"Love me, would it tear us apart? / Love me, like I make it so hard?"
The artful trauma induced pummeling of "Laughter" by UK's Slung, and from their debut album "In Ways" dropping May 2nd, 2025 via Fat Dracula, is a crushing alt rock wood chipper constructed of heavy metal atmospheres, speed metal and darkly dreamy female fronted industrial, like an amalgam of Metz, Motörhead and The Birthday Massacre. You can likely formulate your own descriptors especially in terms of Katie Oldham's absolutely killer vocal countenance that goes from soft to taking no prisoners guttural expressions and I could easily feel sonic attitudinal connections to PJ Harvey or Katie Jane Garside or Lisa Germano or Chelsea Wolfe, or emotional layers of all of them pressed into organic paper that you cannot tear apart.
The emotional dredging is real and Katie Oldham shares this about "Laughter":
“This song is about a face-off that’s been a long time coming, and the difficult relationships we can have with members of our family, especially our parents. When we’re children we’re so desperate for our parents' attention and approval that their dismissal or rejection can feel agonising. With an emotionally absent parent, trying desperately to earn love or consideration from someone who isn’t capable of giving it can be so destructive. This hurt can often develop into resentment as we age and we may even later villainize this person, wanting to fight, confront, defeat them.”
LINER NOTES (bracketed):
[Slung’s debut album is a collaborative combustion of its members’ experiences, circumstances and supreme musicianship. Their sonic universe - comprising the power of guitarist Ali Johnson’s incendiary riffs, vocalist Katie Oldham’s enviable dynamic and tonal range, bassist Vlad Matveikov’s undulating, yet grounding basslines and drummer Ravi Martin’s expert rhythmic punctuation - is a veritable musical supernova. Influences within the Slung camp are far reaching, with the band’s members referencing artists from Deftones and Baroness, to Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, to Queens of the Stone Age and even a sprinkling of Chappell Roan and Fleetwood Mac.]
"So you’re never gonna stop the laughter
And you’re never gonna put up a fightIf blood runs thicker than water
Then I know what’s flowing tonight"
Step into "Laughter" but first move any fragile furniture off to the side lest you mosh in them and start breaking things. The sonic assault, full throttle unrelenting by Ali Johnson's attacking guitar work, Ravi Martin absolutely slaughtering the drum kit, the anchoring walls of bass from Vlad Matveikov, all as a massive framework for Katie Oldham's emotional bloodletting.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/s.l.u.n.g
https://www.facebook.com/slungband
A tight-knit crew of the formerly gifted and talented, Slung was forged to deliver blistering riffs, sinister drum patterns and sickly sweet vocals, all wrapped up in a tasty tortellini of 90's slacker rock nostalgia.
Slung’s debut album is a collaborative combustion of its members’ experiences, circumstances and supreme musicianship. Their sonic universe - comprising the power of guitarist Ali Johnson’s incendiary riffs, vocalist Katie Oldham’s enviable dynamic and tonal range, bassist Vlad Matveikov’s undulating, yet grounding basslines and drummer Ravi Martin’s expert rhythmic punctuation - is a veritable musical supernova. Influences within the Slung camp are far reaching, with the band’s members referencing artists from Deftones and Baroness, to Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, to Queens of the Stone Age and even a sprinkling of Chappell Roan and Fleetwood Mac.
Initially the brainchild of Vlad, whilst he was living in Brighton, Slung were some time in the making. He tells of randomly meeting Ali at a campground in Australia in 2009, falling in love with Katie during lockdown and hearing a demo of drummer Ravi Martin’s old band in his other role running indie label Small Pond. The kernel of an idea for Slung began to germinate when Vlad’s previous band InTechnicolour disbanded, as he began to formulate new musical ideas, not knowing where they would lead him.
