, man, and that's it's incredible that you guys have found your way back to each other and are making incredibly inspired music once again, as the internet does what the internet does. When you guys changed your name, people freaked out and you took that energy and you wrote punkstead, which is one of the best songs I've heard in a long time. I fucking love that song and I really do think you know that the name Softplay. I think it's great and I think it lends itself to. You. Guys have always kind of had that like Sex Pistols, sarcasm, and I feel like your name suits the band more than the first one did Like it just it feels really good and I like how?
Speaker 2:more so than just changing the band name, because the old one didn't feel like it was a proper representation of who you guys were anymore. The idea of it also being like a truly a rebirth for you guys coming back together and starting something new, is just cool and it feels just there's so much power behind it, which is awesome. And you got this new record out now incredible record. And I want to dive into some of the songs here because the guitar playing is awesome. The guitar playing is awesome. It's a really fucking dope record. The doom riff on mirror Muscles I love. Opening riff on all things I love. There's this little on hey, I'm Walking here that line, that little kind of black flag part that you play right there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I love that little part. So for you writing the record, how was it writing the record? Where did you record the album? Kind of give me some a little bit of details on the writing and recording process.
Speaker 1:Well, firstly, thank you, I'm stoked you think that about the guitar playing. I really felt like I wanted to make parts that I really wanted to play and I really wanted to hear live, that I really wanted to play and I really wanted to hear live. And yeah, like Greg Ginn in Black Flag, like that guitar playing is some of the best like punk rock guitar playing of all time. It's just I listen to it a lot and I'm just like fuck, like how do you, how do you write that?
Speaker 2:and yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 1:I just I, I just really. I really like brutal simplicity and like the nervous breakdown riff. It's just, I want to write riffs that annoy people. They didn't write them, and that doesn't mean shredding, like. I saw a comment that said that punk is for dudes that aren't talented enough to play metal, and I love metal, but I think that's missed. That's missed the point completely. It's a's like, yeah, that nervous breakdown riff or I don't know, like those kind of things. You're just like it's so simple and it's so iconic. It's I heard matty matheson talking about cooking and like removing ingredients till you've only got what you need left on the plate, and I think our band is like that, and so it's like get rid of all of the excess bullshit and just boil it down to the the best things, and that's what I wanted to do with the guitar playing. But yeah, I just wanted some riffs. Man, I wanted to like be able to thrash out, and I've just started playing a jackson and I'm just letting my inner child out that's awesome, man.
Speaker 2:And when it comes to, when it comes to lyrics, is that all isaac's department? Do you guys work together on those, or how do the lyrics come together?
Speaker 1:I sort of I see a lot of it as I spark an idea in him. Quite a lot of songs, I'll say a line or a word and it sends him off on a journey and a lot of it will happen when we're together or, equally, he'll be stuck on something or he'll have a verse. So for everything and nothing. He had the first verse, I had the mandolin music and then I was like, tell me what it's about. I hear the reference to our friend passing away and I but like what does the other stuff mean? And he was talking about like pandemic and walking around and not being able to talk to each other and being like in the kitchen on your own. And that time and I had this phrase saved in my notes folder it was just everything and nothing. And I said that to him and then his brain goes and then he puts it into melody.
Speaker 1:So he is the lyricist and he's an incredible lyricist. Like, I think, what he lost his confidence on the last two records and he says it like he couldn't write. He. He got two in his own head, like, I think, the kind of critical success the first album got spun him out and trying to compete with his own music became like a real problem, whereas this record there's more lyrics on like Mirror Muscles or Worms on Tarmac than like the whole of our last album Just one song and he would just go over and to the point where I'm just like dude, let's just fucking lay it down.
Speaker 1:But I admire his perfectionism and we're a real yin yang Like. When you meet us we flip personalities. When we come off stage, like I'm the guy you'll talk to off stage, but when we're on stage he looks like the guy that's going to be the guy and we're just, we perfectly balance each other out. So I'm the one that's like that fucking take will do and it's just like all out tune and stuff and he's like maybe we should do it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome, man, and that's cool how you guys work together lyrically. That makes a lot of sense to me. I like band dynamics like that, where no one should be afraid to be like, hey, I have an idea for a song. Or sometimes Joby will say that to me. He'll be like, hey, I've got this line stuck in my head and that line could spark something for me to write something off of, or vice versa. So he's an incredible lyricist and it's rad to see him kind of back on his back on his bullshit, as they say, because he's spitting some fucking some venom on this album. I mean, it's pretty awesome, man, I.
Speaker 1:I fell in love with Isaac as a rapper when I was a kid because that band he rapped, and we've been trying to find our way to that dynamic all these years, and I think the last five years, as well as our break. The Internet's changed everything, like being individual, embracing your differences, embracing your influences, and like the crossovers between all the different worlds in music is so big. No one gives a fuck anymore, like there really doesn't feel any pressure to be one way or one thing, and it just meant that when we were in the studio I was like let's just get it all out, let's just throw it all out and then just work out what we can make into the record. But don't hold back because it's so amazing when you do that stuff yeah, man, yeah, that's fucking, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he crushed it on this album, everything or nothing. How did that guitar part come about? Because it's got it's such a cool feel, it's such a great way to end the album. And I always hesitate saying it reminds me of stuff, because I don't know what you love or don't love, but but has like a kind of a pogues and a little bit of a rem feel to it and some Smith's type stuff.
Speaker 1:But it's just sounds so good, someone said the Replacements the other day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hadn't thought about that. Yeah, that's good, that's a good one.
Speaker 1:Bastards of the Young. Like that tune is like in my all time. So I'm like some people don't listen to music when they're in the studio, but like music consumes me, like I get obsessed with a record and I listen to it on repeat for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks, and then there'll be a new one or I'll make a playlist and over the year of making the record, like I just got obsessed with the pogues. I was like deep diving the pogues, all this, I only knew the hits and I was like I'm going in, I'm gonna find out all the other ones. And then I was like shit, joe strummer produced hell's ditch. I was like that's why I like that record so much.
Speaker 1:And yeah, so, like joe strummer and the mescalaros coma girl, that song means so much to me. I had such an influence and I'm a huge like when I die they're gonna play fisherman's blues by the water boys. As I'm lowered into the inferno. And so the mandolin is just part of that. And I think I was thinking about REM, because my dad used to play REM in the car and I love that song, and I was just like I need a fucking mandolin. I was like I'm listening to all this music and I've got a good hookup. Shout out Dave at Fender. I just sent him a check.
Speaker 2:You got a mandolin guy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was like I'm in the studio, I need a mandolin, but that didn't happen quick enough so we chucked it on the internet and, as the internet does, someone came down to the studio in Tunbridge Wells. We recorded out the back of the forum for the first two sessions and I had the mandolin and I was like messing around and it was like basically one of the first things I ever wrote, because it's like an upside down guitar. It's tuned. It's tuned to the same thing a violin is, so it's got that orchestral feel. Yeah, and the beauty of not knowing an instrument is like you just fiddle and you're like, oh, that note goes with that note and it just came out. It's like one of the most annoying things ever because I'm gonna try and recreate it and I just won't be able to do anything as good as that, but it just, it was just. Yeah, it just fell from the heavens into my hands and it's one of my favorite things we've ever done yeah, it's really cool man.
Speaker 2:It's a really beautiful song, really beautiful guitar part and an awesome way to end the record because when it comes on it like it does it, like it hits you whoa, it hits you kind of like way out of the blue because the record is just charging from jump street and then when it switches up and it's such a beautiful instrument and the song is such a powerful song, it was just a really cool addition to the record and a great way to fucking end it, man. So nice work, cheers, man. Yeah, all right, let's jump to the internet here. We had a shit ton of questions. Okay, the internet, the internet, loves you guys. We got a lot of questions about how did the robbie williams bromance, as they call it, how did that come about?
Speaker 1:right. So I, my parents are very, you know, they're like new middle class, so they were working class and but they don't have much, they're not into the art, so that we were very much like robbie williams was like the jam in the car, like that's what we listened to, and my dad only bought cds that were like three for 10 pounds in hmv. So I'm not dissing it either. I enjoyed my musical education and finding it myself, but Robbie Williams has been a big part of my childhood. I tweeted him in 2015, and he basically said I said Robbie Williams is my favourite member of Take that. And then he replied which was crazy at the time. He said Isaac is my favourite member of Slaves because he looks like.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you're familiar, but in the UK we have a very famous set of presenters called Ant and Dec. Have you ever heard of them? This is very Anglophile, they're like household names here. And he was like it looks like if robbie and aunt mcpartland had a love child, isaac would be the child. So anyway, that happened and then about two years ago I woke up to a video message from him robbie williams, on my phone saying I hope you don't mind that I got your number. I want to make music like you guys.
