Xenya Genovese, better known as her stage name Freak Slug, caught up with LOUD WOMEN before her show at the Brudenell, Leeds.
From back-to-back tours to cinematic features, Freak Slug is only going from strength to strength in her career. She delves into what it was like growing up in Manchester’s vibrant music scene, and how the magic has been fading for new generations. Genovese’s way with words is not limited to her songwriting skills but extends to how she describes her experiences in the music scene as a woman.
I’d say you get this asked all the time, but where does your name come from?
Thank you very much. It just came from me not taking myself too seriously. I noticed a lot of the time that there were a lot of serious sounding names, and I didn’t particularly want to be that poetic or deep with the name. I wanted something stupid and eye catching.
I love that. And it works.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I know. To the detriment now. Now that I’ve grown older.
So tonight kicks off your UK tour, but you’ve kind of been bouncing all over recently, you’ve been over in the States as well. Are you exhausted?
Well, I’ve managed to recuperate the energy now, but yeah, no, it didn’t really take it out of me. I think I managed to eat really well on tour and not drink every night. I think a lot of it’s just looking after your body, and for me, it’s always good food, health and things like that. So it didn’t wipe me out as much as I thought it would, considering how jam-packed the tour was. But yeah, it was fine.
Were there any standout places for you when you were over there?
Let me think about that. Chicago was fun. San Francisco was a great show. It was great. Everyone, honestly, the fans in America were amazing. Truly. Each show was magical in its own way.
That’s such a beautiful way to put it. Do you find that there’s a bit of a difference between the fans in the US and here?
I think so. Yeah. I think definitely the American fans are definitely more intense. I had a lot of gifts made for me or bought for me, which I’ve not really had much of in England. So it could be a thing of openness in America for sure, and just more enthusiasm openly. It’s interesting, yeah.
Do you notice any difference in the reactions of the crowds? Not necessarily a negative difference, but just in how responsive they are?
I think American crowds are more responsive. I just think they’re louder and naturally by default in everything that they do. So naturally, it would bleed into the way that they are in the crowds. I think in England we are just known for being prudish and rigid, and it reflects in the crowd for sure. But I still think a good crowd, especially if people have bought tickets to see you, it’s not really going to go down that badly, is it? Do you know what I mean?
Do you think performing is a big part of who you are in your musical journey?
I think it’s come to be that way for sure. It’s never something I anticipated doing. I never really thought I’d be on the stage, to be honest. That wasn’t really what I envisaged with music, but it just sort of happened. I was happily just making music in my room, and that was that. But yeah, I guess you have to just grow into it, and I’m okay with that now and I enjoy it.
Do you remember your first show?
Yeah, I do. My first show was in London, actually, and we headlined because basically I didn’t really realise at the time how much freak slug was popping off. It was quite silly. But I was so unaware and naive to honestly the music industry and what success looks like and all this shit. So yeah, we headlined London and it went down really well, and it is been a really slow process with actually the live music itself. But we’ve got there and I’ve got the band now and it’s great. I was fucking nervous because I’d never really dont it before. It was fucking terrifying. It still is, but you get used to it. I mean, I’m not that nervous for tonight because we’ve only just come off the tour.
That’s awesome, I suppose it was a baptism of fire, nearly.
Yeah, it was a mad one, but yeah, now it’s bubbling on nicely, and I’m excited for the future of it, and where it’s going to go.
You were just saying that you were happy making music for yourself in your room. Did you grow up in a musical household?
No. Not Really. I was always the black sheep in. I really just grew up with my mom and my mom’s creative, but she was never able to explore it. She had to raise me, and she was young and all that stuff. I guess I’m just living out those creative genes that were unexpressed. And my dad’s an artist, but he’s an artist in his character rather than pursuits. So yeah, here I am. And I actually sort of fought my corner with it, and it’s turned out really well.
That’s amazing! You’re also into painting and that side of art as well.
Yeah, even though I do prefer music now, I think it scratches the itch more than painting. For me. I really like painting, but I do just prefer music now more. It’s more me. There’s only so much some colours and some texture can do for me. Personally? Yeah.
It is so different. I feel like art can be quite an internal thing, and then obviously art galleries, things like that, but music, you get to see the response there.