Vlad started out by working with like-minded vocalists such as Ash Tubb (Sugar Horse), Zac Jackson (El Moono), Lucy Sheehan (Projector), Annie Dorret (CLT DRP) and Micahel Barton (Sick Joy). Bringing Katie on board as vocalist was its own journey. “First thing you need to know is that Vlad is an absolute machine,” she states, matter-of-factly. “He has creativity, passion and drive like nothing else, and an ability to ‘get shit done’ that is second to none. He approached me about two years ago with these demos to see if I wanted to work with him as a vocalist, and maybe try turning them into a band. I *totally* bitched out,” she admits, laughing. “My previous band (Sit Down) had only very recently fallen apart and my confidence was in the gutter - I just didn’t feel ready. But immediately from working with him (on just one track to begin with), I felt incredibly reassured and encouraged by him, and it was such a different songwriting experience than I’d had before. After about a year of convincing and with Vlad having successfully recruited Ali and Ravi, I finally took the plunge and joined.” Having found a musical home that really fits, she now remarks poignantly to the rest of the group and their journey together: “I can’t remember when you all became main characters in my life”.
Katie’s storytelling and the compelling way she brings together personal, lived experience with more abstract, conceptual ideas and characters is evident throughout ‘In Ways’. Her inspirations range from sex workers and the power dynamics that come along with that profession (‘Class A Cherry’) to the tragic occurrences of bull fights in Spain (‘Matador’). ‘In Ways’ also contains some of the contributions from the band’s former collaborators along the way. The melodies for ‘Collider’ were largely conceived by El Moono’s Zac Jackson, which Katie adapted to fit a new lyrical narrative of a cult who are ruled by a deity they refer to as the ‘ritual prophet’ whom they converse with through the use of psychedelics. ‘Limassol’ started life with Mykl Barton from Sick Joy while Projector’s Lucy Sheehan worked the initial stages of ‘Come Apart’, a track which sounds like it could be the opening theme for a cult TV series like Breaking Bad or True Detective. The lyrics and melodies of ‘Heavy Duty’ are the result of creativity from both Katie and CLT DRP’s Annie Dorett. It’s an impactful song about generational trauma, the pain of growing up as a young girl and realising you’re being cultivated into a product the world wants to consume. “Men teach you to be quiet and obey from a young age,” explains Katie. “And so often we are raised to be as pretty and helpful as possible to serve men, to be their glamorous trophy, or servant to their every whim. I was exposed to a lot of this ideology as a kid, a lot by how my Father viewed women, and it’s taken me years to deprogram from it. Sometimes I still hear his voice coming out of mine when I react to things, the imprint of his temper flaring up in me.”
Katie communicates that one of her personal missions for the band relates to representation, inclusion, sisterhood and women being a more dominant force in music, whether that’s on stage, behind the scenes or in the crowd. She says “My love for women knows no bounds. Everything I do, I do for the girlies, the women and the female gaze exclusively. (This extends of course to ALL women inclusively, no TERF bullshit here.) There is just an unparalleled magical feeling when you’re around liberated, electrifying women who speak with honesty and clarity and without fear. The world is built to try and make us resent, envy and destroy each other, and I LOVE those moments where we realise we are more alike than what divides us. I want to be around women all the time, to be inspired by them, to connect with them and to share and to bond and unite.”
SLUNG ON TOUR:
Tickets available here
02 May Winchester - The Railway Inn
03 May Brighton - Green Door Store
04 May Cheltenham - Frog & Fiddle
05 May Reading - Purple Turtle
08 May Southampton - Heartbreakers
09 May Northampton - The Garibaldi
15 May Guildford - The Boileroom
16 May Nottingham - JT Soar
17 May Norwich - Voodoo Daddy's
23 May Bristol - Exchange (basement)
24 May Cardiff - Paradise Garden
29 May Tunbridge Wells - Forum (basement)
30 May Leeds - Wharf Chambers
31 May London - The Victoria
06 June Alton - The Lounge Bar
Slung, alt rock, industrial, heavy metal, full throttle, emotional layers, unrelenting onslaught, "Laughter" (Official Video), UK, Australia, emotional bloodletting, Katie Oldham stunning vocal attack, indie rock,
Initially the brainchild of Vlad, whilst he was living in Brighton, Slung were some time in the making. He tells of randomly meeting Ali at a campground in Australia in 2009, falling in love with Katie during lockdown and hearing a demo of drummer Ravi Martin’s old band in his other role running indie label Small Pond. The kernel of an idea for Slung began to germinate when Vlad’s previous band InTechnicolour disbanded, as he began to formulate new musical ideas, not knowing where they would lead him.
