Messy- Slimy Bench Interview and Review of EP Fruit

I first encountered Slimy Bench while haphazardly attempting to do sound at local venue, The Pipeline. A task not to be taken lightly! For those who have never been The Pipeline is a “self-acclaimed” Punk bar that’s become renowned by students for its outrageously low booking fees and yes, you do get what you pay for. Its unkempt and falling apart interior paired with a malfunctioning sound system and storage closet for a green room is all that makes up the charm of the Pipeline, you either love it or you hate it… I’m still undecided. As I pretend to press buttons I proclaim “Leave me alone I know what I’m doing” Slimy Bench adorn the stage, thankfully for their set the PA gods are on my side. It makes sense to see Slimy Bench in a venue like this they’re messy and that’s a good thing. Nowadays you find bands who know their influences and spend the rest of their musical careers trying to emulate that but Slimy Bench are three different people, from three different walks of life whose views and interests contradict one another but when they come together it’s brilliant. With every gig the songs are reimagined they constantly find a new life in their performance, it’s never boring and always exhilarating. 

Slimy Bench was formed in late 2022 by members George Riley ( Vocals and Guitar), James Devine ( Drums) and Ruby Campion ( Bass).  Due to Ruby’s departure early this year, the band have now enlisted Kait Smith from the band Single Parents to carry out the rest of their 2024 shows. If you attend gigs in Brighton regularly you’ve probably encountered George, always front row jumping about in the crowd giving every band their fully committed attention and when James isn’t busy earning the title of Caroline Polacheks number one fan you’ll also find him always at the barrier taking stunning gritty photos of Brighton’s best bands. I caught up with George a week before the release of their sophomore EP Fruit. We got the first taste of this EP back in June with the Lead single Feel It Now a song that touches on the feeling of alienation in the face of hook-up culture it’s raw and real and I wanted to find out more about the makings of this record, and the ups and downs of Brightons quirkiest band. 

How did the band come together?

George:  The band came together it was me and James were just rehearsing for like a year and it just didn’t work in what we were doing, so we switched it up and found a new member Ruby and we started the band in October 2022 like the start of second-year uni and we got our first gig in December but we grinded out rehearsals for the longest time haha. 

So did you and James know each other before, or how did you meet?

George: The situation was literally I knew this person from my halls called Alex and Alex vaguely knew James and we all began jamming together but Alex is a blues guitarist so it’s not really… 

Ha and you guys make punk music so

George: Yeah, It’s like the same songs we’re doing now but he was just doing blues solos over it all, like God bless but you know…

It wasn’t the vibe

Geroge: No it wasn’t the vibe but yeah that’s how I know James!

So are you guys studying music at University?

George: Actually none of us are music students, I just graduated from doing graphic design, and James does photography and Ruby did Fine art our new bassist is a music student technically oh no not technically they are so I guess that kinda counts

So you met each other through university and the joint love of the same type of music?

George: It’s weird because we don’t have a specific band that’s like our mutual band, it’s just the genre and we’re jamming, James is a lot more into Blur 

And Caroline Polacheck

George: Yeah fucking omg haha It wears me out it wears me out…

Have you always played music, is it something that’s always been in the background?

George: It’s my first proper band I’ve been learning guitar for years I only got around to starting a band when I got to uni, I started learning guitar when I was fourteen and taking it seriously in 2019 and then Covid hit and I had time to get a little bit better, vocals were a little bit of an afterthought in my early rehearsals my vocals were really bad I just could not do it, debatably I still can’t you find a style

Can I ask what the origins of the name are I remember seeing the name about and being like “Who the fuck are Slimy Bench” haha

George: It’s a funny name it’s absolute fate cause James was like “ I wanna use bench in a band title” and I was like “ Yeah but we’re not just gonna be called Bench!?”

That would be very post-punk

George: We want on a word generator and the first word that came up was Slimy and we were trying to find other bits to go with it but then we were like “Nah that’s the one”

You said your main influences are Mannequin Pussy and Lambrini Girls, what draws you to that type of music?

George: I don’t know really… it itches my brain in a good way I really appreciate what they do for social awareness, generally the sound is something raw and emotional that I really connect with. What Mannequin Pussy does very well is their socially conscious in a very thought-out and artsy way 

How do you think that affects your songwriting style?

