Slowreader is the new band that features Rory and Gabe from the Impossibles. The band have just released their debut self titled album, and its utterly amazing and big step up from The Impossibles. Critics everywhere are raving about it, and rightfully so. We talked to Rory Philips about Slowreader and what their future plans are.
What do you make of all the attention surrounding your debut album?
Well to be honest I guess I'm blissfully unaware. I've been working so much lately I haven't really gotten to gauge reactions much...but I appreciate it a lot, I like the record and I'm glad other people do too. I never really know what to expect from people, but on a whole I usually just keep my expectations as low as possible, and then hopefully get pleasantly surprised.
What are your touring plans for this year?
We're looking to support acts similar to ours, which is not the easiest thing to find in the world, but the hope is that once the record has time to sink in other bands playing this sort of music will want to tour with us. We've done some small runs by our self and while it was fun we really need to establish ourselves, and that means finding bigger bands to take us out. It's never easy, or hasn't been for us in the past, but at this point we're in no rush to get out, we want to play it smart.
So you have been just playing local shows in Texas?
Yup, we've only played Austin twice. The whole thing was done kind of backwards where we wrote the record and then learned to play the songs live. But I think we're finding our footing and getting our shit together live.
Yah, I was wondering....how are you exactly translating these songs live? Do you include the background vocals, handclaps and other elements from your debut?
Well, basically we have a big computer running Protools on stage with us, it's not really very efficient. And running sounds through the PA tends to be a nightmare, but we also have a live drummer.
How have you changed as a band? Slowreader sounds nothing like the Impossibles, how did you sit down and write these new songs with Gabe?
Well I mean we've been writing songs like this for some time. We just never put them together into a record, but Slowreader sounds a lot more like what we listen to then the Impossibles did. I think with that band we kinda had to take baby steps, but when we started this we just started off wherever we wanted to. You're always dealing with your past when you're in a band for that long, and while we still deal with it, we didn't have to abide by it in anyway.
So how long ago were these songs even written that are on the debut? I know you had a song that many people don't know about on the last FBR sampler.
We've been writing sporadically for the past 2-3 years, but all the songs on the debut were written within the past year. Some were written during the recording process, and those are some of my favorites.
What was your intention with the production? I feel as though its pretty intimate. In various songs you can hear the studio banter...
Yeah I definitely like recordings with personality. Where it's inviting and you don't feel like you're listening to something made in a laboratory. All of the recordings were done in homes so i think that kinda rubs off on the final product. I'm not a very precise engineer, so you get that too.
Oh, so you did the actual recordings in different places? Any time spent in the studio?
I mixed it in my room and had it mastered at West West Side. I have a home studio, with my bedroom as the control room.
What where the last good DVDs you bought?
Well I just got South Park season one for Christmas, I'm pretty stoked about that. My roommate got Dragon's Lair, which is an 80's video game you can play on your DVD player. My other roommate got Transformers season one.
How is that South Park one? I heard the company didn't want to include the commentary because there was a lot of bashing of their products.
Really? I figured it was just a compression issue. I'm making a DVD right now so I know how hard it can be. But yeah it sucks no commentary, and like you can get it on CD but I don't see how that helps anyone.
That was gonna be the next question. I have heard through contacts that you're working on some DVD to come out on Fueled By Ramen...Does this have to do with the Impossibles?
It's the Impossibles last show...we shot it with 5 cameras and I'm putting it together. I'm also doing the audio, although I should say I'm at the mercy of the sound system at Emo's so it's not going to be kiss alive or anything.
Can you give us any info into it? Release date, special features, etc??
It should be out in March and we're hoping to add commentary although I'm running into a space issue because I can only make single sided single layer dvd's at home.
What programs are you using to make it?
DVD Studio Pro 1.5 and Final Cut Pro 3, and the audio I'm doing in Protools.
FBR and its family loves Macs...
Haha well actually I was driven to switch over for Protools. It's just much more stable, and I think if you can afford it it's well worth the money.
Ok lets talk briefly about some old band history. Why the sudden change between albums for the Impossibles? You started out as a ska band, but after you got back together and released 'Enter/Return', there was no ska to be found...
Well we were broken up for 2 years, and during that time I just grew really far away from that kind of music. Truth be told I was growing far away from it when we wrote our last EP before we broke up the first time. But we kinda had a formula, but all the songs I wrote during the hiatus i think just took me further and further away. In the end I would have had to fake it to write a ska song, which I had no interest in doing
Totally understandable. I think that your last EP, was even a step in a different direction from 'Enter/Return'.
Yeah I mean I've always liked bands that reinvented themselves, I don't know if we did it all that well, but we tried.
I always heard that the last thing the Impossibles were releasing was an all acoustic EP. Will that ever see the light of day?
Well that was kinda a half cooked scheme that never came to be, and I'm not really looking to put out anything as the Impossibles these days.
Whats your deal with Creed?
Haha well let me think...the only thing that really pissed me off was that Doors thing he did, everything else goes under my radar.
Do you try not to take into account all that shit that MTV plays, when they even play videos to begin with?
I just don't think of it as the same world. I make music, but I don't think I make music that will sell a million records.
Any bands or albums of note lately for you?
I've been listening to Daft Punk discovery like non-stop. I've been mixing a record, so I listen to those tracks all the time too, trying to hammer out the mix.
What have you been mixing?
A band from here called The End Until Now. I've been doing their record since October because the Slowreader release kinda slowed everything down.
I know the new Kissing Kaos which will be coming out on FBR soon was recorded and mixed by you.
