Slower
An interview with vocalist/bassist Pat Gleespen
by Scott Hefflon
photo by Rich Rodichok
What was the reason behind Stompbox ending and the birth of Slower?
For me, it was just that I wasn’t feeling it. If you’ve seen Stompbox, you know there was a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek-ness. It was “Hah! We’re playing rock! Whoo!” It was about getting as ripped as you could and jumping around like an idiot, having fun. We were getting all involved in this scene thing, “the hardcore scene,” and I wasn’t having fun jumping around anymore. I never really considered us a hardcore band. People called us that; I always thought we were playing rock. Then, of course, there were personal and musical differences with Erich.
How did the fans react at first? Did old fans protest the change?
Our second show as Slower, at the Paradise, was the worst-received show. About 40 people in the front were chanting Erich’s name and throwing shit.
It wasn’t a band (Stompbox) decision?
No. We basically went up to Erich in the bar and said it was over. We were starting another band without him singing.
Now you sing and are lead bassist?
Mike (Welsh, from the Heretix) plays bass all the time. Some parts I don’t play. We both play low, ’cause that’s where we both like to play. I’m actually the other bassist.
What’s that do to your sound?
It’s bottom-heavy, obviously. Like Cop Shoot Cop, Jesus Lizard, Girls Against Boys. We sound less like Helmet and we’re much noisier. We’re a little less choppy now. Like Kyuss, maybe. More groove-oriented.
It’s humorous and non-violent fun?
Stompbox was funny live because of all the things Erich used to say on stage. Slower is less funny live, but the topics of the songs are funnier. Clutch is hilarious. They’re funny and yet hard. It’s not like I’m a stand-up comic, I just sing about whatever the hell I want. What does the pussy cat say? He says meow. That’s a bad joke turned into a song.
Who writes the songs and lyrics now?
Erich just sang the words, we still write the songs. Jeff and I play each other riffs and it builds. We want to come up with a good groove and play it. One of the songs is one note. It’s got a middle part, but it’s based on one note.
How hard was it to walk away from a major label contract?
It was pretty easy. We were out on the Biohazard tour. and we were noticing that Columbia wasn’t doing anything. Our A&R person had left, a few other people that had been really big supporters of us had moved on to other labels, so we called up and said, “Do you guys… want to do anything, ’cause it doesn’t really seem like you do, and we don’t really want to do anything either…” So we decided just to call it quits. We don’t owe them lots of money, which is cool, and we’re still making the royalties off the record, so it all worked out.
Where’d the name come from?
We were joking about how funny it would be to be a Slayer cover band playing all the songs really slow and call ourselves Slower. We said “Ha, ha, ha.”
Now you’re stuck with it.
And hopefully nobody else has the name. We’ll have to change to Slower, Jr. or Still Slower or Much, Much Slower.
