Features
Hotstar: The Slow Readers Club – The Next Big Thing From Manchester
Sam Crowston – Slow Readers Club
performs at the Manchester Apollo in December 2018 – the band’s live highlight so far.
Hopefully we will get over there soon,” Aaron Starkie, singer of The Slow Readers Club, told Pollstar of his band’s U.S. ambitions, adding “cities like New York, L.A., Seattle and Boston, you dream of playing those places.”
The Slow Readers Club also includes Kurtis Starkie on guitar, James Ryan on bass and David Whitworth on drums. They are currently halfway through the UK leg of their biggest ever tour, 48 dates in the UK and Europe in support of their 2018 album Build A Tower. Witnessing the band live removes any doubts that The Slow Readers Club will continue an impressive legacy of great rock bands hailing from Manchester, England.
Ian Johnsen of 30 Century Management first heard of The Slow Readers Club from Rou Reynolds, singer of Enter Shikari, who happened to come across the band whilst descending down a YouTube rabbit hole in early 2017.
“I was at the DHP [Family] reopening party for The Borderline in central London a couple of weeks later and spotted a poster for an upcoming Slow Readers show there, texted it to Rou and we made plans to go along,” Johnsen recalled.
“When we arrived at a nearby pub for a pre-show beer, there were all these DHP people in there who were like, ‘Oh, you looking to work with them? You should, they’re awesome.’ And I was all, ‘No thanks, gents. Busy enough already. I’m purely here for a night’s entertainment with my mate.’
“That position had shifted drastically by the end of the night.”
What made Johnsen want to work with the band was “simply the strength of the songs. That was the key pull for me.”
Many of the band’s songs shift from a melancholy sadness that tell a story of pain and struggle to powerful moments of triumph, in many ways reflecting the reality of the people living in Manchester, London and the other cultural and economic melting pots of England. It is music that could serve as a soundtrack to George Orwell’s “1984,” which happens to be one of Starkie’s favorite books.
The Borderline show is also where agent Steve Zapp of International Talent Booking first saw the band. He said, “I really loved the vibe, work ethic and energy of the band. Additionally, I was hugely impressed with the work that they had done up to that point in terms of shows booked and also how impressive they were managing other sides of their business.” The band’s graphic design, for instance, is all the work of Starkie.
The first shows Zapp booked for the band were two concerts in support of Independent Venue Week in Bury at the 300-capacity Met as well as the 200-capacity Hebden Bridge Trades Club, which both sold out quickly.
“The band has been selling out club venues, not just locally but across the country from as far afield as Portsmouth to Newcastle. The plan that myself, management and the band themselves agreed on was to aim to sell venues out before moving up in capacities, plus to play as deep regionally as possible to allow people the chance to see the band. So far this seems very successful with over 10,000 seeing the band in the UK on the current regional run in addition to the recent main city run – a huge achievement,” Zapp explained.
Venues on the current UK run range between 300 and 900 capacity, although the band has proven to pull much larger crowds especially in its hometown. Past gigs at the 1,500-capacity Ritz in 2016 or the 2,290-cap Albert Hall in 2018 sold out. The band’s highlight so far, however, was the sold-out Manchester Apollo show in December.
Johnsen remembers the show selling out 3,500 tickets six weeks in advance. “It was very much confirmation of the amount of love the band engender from the people of their city and beyond.”
Starkie recalls, that “it felt like a real celebration for us and the fans, and rounded off a great year for the band.”
The upcoming April 11 show at Manchester’s 500-capacity Gorilla, which will close the UK leg of the current tour, sold out in three minutes. After that, the band will tour mainland Europe through May until the festival season begins with Bearded Theory Festival in Derbyshire, England, May 25, followed by Neighbourhood Weekender in Warrington’s Victory Park, May 26; Rock Werchter in Belgium on June 29; Mad Cool Festival in Spain, July 12; and Taubertal Festival in
Germany, Aug. 8.
“We love playing festivals,” Starkie says, “as it’s a chance to win over new fans,” before adding that playing Coachella sometime in the future “would be amazing. Guaranteed sun!”
Said Zapp, “Our live strategy to grow the band is a mixture of headline dates, support tours and festival performances. On the whole it’s great to see a band ‘rolling their sleeves’ up and playing extensively live in addition to making great music.”
Starkie said the band spent the first two months of 2019 working on material for a new album that could come in early 2020.
Zapp confirmed “promoters are looking to take a step up to 600-1,500 capacity rooms on their next album tour, which is lovely to see.” If all goes according to plan, the U.S. will be part of that tour.
Johnsen said, “We’ve had a couple of good conversations with agents, etc., but it’s a big investment and the timing/situation has to be right. Luckily, the band isn’t afraid of hard work, so the ‘slog’ element of North American touring isn’t a worry. I would just like to make sure that if they’re doing the slog, there’s a real reason to be doing it.”