Slow (band)
Slow is a Canadian punk rock band that started in the mid-1980's. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the band consisted of vocalist Thomas Anselmi, guitarist Christian Thorvaldson, bassist Stephen Hamm and drummer Terry Russell. Additional guitarists were Ziggy Sigmund and Russ Davies.[1]
Hamm and Russell had previously been in a West Point Grey punk band called Chuck & the Fucks, playing an infamous concert at Queen Mary Elementary in the spring of 1980 where many of the teachers forced the children to leave.
They recorded and released their debut single, "I Broke the Circle", in 1985 on Zulu Records, and followed up with the EP Against the Glass in 1986.[1] The band's style was also cited as an influence on the nascent grunge rock movement in the nearby Seattle music scene, especially on its adoption of clothing styles such as flannel shirts, ripped jeans and heavy boots.[1]
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[edit] Expo 86 riot
Slow are most famous for a controversial incident which both marred the Expo 86 festivities and effectively ended the band's career, when the band were invited to play at the event's Festival of Independent Recording Artists. According to Anselmi, the band's original idea was to simply appear on stage naked, run through the crowd to a boat on False Creek and then simply disappear without playing a note;[1] however, the band ultimately chose to put on a more typical performance.[1] Typical, that is, for Slow – the show included Anselmi pitching several two-by-fours into the audience,[1] and both Anselmi and Hamm followed through on the original idea to strip naked.[1] Expo officials cut the power to the pavilion, ending the band's set.[1]
The band were detained by the Vancouver police, who considered charging them with indecent exposure. Expo officials cancelled the evening's concert, citing security concerns.[2]
Some of the fans in attendance got onstage and refused to leave the venue, others began to riot, and yet another group stormed BCTV's onsite studios, where they protested the concert's cancellation so loudly and persistently that the station had to pull its 11:00 pm newscast.[1]
The band subsequently embarked on a cross-Canada tour, although the negative publicity they received as a result of the riot led them to split up by the time they returned to Vancouver.[1] Anselmi and Thorvaldson formed the band Copyright, while Hamm and Russell launched Tankhog.[1]
[edit] Legacy
In a 1996 reader poll conducted by Chart, Against the Glass was named the 17th best Canadian album of all time, and their single "Have Not Been the Same" ranked as the 10th greatest Canadian song. Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995, a 2001 book by music journalists Michael Barclay, Ian Jack and Jason Schneider about the rise of alternative rock in Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s, also took its title from the latter song.
