Interview with Dave Macleod, guitarist with Big Slice

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today? 

Some of the worst sins against music got me into music, including a single by The Smurfs, BA Robertsons World Cup song for Scotland "We Have A Dream" and Paul McCartney's monumentally terrible (but quite catchy) single Pipes of Peace. I would hope that I've made contributions to music that are better than any of these but who knows you be the judge of that. If I'd not got into music I would probably be some awful merchant banker hiring and firing people, but who lives in a skip. 

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

I spend way too much time on Twitter, venting at the world and arguing with people who really need to be argued with. I am sure on my deathbed I will think "if only I'd spent more time on Twitter". It probably drains any last vestiges of creativity from my soul and splats them onto the black hole of the internet where it belongs.

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

At the moment London but growing up in Crowborough a town in the Home Counties during endless years of Tory rule was a great backdrop to kick against. The weekly drops of NME and Melody Maker were like emissaries from another planet where all the cool people lived and created fantastic art. Getting a ticket to that world was a real matter of necessity and music was the vehicle in which to escape there. 

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

I think The Smurfs, BA Robertson and Paul McCartney would in some ways help me come to terms with my past. 

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

It would probably be to not sack that unfunny bloke who is the manager of your first band because he will end up creating The Office and become a comedy megastar which will then become the bane of you life. That and choose another name for your band which isn't slightly ridiculous. 

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

It's probably For A Little While mostly for the lyrics which are quite poetic and manage to be both banal and quite profound at the same time. Which was a happy accident. It captures those moments when everything is weighing very heavily on your shoulders and you lose all sense of your self but also the possibility that that can be a fleeting feeling and will pass. Plus there are loud bits and then quiet bits in the song, which fits with that duality. Can I say duality? Yes I just have. I won't say it again, I've made the whole thing sound awful now. 

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

I would love to say there are subliminal messages to eat more cheese or worship the great Satan but unfortunately the lyrics are all quite heartfelt. There are some cryptic lyrics like "we both know that we both know" which in the wrong hands could be open to all kinds of misinterpretation. We did have a Moog keyboard on our early recordings which sounded like either a distant alien ship crash landing or a broken hoover, and so if there are any subliminal messages they are probably in there.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

We are doing an album launch party at the Betsey Trotwood on 2 December so do please come along. It will be ace. If you are reading this article in the future, just like to say sorry about all the mess.

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