Photo Credit: Liam Maxwell

As the band prepare to take their second album ‘Cavalcade‘ on the road, we sat down with THE SLOW READERS CLUB frontman Aaron Starkie to chat about the record itself, revisiting the album ten years later, as well as their upcoming UK tour which will see the band perform the record in full.

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Do you view ‘Cavalcade’ differently now ten years on?

Aaron: Yes. Going to this exercise you start to cast your mind back to where you were at that time. Through the wonders of social media you can see what we were posting at the time. In the run up to ‘Cavalcade’ we were still putting singles out into the world to see if it moved the needle for us, trying to pick up bits on the radio and playing out of Manchester. We got to a reasonable point in Manchester where we were playing to around 300 people at Academy 3 but outside of that we were still in the pub playing stage, selling the record out the back of a van. It was a DIY release and grew over time. People have lyrics tattooed and there are still some songs we play live to this day. It didn’t shoot like a rocket at the time, but over the years it is still one of the most loved albums we have done. 

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Are there any particular songs that you are looking forward to playing on the anniversary tour?

Aaron: Yes there’s one of the singles from the album called ‘Dont Mind’ which is a more subtle number that we don’t tend to play live much these days. Because it’s super chilled, the band isn’t super keen on playing it. I am really looking forward to playing that one though. ‘Grace of God’ is one we have popped into the set occasionally and goes down well. It is a record that works well in showing different things going on from start to finish. I am looking forward to playing it as a set, it does show lots of sides to us.

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How have you found it practising those songs again that aren’t regulars in the set?

Aaron: We didn’t take long to get going on them again. A lot of it was sort of muscle memory to be honest but we’re trying to step things up production wise this time. We’re having some cool visual stuff going on that we haven’t done before. Even when we were doing these songs, I had an idea in my mind of doing big graphics and video stuff but didn’t have the budget for. We’re going all in on this one. We’re going to be playing the album in full, then in between that and some other stuff we’re going to do some acoustic stuff as well to mix it up a little bit. 

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Do you have any fond memories of that time when ‘Cavalcade’ was in the early stages of coming together?

Aaron: There was one day that was productive. We took a few days off work and went in one morning and three or four tracks came out in that session. ‘Don’t Mind’ came like a stream of consciousness, it’s just two chords throughout pretty much but still varies a lot with the two choruses being different and came out in one hit which is pretty mad. Melodically it was there from the word go and I eventually got some lyrics together for it. I have a pretty short attention span as well, I can be super productive in the morning then in the afternoon I am done. It had really good energy at that time and we’ve never lost the sense that we’re always trying to prove ourselves for the next record and always trying to make it. You always want the next track the best it can be and that is how we approached it back then. 

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Are there any shows on the tour that stand out to you?

Aaron: The Glasgow venue is a church so I am really looking forward to that one. As a Manc band it is always good to go down to London and have a decent crowd there, and in Manchester we are playing Academy 1, which we’ve never played before. It is one to tick off the bucket list, so Manchester had got to be up there. I’ve seen loads of bands there back when I would go to gigs, it was the main venue for touring bands. So it will be cool to finally stand on that stage.

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What message would you like to say to your fans, whether they are new or have supported the band since the ‘Cavalcade’ days?

Aaron: Thank you first and foremost for caring, and still caring. It is flattering that the album means a lot to people, we know that from engagement on social media pages and seeing people with lyrics tattooed on them. It has helped people through difficult times and knowing that your music that much to people is really really great. Dead chuffed that people still care, super excited to celebrate the record in a way we haven’t done before, it’s going to be great. I am looking forward to seeing everybody.

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The Slow Readers Club will be performing ‘Cavalcade‘ in full on their UK headline tour this December. Remaining tickets are on sale now.

Friday 5th December – Birmingham O2 Institute
Saturday 6th December – London, Islington Assembly Hall
Wednesday 10th December – Sheffield, Foundry
Thursday 11th December – Newcastle, University
Friday 12th December – Glasgow, Oran Mor
Saturday 13th December – Manchester, Academy