Chokehold

This punchy track is Soft Play's (known at the time as Slaves - they changed their name in 2022) attempt at writing a pop breakup song from a repressed male perspective. It finds Laurie Vincent recounting being spurned by a woman he has feelings for in favor of another guy. He feels rejected and hurt by the way she treated him, but rather than talking to somebody about it he proceeds to self-medicate. A fortnight later, their paths cross again when he's out with friends but he pretends no too care. However, in reality he's a mess, his hands are trembling and his stomach turning. Vincent told BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac: "I think it's really important in this day and age that us men talk about our feelings." He added: "This is an anthem for the heartbroken men out there."

The song's music video features a host of famous faces as we see Vincent interviewing replacements for drummer Isaac Holman. The guest list of hopeful stickmen auditioning include Royal Blood's Ben Thatcher, Wolf Alice's Joel Amey, Peace's Dom Boyce, The Maccabees' Sam Doyle, Hinds' Amber Grimbergen and even Blur's Dave Rowntree. Other hopeful percussionists include lookalikes of Joey Jordison from Slipknot and Peter Criss from Kiss plus the famous drumming Gorilla from the Cadbury's ad.

"Chokehold" was first played live by Soft Play during their June 9, 2018 gig at 53 Degrees North in Kingston Upon Hull.