All image credit: Kent Corley
Lately, I’ve built up a habit of going to my nearest pub for midweek Liverpool games and a little remote work. It’s a weird venue to zone out on local music, yet it’s also surprisingly effective. Case in point: it’s where I was when I first found and reached out to Slow Teeth.
Despite releasing just one song at the time of writing, the trio has built a loyal following for their cinematic blend of post-rock, shoegaze, and folk. They’ve played around North Carolina and done a few short tours up and down the East Coast. But nothing has been bigger than their upcoming show with Explosions in the Sky.
It’s exciting to see a local band get prime placement with a storied touring act. I had many questions to ask the guys in Slow Teeth, so I did my usual outreach routine and settled on a time and place. We grabbed fantastic food and drinks at The Northside District in Chapel Hill. Our chat sold me even more about their musical experience and knowledge and how great they are as people. Even despite some brief food-related mix-ups (you’ll know it when you read it).
Let’s kick off with who you are, what you do in the band, and what you’ve been listening to lately.
Rob: My name’s Robert Chamberlain and I play drums, synthesizer, and do very little singing in Slow Teeth. And on the way over here, I was listening to Broadcast. I’ve been on an ambient music kick lately. There’s also this Timber Timbre side project called Last Ex that I learned about the other day. They were hired to do a horror soundtrack and a bunch of stuff didn’t get used, so they made it into an album.
Jeremy: I’m Jeremy Haire and I play guitar. I don’t listen to music outside of work [at Cat’s Cradle] because I’m inundated with it so much. It’s pretty much whoever’s on stage that I’m mixing or recordings that I’m working on.
Justin: I’m Justin Ellis and I play bass, keyboards, and sing. Right now I’m on a huge Beck rabbit hole and just having a moment with “Paper Tiger” and that record Sea Change especially.
What was the first musician that you remember obsessing over and feeling a sense of ownership?
Justin: For me, my big “his rules, I want to do this” was getting obsessed with The Beatles in eighth grade. Paul McCartney is still my hero. He’s why I do a lot of things I do. My parents had a The Beatles Greatest Hits CD, but they weren’t huge fans or anything. If they didn’t have that CD, I don’t know if I would have gotten into it.
Jeremy: I was raised in a very musical, religious family. Like “singing in a huge 10,000-person choir in arenas at like 2 years old” shit. That’s been like just a thing for my entire life.
The first artist that I felt I connected with on a personal level was probably Oasis. They were also one of the reasons I started playing guitar. One of the things that me and Justin have bonded over is our love of 90s British rock music. That was like a revival that spoke to my musical sensibilities. It’s like this kind of game of catch from America and Britain to do something, pitch it back across the pond, and so on. It’s where a lot of my musical proclivities as far as what we do kind of lands.
Rob: For the record, it wasn’t Oasis for me. [laughs] I was big on grunge and 80s thrash metal. I had a huge Metallica phase from middle school on through high school. I wanted anything as fast and as loud as humanly possible. I did also have what is now considered doom, Black Sabbath kind of stuff in there. But on the five disc changer, usually it was some mix of Metallica or Pantera. Just fast, fast, fast.
In what ways do you think your musical tastes have evolved from those early days?
Rob: I had strong opinions about music when I was a kid and I was learning how to play drums. But then every few years, I just do 180 degrees. Like once I got to college, I started listening to singer-songwriter stuff. I started playing guitar. Then I got into different, for lack of a better word, “world music” influences. I worked at a place in New York called the World Music Institute and was inundated with all this new music from all over the world. And then during the pandemic I got into heavy synthesizer, ambient and drone music.
Justin: I think it’s probably a pretty universal experience for a lot of us that when you start listening to music, you have very firm opinions early on. I distinctly remember having an opinion like when I discovered The Beatles that was “this clearly is the pinnacle of music, there can’t be anything better, and nothing’s been better since.” I was listening to a lot of that and The Who, especially during their peak live era, which inspired me. The Beatles made me want to play music, but The Who made me want to be a bass player.
