Interview - Isaac Holman, Slaves and Baby Dave

Spring is here and with it comes the additional responsibility for house-owners of sorting out their garden.

For circa six months the greenery would likely have been neglected and, while to some weeding and trimming is an arduous task, it does have its benefits for both physical and mental wellbeing.

“You’re just back to basics. You’re keeping yourself busy and nurturing things, back to nature. There’s so many reasons why it’s good for you. It proper sorted me out. I keep thinking that I want to get back into it somehow and do the music. I think I’m going to work out a way to do both.”

So opines Isaac Holman, lead singer of punk-rock duo Slaves and the architect behind new project Baby Dave.

Shortly before the pandemic, Holman and Laurie Vincent decided, for a variety of intensely sad reasons, to put Slaves on ice for a period. Both had their reasons; in Holman’s case it was down to what amounted to a mental breakdown, a result of several years of the rock ‘n roll lifestyle.

“My life was crazy for a long time,” he tells us. “Apart from the touring and stuff I had no real structure. I wasn’t looking after myself, there was a bit of substance abuse going on. I just wasn’t looking after myself.”

“Bottling things up and doing stupid shit, just not feeling good about myself. I have OCD tendencies too. My whole life I’ve done weird things but never really acknowledged it.”

“When all this stuff (lockdowns) happened, it was the perfect storm and my OCD got really bad. I had this meltdown and it was completely debilitating. I definitely think my life in Slaves had a big role to play in me and my head.

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/interview-baby-dave-isaac-holman/