The Slow Country: “That’s the beauty of a seven-piece. Everyone has their own thing to add”
The group talk fan favourites and making sure everyone’s voices are heard.
Photo: Lara Fullalove
Following their main stage set at Truck Festival, The Slow Country reflect on fan-favourites and why the end product is always a “massive amalgamation” of everyone’s input.
The Slow Country are as expansive in sound as they are in lineup. With three guitars, bass, violin, keys, drums and rich vocal harmonies, the seven-piece weave alt-folk warmth with alt-rock drive to explore themes of modernity, nostalgia, longing and fracture.
Fresh off their main stage set at Truck Festival, we caught up with Joe Darley (vocals/guitar), Charlie Smith (vocals/guitar), Gina Edwards (keys/backing vocals) and Miren Summers (violin) to talk big-stage nerves, crowd favourites, and what’s coming next.
You’ve just finished your main stage set. How was that experience for you?
Charlie: It was so much fun. That’s the most people we’ve ever played to. Being on a stage like that [with] so much room, it’s just amazing for us being a seven-piece, having that space to move around and get into the music. I mean, we were all so, so nervous before, but then as soon as you get on there, it’s fine.
Gina: As soon as we started playing, we just felt at home. It just felt right.
How does that compare to your usual gigs?
Joe: Normally, we play on stages where we’re standing on top of each other.
Mirren: Sharing microphones…
J: Always sharing microphones; stepping on people’s stuff. But it’s [also] very different crowd-wise. The crowd here are really gorgeous and lovely. They’re willing to participate in whatever and sing along. So, it’s been really beautiful.
Did you approach this performance differently?
J: We did a bit. We tried to practice from a performative lens, adding a little dance in the middle of Fundamentally Fucked and introducing the band in the right way.
M: Getting that flow between the songs to make sure that people were getting the vibe and then bringing that throughout the set.
C: I feel like we’ll do that for every show now. It’s been a good chance for us to really look at the set and approach it even more professionally, and I think we’ll use everything we’ve done today in sets going forward.
M: I feel like we brought quite an intimate vibe to it, even though it was on such a big stage – engaging the audience, getting them to sing and dance with us, because that is where we’re at home.
Was there a standout moment for you guys on stage?
M: Firing Line is always such a big vibe.
G: Yeah, I would say Firing Line. Literally, I’ve played the accordion twice for a live performance now, this being the second time, and I feel like it popped off. I think Firing Line is a collaborative favourite of ours, and something we may or may not be recording very soon.
Speaking of recording, are there any songs we can expect in the near future?
J: Amy Stew is coming out pretty soon.
C: It’s coming out in September. That's the next one that we’ve done in a DIY fashion. Then, in August, we’re going into the studio with Bill Ryder-Jones to record our next two songs, which Firing Line will most likely be one of them.
J: The other one, pending.
M: We’re long overdue for recording Firing Line. It’s many people’s favourite.
J: Yeah, today someone at the front was watching with, like, a real interested look in their eye, and they were holding up this ratty piece of paper that just said “banger” on it. It was wonderful.
Is that a track you’ve had in your repertoire for a while, then?
C: Yeah, it’s one of the earlier ones, but it’s changed a lot since we started it. The accordion is a new element. We’ve had a lot of songs in the set for a while, but in a way, it’s helped us develop them — by playing them live and adding new elements.
Your last release was Right There Inside. What was the response like to that?
C: I mean, doing it live here was really strange. You could see people singing the words of the verse, which is really bizarre and really lovely. And that’s what that song is kind of [about]. There’s a togetherness about it. We recorded a lot of crowd vocals for that [song], and actually having a crowd doing the crowd vocals is really, really nice. We’re just super happy to be playing that one on stages like this because I think we wrote it with stages like this in mind.
Do you usually write with the crowd in mind?
M: Each person brings an idea and a feeling to it. Some of them feel very intimate, some of them can be fun performative bangers, or things for people to be involved in. I think having that variety is really engaging and important and just gives you a variety of vibes within the set.
G: That’s the beauty of a seven-piece. Everyone has their own thing to add. The end product is always a massive amalgamation of everyone's input, which is what is so good about us.
Amy Stew is out now.