Sleaford Mods

Sleaford Mods are known for their abrasive sound that mixes urgent punk-grime tracks with hard-hitting lyrics full of gritty realism. In anticipation of the release of their new self titled EP, So Young had a chat with vocalist, Jason Williamson about songwriting, the effects of social media on creativity and why he loathes indie music so much.

Q: So Jason, your songwriting has always been about accurately documenting the world around you. Do you try to remain an objective observer? Or take on different characters points of view?

A: Sometimes I do try to take on different points of view and communicate what other people are thinking, whether they be very narrow minded or fascist or whatever - to try to explore what comes out of a homophobe’s mouth or anyone else out there who can’t contribute in a positive way. Other times it’s just my own bitterness. I’m really bang into at the minute conveying my own bitterness and flaws as a human being - jealousy and paranoia and completely unreasonable accusations that I make and why I make them, like accusing someone of being crap...For the next album I’ve really gone for that kind of stuff, an exploration of my own flaws. It’s good to get it out there and get it off your chest. Actually, social media can be good in that way too, to just say what you think, to talk about something that hurts you. It might not be right, and it might come back ten fold and hurt you afterwards but it’s about getting how you feel out there.

Q: So you’re playing the Roundhouse in September, I read an article in The Guardian where you listed the roundhouse as your favourite venue to play - why do you love performing there so much?

A: We’re doing two nights their actually which is good! Big gigs are great but at the same time they’re very daunting and you can feel lost, not because we’re that minimal but just because it’s hard to tell if the audience are really connecting with it.

The Roundhouse is just the right size, and it’s such an old building and so many classic bands have played there. If venues aren’t very nice then you don’t feel connected to the building, so going on stage is not as good as it looks in those cases. There are some places where you just hate playing because you just don’t like the building, I know it sounds stupid but it just has to feel right. You have to sit there and try to be relaxed, you’re anxious, nervous, scared, all these things you’re sharing with it, so if you don’t like the building, then it’s no good really.

Q: Are there any modern acts that you think are doing good things right now?

A: There’s nothing in indie, forget it! It’s so horrible and tired. Guitar led music is mainly done by white young lads, like I don’t wanna piss people off but that’s just how I feel about it. I veer more towards hip-hop, grime, R&B. Just forget indie music right now, I can’t see it. It’s really in a dire state and I do think a lot of people agree.

Q: What needs to happen for indie to be revived?

A: Tastemakers shouldn’t be tastemakers. Record labels just need to rethink the whole thing, cliche products are being pushed most of the time, mainly because they sell. If you get two-thousand pissed twenty-eight years old, they aren’t going to give a fuck about integrity, they just want to have a good time. That said, I don’t want to patronise people, but there are so many radio DJs that are just saying shit to enable themselves, it feels like self interest to me. It makes me angry, it really does! There are a lot of people out there who aren’t getting heard that are a lot fucking better. Maybe I’m just a mardy twat, who has a real singular vision, but if you think to yourself, ‘This is shit’, it’s because it probably is.

Words by Eleanor Philpott | Illustration by Jonathan Vermersch