LINE UP:
LOU REID: Vocals
BRIAN McFIE: Lead guitar
LESLEY MACLAREN: Drums
DAVY IRVIN: Bass
VILLY KARAGOUNI: Keyboards
MARTIN STUART TAGGART: Guitar
BIOGRAPHY
“Fronted by spellbinding chanteuse Lou Reid, rising stars Lola in Slacks exude the sexy garage swagger of the Velvet Underground and the bold confidence and freedom of Tim Buckley.”
There’s somewhat of a sense of mystery around Lola in Slacks. Imagine a voice that effortlessly fuses Marianne Faithfull and Eartha Kitt, fronting a crack band with the sexy garage swagger of The Velvet Underground and the bold confidence and freedom of Tim Buckley. This ambitious, literate outfit has already made an instant impact with a series of heart-stopping performances around Glasgow.
Spellbinding chanteuse Lou Reid (!) is the focal point, with song-writing partner and guitarist Brian McFie providing skilful garage grind and spiralling melody. Lesley McLaren has a reputation in her own right as a great rock ‘n’ roll drummer, and the band is fleshed out by Davy Irvin on bass, Villy Karagouni on keyboards and Martin Stuart Taggart on additional guitar.
Reid has an intriguing command over her vocal accents and inflections, subtly twisting from tender to declamatory within the same line. Brian McFie’s guitar-playing is similarly eloquent, shifting with ease from gut-churning intensity to exquisite soulfulness. In terms of lyric-writing, comparisons with Patti Smith, Dylan and Jim Carroll spring to mind; allusions to cult Beat writer Alexander Trocchi and controversial author Vladimir Nabokov are immediately apparent, and The Glasgow Boys artistic scene also makes a lyrical cameo in one of the highlights of the band’s live set, ‘Trocchi’s Canal’.
There is romance and longing here, escape and remembrance. With their debut single, “Tramlines”, being released on Stereogram Recordings on August 31st 2015, Lola in Slacks are poised to become everyone’s new favourite band.