Slim Customers: London´s undiscovered garage

Slim Customers: London´s undiscovered garage

Alejandro De Luna

A cold night. London´s chaos. Yoko Ono playing across the street. Manchester´s derby on TV. One of those nights expecting nothing but just a couple of ales, a greasy unhealthy burger and some undiscovered bands playing in the rancid old basement at the Shacklewell Arms pub in Dalston – London´s current music scene epicenter. A district where you can spot an infinite variety of fakers and posers but also, great artists and good old, dirty rock ‘n’ roll.

Bentley: Watch out for Allenby. He’s a slim customer.
Feisal: Excuse me?
Bentley: A clever man.
Feisal: ‘Slim customer.’ It’s very good. I will certainly watch out for him. 

(Lawrence Of Arabia)

With a bandname inspired on a dialogue from Lawrence of Arabia, they called themselves, the Slim Customers and they hit the Shacklewell stage for around 30 mins. Probably less than 30 people in the audience, but that´s not the essence of garage music?

Singer and guitarist, King Lemon – looking like a depraved version of Roger Daltrey´s outstanding years – and drummer, Vampire Joe, are nothing but loud and psych-garage madness full of cacophony and distortion. If you prefer comparisons? A gear of sound reminiscent of The Cramps, The Sonics, The Velvets and Iggy & The Stooges.

Still in England but signed in France by the Parisian label, Black Totem Records, the London-based duo currently have an EP recorded at Green Door Studios in Glasgow, entitled Animals. And you know what? Is damn good. Just 4 tracks and less than 15 minutes of uncompromised rock ‘n’ roll: reverbs and a riff reminiscent to “Sister Ray” from The Velvets on the Cramps-like title,”A girl that can kill”. In “Just in time”, King Lemon´s druggy voice leads to psych guitars and rumbling drums while singing ‘fuck the KGB, they can´t cage me’. “Vinegar” is another gem that could fit as an outtake for Iggy Pop´s most fucked up and destructive phase. And the last track, “A horrible storm”, a semi-acoustic piece honoring other greats; this time, The Modern Lovers. 

SLIM CUSTOMERS – ANIMALS [LISTEN]

If you like music related and/or correlated to the Iggy & The Stooges legacy, here it is an honorable but undiscovered grandson reviving the good old greats.

Unreleased (?) stuff: