Philly alt rock mainstays Grayscale just toured their way around Australia for the very first time with Slowly Slowly and Honey Revenge (USA), ticking off a couple of intimate headline shows along the way. To celebrate the newfound friendship, Grayscale invited Slowly Slowly’s Ben Stewart to feature on ‘Kept Me Alive’, which landed everywhere last week.
‘Kept Me Alive’ is originally on Grayscale’s January album The Hart, which has collected a couple of million digital streams. The album has quickly made its way into the hearts of the band’s fiercely loyal global fanbase. ‘Kept Me Alive’ appears on the original track listing, and now welcomes Stewart to the fold. “We are all huge fans of Grayscale at Slowly HQ,” says Ben. “When they hit me up with the concept of a feature, I was immediately drawn to ‘Kept Me Alive’. It’s a timeless sentiment that has plenty of parallels to our new record. Everything came together really easily and the song rips.”
Music Feeds caught up with Grayscale vocalist Collin and Slowly Slowly vocalist Ben to chat about their tour across the nation, and their latest creation.
Grayscale – ‘Kept Me Alive’
MUSIC FEEDS: ‘Kept Me Alive’ has been given fresh new life with the addition of Ben on the track. Tell us about how this collaboration started and why ‘Kept Me Alive’ in particular was chosen?
SLOWLY SLOWLY: Col hit me up about featuring on one of the new Grayscale songs, I was already across the record and ‘Kept Me Alive’ felt like a no brainer. It’s a timeless sentiment, but stamped with a lot of Col’s personality and I’m so stoked I get to be a part of this reiteration.
GREYSCALE: I reached out to Ben after SS started rolling out their newest record. The song ‘Forgiving Spree’ had been a song I was listening to constantly and really became a massive fan of the band.
MF: Was the process of creating this new version of ‘Kept Me Alive’ done remotely or together in a room? How did you choose to divide up the vocal duties?
SS: I wanted to leave it up to the GS boys to decide where they wanted my voice, so I ended up singing the whole song. It was actually a really cool way of doing it, as I really feel like I got to get under the hood of the song and understand it, learning it in its entirety as opposed to just throwing a verse on there.
GR: We did it remotely, I believe SS were on tour in Europe – Ben sang the whole song and we divided the lines up according to which felt best emotionally going back and forth. Our voices are similar in some ways, which I think is part of why the quick back and forth came out as smooth as it did.
MF: Can you remember the first time you both came across each other’s band and do you remember which song you heard that reeled you in?
SS: I remember ‘Let It Rain’ playing in my friend’s car a while back and I was like “who is this?!”. I love bands who reinvent themselves and chase new sounds so I’ve really enjoyed watching their journey.
GR: I was a little late to the game – this recent record of theirs was the first time I had actively listened top to bottom on a record. I am in the midst of going back through their earlier ones now, Slowly Slowly have been a new obsession of mine for sure. Such a good band, it’s been so sick watching them rip every night.
MF: The sentiment of ‘Kept Me Alive’ is so universal for many people, what is it for you both that keeps you going?
SS: For me, it’s my family and the fans. There’s a push and pull there, and getting the balance right is so hard, but so rewarding.
GR: Family, friends, quiet time at home. I love driving in silence through the countryside outside of Philly.
MF: Slowly’s Forgiving Spree tour with Grayscale & Honey Revenge just finished, how were the shows? Is this the first time you two have toured together?
SS: We had a ball, there was some brutal tour routing for the first half, but as we entered the east coast shows for the second week we were so pumped.
GR: First time, and I have a feeling it won’t be the last. Been so incredible!
MF: Grayscale, being that this is your first time in Australia, have you been introduced to any cultural food delicacies or verbal phrases yet? What’s your first impression of Australia?
GR: Haha nothing crazy food wise – although, I will say that it’s some of the best coffee I have ever had in my life. It’s a beautiful country – I love how much everyone loves being outside.
MF: Finally, the collaboration on ‘Kept Me Alive’ is so seamless, it sounds like the track could have come from either band quite naturally, so for fun – if you could pick any song from each other’s catalogue to cover or remix, which track would you choose?
SS: I really love the song ‘Mum II’ and would have chosen that to feature on if it wasn’t so personal and fragile – I feel like that one isn’t a story to be shared, but to cover it may be a different story. Ripping track.
GR: The song ‘Forgiving Spree’ is unreal. I would love so much to do a full Grayscale version.
Further Reading
Slowly Slowly Return With Anthemic New Single ‘Gimme The Wrench’