Yeah thats how I make a living these days. I'm about to start demos for Recover's debut on Universal.
Any final comments?
I like our record, and I hope the readers do too.
What do you make of all the attention surrounding your debut album?
Well to be honest I guess I'm blissfully unaware. I've been working so much lately I haven't really gotten to gauge reactions much...but I appreciate it a lot, I like the record and I'm glad other people do too. I never really know what to expect from people, but on a whole I usually just keep my expectations as low as possible, and then hopefully get pleasantly surprised.
What are your touring plans for this year?
We're looking to support acts similar to ours, which is not the easiest thing to find in the world, but the hope is that once the record has time to sink in other bands playing this sort of music will want to tour with us. We've done some small runs by our self and while it was fun we really need to establish ourselves, and that means finding bigger bands to take us out. It's never easy, or hasn't been for us in the past, but at this point we're in no rush to get out, we want to play it smart.
So you have been just playing local shows in Texas?
Yup, we've only played Austin twice. The whole thing was done kind of backwards where we wrote the record and then learned to play the songs live. But I think we're finding our footing and getting our shit together live.
Yah, I was wondering....how are you exactly translating these songs live? Do you include the background vocals, handclaps and other elements from your debut?
Well, basically we have a big computer running Protools on stage with us, it's not really very efficient. And running sounds through the PA tends to be a nightmare, but we also have a live drummer.
How have you changed as a band? Slowreader sounds nothing like the Impossibles, how did you sit down and write these new songs with Gabe?
Well I mean we've been writing songs like this for some time. We just never put them together into a record, but Slowreader sounds a lot more like what we listen to then the Impossibles did. I think with that band we kinda had to take baby steps, but when we started this we just started off wherever we wanted to. You're always dealing with your past when you're in a band for that long, and while we still deal with it, we didn't have to abide by it in anyway.
So how long ago were these songs even written that are on the debut? I know you had a song that many people don't know about on the last FBR sampler.
We've been writing sporadically for the past 2-3 years, but all the songs on the debut were written within the past year. Some were written during the recording process, and those are some of my favorites.
What was your intention with the production? I feel as though its pretty intimate. In various songs you can hear the studio banter...
Yeah I definitely like recordings with personality. Where it's inviting and you don't feel like you're listening to something made in a laboratory. All of the recordings were done in homes so i think that kinda rubs off on the final product. I'm not a very precise engineer, so you get that too.
Oh, so you did the actual recordings in different places? Any time spent in the studio?
I mixed it in my room and had it mastered at West West Side. I have a home studio, with my bedroom as the control room.
What where the last good DVDs you bought?
Well I just got South Park season one for Christmas, I'm pretty stoked about that. My roommate got Dragon's Lair, which is an 80's video game you can play on your DVD player. My other roommate got Transformers season one.
How is that South Park one? I heard the company didn't want to include the commentary because there was a lot of bashing of their products.
Really? I figured it was just a compression issue. I'm making a DVD right now so I know how hard it can be. But yeah it sucks no commentary, and like you can get it on CD but I don't see how that helps anyone.
That was gonna be the next question. I have heard through contacts that you're working on some DVD to come out on Fueled By Ramen...Does this have to do with the Impossibles?
It's the Impossibles last show...we shot it with 5 cameras and I'm putting it together. I'm also doing the audio, although I should say I'm at the mercy of the sound system at Emo's so it's not going to be kiss alive or anything.
Can you give us any info into it? Release date, special features, etc??
It should be out in March and we're hoping to add commentary although I'm running into a space issue because I can only make single sided single layer dvd's at home.
What programs are you using to make it?
DVD Studio Pro 1.5 and Final Cut Pro 3, and the audio I'm doing in Protools.
FBR and its family loves Macs...
Haha well actually I was driven to switch over for Protools. It's just much more stable, and I think if you can afford it it's well worth the money.
Ok lets talk briefly about some old band history. Why the sudden change between albums for the Impossibles? You started out as a ska band, but after you got back together and released 'Enter/Return', there was no ska to be found...
Well we were broken up for 2 years, and during that time I just grew really far away from that kind of music. Truth be told I was growing far away from it when we wrote our last EP before we broke up the first time. But we kinda had a formula, but all the songs I wrote during the hiatus i think just took me further and further away. In the end I would have had to fake it to write a ska song, which I had no interest in doing
Totally understandable. I think that your last EP, was even a step in a different direction from 'Enter/Return'.
Yeah I mean I've always liked bands that reinvented themselves, I don't know if we did it all that well, but we tried.
I always heard that the last thing the Impossibles were releasing was an all acoustic EP. Will that ever see the light of day?
Well that was kinda a half cooked scheme that never came to be, and I'm not really looking to put out anything as the Impossibles these days.
Whats your deal with Creed?
Haha well let me think...the only thing that really pissed me off was that Doors thing he did, everything else goes under my radar.
Do you try not to take into account all that shit that MTV plays, when they even play videos to begin with?
I just don't think of it as the same world. I make music, but I don't think I make music that will sell a million records.
Any bands or albums of note lately for you?
I've been listening to Daft Punk discovery like non-stop. I've been mixing a record, so I listen to those tracks all the time too, trying to hammer out the mix.
What have you been mixing?
A band from here called The End Until Now. I've been doing their record since October because the Slowreader release kinda slowed everything down.
I know the new Kissing Kaos which will be coming out on FBR soon was recorded and mixed by you.
Yeah thats how I make a living these days. I'm about to start demos for Recover's debut on Universal.
Any final comments?
I like our record, and I hope the readers do too.