Vlad started out by working with like-minded vocalists such as Ash Tubb (Sugar Horse), Zac Jackson (El Moono), Lucy Sheehan (Projector), Annie Dorret (CLT DRP) and Micahel Barton (Sick Joy). Bringing Katie on board as vocalist was its own journey. “First thing you need to know is that Vlad is an absolute machine,” she states, matter-of-factly. “He has creativity, passion and drive like nothing else, and an ability to ‘get shit done’ that is second to none. He approached me about two years ago with these demos to see if I wanted to work with him as a vocalist, and maybe try turning them into a band. I *totally* bitched out,” she admits, laughing. “My previous band (Sit Down) had only very recently fallen apart and my confidence was in the gutter - I just didn’t feel ready. But immediately from working with him (on just one track to begin with), I felt incredibly reassured and encouraged by him, and it was such a different songwriting experience than I’d had before. After about a year of convincing and with Vlad having successfully recruited Ali and Ravi, I finally took the plunge and joined.” Having found a musical home that really fits, she now remarks poignantly to the rest of the group and their journey together: “I can’t remember when you all became main characters in my life”.
Katie’s storytelling and the compelling way she brings together personal, lived experience with more abstract, conceptual ideas and characters is evident throughout ‘In Ways’. Her inspirations range from sex workers and the power dynamics that come along with that profession (‘Class A Cherry’) to the tragic occurrences of bull fights in Spain (‘Matador’). ‘In Ways’ also contains some of the contributions from the band’s former collaborators along the way. The melodies for ‘Collider’ were largely conceived by El Moono’s Zac Jackson, which Katie adapted to fit a new lyrical narrative of a cult who are ruled by a deity they refer to as the ‘ritual prophet’ whom they converse with through the use of psychedelics. ‘Limassol’ started life with Mykl Barton from Sick Joy while Projector’s Lucy Sheehan worked the initial stages of ‘Come Apart’, a track which sounds like it could be the opening theme for a cult TV series like Breaking Bad or True Detective. The lyrics and melodies of ‘Heavy Duty’ are the result of creativity from both Katie and CLT DRP’s Annie Dorett. It’s an impactful song about generational trauma, the pain of growing up as a young girl and realising you’re being cultivated into a product the world wants to consume. “Men teach you to be quiet and obey from a young age,” explains Katie. “And so often we are raised to be as pretty and helpful as possible to serve men, to be their glamorous trophy, or servant to their every whim. I was exposed to a lot of this ideology as a kid, a lot by how my Father viewed women, and it’s taken me years to deprogram from it. Sometimes I still hear his voice coming out of mine when I react to things, the imprint of his temper flaring up in me.”
Katie communicates that one of her personal missions for the band relates to representation, inclusion, sisterhood and women being a more dominant force in music, whether that’s on stage, behind the scenes or in the crowd. She says “My love for women knows no bounds. Everything I do, I do for the girlies, the women and the female gaze exclusively. (This extends of course to ALL women inclusively, no TERF bullshit here.) There is just an unparalleled magical feeling when you’re around liberated, electrifying women who speak with honesty and clarity and without fear. The world is built to try and make us resent, envy and destroy each other, and I LOVE those moments where we realise we are more alike than what divides us. I want to be around women all the time, to be inspired by them, to connect with them and to share and to bond and unite.”
SLUNG ON TOUR:
Tickets available here
02 May Winchester - The Railway Inn
03 May Brighton - Green Door Store
04 May Cheltenham - Frog & Fiddle
05 May Reading - Purple Turtle
08 May Southampton - Heartbreakers
09 May Northampton - The Garibaldi
15 May Guildford - The Boileroom
16 May Nottingham - JT Soar
17 May Norwich - Voodoo Daddy's
23 May Bristol - Exchange (basement)
24 May Cardiff - Paradise Garden
29 May Tunbridge Wells - Forum (basement)
30 May Leeds - Wharf Chambers
31 May London - The Victoria
06 June Alton - The Lounge Bar
Slung, alt rock, industrial, heavy metal, full throttle, emotional layers, unrelenting onslaught, "Laughter" (Official Video), UK, Australia, emotional bloodletting, Katie Oldham stunning vocal attack, indie rock,
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