There are some things that are difficult to picture — a sea-less beach, a car with no wheels, and a shoegaze scene without Slowdive. 

Since being formed in Reading, Berkshire in 1989, the five-piece English band — made up of Rachel Goswell, Neil Halstead, Christian Savill, Nick Chaplin, and Simon Scott — have created dreamy soundscapes that have become synonymous with the indie and alternative rock sub-genre.

Upon browsing playlists curated by shoegaze enthusiasts, you will find that several of their creations, including 'When the Sun Hits' and 'Alison', are regarded as staples. And if you are a newcomer to shoegaze, Slowdive are likely one of the first names you will be directed to while doing your research even today.

A big part of the band's charm is that they have always been, as guitarist Savill puts it, "happy to do [their] own thing" while they "exist in [their] own bubble". While their music has certainly evolved over the last 35 years, it has been done on Slowdive's terms rather than out of pressure to conform to new expectations brought about by an ever-shifting musical landscape. Perhaps it is this approach towards creating art that has allowed their works to stand the test of time.

 

 

 

 

 

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Today, the ripples of Slowdive's activities in the UK can be felt as far away as Singapore, the home of motifs, a fast-rising shoegaze outfit who consider Slowdive to be one of their biggest musical heroes. Just last month, the latter band supported the former during their concert in the Southeast Asian city-state.

"It's amazing that anyone has heard of us outside of our hometown. So to come to, you know, thousands of miles away and find that there is an audience for us, and not only that, that there's people forming bands who are influenced by us amongst others makes us feel really happy. It makes us think back to when we started out. There were bands we looked up to and bands we took inspiration from, so the fact that we are now inspiring kids to make noises on their guitars, or make music, is really really exciting to us, and we try to get young bands to support us when we can," said Savill.

There were bands we looked up to and bands we took inspiration from, so the fact that we are now inspiring kids to make noises on their guitars, or make music, is really really exciting to us, and we try to get young bands to support us when we can.

He continued: "We’ve just had some great bands supporting us in Europe and the UK, and you know, really young and up-and-coming bands, so if that's happening over here, then we’re really happy about it. We've had a couple of bands supporting us in Asia, and they were great. It's been really exciting."

In an interview with Bandwagon after Slowdive's visit to Singapore, Savill talked about performing for fans in Asia, explained how the band's latest record, everything is alive, came together, and shared his thoughts on the retrospective reception towards Slowdive's older material.

Hi, Slowdive! What's on your playlist right now that you think everyone should check out?

To be honest, because we're playing music all the time, when I get down time, I'm not really listening to music because I just need to give my ears a rest. But when we're off the road, I've been really enjoying… I'm probably late to the party, but enjoying College and a lot of kind of synth-ey stuff like off the Drive soundtrack — that kind of thing. But also some guitar-ey stuff as well. I quite like the new Smile record, as well as kind of old stuff too. Yeah, so that's what is on my playlist at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

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You had a busy 2023 and start to 2024 because of your latest world tour. What has life back on the road been like so far? 

So yeah, it's been amazing being back on the road because when you’re making a record, you're kind of in a bubble where you're not really thinking about an audience listening to it. And it’s only when you've kind of finished making the record that you actually think, “Oh hang on a minute, I wonder what other people are going to make of this." So yeah, it's been really nice to get back on the road and just see people again. Especially, you know, everyone went through COVID where we weren't seeing people, we weren't going to gigs, so it's nice to get that normality back. But also just to see that the audience has grown and there’s a lot of young people as well, which is really interesting and really exciting that people who weren't even born when we started making records are finding the band now.

Credit: Ingrid Pop

... the audience has grown and there’s a lot of young people as well, which is really interesting and really exciting that people who weren't even born when we started making records are finding the band now.

Your tour includes stops in cities such as Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, and Tokyo. What excites you the most about performing in Asia? 

It's so different from, you know, where we come from in the UK. And yeah, it's an absolute privilege to be able to come to Asia, and not only that, but to the people who have heard of us here and we get to play for audiences that are so appreciative.

Unfortunately, we don't get a lot of free time to explore, but we do get a little bit and just to get that little glimpse of different cultures and meet different people, [which] is amazing because I think had I not been in the band, maybe I wouldn't have been to Asia. So yeah, we’re really really lucky.

It has been a decade since you reunited to perform at the 2014 Primavera Sound festival. Tell us more about your approach towards making music and performing since the reunion. What’s different about the Slowdive we see in the 2010s and 2020s and the Slowdive of the 1990s? 

So I would say, yeah things have changed. Obviously, we're a lot older, but also when we used to record in the 90s, you know, we were young and we were all kind of living in the same — living out of each other's pockets a little bit, and there wasn't the same technology there is now. So it was probably a lot more, kind of playing live in the studio, and playing and recording on tape. When we got back in the 2010s, we were still playing a lot in the studio, but there was maybe a little bit more going on with technology, and, you know, editing on computers and all that kind of stuff.

