Slow Riot – Irish Band Of The Week

It’s safe to say that after one listen to Slow Riot’s single, ‘Trophy Wife’ will make anyone a firm fan of the band. This week’s Irish Band of the Week, hailing from Limerick, is Slow Riot. This post-punk band is all about its reverb and a Strokes-esque vibe to their music. Comprised of Niall Clancy (bass, vocals), Aaron Duff (guitars) and Paul Cosgrave (drums), the band were an overnight success, with early demos of ‘Demons’ receiving immense praise from fans and almost instantaneously capturing the attention of London-based music label Straight Lines Are Fine. By the summer of 2015 the boys had already released their sell-out EP, Cathedral. This cemented the fledgling band’s promise, the band demonstrated a fresh new fusion of rock and pop-punk that made listeners sit-up and take note. Slow Riot became synonymous with an excellent command of punk, mixing intense vocals with an undeniable charm and smoulder throughout the EP. However, their live performances soon became renowned for their ferocity and unrelenting energy.

The rawness of their sound makes for an undeniably attractive listen but the band were quick to change up their sound almost immediately. Towards the end of 2016/start of 2017 they began to move towards a more haunting style, with more sombre vocals; the energy was still there, nonetheless but in much more measured amounts. A quick string of releases, the aforementioned ‘Trophy Wife’ and ‘Pink December’ highlighted this definite shift but no one could deny that it’s a shift in the right direction for the band. A cursory listen to these two tracks not only make their talent as musicians abundantly obvious but their skills as songwriters, each lyric entwines with the next to not only create a cohesive story throughout one song but overalls creates an over-arching narrative effect through their last few releases. Each track that is released is a unique as the next but a listen through their most recent singles will display a connecting theme of dark sentiments and melancholia.

The band are currently working on their debut album but their current repertoire is no less impressive.