British punk rock duo 'Slaves', originally from Kent, change their name to 'Soft Play'

British punk rock duo Slaves have changed their name because it “doesn’t represent who we are as people or what our music stands for any longer”.

The band, comprised of Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman, announced they were returning to the music scene but will now be known as Soft Play.

The duo, who last released music in 2019, released a statement explaining the reasons for their change of name and wanted to “sincerely apologise” to people they had offended.

It said: “When we called our band Slaves, it was intended solely as a reference to the grind of day to day life. As younger men, we responded to criticism of the name from a place of fear and defensiveness.

“Feeling backed into a corner, our own pride caused us to fight for a name we weren’t even sure we wanted anymore. It felt at times as if our band name had defined us and we were scared of what might happen if we changed it.

“However, we now recognise that our original intent doesn’t change the fact that the name Slaves is an issue. In this day and age we believe it is very important that people change and make improvements no matter how far down the line they are.

“The name doesn’t represent who we are as people or what our music stands for any longer. We want to sincerely apologise to anyone we’ve offended.”

They said their music is for “anyone and everyone” and hope their fans can accept their decision and “not continue the argument between yourselves”.

The band’s return to music comes after the death of Vincent’s 32-year-old partner Emma Jane Mulholland from cancer, with whom he has two children.

“Until now, we’ve not been able to comment on what’s going on with the band, as life changing events have left us on hiatus, just trying to get through each day.

“There were times over the last few years when we never thought we would ever step foot on a stage together again.

“However we feel that the time has now come to pick up where we left off,” the statement shared on Twitter said.

They added that they were “very happy” to be back together again and are “excited for what the future holds”.