When I got to high school, I just met a bunch of people who loved those bands and a bajillion others. And they kept being like, “Oh my God, you like this? You’ve gotta check out this!” That was fun because much of the music I listen to that impacts me today has been recommended to me or was discovered by seeing a band open for a band I already knew. So there’s a lot of weird blind spots in my music background. I teach kids music for a living and some will want to learn like a Grateful Dead or a Tool song, stuff that I just missed entirely growing up but then get to re-experience in a way.
A pivotal watershed moment for me was getting into like Radiohead and a ton of bands that kind of sound like them. They have the ability to have a pop song with so much interesting texture. Sigur Rós is another huge opening for me in terms of “this is a band that’s three or four dudes, but there’s no words, or the language is made up when there are words, and you still feel what it means.”
Jeremy: Out of high school, I went to school for classical music, guitar performance, and then jazz and then audio engineering. That opened up the world a little bit more to any and every style of music. When I was studying classical music, I got into the more minimalist composers and stuff like that. And that transitioned into the audio engineering world just as fluently as everything else. Just being able to appreciate music of all stripes and colors.
That leads into what I do now, which is Head Engineer and Technical Director at Cat’s Cradle. I have to field at least 5-6 different genres of music a week. It doesn’t matter how little I think of a band’s music, for my taste, there’s always something that I can enjoy and take away.
When did you come together to form the band?
Justin: We got together in June 2021 as a COVID bubble band thing. And one thing that’s cool about our group is that it’s the first time I’ve ever been in a band where everybody in it just does music and music-adjacent things full-time. We’ve all been doing this a while.
I met Robert because his old band and my solo project randomly played a show together at Local 506 in 2017. It was one of those things where I enjoyed Robert’s vibe and playing, but I was busy touring with a band at the time. And I was like, “If I ever need a cool drummer or something different, I know who I want.”
Then I met Jeremy at the Cradle because he was mixing sound for one of my old band’s last shows. After we were done playing, he was like, “You like Sigur Rós?” “Yeah.” “You like Lord of the Rings?” “Yeah.” And then we just started hanging out. At some point, he sent me a demo and I was like, “We should jam on this. And I think I know someone who would totally do it.” So I texted Robert, he said yes, and we’ve been playing and recording ever since.
How did you make the transition to start playing live?
Justin: We didn’t play live until spring of 2022 because of COVID. And then we played quite a bit in 2022 and 2023. We did 2 week-long east coast tours. I’ve booked tours for every band I’ve ever been in, so I have a pretty substantial network, which has been very useful for us. We’ve been a band for almost four years now and, as of right now, we only have one song out. But we still have been able to skip a lot of the stuff that most new bands have to do. We already know all the venues in town, we’re friends with a bunch of bands and nice people, we’re nice people.
Jeremy works at the Cradle; Rob works at Twin House Music, so everybody who plays guitar sees Rob and talks to him about our band at some point or another; and I teach at the School of Rock and a bunch of the kids come to see us play all the time. We’re involved in our community, both as people and in our professions. And people come to the shows because of that. It’s made the growth of the band organic, but also much easier than most people, I would say. Yeah, I think it’s certainly expedited things.
How has your approach to songwriting as a band developed over time?
Rob: I think we’re figuring that out right now. The first batch of songs came about pretty organically and we’ve evolved from there. The last song we’ve written, Jeremy came up with some loops on his own. I added in some drums to that, and then Justin wrote the lyrics in like a day or two. That was a new process.
Justin: When we started out, we just jammed or improvised, and recorded everything. And then we’d go back and listen, and we’d stitch the songs together. Some of our earlier songs, like two of which on the EP [I] we’re putting out soon, are like seven minutes long, because that’s where they come from.
We all write full songs of our own that could ostensibly be solo project things, or bring it in and be like, “I think this could be cool for us,” and we knock it around and try it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s on the back burner for another time. There was one day where Rob was out of town or something, so Jeremy and I hung out at my house for like three hours, and we wrote two songs that we play at almost every show in those three hours.
