From Kent, UK, British musicians Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent are the duo behind the band Slaves. Having released their debut album Are You Satisfied? they are now on the move in their UK tour. This Garage Punk two piece has a big sound that can’t be underestimated. Their performance energy goes crazy when you get Isaac yelling his truthful lyrics and giving it everything on the drums, Laurie next to him holding a solid and powerful guitar riff, these guys are feeding it to the mosh pit.

Are You Satisfied? Has been getting an awesome review and now the album is nominated and on the line for the BBC Mercury Prize for 2015.  The band has been busy on tour but Laurie was able to take some time to answer some quick questions about where they are at and the awesome places this album is taking them.

NT: How do you feel about getting nominated for the Mercury Prize?

Slaves: Mixture of disbelief and excitement. It seems like one of the best awards to be in contention with, for that really does relate directly to the music. It’s a real honour.

NT: You had a DJ set in London recently, do you have anymore sets like that planned in between your tour?

S: Yeah we are planning to do DJ set after parties to some of our shows on tour!

NT: Are there any shows in particular on your tour this you are both excited for?

S: Really excited to go to Toronto, because we have good friends there in the band Pup. New York because our friend Grant who runs Big Ear Pedals is there, and LA because it’s the city of angels and who doesn’t want to gig there?

NT: You’ve been shooting lots of videos for the album but the video for “Cheer up London” looks like it took the most organization. How was that experience?

S: It was a great day. We decided to go bigger and better on that track. It was a real chance to experiment with our video ideas and see our dreams made into reality. This video showed us we could pretty much do whatever our imagination came up with.

NT: Your guy’s music is very raw and yet quite full sounding for a two piece, do you find any limitations to just performing by yourselves? Or have you always preferred it that way?

S: The limitations have always been what made the band exciting and creative. Thinking outside of the box to make just two instruments sound like a full band. Intensity is a key part of our show and just two people fuels the intensity. There’s no room to rest on other band members, it’s all down to us.

NT: Who writes the lyrics? there’s lots of somewhat controversial ones, like “don’t trust the flies they are government spies” which when sung just sound so empowering to the listener, what do you want people to take from your lyrics if anything?

S: Isaac is the key lyric writer. We will have discussions of topics or hooks or occasional lines we like the sound of, but ultimately he pieces all the bits of the puzzle together. Self motivation is always a subject we strive to achieve within our listeners – making people go out and do what they want and get what the want from life.

NT: List 5 albums you are listening to.

A$AP ROCKY – At. Long. Last.
The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues

The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten

Skinnyman – Council Estate of Mind

FIDLAR – Too

Here are their U.S. Tour Dates