The band members were revealed through lead singer Jonny Craig's Twitter account on January 15. The following day he tweeted that the name of the group would be called Slaves, a name coined by founding drummer Tai Wright.
Craig explained the name in an article on Ryan's Rock Show. "Men have been enslaving men for as long as we've had gods to hide behind," Craig said. "Every man is a slave to what we love – whether it be women, drugs, music or sports. Through art we are all equals".
On March 3, Alternative Press posted an article stating that Artery Recordings had signed Craig's band Slaves to their label were now on their roster. Craig posted a tweet saying that his original record label Rise Records would not be associated with this new band.
The band went on their first US tour in May in direct support of Hands Like Houses, Miss Fortune, and Alive Like Me, in May and June.
Slaves released their first single The Fire Down Below through Artery Recordings on April 22. The album, Through Art We Are All Equals, was produced by Kris Crummett, and was released on June 24, 2014. The album features guest vocals from Kyle Lucas, Tyler Carter of Issues, Vic Fuentes of Pierce The Veil, as well as Jonny Craig's sister, Natalie Craig.
The album's track listing was released in May 2014. The album debuted on No. 53 at official Billboard 200 charts in the U.S.
On May 13, 2014, the band's second single, "the Upgrade Pt. II" (a sequel to his song The Upgrade from his EP Find What You Love And Let It Kill You), was streamed off Artery Recordings' YouTube page. Later that month, on May 29, the band released a lyric video for the third single from the album, "Starving for Friends", which featured Vic Fuentes of Pierce the Veil.
Slaves was revealed to be a supporter on the All Stars Tour. This was Jonny Craig's second time being on the All Stars Tour, the first time being with Dance Gavin Dance which ultimately led to him being kicked out of the band.
On May 30, bassist Jason Mays announced via Facebook that he would not be continuing with Slaves due to family problems and health issues.
Andrew Mena, formerly of Scarlett O'Hara filled in temporarily and toured with the band for the remaining dates. After Andrew Mena went back to his duties of being a tour manager, Michael Nordeen, an operations manager at Artery Recordings was convinced by Alex Lyman to join the band for a few tours. In the beginning of Winter, 2014, Colin Vieira joined Slaves yet again.
On June 24, 2014, Slaves announced one headlining show in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 9, 2014. In the following days they announced an overseas tour to Australia, along with a headlining tour starting on October 7, with bands such as Nightmares, Myka Relocate, among others.
On July 9, the band's first official music video was released on the Artery Recording's YouTube for the album's fourth and final single, "My Soul Is Empty and Full of White Girls", directed/produced by Jeremy Tremp and Shan Dan.
