INTERVIEW: Swedish genre bending duo SLIDE on ‘Things I Tell Myself’ EP

INTERVIEW: Swedish genre bending duo SLIDE on ‘Things I Tell Myself’ EP 4
Credit: Alexander Hoggard

Today Swedish alt duo SLIDE return with their new ‘Things I Tell Myself’ EP after the success of their breakthrough debut EP ‘Into Happiness’ last year. Mark Millar caught up with one half of the Stockholm pair Albin Skeppholm to talk about the new EP.

Slide


Hi Albin, How have you been coping during the lockdown?

I’ve just been working a whole lot and writing songs in my room which is pretty much all I do anyway so I’ve been alright actually. I’m super fortunate to not have been hit hard by this and I really shouldn’t complain. Wear your mask!

For anyone who might not know. How did the band get together?

I met Simon in High School in a music class we both took. Everyone was really cool guitar dudes with long hair and skinny jeans and Simon and I were just like in the back chilling. And so we found each other in being the outcasts of that situation.

Where does the name ‘Slide’ come from?

We made a song called ‘Slide Into Happiness’. The best part about the song was the name so we made Slide our stage name and Into Happiness became the name of our debut EP which dropped last year.

When did you discover your love for music?

It’s not really something I used to think about. I mean, I remember the first time I heard someone say they don’t really like listening to music I was like… you said what now? I thought everyone loved music as much as me.

Slide will release Things I Tell Myself EP on Friday 31st July. Did you go into the recording with any preconceived ideas about the kind of songs you wanted to write?

Oh yeah for sure man, big time. It’s definitely a double-edged sword to always be visualising and conceptualizing what things will be like in the future, and how an EP will sound. I mean it’s good because it gives you direction but it also sets you up for failure. I think this time we actually came pretty close to what we envisioned though. We wanted to make songs with less complicated lyrics and more relatable sounding production. We wanted to go more pop because ultimately, that’s the kind of music we like.

Which track from the EP do you feel most connected to and why?

‘Waiting and/or Keep Shining’ is probably my favourite. They’re just more personal than the other ones. The other ones are more from different perspectives than my own.

When it came to writing this EP, did you have an idea in mind about how you wanted it to sound? Did it end up going the way you expected or did any of the tracks take their own path?

In general, we just wanted it to sound more new, more pop, more easy to listen to while still conveying our message. At first, it started out more rock and so ‘Hello Spirit’ was the first song we wrote. We had the ending for ‘Waiting’ way before we had the rest of the song. We were really struggling with trying to finish it and then one night it just all fell into place.

How have you found lockdown as songwriters? Are you feeling inspired at the moment or taking a step back to process everything?

I’m feeling pretty inspired. I was always

Are you looking forward to playing live shows again when the time is right?

Yes, like never before.

What goes through your head when you step on stage to perform?

Just stressing about looking cool I guess … and hitting my notes.

What tricks have you developed to stay sane whilst on the road for such a long period of
time?

I’ve never really done a tour like that where I had to worry about my sanity. But if I were to do that I would probably meditate a lot and never ever do that rockstar thing where you drink every night and burn yourself out.

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would that be?

I feel like we need to make it so that artists don’t quit or die before they even turn 30. At the same time, I don’t know if it’s fair to blame the industry for that but we all definitely need to talk more about and take care of artists having mental health issues.

What do you enjoy most about being a musician? What do you hate most?

I love it when I’ve made something good and I really hate when I’m stuck on a song.

What music have you both been listening to recently that you could recommend?

Halsey’s new album is super cool… definitely recommend that one.

 Listen to ‘Things I Tell Myself’ EP – BELOW:

 

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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