Standing on the stage of the Manchester Arena, playing to 20,000 of your hometown’s loudest music fans, is all very well when you’ve had a major label ploughing in cash and pulling the strings to get you there. It’s quite another thing when you’ve got there entirely on your own, self-releasing your albums and building a following by jumping in a van and playing to as many people as will listen for ten years. When you do it The Slow Readers Club way.

“It was a baptism of fire for us,” singer Aaron Starkie says of the band’s string of UK Academy and arena shows. “It taught us our craft on the bigger stages. I’d always been conscious seeing some bands play like they’re selling out Wembley, playing smaller venues. It felt a bit artificial to me. We were just going, in our heads, “one day I’m going to have to do this on the big stage”. We know what we’re doing on those bigger stages now.”

Okay so The Slow Readers Club – the fastest rising anthemic electro noir rockers in the UK – played those arenas when supporting James, but through blinding talent and hard graft they’re well on the way to headline status. That became more evident than ever as their last record The Joy of The Return made its way into the UK album chart’s top ten despite the lack of touring due to a certain global pandemic. And whilst the rest of the country were coordinating Zoom quizzes and baking banana bread, The Slow Readers Club were working on their remarkable fifth studio album 91 Days in Isolation, set for release on October 23rd 2020. Aaron says “This collection of songs was written remotely during the UK Covid-19 lockdown. With each band member sharing ideas over the internet, the songs were pieced together at home and recorded once lockdown lifted”.

It’s clear from one look at their social media that The Slow Readers Club place their fans at the heart of everything they do and that has been no different during quarantine, when they hosted ‘watch together’ sessions of previous shows, remotely recorded videos of fan-selected covers and an unforgettable acoustic session surrounded by 21,000 vacant seats in a hauntingly desolate Manchester Arena, invited for their well-awaited second performance to fly the flag for the city at the venue’s 25th anniversary celebration.

Louder than War once said “The Slow Reader’s Club are simply too glorious to be kept a secret” and with the release of 91 Days in Isolation on the horizon, hot on the heals of Spring’s The Joy Of The Return there’s certainly no danger of that.

From Manchester Arena, to the four corners of the world, The Slow Readers Club are becoming a real page turner.

“There's more to Orchards than meets the eye. The band's whip-smart math-pop is all glistening surface and immediate melody, but beneath this chrome-plated chassis lies a complex rhythmic engine.” - CLASH Magazine

“‘Honey’, by Orchards is a great example of Math Rock mixed with Top 40 pop elements.” - Indie Shuffle

“math-pop brilliance.” - DORK

“the quartet’s delightful dabblings in math-rock and incredible hooks has manifested in an undisputed banger that you’ll have in your head for the rest of the day” - Wonderland

With the first few releases Presley gained an army of fans - his first radio play coming from Zane Lowe as his 'Next Hype' record with follow up support from Phil Taggart, Alice Levine, John Kennedy, Tom Robison and hitting the Radio X, Virgin and Amazing playlists. The Guardian, Independent and The Times all noticed his work too which catapulted his reputation across the Channel to Europe where he also found support on national radio stations and huge festival billings.

His roots are firmly in the blues but over time Presley has nurtured his sound to be a hybrid of swamp rock, electric blues and classic songwriting. His influences range from John Coltrane to Duke Gawood, The Kills, Mogwai and Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and more.

"...a ferocious belly deep sound but somehow tender with it.." The Guardian

"...A beautiful noise that at once grips and beguiles, as befits a natural born storyteller.." The Quietus

"...A searing, soulful touch..an oasis of calm amongst the torrent of noise..' The Times

"...The bluesy rock'n'rollers tune is a recklessly fuzzy garage rock tune.." The Independent

"..The chattering classes are silenced by musical brilliance.." Team Rock

".. Music needs a new dark lord.." Phil Taggart, BBC Radio 1

In a former life, he was alt-folk artist The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, cutting his teeth on the same vibrant Glasgow scene as his friends Frightened Rabbit and Snow Patrol. But his love for the wild land he was raised on, 300 miles north of Glasgow, proved too strong and three years ago he made the move back to the Eye Peninsula, east of Stornoway, buying a small farm. Funnily enough, there couldn’t have been a better move for his music career.