Glasgow Trio Slime City bring their barnstorming second album National Record of Achievement to The Lexington on September 11th.
Before Slime City, frontman Michael M led Glasgow sci-fi punk-rock four-piece We Are The Physics, receiving airplay from Steve Lamacq and appearing on Marc Riley’s Brain Surgery on BBC 6 Music. They put out two albums of new-wave-indie-pop-math-rock with a distinctive B-movie aesthetic and developed a devoted following before calling it a day in 2013.
Slime City consist of three Michaels, all ex-members of We Are The Physics, going by the monikers Michael M, Michael Guitar, and Michael Drums, and their 2023 debut Slime City Death Club is full of acerbic wit and singalong choruses. The follow-up National Record of Achievement, released in November 2025, lands like a freight train full of very good jokes, taking aim at high art, the music industry, themselves and pretty much everything with thrashy guitars, crashing drums and a heavy dose of electronics. The album is full of sharp jokes and funny jabs with cynical lyrics but a joyful, noisy vibe. Slime City are goofy but sincere, finding the world extremely funny and extremely terrible at the same time.
We caught up with Michael M to find out more:
Can you tell us about your time in We Are The Physics, the decision to form Slime City, and what happened in between?
A lot of soul searching (ie. watching the telly). Basically, we skinted ourselves after the Physics and had to get real jobs. We just felt like failures, or rather, we were made to feel like failures, so we kind of fell out of love with music for a while because that's what happens. If you're not making money, you're deemed to be a failure. Doesn't matter if you're making good music or not (turns out we weren't). For a hot minute, us three Michaels were the backing band for Steven from Bis' solo project Batteries, and during a tour with Future of the Left, we started writing songs that went on to become the first Slime City songs. Originally we were a downtuned doom band but it turns out I simply love Stock, Aitken and Waterman. You can find out more in my memoir about We Are The Physics, 'You're Doing It Wrong'. Seriously, I wrote one. Three people have read it.
Who are some of your key influences?
I hate to say we wear them on our sleeves, but I think if you're into Devo, Cardiacs, Brainiac, Weezer, Art Brut, Sparks, Polysics, Mclusky, Dead Kennedys, Bis, Pulp, Yard Act, Undertones, you'll probably get on with us just fine. On top of that, we're just so into that vintage era of 1970s-2000s Britain, which I would say informs most of what we do visually and thematically. Made myself sick with that sentence.
National Record of Achievement, both the title and the album cover, is immediately familiar to anyone who went through the British schooling system. Can you tell us why you chose that title?
I think it's exactly that, it means so much to some people and absolutely nothing to others, which is kind of where we sit as a band, really. Someone called the whole thing Proustian, but to people outside of the UK, and a specific generation, it's meaningless. It just looks like an awkward burgundy style choice. We've always been pretty clear with our subject matters that we're sourcing from our own generational and geographical experience to try and make sense of today. We're just trying to soundtrack being slightly sore millennials.
What are some of the other themes and topics on the album?
According to the press release, it's a 'gloriously strange, high energy exploration of modern anxiety, toxic nostalgia, neurodiversity, and celebratory existentialism', and that sounds about right!
Are the figures in “This Song Costs £2000 (Approx)” an accurate portrayal of the current state of the music industry?
I think if you look at them singularly, yes. But, like, once you've got the guitar, you don't have to buy a new one for every song. But, truly, £100 on mastering. I have no idea what it is. Nobody can tell me. It's a black art we're taxed for. Somehow your songs come back sounding like proper songs, but nobody knows how or why. We shouldn't bother going to space, the last unknown is the exploration of mastering a song.
What is THE SHOETAR?
Literally a shoe sellotaped to a guitar.
Do you feel like your music and outlook has a particularly Glaswegian flavour?
I actually don't know. I think there's a gallows humour about Glasgow that's just instilled in us, and we carry that with us in how we do music. We've all grown up in Glasgow, it'd be impossible to deny it's part of our DNA. You don't realise it's not a typical attitude until you leave the city. An American once told me to stop apologising during our set, and I was like 'yeah, sorry about that'.
What are some of the best venues, bands and promoters from Glasgow?
Glasgow's always been buzzing with creative stuff, but it's having a wee bit of a cultural slump - not among the performers but, like most cities, some of its vital community hubs and venues are closing. Some of the city's most notable venues, places we started playing in, are just succumbing to the dire economics of it all, which is a real blow. Still going strong is Glasgow's best venue, the Hug And Pint, and promoters like 432 who do a great job of bringing touring acts to the city and also showcasing some of the more quirky local stuff. There's so much good stuff happening at the Old Hairdressers and, if you're into wee guys kicking walls, the Audio Lounge is a great DIY hardcore spot. Shout out to St. Luke's, the east end's holiest venue.
You’re coming back to London in September, what can people expect from the show?
Stock, Aitken and Waterman songs very loud and fast. Basically, the same thing we give to every show - everything. Fuck, that was good. You can quote me on that. We're actually going to do a couple of new songs from our next album: National Record of Achievement 2.
What is the ultimate goal of Slime City?
Top of the Pops, of course.