The song 'Slow' was originally recorded and released in 1996 on the rare demo album 'Rats Live on No Evil Star'.  The song captures the bands psychedelic mood and sound which bore no resemblance to the sounds emerging from the Orange County Music Scene at the time.  Riz Story had begun experimenting with hallucinogens and was leading the band into more and more surreal territory.  Although the stylings are clearly drawn from well-established sources such as The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, there emerges a distinct flavor that the band would later develop more fully.  

Riz had written 'Slow' whilst in the midst of an especially intense acid trip and wanted to capture the original feeling during the recording sessions.  To achieve the desired authenticity he took "a reasonable dose" of magic mushrooms and chain smoked a copious amount of low grade marijuana throughout the recording session. 

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In an interview with NO COVER MAGAZINE Riz recalled the recording session for 'Slow':

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"I wrote the song as I was coming down from a very long and emotional trip and the sun was coming up on the beach.  I was living in Newport (Newport Beach, Ca), sleeping on a couch, basically homeless and couch hopping.  I'd read about how The Beatles would slip away from sessions during the recording of 'Sgt Pepper' to take acid, and wanted to do the same (laughter).  I figured if it worked for The Beatles on their masterpiece, it might just have the same effect on me, but I was so hoarse from the shrooms and all the weed I smoked I could barely sing.  I think you can hear me cough and try to clear my throat near the ending improv vocals".  

The psychedelic influence was total, including the production techniques employed in the creation of the track.  Riz wanted to use Dave Murray's cymbals and lower toms to recreate the sound of the ocean, and the breaking waves that sounded to him, while under the influence of the LSD, "like the sea was breathing."  An Audio Compressor was used by engineer James Trace to alter the attack and the release of the drums and cymbals, to cause the distinctive breathing sound heard in the mix.  

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To further enhance the 'breathing' effect the track was recorded with no click track, instead, the band made a conscious decision to let the tempo breath in hopes of evoking a 'slow-motion' sensation.  And indeed the tempo various wildly from section to section, and often from bar to bar.  This is notable in that almost all commercial music produced in the last 20 years is made on a computer grid, with a perfectly steady tempo.  

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This fully restored and remastered 2021 release of 'Slow' is available now on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all other leading streaming and downloading platforms.  

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