Soft Play

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Soft Play
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Isaac Holman crowdsurfing at a gig in Manchester in August 2015
Background information
Also known as Slaves (2012–2022)
Origin Royal Tunbridge Wells, England
Genres
Years active 2012–present
Labels
Website softplayband.com
Members <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Isaac Holman
  • Laurie Vincent

Soft Play (stylised in all caps), formerly known as Slaves, are an English punk rock duo orginally from Royal Tunbridge Wells. The duo consists of Isaac Holman (lead vocals, drums) and Laurie Vincent (backing vocals, guitar, bass).[1]

They were known as Slaves until 2022 when they changed their name to Soft Play after deciding that their original name had unwanted connotations.[2]

Formation and Influences

Holman and Vincent met in Kent, which they claim did not have a very active punk music scene. The band was formed as a two-piece after they tried and failed to recruit other musicians to be in a punk band, sharing songwriting duties. Vincent later stated that this was an unexpected benefit, as they could tour easily and cheaply in a small van since they only needed to haul two people's worth of equipment.

They've stated that their earliest mutual influences include The Clash, Rancid, The Ramones, Gang of Four, Billy Childish, and the Talking Heads.[3]

History

As Slaves, the band released their first EP, Sugar Coated Bitter Truth, under Boss Tuneage Records in 2012. Their first single, "Where's Your Car Debbie?", was released by Fonthill Records in early 2014; they were then signed by Virgin EMI.[4] They released their first single under Virgin, "Hey", in November 2014, and released "The Hunter" later that month. They gained more exposure in late 2015 when "The Hunter" was featured on the Sky One series You, Me and the Apocalypse. They also appeared on Later... with Jools Holland and were nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2015.[5][6]

In May 2015, The Fader featured the group in an article about provocative names for music artists.[7] Vincent told The Fader that criticism of the name came as a surprise to them, describing how they chose the name while trying to think of "an abrasive sounding word, like Clash". He further said, "We just liked the word. We weren't trying to provoke."[8] The two also addressed the controversy around their name in a statement on Facebook: "Our band name relates to people not being in control of their day to day lives. Slaves was our way of getting off the paths we didn't want to walk down anymore. The music we make is motivational and aimed at people personally as well as collectively."[7]

The duo released their debut album, Are You Satisfied?, on 1 June 2015.[9] It reached No. 8 in its first week on the UK Albums Chart.[10] The album was nominated for the 2015 Mercury Music Prize and has since gone Silver in the UK.[11][12][13] They released their second album, Take Control, on 30 September 2016. Beastie Boys member Mike D produced the album, and was featured on the track "Consume or Be Consumed". The album fared better in the charts than the first, climbing to No. 6 in its first week on the UK Albums Chart.[14] On 20 March 2018, the band announced its third album, Acts of Fear and Love, was released on 17 August and reached number 8 in the UK album charts.[15] In July 2019, the band released a four-track EP titled The Velvet Ditch and played a headline set at Truck Festival.

In December 2022, they changed their name to Soft Play and explained, "The name 'Slaves' is an issue [and] doesn't represent who we are as people or what our music stands for any longer."[2]

Members

  • Isaac Holman – lead vocals, drums, trumpet, flute
  • Laurence "Laurie" Vincent – backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards

Discography

Studio albums

As Slaves

List of studio albums, with chart positions and certifications
Title Details Peak
chart
positions		 Certifications
UK
[16]		 SCO
[16]
Are You Satisfied? 8 13
Take Control
  • Released: 30 September 2016
  • Label: Virgin EMI Records
  • Formats: LP, CD, digital download
 6 9
Acts of Fear and Love
  • Released: 17 August 2018
  • Label: Virgin EMI Records
  • Formats: LP, CD, digital download
 8 8

Extended plays

List of studio albums, with chart positions and certifications
Title Details
Sugar Coated Bitter Truth
  • Released: 19 July 2012[18]
  • Label: Girl Fight Records
  • Formats: CD, Digital download
The Velvet Ditch
  • Released: 18 July 2019
  • Label: Virgin EMI
  • Formats: Digital download

Singles

As lead artist

Title Year Album
"Where's Your Car Debbie?"[19] 2014 Non-album single
"Hey"[20] Are You Satisfied?
"The Hunter"[21]
"Feed The Mantaray" 2015
"Cheer Up London"[22]
"Sockets"[23]
"Spit It Out"[24] 2016 Take Control
"Take Control"[25]
"Cut and Run"[26] 2018 Acts of Fear and Love
"Chokehold"[27]
"Magnolia"[28]
"One More Day Won't Hurt"[29] 2020 The Velvet Ditch
"Punk's Dead"[30] 2023 TBA

As featured artist

Title Year Peak
chart
positions		 Album
UK
[16]
"Control"[31]
(Chase & Status featuring Slaves)		 2016 – Tribe
"Momentary Bliss"
(Gorillaz featuring Slowthai & Slaves)		 2020 58 Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Songwriting and production credits

Title Year Artist(s) Album Contribution Written with: Produced with:
"Missing"[32] 2019 Slowthai Nothing Great About Britain
  • Co-writers
  • Co-producers
Kwes Darko

References

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External links

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