Today we catch up with the Cincinnati-based Shoegaze band Slow Glows. The group formed in 2016 when drummer Rachel Thode was looking for like-minded musicians to jam with. Self-taught on her instrument and a bit “rusty” at the time, initial attempts to answer “drummer wanted” ads were unsuccessful until she reached out to a DIY group looking for women that wanted to play music together. When guitarist/vocalist Kelli Redding answered the post, the connection was immediate. The band began with an all-female line-up but when their first bassist had to move on to focus on another project, they quickly added musician Ian Gorby on the instrument.
In 2017 Slow Glows released their Star Trail EP. Recorded by Black Plastic Records label owner Steve Schmoll at the group’s practice space, the 5-song collection also includes the track “October“–recorded live by Dwight Dyer at the Northside Tavern. The band is now planning an LP that they hope to record this coming winter. In addition, Slow Glows is gearing up for an August residency at The Comet in Cincinnati, as well as their first-ever tour in October. We caught up with the band this month to discuss their origins, songwriting style, musical inspirations, gear choices, and more. You can read our correspondence with the band below.
LETV: Hello Slow Glows. Thanks for taking time to answer some questions about the band. Let’s start at the beginning if we can. Looks like you got started back in 2016. How did the band come together?
Rachel: I simply wanted a safe space to make music. I am a self-taught drummer that had been out of the music scene for a while, and most of my friends that play music were already in established projects or had many years of practice on me. I knew I was rusty but could improve if I found like-minded people making like-minded music. I wanted a band that was supportive of each other, patient with each other, and challenged each other. After a few tries of answering “drummer wanted” ads on Craigslist and having no luck, I finally reached out to a DIY group and simply requested a meet up for women wanting to play music. I didn’t even care if we played out, I just wanted to have fun and encourage each other. I never dreamt of it coming together as smoothly as it did. Kelli responded immediately and we had a practice session soon after. We quickly learned that our taste in music, speed, and experience was at about the same level and we were a perfect fit for experimentation and inspiration. We picked up Liz on bass soon after and started as an all-female lineup. Eventually, our bass player had to move on to focus on another project, and Ian was an incredible bass player and also a great human being – he just helped me install my AC – so it seemed like the best option to have him join us. We have been writing great songs ever since.
LETV: So far you guys have a Bandcamp EP called Star Trail that came out in 2017 as well as a new 7″ on Rose Hill Records. What can you tell us about your recording process? Were the songs on these releases self-recorded or done in a studio and what was the process like?
Kelli: We recorded all of those tracks in a room in an old, dilapidated storage building we used to practice at called The Good Stuff – they were recorded by Steve Schmoll who owns Black Plastic Records here in Cincinnati. He has a traveling recording setup, so we did all of those songs in one evening and it was super efficient. We plan to go to a studio whenever we do our full-length though. Rose Hill Records is a label I’ve started with a friend of mine to give Slow Glows a platform for self-releases, and, as what I suppose is the eventual goal, to put out music and split singles with other local bands.
LETV: How does the band handle writing material? Is it a collaborative process or does someone usually take the lead in writing? Is there a song you can take us inside to illustrate the process?
Kelli: It happens so fast, it’s hard to describe. I find a chord or riff I like and play it over and over for a little bit. I’ll just improv the melody with nonsense lyrics over the top of it. We’ve played shows where I don’t have the lyrics written and just improv it as I go. When I first hear the drums with my song idea, that’s the magic moment when it all clicks together. And then the bass jumps in. If it’s a good song idea, for us, it’ll click instantly and it’s kind of written and done within the same day. “Sodapop” happened really fast. We have the recording of the first time we played it together, and it’s not too far from what it is now. I think if something is not a good song played unplugged, by itself, on acoustic guitar, then any amount of noise or guitar effects thrown on it is not going to make it a good song. In a genre very focused on noise, I really believe that focusing on, for lack of better terms, a pop melody underneath all the sound is what will separate a good shoegaze band from all of the really derivative sounding bands of the genre – and let’s face it, there are plenty of those that are all sound and no substance. That’s why I think bands like Yuck, or Winter, or Cheatahs have put out some of the best shoegaze records of the past decade, because there seems to be a focus on the songwriting first, and then afterward, the sound.
LETV: You guys have a really cool shoegaze sound which is often very effects driven In addition, I saw a photo of your bassist Ian Gorby building a custom pedal board. As far as gear and effects are concerned, what do you guys like to use to achieve your sound?
