SLOW TEETH formed and started writing songs in Saxapahaw, North Carolina in summer 2021, initially as an opportunity for Robert Chamberlain (drums, synthesizers), Justin Ellis (bass, vocals, keyboards), and Jeremy Haire (guitar, vocals) to start playing music with others following the pandemic lockdown while previous respective projects were on indefinite hiatus. As the band’s chemistry and highly collaborative identity coalesced, they began playing live in March 2022, tweaking and adapting their improvised post-rock compositions into finished songs and performing them all over the East Coast. Four of these compositions appear on their debut record “I”, which releases 3/21/25.
Self-recorded and mixed at Jeremy’s home studio in an old house in Saxapahaw and mastered by Mike Westbrook, “I” is a great introduction to Slow Teeth’s sound – cinematic and dynamic music made by three sets of hands and feet transfigured into a symphony of sound, with deeply introspective lyrics about familial relationships, disillusionment with our crumbling institutions, and the relentless passage of time in a world seemingly upside down. It’s not all bleak – other songs lean heavily into the band’s extensive and varied musical influences and favorite sci-fi novels and films, searching for a spark to light the way forward. Slow Teeth is at its core three people making music they wish existed, using the catharsis of live performance as the engine for creating songs and soundscapes whose reach exceeds their grasp.
Slow Teeth has supported such acts as Explosions In The Sky, Xiu Xiu, A Place To Bury Strangers, Holy Fawn, and more. Notable venues and festivals played/booked include The Cat’s Cradle (Carrboro NC), The Ritz (Raleigh NC), Kings (Raleigh NC), The Pinhook (Durham NC), Motorco Music Hall (Durham NC), Fleetwood’s (Asheville NC), Berlin Under A (New York City), Gold-Diggers (Los Angeles CA),The Pearl (Vancouver BC),Pie Shop (Washington DC), The Drunken Unicorn (Atlanta GA), Bad Bar (Seattle WA), The Basement (Nashville TN), Turn! Turn! Turn! (Portland OR), Red Dwarf (Las Vegas NV), Skylark Lounge (Denver CO), the 2022 North Carolina State Fair, the 2023 Festival For The Eno, Bull City Summit 2023, Sleepy Fest 2025, and the 2022-2025 editions of the Carrboro Music Festival. The band will be touring the West Coast for the first time in late summer 2025.
Outside of their original compositions and visceral live shows, Slow Teeth has presented various music community events, including a one-off music festival (The Kraken, 2022), a month-long Durham performance residency culminating in an improvised film score to a classic silent film (“Metropolis” at Arcana March 2023), An original film score to the 1928 silent film “Fall Of The House of Usher” (Cat’s Cradle, Halloween 2024) and a headlining show at the Cat’s Cradle in August 2023 to perform Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of The Moon” front to back for the album’s 50th anniversary, complete with backing musicians and interactive visuals.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the landmark Pink Floyd album “Wish You Were Here”, Slow Teeth will be performing the entire record front to back at Motorco Music Hall on Saturday 12/20 with the assistance of local musicians Charles Cleaver and Asher De La Torre. Silk Moth opens the show.