Let us take you on a magical trip back to the 90s. MC Hammer pants were all the rage and Walkmen were the height of new technology. Keeping this in mind, over the past few months we've been getting in touch with bands around the country and asking them to create a metaphorical mixtape containing, you guessed it, eight tracks!
This time, it’s Tommy Gleeson’s turn to share his musical wisdom. Full of riffs and catchy songs, their 8track is exactly what you would expect from a hard-rock band like Slaves to Gravity!
Title: Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Artist: Stone Temple Pilots
Reason: This song has an amazing vibe to it. It’s urgent and angular and balances hope and desperation beautifully. I could pick any song from their back catalogue and be happy but this is probably my favourite.
Title: 16 Shells from a 30.6
Artist: Tom Waits
Reason: I’ve wanted to cover this song for a while now. Tom Waits at his grinding, aggressive best. He’s become one of my favourite lyricists and this song is like a master-class in that regard. There are some really weird, homemade instruments being played here, too.
Title: The Fixer
Artist: Pearl Jam
Reason: I know it’s a bit weird to pick such a new PJ song when there are so many classics, but I really love this song. Best thing they’ve written in years in my humble opinion. It has a killer riff and a beautiful sentiment to the lyrics. You don’t often hear this kind of positivity in rock music.
Title: Drug Lord
Artist: Helmet
Reason: This has got to be the heaviest, most bad-ass riff there is. It was our sound-check song for a while and one I always wished we’d written. Just when you thought all the cool drop-D riffs had been used up, Paige Hamilton goes and writes an even better one.
Title: Stand Inside Your Love
Artist: Smashing Pumpkins
Reason: It’s a very dark and brooding song that has this aching sense of longing to it. It’s a very emotive song with a great chorus that rounds on you and lifts you up to another place when it hits. Cool guitar tones, too.
Title: My Wave
Artist: Soundgarden
Reason: This combines all the things I love about Soundgarden. Weird time signatures, angular, gritty riffs mixed with cool psychedelic elements and a really simple but clever lyric. Betch’ya can’t hit those notes!
Title: I Wanna Be Sedated
Artist: The Ramones
Reason: From there more positive “I wanna….” years as opposed to the glue sniffing downers of the “I don’t wanna…” era. The Ramones just make me happy. They were totally authentic and irreplaceable and it’s a shame that most of the kids in Ramones shirts have absolutely no fucking idea who they were. This song is just another great Ramones moment to dance around the jukebox to.
Title: Lily Liver
Artist: Slaves to Gravity
Reason: OK I had to do it. I wasn’t going to but I did! This is a track from our new record due out early next year and currently my favourite. Big dirty riffs, huge choruses, vitriolic vocals and spaced out weirdness in one easily swallowed 5 and a half minute tune, making it the second longest song on the album. Coming to a record shop near you soon!
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