Ian: Kelli and I have experimented with a wide variety of different brands and effects pedals over the past couple of years, even before the formation of Slow Glows. We started off with your basics like reverb and gain effects and continued to branch off from there. We have recently scaled down our rigs with a “less is more” attitude, especially as we plan for our first tour. Reverb, overdrive, and distortion are the backbone of our sound, with other effects such as delay and tremolo refining and adding texture to our tone. Our favorite brands include Earthquaker Devices, Electro Harmonix, Hottone Audio, and Digitech/Hardline though we own many more. Kelli also uses a Boss ve-20 vocal processor for live shows, as her vocal style uses a lot of reverb and delay, which is often very difficult if not impossible to achieve when relying on the sound systems found at most venues. If one pedal could capture the overall sound of Slow Glows, it would be the MXR M300 digital reverb. It was actually the first pedal that Kelli ever bought and is capable of producing the most shimmering, textured trails of ambient sound.
LETV: As far as drawing influences from other groups, what are some of the bands that you look to for influence? As far as new bands are concerned what’s catching your ears right now?
Kelli: I love nineties rock music and I’ve always especially been into Britpop from that time. In college, I got into classic shoegaze and I felt like I connected with that genre more than any other music I’d heard before. It seemed made up of quiet people making loud sounds, and I think included a lot more female musicians than other scenes going on around that time, which was inspiring. I think a lot of people don’t know ‘shoegaze’ was actually a derogatory term at the time because most of these bands were so focused on the sounds and textures of their music that they were on the more introverted side and had little stage presence, constantly looking down at their pedals. But to the people who saw the art in the music, that didn’t matter, and now it’s a term that seems to generate a lot of endearment. The records those bands made hold up really well. Unfortunately, some of the modern bands I see labeled as shoegaze seem to just be indie-pop with some reverb thrown on the vocals. That’s a shame. To me the best shoegaze doesn’t come from pristine, studio-polished bands, it comes from gritty, garage-y bands like those from the early nineties on labels like Creation Records, it comes from the dozens of local, unsigned bands around the world right now that are creating meaningful art, like we’re trying to do here. The Blog That Celebrates Itself is my favorite source for finding new shoegaze music.
Collectively, as far as newer music goes, we all really like a wide variety of local bands and bands on smaller labels like Burger Records, Kanine Records, or Slumberland Records, for instance. A few of our recent favorites are Sheer Mag, Melted Toys, Mild High Club, and Tomorrow’s Tulips. Locally some of our favorites are Leggy, Sungaze, Carriers, Smut, and Freedom Nicole Moore & the Electric Moon.
LETV: This May the band completed a video for the track “Sodapop.” How did the video come together?
Kelli: I filmed and edited the video myself, which I’m proud of because I’d never done any video work prior to this and wasn’t sure how it would go. But I went out and bought a cheap camera, mostly because I didn’t have the time, patience, or more essentially, the money to have anything shot professionally. I used a segment of the lights on the Contemporary Arts Center in downtown Cincinnati and distorted it into the kaleidoscope you see throughout the video. It’s simple, but I feel it’s very authentic in the sense that, a lot of the bands I admire didn’t have the money backing them to do high-budget things early on, and I don’t either, so shooting it myself without any experience, but under my own creative direction made the end-result very “me.” The end of the video is us driving back to my house in Dayton, Kentucky because I like the idea of things that come back full circle.
LETV: Slow Glows currently resides in Cincinnati and it looks like you play out a lot. What’s the music scene like there? Do you find it to be pretty supportive?
Rachel: Musicians in Cincinnati are very supportive of other musicians. We go to each other’s shows, we buy each other’s merch, and we lift each other up and give shout-outs. We support nonconventional and up and coming talent. However, there is almost a surplus of talent and venues in our city, so it can be difficult to really start out as a new band or make your way to the forefront of the scene. On the positive side, that keeps things very diverse and very interesting. Shoegaze is not very common here so our sound does stand out.
LETV: Sounds like the band has plans for a full length. Have you begun work on the record yet and what can you tell us about it?
Rachel: We have most of the material for a full length, however, we still have lots of polishing to do before it’s ready to be recorded – we’re a trio of perfectionists. We are focusing on summer shows and a tour in October for now, but we will be recording as soon as the winter hits and hopefully releasing something in 2019.
LETV: Thanks for taking some time to answer questions about the band! Any summer tour plans you can share? Are you writing any new songs or planning more video projects?
Kelli: No problem. We’re playing a number of local shows in Cincinnati during the summer, and we’re the August artist-in-residency at one of our favorite venues here – the Comet – meaning we’ll be booking our own unique series of shows here every week for the month. We’re also planning to do our very first tour in October, which we’ve just started looking into booking. There’s never a time we’re not actively writing music; underneath all of the aspects of booking shows and staying active on social media, that’s the main reason we’re in this band, to write music about how we feel and who we are in this place and time.
