Soft Play talk new material, and how blur gave them the spark to return at Reading 2023

A long hiatus, a name change, and a big, bold statement of a single to return. Soft Play are back, and they've been missed. Fresh off wrangling Robbie Williams for their latest track, 'Punk's Dead' - a song that kicks back against the pricks that had an issue with them dropping their previous moniker - they're back at Reading & Leeds for two last-minute, smaller-than-you'd-expect sets.

Before they turned the Festival Republic Tent into a jumping sweatbox, we caught up with Laurie and Isaac for a quick welcome back catch-up.

How does it feel to be back at a festival as Soft Play?

Isaac: A mixture of nice and very anxiety-inducing.

Laurie: We're like the little computer logo that's just loading. There's a lot of loading at the moment.

How was the warmup show last night?

Laurie: Sweaty, wild. I’ve got damaged eardrums, I think

Isaac: Very rowdy, I've got an achy neck.

How does it feel to get back into playing?

Laurie: It feels better than ever, really. Like, very apprehensive previously, because we stopped because it wasn't fun anymore. And now it feels like the best it's ever been. So yeah, we're very grateful to be able to do it. People still care and we’re having a lot of fun. 

Have your solo projects influenced the new Soft Play material?

Laurie: We're always gonna sound like us. But there are definitely two tracks on the new record which have clear influence. One is essentially a song I wrote, and Isaac told me should be on the record, and one is a song Isaac wrote, which was the reverse. It felt like playing each other our demos and picking the best out of the bunch.

Isaac: Having the other outlet definitely allowed us to exorcise bits of ourselves as well. I feel more comfortable writing lyrics than I have previously because I've been writing loads while we’ve been away.

Laurie: Those projects were more about writing than they were about performing. So we've spent a lot more time working out how to write and produce. I think we're both better at the production process. Whereas before, it was just a vessel to get back to the stage. So yeah, the headline is: the new album slaps.

What sparked you guys writing together and playing together again? 

Isaac: blur at Wembley asking us if we're available - and then us not getting the gig! But it made us get our arses into gear and have something to aim towards. 

Laurie: Everything needs a spark. And that was our spark, to pull our fingers out and go, 'Do you know what? We've got something amazing here that's not being used'. I think we just started to appreciate each other again.

How does it feel playing music that you wrote way back? 

Laurie: There's moments where you're like 'oh, not sure about that one.’ But then there are moments where you realise that so much of it still stands up, and it still feels intense, and people are into it. I'm more excited to play the new stuff and playing the new single was wicked last night. We've had so long off, but those old songs feel fresh as well. And there are people that were too young to see us last time. There's a new audience. So it feels good.

Robbie’s on the new song. Any other bucket list guests? 

Isaac: We're not going to tell you, but yeah, we've got some. We're aiming high.

Laurie: If Eminem's reading, slide into the DMs.