Slaves had made the announcement of their break-up, after some time had past, the band announced of their return, including releasing a brand new song, and are in the process of releasing a new record. Bassist Colin Vieira discusses what happened then, and now.
1. First off, who are you and what is it that you do for Slaves?
Colin: My name is Colin Vieira & I play bass in SLAVES.
2. How did the name Slaves come into effect for your band's namesake and why?
Colin: " Dreams" was taken. Slaves is a metaphor for finding what it is you love in life and being a slave to it. Whether it be music, a business venture, any type of art. Honestly anything that you love.
3. Where are you in the recording process of the new album?
Colin: We are finished with the writing of the album, we are sending mix notes back and forth with Erik Ron. Waiting on a possible feature. But we are almost completely done and couldn't be more excited.
4. Why did you want to work with product Erik Ron, have you worked with him before, what do you think he will bring to the table for you guys for this new album.
Colin: I always heard good thinks about Erik, I knew he produced a great sound and he was good at what he did. So we went to him to record our single " I'd Rather See Your Star Explode" and it wasn't until directly working with him that I realized just how good he actually was. Everything from producing, writing, to keeping the vibes great in the studio, he just knows exactly what he's doing. Erik and Jonny share the same love for R&B music and they ended up working together so well. We wanted Erik to have creative freedom with this album because to me the whole point of going to a certain producer is because you like what they do, trust them, and want their influence on your album.
5. Have you picked out a title and decided on the album's artwork, or not thought that far ahead yet.
Colin: Nothing like that has been decided yet. A few ideas have been thrown around but it's a little far away still.
6. Are you using any new instrumentation you've never used in the recording process before?
Colin: No I don't think there is any new instrumentation. There are a couple new tunings that we haven't used before in some of the songs. One song is mostly piano.
7. Did the band have any definitive goals they were shooting for before the recording process began for this album?
Colin: Yea, we wanted to show people something different. Our first two albums were very similar in sound and stayed in the same genre. We wanted to diversify it. We wanted it to be more of a collaborative effort between all of us in the band and Erik. And we wanted it to be a multi-genre album. Almost creating a new genre that breaks away from the scene a bit, while still keeping some elements of the "Slaves" sound. I think we executed all of these things. Most importantly, it captures real emotions of real situations we were going through personally and together as a band.
8. When can we expect the new album to be released?
Colin: We don't have an exact date yet. Hopefully sometime this summer. We plan on releasing a couple more singles and videos first.
9. Will we ever see Jonny Craig's assortment of projects, Dance Gavin Dance, Emarosa, Ghost Runner on Third, Slaves, and westerHALTS, touring together or playing a one time showcase?
Colin: Hmmm, I doubt it. We have toured with DGD before. Those dudes are good friends of ours. I can see us doing another tour together for sure. I doubt any of the rest though. I don't even know if they are still active bands.
10. Back in 2016, Slaves had announced their break-up, but are now back together, can you give us a brief summary as to what happened with that and what's happening now?
Colin: People left the band and I guess didn't think we could or would continue without them. When they left the band, they posted the band was over. I don’t know exactly what the motives where behind that. But at the point Jonny and I just let it happen, we knew we would have to post about it and deal with it later, but that was a hard time for everyone in the band.
11. Why did you think that this new song “I’d Rather See Your Star Explode”, would be such a suitable song to start off, as far as singles and videos, what is it about it, that makes it so special?
Colin: The song was born out of pure REAL emotion of what we were going through at that time. It's driven, it's kind of in your face. I think lyrically it explains what our band has gone through and that's a big reason we choose that song to be the first the fans get to hear from this new album.
12. What else can we expect to see from you guys, for the rest of this year?
Colin: As most people know by now, Jonny has just went through three serious spinal surgeries so we won't be doing any touring until he is completely healed up and 100% healthy. As soon as he is cleared by his doctor we will be hitting the road hard with all new songs. Until then we will be releasing a few more singles so everyone keep an eye out for those!