George: I don’t really think about it too much, I don’t try and overthink it I let whatever emotion absolutely pour through me to the full extent and the willingness to not compromise I’ve tried to learn from Marisa (Mannequin Pussy) and Phoebe (Lambrini Girls)

So when you write you act on impulse?

George: Yeah basically 

How would you compare your first ep to your upcoming release, take me through the projects and how each differed from one another.

George: The first EP we recorded after our third gig, it was very early we weren’t really that great. Archie Segers who produced it is a brilliant person in the scene, but he’s not essentially the most refined producer. We recorded it at Sussex Uni it was very DIY it took a long time to get the mixes good. Our new EP feels a lot more professional, not to knock Archie we love him and to be able to champion our band that early in was amazing. Ben Williams of Rainy Day Cafe produced this new EP and he’s such an insane producer.

What was it like recording with Ben at Small Pond?

George: It was part of their project, discover, learn and create where they give out free rehearsal and recording sessions, we did the whole thing in two days the studio is surprisingly compact we did drums and bass the first day and guitar and vocals the second day it was really loud, Ben was so tired trying to record these guitar takes a million times over

On the topic of your first EP it’s now exclusively on Bandcamp I wondered what the reason for that was.

George: It was a decision by me and James it just wasn’t a trajectory we wanted to go in and now that we’re in the winding down stage of the band we just feel a lot prouder of this second EP, the first EP was very much in a punky direction and I feel like it’s not really what we want to do or what we wanna be perceived as we do get typecasted as a punk band a lot even though we’re not really… we’re just loud!

I think people just hear loud and then they go, Punk!

George: If they’re not singing it’s basically punk, everythings post-punk if you think about it

I thought that you’d taken it off streaming in a way to boycott Spotify so I wanted to ask do you think the streaming era has reduced our appreciation for music?

George: I think it’s a lot more disposable and it’s part of the reason to want to move the EP to Bandcamp, Bandcamp feels like a more human platform

Ha that’s so funny to say that Spotify is non human I agree!

George: It feels very alien in the way they operate and the way they treat musicians it feels like they’re just trying to be an audio company and they don’t even care about the music

I feel like nowadays we still buy books and tickets for movies but we don’t buy music as frequently

George: I feel like with the DIY core in Brighton people want to fund each other’s music and want to support it but on a wider scale when acts go national that’s the death of all humanity for them

You also said Speedy Ortiz was a big influence and you got to support them in February at Green Door Store what was that like?

George: It was insane, it was genuinely one of those things I thought about a lot like in my dreams and then their support pulled out from the tour and they got a load of local supports, it was such a fate thing my friend Pandora works at JOY and she was like “Do you wanna play this show” and I was like “WHAT!!”. You know I bought tickets to that show I paid thirteen quid, and we were the only support! They’re just a legendary Philadelphia band from the exploding sound era… I feel like I was too much for them when I was meeting them, I was probably trying a bit too hard

Was it a last-minute thing?

George: Oh it was such a last-minute thing, the gig was on Wednesday and we got the message on Sunday 

Oh my I’m sure that was crazy 

George: I don’t think we even rehearsed before it, it was just such a random message it was funny too because it was at a time when we were going through a lot of band tension a few days before we were on the verge of breaking up and then I rolled out of bed the next morning looked at phone like “Why is Pandora messaging me”

What were they like to meet?

Geroge: They were so nice! It was just surreal waiting around for soundcheck and watching your favourite band before you go on what even is that?! I still can’t believe it happened it feels like the pinnacle

Your newest single Feel It Now feels very musically mature while still maintaining the same ideas from your first EP, what was it like writing this new batch of songs?

George: All of the songs came to us at very different times we didn’t really think about it as a collective group, it was more “Oh these are the tunes that are sticking around in our live set”. But Feel It Now was written in October (2023), we only did this once when me and Ruby went round to James’ and sat on his floor writing a tune and he was really not messing with it cause I was playing it really straight like DU DU DU DU DAH.. and then he got really frustrated and came up with the actual rhythm in the song. I really appreciate that you say it’s mature cause it’s a very personal song it was a song about a hook-up that was very creepy with an older guy

Oh God

George: The whole batch of tunes are relatively personal they’re all an insight into my brain and they’re not hiding anything, it’s all pretty…

Out there, you’re acting on impulse you say what you want there are no metaphors 

Geroge: I mean there are bits of metaphors in there like Memorial is one big metaphor but tracks like Mango and Pineapple, we debuted that live in April (2023) through our live set we just developed it more and more and like a lot of these tunes are just from playing live and being able to refine and enjoy them and make them as strong as possible and that’s what forms it

How do you think you’ve grown since 2022, as a band and as people?