We often talk about the fact that it’s very fun to be in a band this collaborative when there’s also no ego whatsoever. Everything we do is usually unanimous. If it’s not, there’s a good reason why it’s not and we discuss it amongst ourselves. And it comes across to how we write the songs, too. Even though it might be Jeremy’s guitar part and my lyrics or whatever, it’s still just our song, which I like.
Rob: Someone the other day who was commenting on how, outside of the music part, we also have the extra parts of being in a band covered organically. Justin is a superstar manager. Jeremy is tracking and mixing our record right now. I’m doing the visual elements. No one had to be asked to take it on, but if they’re not there, a band can flounder.
Jeremy: The idea when we first got together is we’ve all been professional side guys through our entire music careers for the most part. We know how to do that support role well. And with no gods or no masters, it’s completely egalitarian. That’s why we haven’t added a fourth member for the most part. Because three is the optimal molecule of the universe, as far as deciding things. You don’t have to have a split house and it helps ease everything out.
I’ve experienced band settings where there’s no accountability if someone shows up late or goes AWOL. Nobody knows what’s going on, all these things stack up, and you end up feeling all by yourself.
Justin: 2023 and 2024 had a lot of challenges for all three of us personally. It’s important for us to have every Monday to hang out. Sometimes it’s productive, sometimes we’re just talking about our feelings or listening to music or partying or whatever. We are fortunate to live lifestyles that allow us to make this band a priority. We just see each other all the time and that’s special to me.
In January 2024, we decided to buckle down and actually record some stuff because people keep asking for it. We only played out like four times, it was kind of nice. But this year we have a bunch of shows planned so it’ll be fun to get back to doing that.
Jeremy: I live in an old farmhouse-turned-studio called Blue Clay Studios and we converted the upstairs great room into a studio. We’ve just been simultaneously working out that process over the past year while working on the EP and honing the finer details of things. It’s nice to have my own space there that we can just share, do whatever with, and then be able to step outside into a different environment and work on mixes in a different light.
It’s taken much longer than I wanted to, but long enough to get what I think is a pretty solid process. Going forward, we can record stuff then work on it and mix it immediately instead of having to worry about how the room sounds, whether you want to mic it from this angle or that.
How do you prepare for a show like opening for Explosions in the Sky after taking time away from performing live?
Jeremy: We’re trying to tighten up some of the smaller minutia, but one of the other great things about playing in this band is I never have to worry about anyone playing their parts correctly or fucking up. Or, if something does happen, not knowing how to continue forward. We’ve all been professional side guys for our entire musical career for the most part. But when you start picking up bigger shows like that — are there grapes in this fucking meatball?
Rob: Future Jackson, please include that. [laughs]
Jeremy: Anyway — we’re working on tightening up some dynamic stuff. Running some vocal harmony stuff to make sure those harmonies are tight and everything’s in line as it should be.
Going to a conservatory for classical music is very strict. You learn a lot. There’s a bunch of ancient knowledge involved in that. But there’s also the lesser parts where, metaphorically, they beat the stage fright out of you. And we’ve all been through the ringer as far as being in front of professional or storied musicians.
Being in front of a bunch of people that like the same music that we do is more of a joy thing. There’s no doubt in my mind what we’re going to do. It might not have blown the socks off some folks, but nobody’s going to be like, “What the fuck is going on right now?”
Justin: It’s funny because when we started out and were playing smaller venues like The Cave or Local 506 or whatever, people would be like, “What are you guys doing playing here? You should be playing in stadiums and ballrooms and stuff.” And that would be cool! But this is probably the biggest show I’ve ever played. The fact that we got the opportunity is something we’ve been preparing intrinsically due to the nature of our music for a while.
