Slaves, Bald Wife & Long Balls // Epic, 18.07.14

Pavlis 20 July 2014

Three duos blow Epic apart.

Slaves, Bald Wife & Long Balls // Epic, 18.07.14

I’ve previously reviewed all three of these duos for this august organ but they’re worth reviewing again.

Long Ballscontinue to remind me of Husker Du, but with the sense of the surreal displayed by Cardiacs or Flaming Lips. Neil’s bass sound is a cross between Peter Hook and Lemmy. How Raul manages to hits the drums so bloody hard whilst often playing a synth with one hand, I’ll never know. Perhaps not their best set but excellent nonetheless. (8/10)

Reminiscent of Melvins, Sleep and St Vitus,Bald Wifeproduce a sludgy, heavy sound. Jack’s vocals increase in power with every gig. Owen is becoming a bit of a showman but, like Raul, hits the drums very hard. Closing with the terrifying She, this was the best performance I have seen from BW. (9/10)

With Isaac on vox/drums and Laurie on guitar/vox, Slaveshail from my old stomping ground of Royal Tunbridge Wells. Somehow, they have managed to land a major label deal, gawd knows what Virgin EMI will do with them.This is raucous, riotous garage punk, generating mini-moshpits with new songs Cheer Up London, Girlfight, Beautyquest and Where’s Your Car, Debbie? So long as the suits leave 'em to do their thing, Slaves should be pretty big. (8/10)

Pavlis