George: I feel like we’ve definitely grown a lot as people probably the most I feel like that’s reflected the most we’re a very humanistic band we allow everything to shine through we don’t put on a character or try to portray it in a way that’s not real to us. I feel we’ve learnt to not try so hard or care about what people are saying it’s a lot to do with having faith in yourself and I feel like a lot of that has been gained, like with our creative process you know if we’re making it it’s probably true to us we don’t think about genre or overthink our perception 

You don’t wanna be put in a box you just wanna make whatever is right 

George: Yeah it’s free-form 

How was playing that first live show for you compared to now?

George: Our first live show was at Lewes Road

Oh I think everyone’s first gig was at Lewes Road haha

George: Yeah and then we did Rossi Bar afterwards

Oh no

Geroge: Looking at both we pretty much rapidly changed from one gig to another we were basically a different band every show it flows and we just allow things to happen as they happen we’ve definitely changed a lot since then

For the better?

George: I think so, it’s a sound we’re a lot more proud of we’ve gone more in the atmospheric direction a lot of the new songs are mellow almost folky you know as much as bands like Lambrini Girls influence us Mitski is still in there you know

Oh I love that you’re like if Mitski and Lambrini girls had a baby

George: Absolutely!!

As Her one of the new tracks from the EP touches on gender dsyphroia I wanted to ask how much gender and queerness play a role in the band.

George: It’s something pretty prominent James is the only cis member of the band, Ruby and our new bassist are non-binary and I’m non-binary, a lot of the topics stem from gender thoughts “Oh I’m perceived this way so I think like this” I do struggle with a lot of really bad anxiety I think it comes through a lot in the lyrics I write. I think gender specifically is something particularly important to us

I see you at so many gigs I feel like every night you’re at a gig so I wanted to ask, what was your favourite experience playing a gig and what was your favourite experience watching a gig?

George: Favourite experience playing I’ll have to go through first cause otherwise I’ll go down a rabbit hole thinking of every single gig I’ve ever went to. I think our favourite gig entirely was our Daltons Palestine fundraiser it was such a last-minute thing that we put on, it was literally the day after we did the Looseleaf gig (where I did sound lol) we got Ragdoll and Psychic Wellbeing Event on and we just fucking went for it. It was Ruby’s last gig with us it was a very enjoyable time. But the experience itself I personally get lost in it i don’t think a lot while I’m on stage, I don’t feel like I’m conscious while I’m playing 

Like something takes hold of you and 30 minutes is over and you’re like oh! Back to normal 

George: I can’t remember playing most gigs I just blackout 

I get that sometimes I’m in the character and in the moment and you just have to go crazy, do you get that too?

George: I always feel a bit devious on stage sometimes like there’s this one bit in Memorial where I just scream my lungs out and every time it comes up to it I’m just like yeahhhhh

When I do the Rottweiler stuff and I go to do a high note I’m like I’m gonna hit it and you guys are gonna listen

George: Yeah like just you guys wait it’s coming up I know I’m gonna hit it!!

And then I don’t hit it

George: Haha omg I feel that

Okay so favourite experience watching a gig then

George: Probably the Mannequin Pussy gig I went to at Chalk, it was just an absolutely flawless set I made a playlist of their set I was just enamoured by it like I have to listen to this every single day

Locally who are some of the favourite bands you’ve played with?

George: Absolutely Ragdoll they stand out massively, Tam is such a legend and Freddie is one of my besties, we don’t really play with a lot of bad bands, to be honest, there’s been a few rough performances by those who will not be named. It’s very hard to find bad music in Brighton 

The EP comes out on the 30th of August, how are you feeling about that?

George: It’s good I feel like we’re at the point where we’re proud of these songs but it doesn’t feel like we’re present in them anymore we’re really happy to get them out we were really happy recording them and we’ve been happy playing them so we’re excited for people to hear them 

Do you feel it’s like an end of an era?

George: Yeah we’re winding down after this we’ve got one more release scheduled for a certain local compilation, beyond that I don’t think we’ve got massive amounts of new material I think me and James have reached our tether with each other creatively 

What is next for you personally, musically, and creatively?

