If you’re into melodic hardcore punk music and don’t know who Totally Slow is yet, fix that oversight immediately. Hailing from Greensboro, North Carolina, Totally Slow’s brand of melodic hardcore is some of the best around right now. Originally formed in 2013, Totally Slow has refined their sound and lineup. The result of this arrives in the form of their new album.
Originally released in June, Casual Drag features ten in your face tracks that will appeal to fans of hardcore, ’90s skate punk, and music with thoughtful lyrics. When listening to Casual Drag, you’ll find yourself transported to the days when Fugazi, Adolescents, Pennywise, and Agent Orange ruled the stage. While there’s definitely a comfortable familiarity to their music, Totally Slow’s songs focus on the issues of the day. If those issues frustrate you, then Casual Drag is a must listen. Totally Slow relates and are just as angry and frustrated as you. They don’t sugarcoat it at all on Casual Drag. It’s full of progressive anthems. We need them now, more than ever.
Lead singer and guitar player Scott Hicks spent some time telling us about the new album, touring, and band fun facts. Take a peek below at what Scott had to say, then go pick up their new album immediately after!
My first experience with Totally Slow was seeing Laura Jane Grace call you out on Twitter as a band to check out. How did that make you feel when you saw that?
The first thing I thought was how rad and unexpected that was as I haven’t reached out to her or anything, It just organically happened. Glowing validation from an admired artist of that caliber is of course very exciting. Second thing I thought was that maybe a couple of people who’d never heard of us would take a second to listen, and I guess you just confirmed that was true as well.
Since Laura gave you some love, let’s do the Starbucks pay it forward thing. Which band should our readers check out after listening to your new album?
Being the somewhat obscure “artist” that I am I guess this is a “pay it sideways” at best. I have so many friends in bands. I’d probably get myself into trouble picking any one of those, so I’ll just say that lately I’ve been really turned on to this German band, Hysterese (who I am not friends with). They do a mid-to-fast dual guitar attack like we do, without taking any shortcuts or doing anything cliched. That’s what I’m always hunting for and seldom finding. They have a new album out on bandcamp and it’s SO GOOD.
Speaking of new albums, are you happy with Casual Drag’s reception so far?
It’s gotten almost universally VERY kind and positive feedback. I was hoping when we put the songs out there it would reach some folks who’ve been looking for what we’re doing. It’s always an uphill slog to poke your head up over all of the noise out there. I’m really pleased that our past listeners, as well as prominent punk-adjacent media, have had such a great response to it. We’re finally seeing over 1000+ listeners per month on Spotify, so that means someone other than my friends and wife are checking it out, which is super gratifying.
For the uninitiated, what can they expect from the album, and from Totally Slow in general?
I grew up on that early ’90s DIY punk ethos of putting yourself into the world with honesty and integrity; and that goes for writing songs that are true to what speaks to me as well as just generally not being a shitty person. There’s no pretense or agenda here beyond that. We want you to hear our songs and we want to hear yours. If along the way we get to drink a lot of coffee and laugh and see cool shit that’s great too.
There’s no theme to this band other than writing no-frills jams that grab you by the collar. No studio tricks. What you hear is what you get. Sometimes I’m pissed about someone being shitty to me and sometimes I’m pissed about fascism and sometimes I just feel really existentially lonely. Those all drive the lyrical content.
The video for “Call the Pigs” is a microcosm of the hate we see in America today. Did you use real footage for it?
John Rash made that video. He’s a Southern documentary filmmaker. I handed him some live footage of us, and he interspersed it with footage he had taken during protests in Mississippi last year, which is very much a more “Southern” area than where we live here in North Carolina. In summary: sadly, the footage is real. He’s doing great work down there and has been active in punk rock for decades. Check out his film, Negro Terror.
Is it tough being a more progressive band from the South? Or, is my thinking grounded in unfair stereotypes?
We all occupy our bubbles, I suppose. NC is an interesting state politically. Probably best summarized as deeply conservative rural areas peppered with rather large and typically progressive urban areas. We make it very clear where we stand. There’s no fuzzy lines around that. So, I imagine if someone thinks we’re full of shit they just aren’t gonna come to the show or buy the record. I’m perfectly fine with that. I think the days of Nazis or whatever showing up and trying to start trouble have passed, though I definitely saw some of that in the early ’90s. If someone wants to confront me because we’re donating proceeds to an abortion fund, or because I’ve got some right wing knucklehead getting smashed on the flyer, I’m ready to have that conversation.
But overall no, it’s not tough. You’d probably be surprised if you came and visited where we live. The stereotypes don’t always hold up in the urban areas.
The world is opening back up a bit more now. What touring and support plans do you have outside of Fest?
We have our release party here in Greensboro July 24. Then next month, we’re doing a cool DIY spot in Burlington NC, which I’m stoked on because I haven’t ever really played there. I love visiting small isolated scenes where people are just way less cynical and excited to meet and hear new bands. We’re doing a few shows down to Fest in Georgia and South Carolina, then later in the fall we’re going to head up through Richmond / Philadelphia / NY. Just little five day bursts out from our hub.
What does it mean to be part of Fest?
I personally love playing festivals like The Fest, as I have a low attention span and I like being able to freely scuttlebutt around a city and check it out and see chunks of bands playing on my own time. Of course with The Fest specifically, it’s always a good feeling to be included.
Overall Tony is some kind of magic punk rock angel wizard being able to pull that thing off every year so smoothly. It has to be complicated as fuck. I go nuts booking a show with three bands on the bill. He’s wrangling hundreds of personalities and a dozen locations. It’s insane.
What is a typical Totally Slow show like?
Locally, I really try to make every show an “event”. I’m careful about doing my best to construct interesting and diverse lineups. I work hard to make things run somewhat on time and make sure everybody is cool. We’re going to be loud and we are going to play with every bit of energy we’ve got. We also practice kind of a lot (for a punk band) so I like to think even though we’re scrappy DIY skate punk nerds, things go off with a level of professionalism. It’s a show. I don’t want to make people sorry they are out late and spending money to see us.
What have you learned about each other as people, and as a band during the pandemic?
Our rhythm section live together, so we’ve continued to practice, write, and of course recorded our album during lock-down. Andy actually got pretty sick with COVID last summer. We put together fun streaming gigs, got signed to Refresh, and made three videos. I guess I learned we can keep being productive and creative under the weight of difficult circumstances.
I also learned that literally everything is politicized and polarizing. There are an awful lot of very ridiculous and selfish motherfuckers in this world.
How did you stay busy with the downtime from the music industry going into hibernation?
I’m a web developer, so I was able to continue my job as normal. I also have kids, but they’re in high school. I can’t imagine what this mess was like with really young children needing to be educated and entertained all day.
I took a lot of walks, and worked on some ambient music by myself. And, of course as I said before, Totally Slow actually got a LOT done last year. Now I’m ready to get out there and play in front of people again.
What’s a fun fact about each member of the band that readers would find interesting about each of you?
This is Scott doing the interview and you’ve already heard enough about me. Kate is a certified hypnotist who works on real-crime podcasts in her spare time. Chuck is a sign painter, avid skateboarder, and is way more of a perfectionist than I am, which has really helped make this band 1000% better since he joined. Andy (drummer) and I have been bouncing around in projects together for like 20 years. He’s a really good carpenter, and when asked is actually mind-blowingly talented at decorating cakes. Seriously.
Any last words?
I always take this opportunity to tell people to be cool to each other. I’ll also add that we’re all swirling around in our own personal universes, and the past year has added an extra helping of anxiety to EVERYONE’s life. So, try to cut each other some slack and take nothing personally.