The main thing to prepare for is the fact that with just three of us, it’s a lot of sound. There are synth patches, keyboard presets, and pedals EQ’d just right so it doesn’t sound crazy in the room. We’re going to have a nice long sound check and take care of that. I think we’re just all stoked more than anything for that show in particular.
Is that a simple story of having that network where someone just gives you a call and says, “Hey, you want to play this show?” Or is it like, “Oh wow, look at how stars align?”
Justin: It’s both. It’s all sorts of things. We’ve opened for A Place to Bury Strangers, Xiu Xiu, and other pretty big bands like Holy Fawn as well. Again, we only have one song out. A lot of it is us knowing people but also people trusting in the band due to the organic grassroots nature of the quality of the live show and telling people about it.
Two summers ago, we covered Dark Side of the Moon front to back in the Cradle’s Main Room for the 50th anniversary. It’s one of mine and Jeremy’s absolute favorite albums, which we made Rob play and got a sax player.
Rob: To be fair, I had a moment with that record. Not as big of a moment. They did make me do it though.
Jeremy: See how easy it works with three people? [laughs] And, just as a little teaser: 2025, for all its many issues, is the 50th anniversary of Wish You Were Here. Strong possibility that we’re going to be covering that towards the end of the year as well.
It’s a fun thing to not only explore your roots and revisit the songs. I learned all this shit when I was 16 when I first started playing guitar. Just coming back, not even having to study at all because it’s so ingrained in my brain. I could just pick up a guitar and be like, “Oh, that’s exactly what he was doing right there.” It’s a nice nostalgic cycle that also allows us to focus on something that is another group of artists’ work and incorporate it with our own little sauce.
It also brings out a different crowd. I understand not everybody is going to want to go see some indie rock band they’ve never heard of or seen it just like an ad on a Facebook or whatever. But if you dangle the carrot a little bit. give them something they’ll like. and they’ll say, “Oh shit, this is actually kind of fun.”
Justin: A big thing that is fun for us is doing pop-up events or community events. Things that most bands just don’t do. So many people come out to those events who don’t know who Slow Teeth is.
We’ve done a couple of live film scores, for example. That’s fun for us because we get to create something and we rehearse it insofar that we project the film in our rehearsal space and figure out what’s the direction we’re going to be in. But it’s never the same thing and it never happens again. There’s something cool about putting on a show where we’re like, “Hey, we’re going to do this thing. We have no idea what it’s going to be. You just got to be there to check it out.” And it’s nice to get lost in the sauce, explore together, and then be like, “Okay, let’s do the stuff we’ve written.”
Jeremy: Inevitably it ends up informing some of our decisions or how we dynamically work together on our own stuff by going in different musical directions, be it a cover thing or not a completely improvised film score. It flexes different parts of your creativity and imagination as it were.
Rob: We recorded the last thing we did on Halloween. It was a live film score for The Fall of the House of Usher. Yeah, it was like psychedelic, dark, ambient, free jazz doom. I’m just like, “I’m in heaven.” It’s like the coolest shit that ordinarily we would have maybe like little elements of that in some songs. It never feels totally out of our wheelhouse, but if you’re coming to one of our shows, you would not expect us to be doing that kind of stuff.
Do each of you have a different favorite song to play live? Is there maybe a two-to-one dynamic there?
Jeremy: For me, being the one editing and mixing and all that stuff, I’ve listened to them so many fucking times. It’s basically just a series of events that happen. But as far as favorite live stuff, I can’t say that I can pick one either. I have some composed parts for a lot of the songs, but there is a fair amount of improvisation that goes into my guitar playing just throughout the set. I’d say probably at least 30-40% of it is made up because it’s going to be unique each and every time.
Another reason why I appreciate playing with these guys is I don’t have to worry about them fucking up, which means I can fuck up. I can do whatever I want and push my own boundaries into different areas. Most of the time it lands because I have two people that know what they’re doing around me, so we can all make it work together in a live setting.
