In what might be the least punk move of all time, UK punk rock duo Slaves have announced that they have changed their name to Soft Play, and apologise for any offence caused by their original name.

Frontman Laurie Vincent and drummer Isaac Holman performed under the name Slaves since forming the band in 2012 but faced backlash over the name’s historical connotations. The Fader once published an article about them titled ‘Why Would A Band Of White Dudes Name Themselves Slaves?’

The band have actually been on a hiatus since 2018, but issued the following statement ahead of their return:

“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 recognize 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 apologize to anyone we’ve offended.”

Alright guys, you’re really sorry, we get it. I suppose ‘Slavs’ was also out of the question because they’d probably get slapped with a cultural appropriation tag as well. At the end of the day though you can’t really blame them because it’s 2022 and if they want this comeback to be a success then they have to appeal to the sort of audience who cry themselves to sleep over a white punk band calling themselves Slaves. Soft play? Indeed!

For the singer of a mid 00s emo band who was accused of operating a BDSM cult filled with brainwashed sex slaves, click HERE.