George: I’m moving back to North London in a few weeks, I’ll probably start a new project up there and try and get back to Brighton at some point. I’m just going with the flow I’ll end up writing some similar stuff, I can’t see myself ever stop making music. James has got a great project going on at the moment with Gutterfly, Rubys gonna start something new soon and Kaits in Single Parents

Would you say this band was a learning curve?

George: I try to not think about it much as a stepping stone but it has taught us so much we’ll all be able to do bigger things from it.. hopefully 

Fruit- Slimy Bench EP Review

The fruit motifs set you in the Garden of Eden like we’re Eve daring to take a bite into the impurity and complications of George’s life. As the EP unravels we are first hit by the cool mellow breeze of Feel It Now. With its sharp hard-hitting guitar riff and snappy drums you can picture yourself walking home under the dark artificial glow of a street light as this ballad of fake love makes you question if participating in hook-up culture will push away the feelings of loneliness or make them stronger. As George laments “Sink Part of me I am drowning” the production of the spiralling backing vocals and sleazy guitar tones make you feel like you’re drowning under the weight of insecurity.  As the chorus kicks in George’s harsh vocals and distorted guitars cut right through, as James punches in with an anthemic drum beat switch up. But before you can let the anger inside you out it’s stripped away. What I love about this track is how well the band play about with dynamics in aid of storytelling. During the last chorus, George lingers on the lyrics “But isn’t it nice to fethise yourself, I love the feeling not the thought” and with that the extended outro kicks in finally letting us live in the anger that has been teased but as you’re left to collect your thoughts it forms into something darker the guilt outways the pain and we’re left with the melting portrait of someone who just longs to be loved. 

Following from that we have As Her which I would describe as Joy Division meets Radiohead’s The Bends. We carry on with this lamenting melancholy this time targeted around the issues of adoring someone so much you want to be them, bringing up feelings of internalised gender dysphoria. This is my favourite track off the EP the guitars are so glittery it verges on shoegaze as the bass accents the main riff which is a great piece of arrangement. Dynamically it builds like Feel it Now, implementing word painting as George cries “I never thought I’d fall so quick” as the track sweeps past you the tempo fueled by the irrationality of letting yourself succumb to those feelings. James’ tom work is exceptional it feels like this pain is being beat into you and there’s nothing you can do to break the feeling. 

In the latter half of this EP, the band lost me slightly. Memrioral is the first sonically thrasher track we can hear the Mannequin Pussy influence with hints of Post-Punk. It’s the first impersonal track on the EP more a reflection on violence as a response to violence and I certainly feel attacked. It’s jarring after the back-to-back melancholic indie anthems but as George mentioned in the interview never expect Slimy Bench to be one type of band. My main issue with the track is the production direction I’m inherently biased in that I prefer cleaner mixes and I understand artistically what the band are trying to do with going all in on a muddy mix but I think it takes away from George’s lyricism. I do think the track would’ve benefited from a cleaner vocal because there’s a lot of humour in this track that gets lost under thick layers of distortion and chorus, like when George says ‘Sitting here comfy on the concrete with some Fish and Chips from Scott’s, Lord bless him”. This glimpse of humanity eases the brutal topic allowing it to still have some of its slimy quirks. I do think the arrangement of the track is brilliant and everyone is giving their top performance if you can find the groove in its grit it’s a track that’ll bury you. 

Mango and Pineapple is a bittersweet end. It brings us back to the melancholic lethargy while maintaining the rock sound. I feel like the track merges into one thing and doesn’t have distinctive parts and in its attempt to do so falls flat. I find the track drags quite a lot droning in the vibe of Have A Nice Lifes Deathconciousness. The track struggles to find its feet which relates quite a lot to the song’s topic of not knowing where you belong in the music scene. “I burn all my candles in spite of myself” is a recurring line it almost feels like the music is matching not only the death of George’s spirit but the catalyst for the band. Overall I think this is a solid project and something the band should be proud of. There’s something for everyone whether you want Indie, Post-Punk, Shoegaze or Rock there will be a track on here that you can define as your own. It’s a testament to the band at their ability to hit the nail on the head of every genre while still managing to put their own twist on things. The lyricism for me is a standout every track was handcrafted with raw brutal lyrics and vivid unique metaphors that draw you into George’s world. Slimy Bench has cemented themselves in the Brighton scene and although the band may be coming to an end I’m excited to see what new creative endeavours they all partake in because it takes a willingness to act on impulse and let yourself be known even if that’s a little messy.