For me, I just dunno how long a painting can live with somebody and really move somebody to the point where it actually changes somebody’s life. And that’s the thing, I think music really can change people’s lives for at least days or hours, whether it’s commuting or seeing somebody at a show, it can actually fucking change a world for sure. And I don’t think that, I mean, at least I can only speak on my behalf, but I don’t really think that painting specifically as a medium can do that.
Were there artists for you, musicians like that, who changed your life?
I think the first artist that I discovered when I was in my really early teens they were called the radio department, and they’re a dreamy band somewhere from Europe. They’re not English or from London. But they were amazing. They touched me, and every single song is incredible, and I still love them. That was really me finding my own music and not showing anyone. I didn’t care, it was about me. Some people think they’re cool because they listen to music that’s sort of bollocks. For me, it’s just listening to music is soothing to me feeling emotions.
So you rereleased your latest album, ‘I blow out big candles’, but you made the extended edition, with Cherry on top. What was the thought process behind that? Were the additional songs ones that you’d been originally working on before, and then went back to, or were they a clean slate?
I had one of the songs written for so long, and it had to come out because we’ve been playing it in the live shows for so bloody long. And do you know what? It came out at the Perfect Time because it’s going to be on this movie that’s out in July called I Know What You Didlast Summer, and it’s the new rendition of that nineties fucking thing. And it’s just fresh out the fucking womb, this song that’s only been out not even a year. So it must have come out at the perfect time because it’s going to be in this film. But it must all be Divine timing. Killer is the song that I’m talking about, and it is literally about a psycho killer, and it’s a horror film, which was perfect because I wrote that song inspired by the Series YOU, and I was like, oh my God, I just wanted to write. I’m not into tense films, I don’t like the anxiety and things like that.
There’s enough of that in the real world.
Exactly. I just want to have a good time when I’m watching telly. But that one I watched and I wrote a song so clearly something good came out of that, and now it’s going to be used in another scary film. So it’s quite funny, really, the cycle. And then a liquorice, I just sort of wrote that on a whim, but pretty close to the album writing, to be honest. It was all written in the same era. So I mean, I just write whenever I can, so it’s just kind of, it worked and yeah.
Do you find being on tour inhibits the writing process or do you get inspiration while you’re on tour?
I get inspiration while I’m on tour. I get inspiration wherever I can. For me, when there’s emotions, inspiration. So when it’s anger, I write a lot in anger because I mean, how else do you express it?
Legally…
Yeah, legally. And I write a little bit in sadness, but quite a lot of anger. That’s usually the place I start. I don’t really write in joy. I think that’s just not the vibe. I like to soak up energy from joy, but I don’t really write about that kind of thing anymore. I used to, but it’s fake for me to write in joy for me. I don’t really want to put on that joy Anymore. It doesn’t suit who I am it doesn’t suit me at all. More attitude and more like the hawk to be honest. So it makes sense that I’m writing more from a deeper place to be honest.
Do you find that kind of therapeutic or healing for yourself?
I do actually think that in some ways it’s helped me, because I listen to my music a lot, obviously you have to, as an artist, keep checking and seeing how you feel, how much the song can stand the test of time? So you need to listen to it. And I think just by listening to those moments when I felt angry, it feels as me just listening to it over and over again. For sure.
I’d say the crowds appreciate that too, being in a crowd of people all screaming together, resonating in some way. Do you get that you bounce off the energy of the crowd as well?
Yeah, definitely, man. I think people don’t realise that if the crowd don’t give much, the artist isn’t going to give that much. It’s a two-way street. If the crowd are lovely and just happy and cheer you on, at the end of the day, it is a really vulnerable thing. And I think people forget that the artists are doing that. But for example, somebody is supporting and the people aren’t there for them. I think the crowd would be surprised how much more they’d get from the support if they gave more love.
Have you ever done support?
Of course, yeah. You have to. It is a two-way street. Like I said, you have to be the headline, but also there’s always a bigger artist than you, someone you’d benefit from going on tour with. So that’s what these lot are doing tonight, and that’s what artists are always going to do. It’s how you get attention from people that you normally wouldn’t. You are in new crowds, crowds with different taste, blah, blah, blah.
Have you got any musical influences when it comes to your writing, or do your influences match your writing style?
