Sly & The Family Drone Interview: “Finding those moments of joy makes it all worthwhile”

When Sly & The Family Drone release new music, it’s a celebration. A victory for the underdog and a trophy for DIY culture and creative communities across the country to hold aloft.

The New Weird Britain movement is often spoken about, and one could even trace its origins all the way back to Sly & The Family Drone’s inception during the mid-’00s. The self-professed ‘neo-jazz wreckin’ cru’ have spent the best part of this century howling from the void and pummelling their audiences across the United Kingdom and Europe into oblivion.

Four years since Sly & The Family Drone’s last long-player, Walk It Dry, which – like many releases at the time – was stymied by the COVID pandemic, the band make their much-anticipated return with Moon is Doom Backwards.

On Moon is Doom Backwards, Matt Cargill (vocals, electronics, percussion), James Allsopp (reeds, bass clarinet), Kaz Buckland (drums, electronics, reeds) and Ed Dudley (vocals electronics) are joined by Will Glaser (drums, electronics). It’s his addition that opens up a new gateway for Sly & The Family Drone to dispense their havoc.

It’s a gateway that essentially leads to the underbelly of a haunted house, as Sly & The Family Drone mangle the very idea of psychedelia introducing new, bruising inflections of noise. Going In and Guilty Splinters sees the band twisting sound and rhythm, equating to the bastardisation of Charles Mingus. Meanwhile, the fractured, eastern-tinged no-wave jazz of Glistening Benevolence and Cuban Funeral Sandwich sit somewhere between the soundtrack of a horror film and the sound of a pub’s glass front being hit by a lorry.

It’s that space of uncertainty where Sly & The Family Drone thrive on Moon Is Doom Backwards – a black acid nightmare of skronk ’n’ roll. Again, it’s a victory for DIY culture and an example of what can be unearthed from underground communities that harness esoteric expression.

Last week, on the eve of the release of Moon Is Doom Backwards, Cargill took some time to answer our questions about the album, Sly & The Family Drone’s history, the current plight of the arts in the U.K., and more.

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Sun 13: It’s been four years since Walk it Dry. What has the band been up to since then?

Matt Cargill: “Well, unfortunately that album came out during a global pandemic – it was due to come out earlier in the year but got pushed back. We were playing in Europe February 2020 and the album was supposed to come out in May perhaps, and then I think it got pushed back to July. So unfortunately it meant that we weren’t able to really tour it when it was when it was out. But yeah, touring has been quite quiet over the last couple of years, with little flurries of activity. But it feels like things are happening again, which is nice.

“We recorded this album, end of ’21, I think, there was a period where you could sort of play again. And I think we played at Raw Power at the end of the summer and then went straight into recording after that. We spent three days recording the new one.”

S13: Sly & The Family Drone has always pulled from various sound worlds. Do you remember the first record that changed the way you thought about music and actually made you want to make it yourself?

MC: “I think we’re all coming from fairly different sound worlds generally. So people’s experience of playing music is different. We’ve got some incredibly talented and accomplished musicians in their own right playing in the band. But I’d personally never studied music or, you know, can play a conventional instrument in any formal way. My friend Luke asked me to sing a Manic Street Preachers song in school assembly, then we formed our own band – and as you get to like 15, 16 and going up into sixth form college, I was sort of more serious about being in a band. I was the ‘singer’ and occasionally played guitar, then gradually getting more into noisier stuff as time goes on. But being in my first band and seeing other great bands in our local scene was so inspiring. That was my sort of first foray into DIY recording and trying to make sound, in your own way. And then beyond that, learning more about mixing and experimental music making basically, I did a sound design degree and started doing solo tape noise stuff and Sly formed out of that.”

S13: From the outside, the music you make sounds reflective of each member having vastly different influences. Do you think this is the case and, if so, does it underline the band’s overall sound?

MC: “Our individual music tastes are very varied and we approach it from different directions but we trust each other’s taste. The way in which we play and improvise, things can happen organically that feel good. We know and appreciate a broad range of things and that allows us to smash them together to create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts.”

S13: Can you tell us about the writing and recording process of Moon is Doom Backwards?

MC: “It was the first time we ever recorded in a proper studio, we went and stayed on a residential studio at Larkin’s farm in Essex. We stayed on site for two nights and three days. We all stayed and cooked and hung out and just meant we could be on site and do as we please. It came off the back of a little flurry of activity of playing live again. It’s our first album with Will [Glaser] and as a five-piece as the core group. We were able to swap around a bit and experiment more, people playing different instruments and people not necessarily playing the thing they do live.”

S13: What was the most important aspect you wanted to achieve with the record?

MC: “I think there was a sense before Walk It Dry, that people thought we were just written off as a live act. There was a conscious effort to make a record that people would enjoy listening to as an album and not just a token memento you take away from a gig. It was always the intention to have a more ‘album’ feel that takes you on some sort of journey, people can obviously apply their own feeling and interpretation to whatever the music conjures up for them. But it’s always the plan to carry on experimenting and changing up what we can do on a record.”

S13: There’s a borderless sense of freedom on this record, which weirdly got me thinking about politics and Brexit. Are politics something that influences the band?

MC: “Over the last 10 years we’ve been very fortunate to travel and tour a lot in Europe and play various festivals. But trying to go back in 2022 was an expensive and logistical nightmare. I really hope that we can work towards a way that’s bilaterally easier for bands to tour and have a cultural exchange, but at the moment that feels very difficult. I think there’s something like 70 per cent less bands touring overseas now, it feels like everyone is losing out. So yeah, there’s definitely a lot of anger, frustration and rage in a lot of what we do. I’d say we are a political band and all on the same page politically – whether we express it explicitly or not.

“I’ve worked with European Movement UK and Carry On Touring to help raise awareness of the issues that post Brexit touring face. Carnets, visas, the 90/180 rules are really difficult to navigate, and the costs involved are a lot more. These all mean that artists and crews are losing work because of these implications and we’re all far worse off as a result.”

S13: A track like Guilty Splinters feels more like noise punk that anything else, and it sounds like something that explicitly opposes any scenes and trends. Is that something that you’ve thought about recently?

MC: “Not necessarily intentional to do that. There are of course times when we want to play fast and loud, but I think there’s a lot more dynamic in our playing generally now.

“As a band I feel like we’re in a bit of an odd position, for some people we’re not noisy enough, or we’re too weird for others and we don’t particularly fit into a scene, but I feel like it’s better to not anyway. I always prefer to play on mixed bills, with some similar thread, but not everyone sounding the same. I think it’s more exciting to have bills with different genres and you get a more diverse crowd with exciting crossovers.”

S13: Your song titles seem like a reflection of your personalities – where art is concerned, how important is it maintain a sense of humour?

MC: “Often we have a running list for titles which are overheard things, in-jokes or other references. Whilst some of our titles are jokes or we’ve used puns or are tongue in cheek, they might not feel so serious but I’m absolutely serious about the band and how we operate. Track titles can be throwaway, but the album titles themselves are maybe more sincere, whether that’s metaphor or not. The noise and sound art world can be so pretentious, without that element of fun, it’s ridiculous. People take themselves far too seriously. Whilst it’s important to take yourself seriously in how you operate, without humour I think there’s a danger of being arrogant and lacking joy.”

S13: Do you see your immediate surroundings as a key part of the band’s DNA?

MC: “The band was formed out of living cheaply in a north London warehouse, we were able to afford to live, rehearse, host gigs, record in a live/workspace for years. That’s how we were able to develop as a band. It’s such a huge part of the band and it feels very special to me. The last album had a dedication to the residents of Spatchcock HQ. Essentially, though, that entire area is being socially cleansed with huge HMOs and wildly escalating rents, which unfortunately is happening everywhere.”

S13: How important are labels like Human Worth for DIY music?  

MC: “Human Worth are doing absolutely wonderful things. They have one foot in heavier guitar music and metal, but they’re actually operating with many genres and different kinds of bands. We don’t necessarily sound like a lot of the bands on HW, but it feels like a good fit. We share some members with other bands on the label and it feels like a good home. They’re using their wonderful creative output for good, raising awareness and money for charitable causes. Long may it continue and inspire others to start similar projects, I’m very pleased to be part of that.”

S13: You’ve been together for a long time now. In the face of uncertainty with venue closures and the difficulty of trying to make any sort of living from music, has your approached changed since you began?

MC: “We have been together a long time. Over the years people have come and gone, but we have a good core group with the five of us now. The parameters in which we operate, the margins are pretty narrow. Everything bar the fees has gone up and its seemingly harder to play now.

“Nobody has a lot of money, there are increasingly less places to play. The Music Venues Trust states that last year an average of two venues a week closed last year. With wildly spiralling costs and rents happening all over, something really needs to change, or there won’t be places to play. We need grassroots venues more than ever. However, the approach to music making and how we operate has never changed. We try to make relationships with people and travel to new places, new crowds and feel like that’s the way forward. To encourage that community aspect feels like the way forward. Finding those moments of joy makes it all worthwhile. All the travelling and cost and stress, but when you’re playing together and there’s a room full of people that are feeling that atmosphere, it’s perfect. That’s the main driver of continuing the band, to seek out those moments.”

Moon is Doom Backwards? is out now via Human Worth. Purchase from Bandcamp.