With Good Things Festival around the corner, I had the pleasure of catching up with Ben Stewart, lead singer of Melbourne’s very own Slowly Slowly. Known for their emotive lyrics, dynamic sound, and captivating live performances, Slowly Slowly has been making waves in the Australian music scene. In this interview, Ben shares insights into their journey, the excitement of performing at Good Things, and what fans can expect from their highly-anticipated set.
You’ve recently been touring your latest album, Daisy Chain– how do you feel that the songs are translating when playing them live?
Yeah, really well. We just finished our regional tour…and when you play capital cities you play five or six shows and then its all over, but regional tours in Australia mean you get to get a bit more acquainted with the songs and a few things change, and the live version emerges. I think we got there towards the end of the Daisy Chain tour with the newer songs, they’re feeling a lot more like there’s a lot more life in them.
Awesome! You guys are on the Good Things lineup along with Stand Atlantic who you just did your co-headline regional tour with, it’s so great to see bands supporting bands and I feel like these regional tours are a huge part of the Australian alt music scene. How do you feel about the current state of the alt music scene here in Australia?
It feels really healthy at the moment in Australia, in a period where there’s a lot of cancellations and low ticket sales. It feels like the alternative music scene is kind of booming. Good Things Festival is on example, it feels like a classic festival from the early 2000s like Big Day Out where you have the huge headliners that are pulling all these casual listeners from far and wide and then at a more domestic level you have bands like us and our friends that are mixing with them. It’s just a big party!
Yeah, definitely. And following on from that how does it feel to be going from playing a regional tour where you’re playing these intimate venues to hopping on the main stage at Good Things?
Yeah, I mean it’s… it’s wild. You really don’t know til you’re standing backstage ready to go on. It’s hard to prepare for that moment. That’s why you get up in the morning- for those moments. It’s scary now that I think about it though.
You guys played Good Things in 2019, how do you think you guys have changed since then and what can we expect from your set?
I think we’re just a lot more energetic now. We’re just a bit more, like, we have just played so many shows between then and now, we feel like different people. I think we just approach the performance very differently. It used to be riddled with a lot of self doubt for me, but I think we’ve sort of figured ourselves out a bit. We’re a bit older and uglier and just ready to get out there and be ourselves.
That’s so good to hear, I love that. And you kind of touched on this before, but when you’re playing a massive festival like Good Things and you’ve got people there who might love you and then people who aren’t familiar with you, what do you take into account when you’re planning the setlist?
We’re gonna try cover all bases. It’s really, really hard once you’ve recorded a few albums to write a setlist for a festival because you have such a short amount of time. It’s the bane of our existence, creating track listing for festivals. I hate for people to go home and not see their favourite song but you just have so little time up there.
Of course, and is there anyone you’re hoping to watch while you’re there?
I really want to see Taking Back Sunday, I loved their latest album and I’ve been keeping up to date. I saw they played a house show recently which was pretty wild. There’s just so many bands on that lineup.
I know you guys have alluded to working on a new album soon, where are you at with that process?
It’s always changing week to week, you think you’re done but then something pops up. I don’t know, there’s a lot of hurdles you have to jump through even once the music is done with releasing an album. I shouldn’t say too much before I’m sure that it’ll happen… but it’s definitely happening, it’s pumping.
Cool, that’s really exciting to hear! Is there anything you can tell me about where you plan on taking your sound from here?
That’s a good question, in my head I haven’t decided if this next one will have a title or be self-titled. It feels so definitive to me of where we are, and I think I was really reaching in a way with our past record Daisy Chain because I wanted the sound to grow, I wanted it to encompass a few different genres. I feel like we’ve done that now and so I can be a bit more comfortable in how I’m writing. I feel like we could release a pop song, a rock song, an acoustic ballad, a piano ballad, a heavy song or a pop punk song and people would go “Oh yeah, that sounds like Slowly now!” And so, it feels comfy, we’re in a comfy spot where we’re able to follow our nose without being like, “Oh fuck that’s not what this band does!” So it feels nice.
You can catch Slowly Slowly at Good Things Festival, which is kicking off in Melbourne next Friday, December 1st. Joining them on the lineup are fellow Aussie bands Spiderbait, Eskimo Joe, Luca Brasi, Stand Atlantic as well as the massive international headliners Limp Bizkit, Fall Out Boy and Devo. With less than 500 tickets left for Melbourne, and Sydney selling out fast, don’t think twice about grabbing your tickets if you haven’t already! You can find out more info and purchase your tickets HERE.
