Sløtface: “There’s so many things that are sh*tty. Being happy and showing joy are the most punk things you can do”

“I was an OG Twilight stan when I was in ninth grade,” confesses Haley Shea, decorated with a nostalgic smile. “That is perfectly fine for me to say now, but if anybody had asked me about that in an interview 10 years ago, I would have been so embarrassed…”

Time is the healer of all wounds, so they say, and the same can be said of the judgments we once placed on ourselves for liking things that weren’t deemed ‘cool’. This is what Haley has come to realise across her lifetime, and particularly on Sløtface’s new record, Film Buff.

“I want to celebrate all of the parts that make up me as a person, and some of those parts are that I identify as a woman, girlhood, and things that [I] might have been embarrassed that I loved. I feel a lot more comfortable embracing [these] now,” she states.

The Norwegian rock outfit’s brand-new LP marks the first full-length release since the departure of founding members Tor-Arne Vikingstad and Lasse Lokøy, who left amicably to try new things in 2022. Though Haley had to spend some time trying to figure out if she wanted to keep making music as Sløtface, she now acts as a sort of “captain” for the band, steering the good ship along while others contribute creatively as part of a revolving collective of musicians.

She first found her feet working this way on their 2023 EP, AWAKE/ASLEEP, and therefore the making of Film Buff became the “least anxiety-filled album process” so far. Its 11 tracks pull inspiration from the world and culture of movies to explore everything from internalised misogyny, to toxic masculinity and horror tropes, but overarching the record is a sense of defiant joy in the face of adversity.

“The title of that IDLES record, Joy As An Act Of Resistance, is my main go-to when I want to summarise what I think punk music should be in 2024,” Haley explains. “Because there’s so many things that are so shitty, being happy and showing joy are kind of the most punk things you can do at the moment… And that’s kind of how I feel about parts of my feminism.”

Sløtface is still a feminist band, and Film Buff is a feminist record. Yet when society considers feminism and fun, the two are not often believed possible to co-exist. When we think of feminism, we also think of anger, resistance, or frustration. While that may be the case when it comes to campaigning for equality, feminism can also be a radical act of catharsis.

Like a number of other women in rock, Haley has worked on shedding the outdated belief that she needed to be tough or like one of the guys to be respected in music. “Most of my life I’ve played in bands with all men, and that ‘cool girl’ identity of being allowed to hang out with the boys was so important to me when I was a teenager,” she shares. “I’ve really switched my way of thinking about that as I entered adulthood and realised how shitty that was.”

The album’s opener, I Used To Be A Real Piece Of Shit, is where this is most prominently unpicked. “It’s okay to admit that and want to be better,” she says. “It’s okay if you still make mistakes, that’s human. It doesn’t make you inherently bad.”

The new collaborative essence of Sløtface is empowering. Some of Haley’s most bold creative experiments went underway on the making of Film Buff. Lift Heavy, for example, sees the band making a David Guetta-esque, gym-ready track, while Quiet On Set is the heaviest Sløtface song they’ve ever written.

As for the more technical aspects, most tracks run at no less than 160 bpm, and any song over four minutes was scrapped to keep things lively. In part, this decision was inspired by the enthralling soundtracks of Edgar Wright films, such as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and even the work of 100 gecs.

As a result, Film Buff is an outstretched hand pulling you into a fictional, action-packed world where you can be whoever you want to be and feel whatever you need to feel. It’s okay to have been a piece of shit in your lifetime, it’s even okay to like cheesy vampire films. It’s also okay to be both angry at the state of the world, and allow yourself to still find joy in it.

“Another philosophy of this record is that there are no guilty pleasures,” Haley summarises. “There’s just pleasure.”

Film Buff is due out on September 27 via Propeller Recordings

Read this next:

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• Sløtface’s Haley Shea: The 10 songs that changed my life
• Lauran Hibberd: “I’ve always secretly been a pop-punk kid”