On November 16th, I spoke with Kyle Bann, bassist of the band, Slothrust. The band just came back from their tour in Europe with Manchester Orchestra. I was able to speak with him while he was in LA, relaxing before the band goes on tour again in December. I chatted with Kyle about the band’s latest EP of covers, his experience as a music teacher, and which celebrity he would want to replace him in Slothrust.
What was the song when you were a kid that made you want to get into music?
We just released this EP of covers, Show Me How You Want It To Be, and one of the songs we did was “Electric Funeral” by Black Sabbath. Their second record, Paranoid, was definitely something that inspired me to play. The first track on the album, “War Pigs”, is something memorable to me. I remember listening to the whole album for the first time and thinking “Wow! This is rad.”
What made you and the rest of the band decide to make an EP of covers?
A lot of the songs are ones that we have been playing for a decent amount of time. We’ve been playing some of these songs ever since we’ve been a band. An example is our cover of “Sex and Candy” and we felt like it would make sense to put an EP of these out.
You recently finished a European tour with Manchester Orchestra. What was it like touring with them?
They’re really a great group of dudes and awesome musicians. They played an awesome show every night and were super nice. They’re fun people to hang out with and just a really cool band to get to see every night. Their set was super tight. Also getting to experience playing in different countries across the ocean was a life-changing experience in alot of ways. It was our first time playing in Europe and it was cool seeing how the audiences over there react to our music. Playing for audiences that were not necessarily English speaking was totally different than anything we have done before.
I know you used to be a music teacher in New York before you and the rest of Slothrust moved to Los Angeles. Are there any interesting stories you remember from teaching people how to play the guitar?
Teaching is really fun in general. Teaching guitar lessons was something I have done for years ever since I was in college. There’s nothing that puts you quite on the spot like having an eight year old be like, “Can you place this for me?” and you got to be like, “Oh shit. Can I even play this for you? I guess we’re about to find out.” The pressure is really on when it’s a kid asking.
What was your favorite Slothrust music video to be in?
The music video for “Rotten Pumpkin” was really hot to be in because we filmed it in LA. It was really hot. That’s my primary recollection of that one. The “Pig Pen” music video was really fun though. We got to put on some costumes. That was a good time. I got my face painted so that wasn’t a bad day, for sure.
If you could replace yourself in Slothrust with a celebrity or another musician, who would it be?
Whitney Houston? Can I resurrect her and just drop her in the band? That would probably work out.
Make sure to see Slothrust in San Diego on December 9th at Space. You can find and listen to their music on Soundcloud, Tidal, and Spotify under “Slothrust.”
By Christian Le
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