On this last album, because of COVID there was even more just kind of like recording, you know, separately and Neil editing bits [we had] done, and so there’s a lot less live performance, I would say, on this record now. And also on this latest record, I think there's been more synths. That seems to be a big change, and yeah, that's been good.

Credit: Ingrid Pop

On the topic of the Slowdive of the 1990s, your 1993 album Souvlaki was met with lukewarm reviews upon its release, but eventually went on to become regarded as an important part of the shoegaze genre. What was it like seeing the change in reception towards the record over time?

Yeah, it's been good. I mean when the record came out originally, it didn't do too badly. There were one or two negative reviews in the UK, but everywhere else, it was reasonably good. It was just that those reviews in the UK were pretty powerful back in the day, but I think my overriding memory of finishing Souvlaki was that I really liked it, and all you can ask really ask [after making a record is] “Do you think you've made a good record?” And you hope that people will come with you, but if they don't, you can't control that, but I was pretty sure we had made a good record. It's just that, you know, the fashions in the UK had moved on. It was people listening to different things, and that's fine, but obviously, we became aware later on that the record was kind of growing in popularity and that's really nice, you know, that people have discovered the record later on.

I guess when we split up in 1995, I don't think we expected people to remember us. I think we expected it to be a little chapter in our lives that was an adventure and it would just be forgotten about. So the fact that the record seems more important than it's ever been by far is amazing. We're really happy about it, but we don't see it as any kind of like revenge or anything like that — or redemption. We really don't think about the 90s at all, so it's kind of irrelevant.

I guess when we split up in 1995, I don't think we expected people to remember us. I think we expected it to be a little chapter in our lives that was an adventure and it would just be forgotten about.

You released your fifth and latest album, everything is alive, back in September last year. What inspired this project and what is it like to be able to bring its tracks on tour alongside classics from your repertoire?

I’m not sure if there was any central inspiration for the record. There’s not a concept to the record as such. It's just [that] Neil had written a lot of songs, which I think, you know, if it was left to him to do a record on his own, they’d probably have been quite minimal songs [with] much more synth bass. But yeah, he sent us about 40 different songs that he’d worked on. Some were pretty complete, some were just kind of little ideas, and as a band, we just kind of democratically picked the ones that we thought fitted Slowdive, and that's kind of how we work, really. We're quite democratic, we just pick songs that we really like, and, you know, once the five of us are all involved, it starts to sound like a Slowdive record. So yeah, that was good.

I think in the lyrics which Neil wrote, yeah I can't say much about what he was thinking, but I know that there are some reflective moments, you know, because we're getting older. To look back on time, to look back to earlier things. But there are also songs of... there are little snapshots of moments because for all of us, there were a lot of changes in the last few years. There have been deaths, there have been births, there have been wars, there have been awful things like COVID and all that kind of stuff. But there's also been, you know, well there's nature, and nature carries on, and we just kind of didn't want it to be all doom-and-gloom. We wanted to have some kind of positivity to the record.

There have been deaths, there have been births, there have been wars, there have been awful things like COVID and all that kind of stuff. But there's also been, you know, well there's nature, and nature carries on, and we just kind of didn't want it to be all doom-and-gloom. We wanted to have some kind of positivity to the record.

What are your thoughts on shoegaze’s development over the last few decades? What do you think the future of the genre will look like? 

To be honest, I don't know. I don't think we really think about it at all. We just kind of exist in our own bubble and you know, if we hear something and we like it, then that’s great and we’re happy to support it because we wanna support young bands and I think we do. You know we’ve had bands like Whitelands, deary, Pale Blue Eyes, and Drab Majesty support us, who are young up-and-coming bands, but I don't think it's like we kind of study shoegaze music or anything like that. We’re just kinda happy to do our own thing, and, you know, what will be will be. As long as the music’s good, then that’s all that matters.

But I guess [regarding] how it will develop... hopefully in a way that we can't predict and that’s because, yeah, I think the worst thing would be that it's just really predictable, you know. You want music to be interesting, and exciting, and to be doing new things. So I think for bands who take shoegaze’s influences, it's important that they don't just replicate what's already been; they [should] take things that interest them about shoegaze and push it somewhere else.

We’re just kinda happy to do our own thing, and you know, what will be will be, as long as the music’s good then that’s all that matters.

Credit: Parri Thomas

Finally, what are some things that you plan to do after wrapping up this current tour of yours? Can we expect more new music soon?

I think we need to spend some time with our families back in the UK because we've been away so much. Yeah, that's really really important. I mean we're on the road so much. Once we get back from Asia, we've got, you know, three or four weeks at home, which is going to be great because we've been touring since last summer with little breaks. But then we go back to America, and then once we get back from America, we are playing all through the summer in festivals, mainly through Europe but also in America, and then after, that I think we're going to need a little break.

We never plan too far in advance with Slowdive, so we haven't discussed making a new record. But yeah, we'll take a little break and then see how we feel. Hopefully, we carry on.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Stream everything is alive here: