Heather Perkins of Slowcoaches: “I’m the anti-punk. Or the Auntie of punk."

Punk noisemakers Slowcoaches have been making music together for years and have finally released their long-awaited debut LP. We caught up with frontwoman Heather Perkins ahead of their stint at Sheffield’s prestigious Picture House Social venue to talk touring, tiredness and their path to notoriety.

You recently moved to London. How are you finding it?

I wouldn’t have chosen to go there but I went ‘cos loads of people I knew were there. I guess it’s like anywhere, but it’s fucking expensive. I used to live in Leeds though – the first gig we ever played was in Brudenell Social Club and I was shitting myself. It’s fine now, unless it’s a show where we’re supporting a huge band. We supported Japandroids the other day and I was really nervous then.

How has touring been over the years – it seems like from the get-go it’s been relentless?

I love touring, it’s the whole reason I play in a band. I’d rather be doing this than sat behind a desk. If you see it as a hobby, albeit an all-consuming one, you just have a good time. Otherwise you’d go mental.

Sounds exhausting…

A lot of bands do so much but don’t enjoy it ‘cos they’re getting smashed so much, it’s sad really. Sometimes it’s hard work and there’s a lot of admin. If you could just play shows and not do all the other crap it’d be wicked. Even now we’ve got people that help us out, like press people and a manager but the more people that get involved the more emails there are to reply to. We’ve released records with small labels and it’s been straightforward but we recorded this album over a year ago and the amount of time it takes to go through a distributor is just mental; it’s totally out of your hands.

You’ve spoken about mental health and generally being fed up in your lyrics a lot, is there any reason you want to talk about these things?

I’m bad at sitting down and writing lyrics so I’ll wait and wait and wait and then it just comes to me and I write it in about five minutes. But it always comes when I’m pissed off about something. I’m not a miserable person but at the time we were writing the album we were tired and skint, working our arses off and just disenchanted. Maybe it’s easier that way. I’m really pleased with how the record came out. I had to sit down and write the lyrics out for the album sleeve and it’s the first time I looked at them altogether – my sister saw and was like ‘god, this is so depressing’. But when you listen to the songs they’re actually quite upbeat. I find it really cathartic. It’s good to sing about something that’s pissed you off then have everyone dance to it, turning it into something positive. But after we’ve played I’m ready for bed.

So punk.

I know, right? I’m anti-punk. Or the Auntie of Punk.

To people that haven’t heard your music before, how would you describe it?

Loud, fast disposable pop. A lot of our stuff is tongue-in-cheek and throwaway and trashy. We don’t write songs that we think are gonna be anthems even though they’re very hooky and poppy.

The album’s on Spotify now too!

It’s really strange; it’s on iTunes as well! And my dad was looking at it on Amazon. My dad is actually slightly impressed – now it’s on Amazon it’s legit. And we’ve got a CD now too which my dad’s been wanting for years. We did our first tape with Tye Die but it’s not there anymore – another place that’s disappeared. Our first EP was 5 tracks, some of which are on the album but we recorded this at Sound Savers in London.

Your work always seems very DIY, not just the music but the videos too.

Yeah, we usually get mates to do them. The day we shot ‘Ex Head’ was one of the most painful days. I was getting dragged around a beach. We did it for about eight hours and my wrists were raw. My friend came up with the idea for it and she’s really weird, she said it represents me being reluctant and tired which was quite appropriate for the song although I thought it looked like I was being kidnapped. We filmed in Margate and it was boiling hot. The bit where I’m eating the cake is supposed to be symbolic of me not enjoying something about myself cos I’m eating a cake with my face on it. I had to ate the whole thing but I had a spit bucket and I had to cram all this cake in my face and then scoop it out my mouth. She is such a punisher.

What’s the aim of the band?

I wanna be the most famous person in the world.

Really?

Nah, we just like playing shows. We’ve got a photo shoot with Kerrang soon – my teen self would be shitting it with excitement. As long as we can keep playing gigs, I’m happy.

By Erin Doyle for Avant Garbage