Justin: I do a lot of multitasking in this band, so my parts generally have to be what they are for it to work. That lets Jeremy and Robert experiment with it more, which is fun for me because I know what the song is and then there’s something new every time we play it.
We have a song on the EP called “Sundials” that’s probably the first song we wrote. It’s still my favorite one to play. It has a mood and a vibe, and even some older punk sound guy curmudgeons who we’re friends with are like, “I fucking love that bass line, dude.” I don’t do it for the praise, but people who typically wouldn’t like our music love one of our songs, it’s a great feeling.
But in all of our songs, we don’t pause between them when we play live, so I just think of every set as one continuous thing.
Rob: I like “Holy Death” because when we play live, it’s like the only front-to-back instrumental song that we play. It’s just a slow burn, and I love that building, slow, post-rock kind of thing. But then that segues into “Peace on Earth”, where it’s this three-part harmony, hymn-like thing. And all of that is kind of tied together with these droning sort of ambient sounds. In “Sundials” I get to play the synth part of the drum kit.
The songs that are on this EP, I think we’ve probably played the longest. And I think they are my favorite of that batch of songs. It’s hard to pick favorites, too, because stuff changes so much. I also feel fortunate in this group that I get to improv a little bit more than I think most rock drummers would be allowed to. It just changes over time.
Justin: We’ve recorded this EP with two or three different producers or engineers that just never clicked. But the fact that I’m still not sick of any of these songs, despite playing them every single show for almost four years, makes me feel good about them.
Jeremy: There’s no grapes in the meatball, is what we’re saying. [laughs]
Well to wrap up, who are some of your favorite local or North Carolina-specific bands?
Justin: We have a lot of friends, but also bands who we just love. I like Verity Den. I love Sluice a whole bunch. Analog Mountains has played with us a couple of times, and we like those guys. Winfield is great. Raphael Green is a very deep homie of all three of us, and I play bass with him sometimes too.
Rob: Scrape. I hadn’t heard of that band until last year, and holy shit. We played Carrboro Music Fest with them and that was incredible.
Justin: Setting, too.
Rob: Oh yeah, we love Setting. Just got to meet Joe [Westerlund] the other day at the shop. He’s kind of been friends of friends, but he came in and was just geeking out over Setting and some other things I’ve seen him in. I’ve been able to see GEEKED a few times and they’re a fucking good punk band. They’re like the best people also.
The scene around here is something else. I don’t know if I just started paying more attention, but good lord.
Jeremy: To echo all that, the broader North Carolina music scene is also amazing. Last night, I was running sound for Wish Queen, Lucaa, Rafael Green, and Cor de Lux, who are all awesome musicians. MJ Lenderman was popping off out of Asheville before moving to Chapel Hill. Stu McLamb’s new thing, Fancy Gap, is like a Father John Misty, Americana stuff than he’s written in the past. The whole scene is just vibrant.
Rob: Don’t forget DUNUMS!
Justin: No One Mind is another one.
Jeremy: Also MEGABITCH, Delver, and SNIDE. There’s heavier bands. There’s everything from almost bluegrass, like Joseph DeCosimo.
Rob: I feel like a lot of people show up to the same shows. The past year, I went out way more than I ever have to see local music just to get out of the house more. And whether or not it’s like a bluegrass thing, a punk thing, rock, whatever; it’s a lot of the same folks going to the same stuff and playing in multiple bands. We’re so fortunate to have this kind of music scene.
Jeremy: Obviously everyone would want to get more financially compensated than our capitalist overlords would allow us to. But there’s just a strong sense of community in the area that we’re going to go out and support each other and our venues as much as we can.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Slow Teeth 2025 tour dates
03/23 Raleigh, NC – The Ritz w/ Explosions in the Sky
04/26 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
08/25 Denver, CO – Skylark Lounge
08/26 Salt Lake City, UT – The DLC
08/29 Vancouver, BC – Batch Kitsilano
09/01 Pacifica, CA – Winters Tavern
09/03 Los Angeles, CA – Genghis Cohen
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