Somewhere between Mazzy Star and Mastodon, Slung flits masterfully between thundering momentum and sinister riffs, to a vulnerability so delicate it catches you entirely off guard.
Slung release new video single “Thinking About It” ahead of their debut album “In Ways,” which is out May 02, 2025 via Fat Dracula.
On the verge of releasing their astounding debut album In Ways, Brighton band Slung have released a further preview of the full-length with playful new single Thinking About It. Though serious in its musicality and approach, vocalist Katie Oldham uses the track to assume an alter-ego of sorts: “The working title for this song was ‘Tasty Girl’, because every time I tried to improvise on lyrics, they ended up coming out like sleazy pick up lines from an old womanizer. In the end, we decided to just roll with that vibe and tell that story but from the perspective of a female lothario out on the prowl.
Bringing references to queerness in our songs is important to me, because myself and the majority of my friends identify as queer, despite mostly presenting femme and straight-passing. I don’t feel the need to draw attention to it specifically, and don’t feel it appropriate to represent myself as a ‘queer voice’, but I still want to create a little space in whatever I do to honour it, as it’s an important part of who I am. The theme is also pretty representative of bisexual panic, meeting a girl and realising you’re thinking about it, and wondering if she’s thinking about it too.
Mostly, though, I imagine this as like my flamboyant alter ego. I just love the idea of this super egoic, confident, yet non-threatening lothario who believes they’re irresistible. Yet at the same time they have this charmingly endearing vulnerability. It’s such a goofy song that hopefully offers some light-hearted relief to some of the heavier vibes of the record.”
Watch the official video through the youTube player below:
With a debut duo of singles at the tail end of 2024, Slung’s sounds piqued interest among discerning ears across the industry and internet. They’ve also been working hard in the real, physical world, earning a legion of fans the old fashioned way, by hitting the road hard before they’d even released a note of music. They’ll continue this with a tour to celebrate the release of debut album “In Ways” this spring.
“In Ways” is a collaborative combustion of its members’ experiences, circumstances and supreme musicianship. Their sonic universe – comprising the power of guitarist Ali Johnson’s incendiary riffs, vocalist Katie Oldham’s enviable dynamic and tonal range, bassist Vlad Matveikov’s undulating, yet grounding basslines and drummer Ravi Martin’s expert rhythmic punctuation – is a veritable musical supernova. Influences within the Slung camp are far reaching, with the band’s members referencing artists from Deftones and Baroness, to Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, to Queens of the Stone Age and even a sprinkling of Chappell Roan and Fleetwood Mac.
Initially the brainchild of Vlad, whilst he was living in Brighton, Slung were some time in the making. He tells of randomly meeting Ali at a campground in Australia in 2009, falling in love with Katie during lockdown and hearing a demo of drummer Ravi Martin’s old band in his other role running indie label Small Pond. The kernel of an idea for Slung began to germinate when Vlad’s previous band InTechnicolour disbanded, as he began to formulate new musical ideas, not knowing where they would lead him.
Vlad started out by working with like-minded vocalists such as Ash Tubb (Sugar Horse), Zac Jackson (El Moono), Lucy Sheehan (Projector), Annie Dorret (CLT DRP) and Micahel Barton (Sick Joy). Bringing Katie on board as vocalist was its own journey. “First thing you need to know is that Vlad is an absolute machine,” she states, matter-of-factly. “He has creativity, passion and drive like nothing else, and an ability to ‘get shit done’ that is second to none. He approached me about two years ago with these demos to see if I wanted to work with him as a vocalist, and maybe try turning them into a band. I totally bitched out,” she admits, laughing. “My previous band (Sit Down) had only very recently fallen apart and my confidence was in the gutter – I just didn’t feel ready. But immediately from working with him (on just one track to begin with), I felt incredibly reassured and encouraged by him, and it was such a different songwriting experience than I’d had before. After about a year of convincing and with Vlad having successfully recruited Ali and Ravi, I finally took the plunge and joined.” Having found a musical home that really fits, she now remarks poignantly to the rest of the group and their journey together: “I can’t remember when you all became main characters in my life.”
Singer Katie’s storytelling and the compelling way she brings together personal, lived experience with more abstract, conceptual ideas and characters is evident throughout “In Ways.” Her inspirations range from sex workers and the power dynamics that come along with that profession (Class A Cherry) to the tragic occurrences of bull fights in Spain (Matador). “In Ways” also contains some of the contributions from the band’s former collaborators along the way. The melodies for Collider were largely conceived by El Moono’s Zac Jackson, which Katie adapted to fit a new lyrical narrative of a cult who are ruled by a deity they refer to as the ‘ritual prophet’ whom they converse with through the use of Psychedelics. Limassol started life with Mykl Barton from Sick Joy while Projector’s Lucy Sheehan worked the initial stages of Come Apart, a track which sounds like it could be the opening theme for a cult TV series like Breaking Bad or True Detective. The lyrics and melodies of Heavy Duty are the result of creativity from both Katie and CLT DRP’s Annie Dorett. It’s an impactful song about generational trauma, the pain of growing up as a young girl and realising you’re being cultivated into a product the world wants to consume. “Men teach you to be quiet and obey from a young age,” explains Katie. “And so often we are raised to be as pretty and helpful as possible to serve men, to be their glamorous trophy, or servant to their every whim. I was exposed to a lot of this ideology as a kid, a lot by how my Father viewed women, and it’s taken me years to deprogram from it. Sometimes I still hear his voice coming out of mine when I react to things, the imprint of his temper flaring up in me.”
Katie communicates that one of her personal missions for the band relates to representation, inclusion, sisterhood and women being a more dominant force in music, whether that’s on stage, behind the scenes or in the crowd. She says “My love for women knows no bounds. Everything I do, I do for the girlies, the women and the female gaze exclusively. (This extends of course to ALL women inclusively, no TERF bullshit here.) There is just an unparalleled magical feeling when you’re around liberated, electrifying women who speak with honesty and clarity and without fear. The world is built to try and make us resent, envy and destroy each other, and I LOVE those moments where we realize we are more alike than what divides us. I want to be around women all the time, to be inspired by them, to connect with them and to share and to bond and unite.”
Slung‘s debut album “In Ways” will be out May 02, 2025 via Fat Dracula.
Pre-Save/Pre-Order it right here: https://ffm.bio/slingitbaby
Tracklist:
01. Laughter
02. Class A Cherry
03. Come Apart
04. Collider
05. Matador
06. Limassol
07. Heavy Duty
08. Thinking About It
09. In Ways
10. Nothing Left
11. Falling Down
Live dates (Tickets available HERE)
02 May Winchester – The Railway Inn
03 May Brighton – Green Door Store
04 May Cheltenham – Frog & Fiddle
05 May Reading – Purple Turtle
08 May Southampton – Heartbreakers
09 May Northampton – The Garibaldi
15 May Guildford – The Boileroom
16 May Nottingham – JT Soar
17 May Norwich – Voodoo Daddy’s
23 May Bristol – Exchange (basement)
24 May Cardiff – Paradise Garden
29 May Tunbridge Wells – Forum (basement)
30 May Leeds – Wharf Chambers
31 May London – The Victoria
06 June Alton – The Lounge Bar
Read our Exclusive Interview with the band here: [Interview] Exclusive interview with UK Heavy Rock quartet Slung
