Melbourne based trio Slightly Left of Centre is a studio-centric, 80s and 90s influenced pop, rock outfit who love to take their meticulously constructed but contagious beats to the stage. Guitarist Michael Pace and singer Adam Spicer chat to Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips about their career so far.
Slightly Left of Centre is an apt name for a three piece, Melbourne-based pop, rock band who are doing things in their own unique way. There’s something unconventional about the way they go about building their music brand, yet at the same time it all makes sense. The band spent $25,000 on production costs for their debut album The Right Direction. They than decided to give the album away for free. The upside of that decision is that they now have an extraordinary large fanbase to market to. Last count it was 147,000 Twitter followers and nearly 22,000k on Facebook. Leading up to the release of their next album (Euphoria), that kind of popularity is going to come in handy.
SLC rose out of the ashes of a metal band with guitarist Michael Pace and drummer Vince Ianotti sticking together but pursuing a, 80s/90s pop direction instead. Christian, the vocalist at the time of producing The Right Direction has since moved on and been replaced by Adam Spicer, a former hard rock and metal producer/engineer who was also looking to sidestep into the pop-rock world but this time as a performer.
“I spent a few years as a full time engineer and producer at Melbourne Records working with a lot of hard core metal bands, punk, emo … anything with loud guitars,” explains Adam. “Seeing bands coming in and out of the studio and releasing their own CDs, using us a stepping stone to get to those higher places, really made me aspire to do that too. Since playing with SLC, it’s just awesome being on stage again.”
Among the list of musical influences the band state on their Facebook page are Karnivool, Duran Duran and Stevie Wonder, all mentioned in the same breath. People have told the guys their latest single ‘Call Me For The Weekend’ sounds part Maroon Five, part Daft Punk. So with so many disparate influences, I wondered if it was a difficult task to fuse those influences into one cohesive SLC vision?
“Absolutely not,” states Adam clearly. “You can turn Gregorian chants into jazz fusion. You can do whatever you want. That’s the whole thing with music. People are doing a lot of different things these days.” Michael Pace agrees. “We just appreciate all kinds of music,” he adds. “I am a pop pig. I do love the 80s. Growing up I listened to Duran Duran and Pseudo Echo. As you grow older you appreciate a lot more things. One of my favourite bands is a death metal band called Death.”
One of the band’s strengths and also the factor which allows them to cut and paste so many different genres into their sound is their studio nouse. Michael, Adam and Vince all have extensive studio production experience and most of it is self-taught. “I got a 4 track when I was really young and I made MIDI files when I was 11,” explains Adam of his starting point.
Michael tells a similar tale. “I’m pretty much self-taught,” he says. “I went to uni and studied IT engineering, so I am pretty good with computers and working with audio stuff. Music has always been in my blood. My mum was a singer, my grandfather was a singer and just working with people like Michael Zammit and the experience of working in professional studios has given me the courage to go out and buy the equipment myself. Same with Vince, he is self taught and has his own studio.”
Between the three of them, there’s quite a collection of gear, particularly in Michael’s arsenal. “I have a lot of gear from my grandfather,” he says. “I have an original 1965 Echolette tape machine. I have Yamaha NS10 speakers in the studio which are awesome. At the moment I am using a lot of stuff from Waves and Universal Audio. I like the fact that the digital converters have that analogue feel.”
While the SLC guys are capable of producing their music in their own studio, they are also looking forward to taking advantage of a $10,000 studio package they won in Black Pearl Studio’s ‘Search For a Pearl’ competition. “We have some good plans for that recording time,” suggests Adam. “Seeing how we are going to be doing a lot of pre- production ourselves, the intention is to record a bunch of live drums at Black Pearl. There are so many drums to choose from, something like 500 kits. There are walls and cupboards full of snares, any snare you want! I asked about piccolo snares and I was there for an hour looking and talking about piccolo snares. Vince, our drummer will know what he will play, it will just be what sounds he chooses.”
Despite the SLC guys being so meticulous in the studio, it’s in performance where the band really shine. It’s the combination of the hours of hard work in the studio and the live band vibe which makes their shows so popular with their fans. Singer Adam Spicer is responsible for a large portion of the band’s energy and is also adamant that their show must look and sound real. “I love seeing and hearing good keys and piano on stage,” he says. “I am playing a Yamaha Motif XS8 which is really heavy to lug around but it’s beautiful and I can’t argue with what it does. It has taken me a long way. It’s good to play live keys on stage.”
The band hope to have all of the recording done for their next album, Euphoria by November and the plan is to release it by the end of the year. They tell me it will be more funk and pop orientated than The Right Direction. One thing is for certain, the Slightly Left of Centre audience experience will continue to be fun. “I think that is an important ingredient to life,” says Adam. “Have a good time, spread the love. Life is like a big tub of margarine. Sometimes you like to spread a little goodness but leave a few breadcrumbs laying around. We want people to enjoy our music. I can’t wait for people to hear what we have been working on.”