The Slip

There is an incredible amount of talent shoe-horned into this dynamic trio. Consisting of two brothers, Brad (guitar) and Andrew Barr (drums) and their childhood friend and bassist Marc Friedman (sometimes whimsically referred to as the "freed man behind bars") these three have played together since such their ages were in single digits. Because of their history together, the musicians' individual virtuosities seem to blend effortlessly. This allows them to embark on spectacular instrumental excursions which are a big part of the allure of this indefinable band.

While The Slip has been known for lush, melodic improvisations that are rooted in Jazz, fueled by world music, and injected with the occasional bizarre sound effect - recently the band has fashioned a more straightforward approach. As evidenced on their MySpace page, the band is, at least with their forthcoming studio effort, going for a more lyrically-driven, instrumentally concise sound. This has put the band at a crossroads and is a prime topic among their most fervent fans. While they have taken some of the most compositionally well crafted material of their career into the studio and need only to master the disc in order to have their first studio album in over three years - they still are not sure how to release the record.

"We've had really good feedback about the recorded material." Brad Barr says, "Some people stepped up to bat for it. It's a process. Every day we are flip-flopping between this and that. You can't help but think about doing it yourself these days. Do we have what it takes? Can we do it?"

The band is widely heralded for doing things its own way, but they are swelling with pride about this release, and eager to share it with the world. Songs like "Even Rats" and "Children of December" blend the band's sense of melody with edgy guitar tones and driving rhythms. They could fare well in some radio formats. "I feel like there are ways that the band could bring itself to the attention of DJs," says Brad, the elder of the Barr's, "I honestly don't know how it is working these days. I don't know that if a DJ hears 'Children Of December' and really loves it if (s)he can just play it, or even try to break it as a single, or if that has to come down from some higher source. Do these DJs have a list of 100 songs or so that they have to play because of some kind of affiliation with labels and advertisers?

Hopefully, as terrestrial radio becomes more antiquated, so too will this be the way music is chosen for airplay. Satellite radio DJs are considerably more likely to have the freedom to play what they want, not what an advertising behemoth dictates. "I would say that some of these songs could work as radio songs. It wasn't what we had in mind when we were writing them, but now that the tracks are finished in the studio and I hear them I think they really could work on radio. I would LOVE to turn on the radio and hear 'Even Rats.'

[Editor's Note - The Slip's single "Even Rats" has been released on iTunes, Real and Rhapsody & is starting to get airplay on stations in a few of the towns on their current tour.]

Certainly radio listeners would enjoy "Even Rats," which has a melodic swagger to it, a soaring wordless-vocal driven postlude, and lyrics like "Maybe the men up on Capitol Hill need a little less Jack, and a little more Jill." "December" is an anthem to those twisted souls that were born in this holiday-dominated month, and its lilting bridge splits up the punchy verse section. The tight, percussive guitar lines allow the younger Barr to offer sly drum embellishments. These initial clips indicate that Barr is in the best vocal form of his career, and his pipes fit "December" particularly well. The band also has reworked a few of their recent concert favorites giving a complete overhaul to the ambitious, "The Soft Machine." Their fans have been somewhat polarized by the new sound of the band, with some resisting, and others hotly anticipating the disc's release and its impact on the future of the band. There are also reports that more than a couple of record labels are considering adding The Slip to their lineup.

"Just knowing that people in the music industry are talking about it, and think that it's a good record and have hopes for it is encouraging. It's tough for people to take a risk these days."

However, the band's live shows have been based heavily on risk-taking over the years. Their live shows still feature ambitious instrumental excursions (although perhaps currently not as many as in the past) all with an undercurrent of judiciousness - the band is very adept at using space. Their willingness to take giant leaps into the musical unknown have paid huge musical dividends over the years, and garnered them a loyal following. Slip performances are widely traded via Internet downloads - and then dissected by their ever-watchful fan base.

Recently, the band demonstrated their versatility with back to back performances in Brookline, Massachusetts and New York City. They took the stage at Brookline's Matt Murphy's without a set list, and proceeded to take the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd on a series of musical journeys that included stops at rare Slip songs from days of yore like "Autobody Experience" and "Trane-ing." "It was an abstract three hour freak-out," says Barr, "it felt like the old days when we used to go up there without any material. I mean, we played some songs, and got down to that, but there was a lot of stretching out and messing with noises."

The following night was a "showcase" of sorts, as they chose to strut much of their new material - and they focused on the strength of the songs themselves rather than their improvisational acumen. "Naturally New York was sort of 'straight.'" Barr explains, "We just played some of our better songs. It was an early show, but we still had a good contingent and I think it is the best show we've played in New York in a long while."

Although, he was going off memory as the band no longer scrutinizes its performances to the extent it did in the past. "I wouldn't say we go back and listen to our shows with any kind of a format or regularity. We've stopped recording our own shows. If we do end up listening to it, it is by virtue of some friend or fan or taper. Next thing you know, one of us has a copy and we throw it in and we all go, 'ewwww.' It's always nice when we hear something that comes through and sounds great. While it is always helpful - it can be either helpful and make you feel good, or helpful and it make you feel like shit."

Some fans of The Slip point to the limited number of shows the band did in 2005 when calling it an "off year" - however they quietly remained busy. They finished writing and recording the as yet untitled Slip record, The Barr's co-produced Leslie "Serpentfly" Helpert's forthcoming Righteous Babe release, they completed a record from the side project on which they are fronted by Nathan Moore, Surprise Me Mr. Davis (while some of it is currently available on an EP, the band hopes to release it on vinyl with music completely untainted by digitalization) and Brad completed his own debut release - which will be a solo instrumental work. All of these projects will see the light of day by the end of the year if plans go accordingly.

However, to the delight of their fans, the band is back on tour and it is no surprise that Chicago is part of the initial venture. "Chicago is like a huge mish mash of all these different clubs, we've played a different one almost every time we've been there. My memories of Chicago are mostly of driving around completely lost, looking at the trains, and even riding the trains there. It is one of our favorite cities to play, it has always been a great town to us. The fans have always been strong. We met Fareed Haque there, he's a tornado - it was awesome to get to meet him and hang out. We also met one of our best supporters, Ted Kartzmen, one of the great angels to have come down and help The Slip out. He's such a good guy. We met him at our first gig in Chicago, at Schubas in 1997 or so. We've been fortunate in Chicago. It is one of the most historically awesome music towns and I think people who live there know that and have taken a lot of pride in that, or at least they should."

Musically astute young Chicagoans also take pride in one of the city's latest musical pearls, Umphrey's McGee - who will be playing an early show the same night at Chicago Theater (the timing will allow dutiful audiophiles to catch both). Barr's voice gets spirited when asked about the ever-growing UM.

"My opinion about those guys is that they are fucking great guys and tremendous musicians. I've hung out with them a few times and seen them play. It's wonderful to see such an honest group of guys have such success. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to see them play since High Sierra a couple of years ago. Jake is just an incredible guitar player, just shocking. I'm scared when I'm in the same room with [him and] a guitar."

-interviewed by Rob Turner-