I think I am just inspired by the Manchester scene, so I am inspired at the moment by Oasis. I just really like the direct style of Liam Gallagher, and well, to be honest, it’s Noel’s writing, but I just really liked the Manchester sound and the nineties sound specifically or early two thousands as well. I just really like the two thousand nineties stuff. I always say this, but it’s just true. Nothing else really touches me like that music.
Obviously, Manchester does have an amazing music scene. Do you find that kind of nourishes your drive?
Absolutely. Yeah. It just lives in the city, the energy of it. I mean, less so now, but 10, 15 years ago, I felt that energy was still there. Even though I don’t really feel that residue anymore. But the point is that it’s served its purpose and I soaked that up as a child, and now I don’t need to because it’s in me already now, but I don’t think that people who live in Manchester now wouldn’t necessarily feel that energy anymore, to be honest with you. The music scene’s good. But you don’t really feel the history because the history is quite a long time ago now. It is one thing when it is 2005 or 2010, and that history wasn’t that long ago, because it was 10 years ago. It’s edging past it now. How do you feel that when there are more things, there’s always going to be new art, new music to replace that?
Kind of passing the torch. I love that you said that you absorbed that when you were growing up. And that it’s in you. That’s really beautiful.
I am not going to lie. I do feel really sad for people in Manchester now, children. I don’t think it’s the proper experiences like what it was 15 years ago or 10 years ago, but I’m just lucky that I managed to feel that history in whatever way. Do you know what I mean? So I’m grateful.
I love that! Going back to your album and the songs that you write in general, they’re all short, snappy names, like one or two words. Is that a conscious decision?
I wouldn’t say it’s a conscious decision, no, I think I’m very direct. I’m a very direct person, so I think naturally that would bleed into all aspects of my songwriting, whether it’s the song title or, of course, the lyric writing or even the chords or whatever it is. Yeah. It wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision to write single-titled songs. Sometimes artists make the mistake of writing really not memorable titles for the song, and then the viewer can’t find that, the audience can’t find that, and that actually hinders the artist. I don’t think people realise that. So it is about that too. You need something that’s catchy or at least a memorable part of a song that somebody can then search because music needs to be accessible.
Do you prefer the going out on stage part of music, do you have any rituals? Or do you prefer being with yourself and writing, and that side?
I prefer writing music to being on stage. Back where it started, and that its pure creation, you never know where it’s going to go. I do like performing, but it can be really tiring. I think once you’re in the swing of tour, it’s fine. But today is the first show we’ve done in a while, so I’m not in the flow of it. So I have a different perspective on it than I probably did three weeks ago or four weeks ago. It’s like you have to get into the flow of it again, and being a woman, hormones get in the way, et cetera. So yeah, I think I do, honestly, deep down just prefer making music, but I do enjoy performing. Once I get into the swing of it, is good. It can just be really nerve-wracking, that’s all. It’s just a bit scary.
Just as you mentioned, do you find any kind of roadblocks being a woman in the scene or the music industry?
I think there are definitely. My manager was speaking to me, and there is still misogyny that exists in the music scene. I think the problem is that you have to try 10 times harder if you’re a woman to get respect from men, which is sad. And I think men need to do much less to get the same level of respect, which is a tough thing, but I try not to let it get to my head. I think being a woman’s fucking lit and I don’t give a shit, I wouldn’t trade it. I think we’re blessed. Periods included, I don’t care. We’re blessed. So if someone wants to be misogynistic at the end of the day, we’re winning. So I don’t really care. To be honest with you. Sounds sexist, but it’s just how I feel. Do you know what I mean?.
I agree, given the option to swap, I’d still be like, no.
Yeah, if I had the choice, I’d still do it. I’d still be a woman. It’s brilliant.
And just one more, do you have a dream collab either on stage or on a record?
Cleaners from Venus, if I could collab with him, but he’s like 80 now or so. He’s just 80 or maybe 70. Depends on, yeah, it’s hard to gauge. But yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen. But in my dreams,
You never know. Never know what the world will hold and throw your way.
You know what, you never know. You’re right. Maybe I’ll find his email or whatever. Thank you
Well, thank you so much. Thank you. It was so lovely to chat to you.
Thank you so much.