In the run up to announcing their comeback as SOFT PLAY in December 2022, Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent weren’t sure they were going to return at all. The Kent two-piece, formerly known as Slaves, had been on hiatus since 2019. The reasons were many, but a breakdown in communication between the bandmates and best friends was at the centre. During the hiatus, they were hit with personal tragedies and challenges that delayed their reunion. The death of Laurie’s partner in 2019 and Isaac’s mental health crisis and subsequent diagnosis of OCD led to both of them getting therapy and working on themselves, making it possible for them to reconnect. 

They felt that the name SOFT PLAY better reflected who they truly were as men: playful and tender. Some of their fans weren’t so receptive, so they responded to the pushback the only way they knew how–with a laugh. ‘Punk’s Dead’, the first single from new record ‘HEAVY JELLY’, featured Holman screaming insults back at the audience: “Come and get a load of these PC babies”. By having a sense of humour and getting ahead of the indignation, they managed to win over their fans–and then some.

‘HEAVY JELLY’ is a triumphant return for SOFT PLAY, seeing them getting personal on tracks like ‘Isaac is Typing…’ and ‘Worms on Tarmac’ that tackle Holman’s OCD. It also sees them leaning into their heavier side, eschewing the sound that might have gotten them onto festival lineups and played on the radio but that they never felt truly fit. Now, they chat about how they managed to beat the odds and get back in the studio.

ROCK SOUND: How are you feeling in the build up to the album coming out?

Isaac: I feel quite chilled about it. A lot is going on, but it all feels really good.

Laurie: Every bit keeps getting better. ‘Everything and Nothing’ came out and the response was incredible. We just did Glastonbury and that was amazing. ‘Punk’s Dead’ got a mini-moment on Instagram. It’s all ticking a lot of boxes at the moment.

Isaac: I feel energised. The gigs feel amazing. We’re playing the best we’ve ever played and we’ve been looking after ourselves. We’ve got bags of energy.

Laurie: It’s quite a weird sensation stepping back into that world after being away from it for so long. Playing the same stages again, everything is the same. It’s all still there, but it’s a weird dream world that we haven’t visited for five or six years. It’s about navigating how we want to do it this time and trying to control the narrative rather than letting it run away from us. There’s been a couple of head-spinny moments where we’re like, fuck, I need to reel this back in.

RS: I bet you feel like completely different people.

Isaac: It is mad revisiting places when you’re in a totally different space.

Laurie: Now we’re able to have these tough conversations and I can really appreciate being on my own with Isaac. After being at a session with 20 people, we’ll be on the train and I can be like, ‘it fucking did my head in when that person did that yesterday, what do you think?’ Our lines of communication, even though it can be challenging, are helping things.

RS: Would you not have spoken to each other in that way five years ago?

Isaac: We were like brothers, but now our communication is way better. I think towards the end, it felt isolating because we weren’t talking openly to each other. We feel less alone in it because we chat so much about what’s going on.

Laurie: We had this quite painful discussion the other day. We were recounting a tour we went on and Isaac said it was one of the best times of his life, and I was like, it was one of the worst times of my life. I had to explain to him why. He was like, fuck, I had no idea you were going through that. I just assumed he would have realised. We’re still learning things about each other, but it’s quite amazing that we’ve opened up these lines of communication. Hopefully it won’t be like that again.

RS: How did you manage to rebuild your relationship?

Isaac: Just by hanging out. I think the breakdown of the band was a blessing for us, because it meant we could be mates and work on our friendship together. The band reformed when we were in a better place. It all went down as it was supposed to.

Laurie: Just honesty and authenticity. I really feel like it’s down to having these conversations where we can say this didn’t feel good or I hate that album or that song we did. Sometimes I’m shocked, sometimes he’s shocked, sometimes we both go ‘yep, that sucked.’ It’s about actually having that open dialogue so we know where each other stands. It’s the power of having bandmates, that you can stand together. Having each other’s backs feels like the biggest sentiment here. 

RS: It sounds like you worked on your own relationship before you really reformed the band or started writing again.

Isaac: I think so. And just worked on ourselves. We’ve both done a bit of therapy and had a good hard look at ourselves. 

Laurie: I don’t think I ever had a point in my life to stop and go: who am I? When you switch into consciousness you just go to school, then you have to go to another school, then it’s university, then you need to have a job. It happens so quickly that you never take a break. There should be a year. Maybe that’s what a gap year is about, but I don’t feel like I had that privilege. Time was money and I needed to be in the band, and that’s all I thought about. When you’re in the band, being successful, then it’s sustaining success. Then life starts happening, and all of your attention has been split.

RS: What made you realise you needed extra help?

Laurie: With my partner dying and Isaac having a breakdown, it gave us the chance to stop. Then when we stopped, I was like, who the fuck am I? I realised I didn’t even like the clothes I wore. I felt like I needed to go to therapy to prevent having a breakdown. Then you start talking about your childhood, and I had this huge revelation that I’ve never gotten to the bottom of who I am. How can you expect to do anything if you don’t know who you are? At the same time, Isaac was going on his own journey with OCD. When we met up to talk, it was always pretty intense. I just wanted to be a good dad and I wanted to make roast dinners for my kids. Playing guitar and going on tour felt really stupid. I still love my job, but I see it as a job. I don’t give it the same gravity as I did before, and I think that allows you to be free.

RS: It can be fun, too. It sounds like you’re having a lot of fun on this record.

Isaac: It’s really fun. This weekend we’re going to Slovakia just to play a gig. It’s really fun if you have that separation. We’re so grateful for that now.

RS: What influences did you take into the studio this time?

Laurie: I feel like it was just really honest and not trying to sound like anything else. We are being ourselves in its purest form. We weren’t ready to do songs like “Worms on Tarmac” years ago, because it felt too irreverent. We realised that that is Isaac’s mind. By being authentic and putting his mind on paper, that song sums up what’s going on in his head on a daily basis in a really beautiful, silly way. We allowed ourselves to be who we wanted to be, and at the same time, we rediscovered all of that hardcore and punk rock influence that got lost along the way because we were trying to fit in with the indie scene. We were trying to avoid the heavier side so we could get booked on the festivals and played on Radio 1. We didn’t care about any of that when we started, then all of a sudden it starts happening for you and you overthink it. With no time limit and no pressure, we made the album that sounds the most authentically like us.

RS: A lot of this record gives an insight into Isaac’s brain, like the track ‘Isaac is Typing’.

Laurie: Sometimes when we’re tired or hungry, stuff that we say with love lands really badly. Saying to Isaac that he’s typing a lot on the Whatsapp groups might not have been as well received in the past. I feel like we get each other a bit more now, and moments like that on the record are my favourite. Isaac opening the record with “I’m the nicest dickhead you’ve ever met”, I don’t think he would have been in a place to write such an honest statement when we were making music before. I feel like it’s a real insight into the workings of our band but also the depths of Isaac’s psyche.

Isaac: If I hadn’t had a meltdown and had the diagnosis, I probably wouldn’t be able to know what it was and laugh about it and write tunes about it. It’s good to air it, it gives it less power. It can become funny.

RS: What’s the reception to the new music been like from old fans?

Isaac: People have chilled out and a lot of people have eaten their words. When you’re being so brutally honest about everything and so open and raw, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks.

‘HEAVY JELLY’ is out now.