Speaker 1:And I was just like it was six in the morning and I like rolled over, woke my girlfriend up. I was like what the fuck is going on? And then I just started like facetiming him that day whilst I was doing the washing up and we spoke for like an hour and then we were trying to get a kids choir to sing on punkstead. But you can't get kids to swear, apparently like you're not allowed, and I just floated it to the crew. I was like why don't we get robbie williams? And they were a bit. Isaac was like can we do that? Right, because there's obviously still this. I mean, the whole punk scene drives me mad, because there's still this underlying hmm, is this punk? And I was just like this is the fucking most punk shit you could do like fuck everyone like get robbie williams on our song and yeah.
Speaker 1:So he said yes. And then we put the tune out and he's in the video. And then he announced that he's playing this huge gig of a lifetime at hyde park last weekend and I was like, can we support you? And then we did and it turns out loads of robbie williams fans like us as well, a lot of like drunk mums and dads, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then we met him afterwards and he basically just gave us a pep talk and told us about how, like, everything's gonna be all right, and it was just, it's fucking mental that's fucking sick man.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Shout out robbie williams. Yeah, that's, that is he. What does he sing on Punk's Dead?
Speaker 1:He sings the I love you, but I disagree. This is bullshit, really Damn.
Speaker 2:Okay, that is him. Okay, I was like, yeah, the snowflake part, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, awesome dude, that's sick. I didn't realize that, that's fucking dope.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, that's fucking rad dude.
Speaker 2:A couple of pickups here I'm fucking rad dude a couple pick-ups here. I'm gonna name a couple things. You tell me which one you prefer. Okay, we're going to start out with johnny thunders or eddie van halen. Let's go with slash or randy rhodes. Slash, ramones of the clash, the clash, iggy pop or david bowie oh, that's fucking hard I'm, I'm gonna have to go bowie yeah, yeah, I go iggy, but it's understandable. Guy richie or quentin tarantino, oh tarantino, j oh Tarantino. Jason Statham or Vin Diesel.
Speaker 1:Well, do you know? Vin Diesel's real name apparently is Mark Vincent, which is my dad's name. So I'm going to go Vin Diesel. I like that, but Jason Statham told me to follow my dreams once.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool. That's solid advice. We were in London one time and we were at some like super, just like weird, like highbrow, like kind of speakeasy type bar and he was there and I had no idea how like small he was. But he, I mean, he was a rock, but he was a small dude. I couldn't believe it. I was like, oh shit, it's Jason Statham. Right on, right on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he knows like Krav Maga and his multiple black belts, isn't he?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, he'll kill you. He'll kill you in a second. He'll kill you in a second. Elton John or Billy Joel. Elton John, white stripes or black keys. Oh, white stripes yeah, yeah, kills the kills. Are the carpenters the kills? Nice, yeah, yeah, all right. What about you? Know, I want to get into some of your art stuff too. But warhol or banksy, what do you think?
Speaker 1:oh, warhol, I don't fuck with banksy what about basquiat or Picasso?
Speaker 2:Basquiat nice, nice. And let's see here in general you like street art or fine art?
Speaker 1:I think I prefer fine art. You know I'm like I'm big into paintings and I've never been as I appreciate street, but it's not my vibe as much mean you, okay, are an old school tat daddy, very old school tat daddy, I know you, you've got to have some sailor jerry tattoos on you. You've got to have some. I do. You know what? I don't actually have anything that's like straight off of a sailor jerry flash sheet. I've got some stuff that's pretty close um I'd say like my gaslight anthem.
Speaker 2:Oh, nice, yeah. But yeah, do you remember what was your first tattoo?
Speaker 1:Shout out Brian Fallon.
Speaker 2:Oh, hell yeah.
Speaker 1:I got. I got one life, Live it. Hey it's true, I was like 16 and I'm just glad that I didn't get you only live once. I think I did better out of those two sayings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yolo. Tat would have been tight, though. What about? Are you still actively getting tattooed, or are you retired?
Speaker 1:I'm semi-retired but I'm ready to go again. I've got the itch again. It's been like I don't know how you you feel, but I've got like a good percentage of my body tattooed and it hurts now I heard matty matheson saying this as well. Just like it stops. You're not.
