A TOTAL LACK OF URGENCY

Buddist monk, Beijing (Reuters)

“I put some instant coffee in my microwave oven. I almost went back in time.” Steven Wright

I’m writing this piece in response to the people who want to know why I decided to start a new venture called Slow Thrills, and why I put an end to my previous publication the Weedbus.

Times change, people change, tastes change, attitudes change. Simply, I felt that the Weedbus had run its course. Thirteen issues is a good innings for a zine and it was becoming a bit of a treadmill. We were submerged with interview requests and unwanted records (though many wanted ones too, I hasten to add!) and we seemed unable to say ”no” to anyone. I was unhappy that I was beginning to lose track of music that I liked and I couldn’t think of any other way out of it other than ending it completely, so that’s exactly what I did. I felt a bit strange living in London and still being considered as the editor of a fanzine based in Belfast, and after a couple of years I decided I wanted to get back into the music world again so Slow Thrills was born.

Slow Thrills takes its name from the Bowery Electric song of the same name - ten minutes of pulsating repetitive drone-rock. It was chosen quite deliberately. I had become more and more interested in this sort of music and wanted the name change to reflect that. I quickly grew tired of the name the Weedbus even though we used it for five years. The Weedbus is an uptempo, Mod-ish song by Liverpool jangle popsters the Stairs and it never really summed up what we were about . Due to the name most people naturally assumed we were about drugs, and the first people ever to approach us about advertising were Hawkwind’s management! Clearly this was all wrong and I resolved to think long and hard about the name of the new zine.

I was determined not to get back on the treadmill of press and publicity again. It may be rather pigheaded of me, but I wanted Slow Thrills issue one to consist of music I liked, rather than what the agencies are feeding me. After the free records stopped arriving I listened to old records of mine for a few months - Sonic Youth, Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave, Kraftwerk, Spacemen 3, Big Star, Love, AC/DC, Pixies, Bjork, even the Beach Boys - just to remind myself of what I actually liked. I took my time. I started to enjoy music again. Whenever I started listening to new music again it was stuff I found myself, with the help of the internet, the radio and record shops. Every interview that appears in the first print edition has been done by directly approaching the musicians concerned, either through email or in person.

The name was also to a reaction to London and the pace of the ugly modern world. It’s my general belief that we should all slow down. It seems that people spend a lot of their life trying to find something to do with the time that they save by constantly rushing about. I’m not sure, but it's possible that the name may have occured to me after they suggested there should be ‘slow lanes’ for pedestrians on Oxford Street. Whatever, that certainly made me more determined to use it! People seem to be focused on deadlines and getting from A to B as quickly as possible. In general we don’t take enough time to think; to use our imagination. I like the Portuguese saying : “Think of many things - do one.”
How many people actually take time to listen to music, rather than having it on in the background when they’re doing something else? I'm not preaching at you as I'm guilty of it myself, but wouldn't it be great if we had all the time in the world to live our lives like this.
It’s difficult for me to go about this side of things without sounding like ‘A Little Book of Calm’ so I’ll nip myself in the bud right there, and leave you with the words of Saul Bellow..

“Pointless but intense excitement holds us, a stimulant powerful but short-lived. Remote-control switches permit us to jump back and forth, mix up beginnings, middles and ends. Nothing happens in any sort of order... Distraction catches us all in the end and makes mental mincemeat of us.”

Take your time, have fun and enjoy yourself. Laze it up!

jonathan