Bob Balch: "The idea for the Slower project came about four years ago. I was teaching a student how to play "South Of Heaven" by Slayer, but she was a beginner, so we slowed it down. I thought it sounded cool, so I tuned it down to B standard and tried it out. I added a drum kit and thought, "Someone in the doom community should do this and call it Slower." A couple years later, I became friends with Steven "Thee Slayer Hippy" Hanford, who is best known as the drummer for the influential Oregon punk band Poison Idea. He was backstage at a Fu Manchu show. Oddly enough, I was wearing a Poison Idea shirt and he told me my shirt sucked. I asked him who he was and why he was in our backstage area. He told me and I felt stupid. We started drinking whiskey and talking about music. We stayed in touch over the next year or so and during Covid I told him about my Slower idea. He asked me to send him tracks. I waited too long because the day I sent him the tracks he passed away. Totally tragic. I'm glad I got to know him for a few more years. He was a monster musician with a huge heart. He will be greatly missed. After that, I put the project on hold for a while. One day Esben from Monolord posted something about musical collaborations. I love Monolord, so I thought, what the hell. I sent him a few tracks and he blew them away on the drums.