Speaker 1:You don't have the adrenaline because you know what you're expecting and you become comfortable in the shops and, like when I started getting tattooed, which was like 15 years ago, it was still scary, whereas it's not scary anymore. Like you know everyone to have a tattoo, everyone gets tattooed and I yeah, the adrenaline to do it has worn off and now also I really care about like the aftercare. So I'm like shit, I need two weeks where I'm not doing too much because I want to make sure it stays nice and I'm ready to go again. I want to get my head done and I want to like I've got a few gaps and I want to join stuff up. But I think the last thing I got was like I got some bits on my neck like these, like little sort of fine line bits yeah, awesome man, awesome.
Speaker 2:A couple more questions here and we'll let you go. A couple hypotheticals. Let's talk about time travel. Why not if, if a time machine showed up at your doorstep, you could go anywhere in history? Where would you go first and why?
Speaker 1:the first thing that sprung to mind is just like straight to a battlefield, like watch some knights go at it. When I was a kid I was. I was obsessed with like suits of armor and like knights and I just I like, I like I can't believe that maybe the Vikings invading the UK, and just like just to witness it. I don't want to get involved, I just want to watch from like a safe bubble.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, awesome man, real quick. What's going on? You're an incredible artist outside of being an incredible musician. Are you still actively working on art? I'm sure that the band's got you pretty hyper-focused right now, but is there anything going on in the art department?
Speaker 1:I want to do some bits, but I've mainly been focusing on putting my art into the music. So I've done a lot of the sleeve design.
Speaker 2:I've got it here.
Speaker 1:actually, I'm so stoked it's like our best looking, we'll send you one. I'll get the label and send you one, yeah, we did this with the sleeve nice, so my drawings are all over this.
Speaker 1:I wanted it to look like a dead kennedy's sort of record, but yeah, we fucked, we fucking went for it with this album. It's just like it all looks so rad, dude, that looks so good. So, yeah, like a lot of video concepts and we're working a lot on that and with like creative. So, yeah, that's where my art energy is going at the moment that's awesome, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's cool how they can kind of converge and you're able to kind of put that into the band. It's awesome. I was just at the Punk Rock Museum in Vegas and they had a Winston Smith exhibit who did all the Dead Kennedys art and stuff like that. And man, like some of those images are just so fucking incredible. I mean, even just the logo itself is just so sick, you know, mate.
Speaker 1:I screenshotted or no, I took a photo of it. I can't remember what album I've got, but it's got this huge fold-out magazine and the dead kennedy logo. When it's got like the brick wall behind it, it's just iconic, it's yeah. Coming up with a logo like that is rare, like not many bands do it yeah, it's very true.
Speaker 2:It's very true. All right, laurie, last question here you know. First of all, thank you so much for your time, man, it's, it's been awesome talking to you. Heavy Jelly is out now. Soft Play you got to go get the record. You got to go see the band. Oh, are you coming to the States ever? What's going on?
Speaker 1:the states in the past that I've just basically said we're like sitting tight until the right thing happens. We've just taken on an agent and rise rise records have just picked us up, which is pretty sick like we've never really we've never really had like proper backing out there. So I feel really um optimistic, but I think it'll be next year and I'm hoping we get some good festivals and we can come through. We just need to like, like it's so expensive, man, like the visas. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's, it's nuts. It's nuts, all right, awesome. Well, we'll look forward to that. Last question here what to you, laurie Vincent, is the meaning of life?
Speaker 1:Oh man, it's about like trying to be present. I've been thinking about that a lot got asked it the other day trying to just like sit there and enjoy the actual moment. That's the meaning of life. Like good food, family, yeah. Hugging your loved ones, like, yeah, holding your girlfriend's hand, it's the really simple shit. It's like noticing the seasons. And like your feet on grass yeah, yeah, the hippie shit. Like being in, trying to link in with the seasons, and like watching the flowers come out all year round eating good food. Like putting your feet in the grass it's all the hippie shit. I'm down with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, hey, it's real man, absolutely. You know, laurie, this has been an awesome time, my man, I'm such a big fan of the band and we've crossed paths over many years and it's just been really cool. It was great to see you guys at 2000 Trees last year and just you know, congrats on being back, man, welcome back, Congrats on a kick-ass record and thank you very much for being a guest here in the Sailor Jerry podcast.
Speaker 1:Thanks, man, it's an honor. Cheers for having me and hopefully we'll see you in the States soon. Yeah, hell, yeah Awesome.