Slowdive

1989年10月，长期在学校里是好朋友的Neil Halstead和Rachel Goswell组建了Slowdive乐队。Slowdive这个名称来自Neil Halstead曾经做过的一个梦。他当时梦见了两个字，必须要二选一：Slowdive和Slowburn。刚一开始，他们深受My Bloody Valentine和Sonic Youth这样的乐队影响但是即使是他们的首张demo也表现出了优于同时代其他乐队的对约束噪音音乐的良好理解。直到90年代初，Slowdive才慢慢形成了自己的风格。
 
如果把Shoegazing这种音乐想象成一种画面，我脑海里第一个会浮现的是SLOWDIVE的专辑《JUST FOR A DAY》的封面。被大量的黄系的色块覆盖，具有古典意味的层次感，而色调却是温暖的黄色。这在一次证明了，SLOWDIVE与同时期其他Shoegazing乐队的不同。
 
SLOWDIVE是一支发迹于90年代处却隐匿与90年代中期的短名乐队。他们留给人们的记忆前前后后仅仅六年。然而，仅仅六年，却也见证了Shoegazing风潮由兴起到衰败的过程，这过程丝毫没有什么惊心动魄，甚至也称不上大行起道，在大洋彼岸的GRUNGE风潮以及英国本土的BRIT-POP风潮的双重夹击下迅速沉沦了。
 
而Shoegazing死于它正裸足前行的未成年时期，而SLOWDIVE几乎和它同生死，在还没有长成一棵支繁叶茂的大树时进行了果断的自我摧残。这种自我毁灭也诞生了后来传奇厂牌4AD下声名大噪的大牌MOJAVE 3。
 
by Andy Kellman
 
Named after a word in one of Nick Chaplins dreams — not from a Siouxsie and the Banshees single — Slowdive formed in Reading, England, in late 1989. The group orginally consisted of Neil Halstead (guitar/vocals), Rachel Goswell (guitar/vocals), Christian Savill (guitar), Adrian Sell (drums), and Chaplin (bass). Formed when they were mostly in their teens, Slowdive was initially lumped in with the remainder of the early-90s British shoegaze scene; Slowdives later releases extended upon the likes of the Cocteau Twins and the more atmospheric sides of post-punk, and they closed out their career with an excellent and misunderstood ambient LP.
 
Signing with Creation, Slowdives early singles received glowing press and chart placement. Their debut single, Slowdive, thinly veiled an indebtedness to the Byrds and My Bloody Valentine, with no traceable punk influence. (In fact, they were probably amongst the first batch of young rock bands to ignore the movement.) Just after Slowdives recording, Sell left for university. Neil Carter subbed for less than a year, lending his skills to the follow-up single, Morningrise; former Charlottes member Simon Scott hopped on board prior to the bands third single, Holding Our Breath. The sleepy escapist psychedelia of both Morningrise and Holding Our Breath made significant impressions on the British indie chart. The press dubbed them part of The Scene That Celebrates Itself — a small, loose, conglomerate of like-minded bands who could be seen at each others shows, frequently hanging out together within the same circle. This scene included Lush, Moose, Swervedriver, Curve, and Blur. Not associating with themselves as a move of self-importance, grandstanding, or high society, it was merely a means for those involved to get into shows for free. Most of those involved were university dropouts on the dole. A dastardly move by the press, the tag just made it easier for them to lasso a group of bands into the to-be-expected derision. With the Brit-pop trend close behind, they could cast aside their champs of yesterday with one fell swoop.
 
Slowdives debut LP, Just for a Day, was released in September of 1991. Though it placed in the Top Ten of the indie chart, the press backlash was beginning to surface — shoegaze was beginning to fall out of favor, and when bands put out a full-length, its typically an ideal time for the British press to decide youre no good. Regardless, it was a fine debut. Months later, the Blue Day compilation appeared on the racks. It combined the bands first three singles, leaving off their version of Syd Barretts Golden Hair and the instrumental version of Avalyn.
 
The bands sound tightened for Souvlaki (named from a favorite Jerky Boys skit), released in mid-1993. (Initial copies included Blue Day as a second disc.) With assistance from Brian Eno on a couple tracks and an excellent mixing job from Ed Buller, it was a marked improvement from their earlier material. It wandered less, but didnt sacrifice their sense of woozy atmosphere for it. Troubles with U.S. label SBK prevented Souvlaki from being released anywhere near its U.K. street date and U.S. dates with Catherine Wheel that had been intended to promote Souvlaki proved to be another incident of bad timing; at that point, they were playing in a country where their record wouldnt be available for months. Souvlaki was finally released eight full months later in the U.S.; SBK tacked on four bonus tracks, including 3/4ths of the 5 EP. By this time, Scott had amicably parted, leaving to cater to his jazz instincts in Foxy Brown. (He would later join Inner Sleeve.) Ex-Mermaid Ian McCutcheon signed on.
 
SBK had been shafting Slowdive from the get-go. Their marketing scheme for Souvlaki will undoubtedly go down in industry history as one of the laziest ever. The bands mailing list was sent a flyer announcing the release date. Anyone who made 50 copies of the flyer, posted them around their town, and photographed them would win a copy of the record. The label obviously hadnt considered that this would be a more costly venture (and quite time consuming) than buying Souvlaki, a disc they had probably purchased on import eight months prior at an exorbitant enough price.
 
Botching numerous U.S. tours and decimating the itineraries at Spinal Tap-like levels, the gaffes culminated with SBK pulling financial support from of a Souvlaki support tour. Determined to not screw their U.S. fans over, they funded a two week tour on their own. The band sold a live tape to help pay their way and also put together a tour program that included a blurb about their beloved American label. Despite poor exposure in the States, the band had cultivated a sizeable following through word of mouth and short tours with the aforementioned and Ride.
 
The bands third and final studio outing was released in 1995. Pygmalion was essentially a solo ambient record by Halstead; the only detectable contributions were courtesy of Goswells vocals and occasional patterns from McCutcheon. Within a couple weeks of release, Creation dropped the band. SBK had since given them the boot as well, but their U.K. label had been expecting a song-based affair. Slowdive had clearly turned into something separate from what they had been signed as. Taken further than the intelligent techno slant of the 5 EP, the record was often beatless. Unhappy with this shift, Chaplin and Savill left during the recording. The remaining members continued as Mojave 3, signed by 4AD on the strength of a demo that basically became their stellar debut LP.