Their newest album, "Bite Your Tongue," is only two weeks old. They're fresh onto the road, and they're heading to Bloomington. Their sound is enough to make Kiss pucker up and to make Mötley Crüe lose their mullets (or lose their umlauts). The Sex Slaves are drummer J-Bomb, bassist Del Cheetah and vocalist and guitarist Eric 13. The Slaves took a few minutes from the road to talk about Green Day, Baptist churches in Indiana and why they can't get enough Jack Daniels.
So what can fans in Bloomington expect to see when they come to your show?\nEric: The best that NYC has to offer: A live rock and roll show.
So any big secret plans for the Bloomington show?\nJ: Big secret plans? They wouldn't be secret if we told you, now would they? You can't publish that shit before the show. \nDel: We are going to debut a few new songs in Bloomington. We haven't played our song "Thank God for Jack Daniels" yet on our tour. We're saving that one for Bloomington.
Why Bloomington?\nEric: Because we've got some friends that are from out there originally, that were with us when we wrote that song, and they're flying back to their hometown to be at the show. We're busting it out for them.
So why are you thanking God for Jack Daniels?\nEric: Why not?\nDel: That shit keeps us going. It's our road fuel. \nJ: Our van runs on Jack Daniels...
So what are you guys like on stage?\nEric: Oh, I'm very debonair and suave.
(Long pause)\nNobody's going to contest that?\nJ: Well, he is quite suave.\nEric: Did you ever see Christopher Walken play the "Flight of the Continental"? I act like that. Very sophisticated. Champagne and roses for everyone.
On your Web site, there's a picture of a Baptist church holding a protest against your show. What happened? \nEric: That was actually in Indiana, believe it or not. I forget the name of the town, where was it?\nDel: I forget. Wait, Chesterton, is that a town?\nEric: Yeah, we were driving through Chesterton. We were driving through there and saw the sign. We didn't get to see the actual protest, we weren't there the night of it, but I don't know what happened. \nDel: Our reputation precedes us, apparently.
So what is it about you guys that would get churches all hot and bothered?\nEric: Oh, it's all mainly just bullshit. They're scared of a name. Like it's so controversial. Please. The Sex Pistols were out in the 70s, thirty years ago.
So where does the name come from?\nDel: We're all slaves to sex in some way, shape or form.\nEric: You gotta look in the trailer to find out. You have to come into the Sex Slaves tour van.
So you're not going to hold it against us here in Bloomington because of what happened in Chesterton?\nDel: Nah, we don't give a fuck. That show, if I recall, was better because of the protest. Say whatever you want about us, just spell our name right.
So you all seem to be kind of huge in Japan. How'd that happen?\nEric: Well, we're sponsored by this clothing company, and they really busted out huge in Japan. Louis Vuitton was putting out a fashion show for them, and instead of doing a runway show, they wanted the Sex Slaves to come over and play and wear the clothes and be the fashion show. So we played an event with magazine and television and radio. It was a ravishing success. They invited us back to tour, so we did a Japanese tour, and it was fucking amazing.
The initial pressing of your album sold out in Japan. That's impressive.\nEric: They're diehard fans there.\nDel: One show turned into two tours in Japan.
So you're back in the states for a while now?\nEric: We're going to try to be on tour for the next year or two, if possible, but we had an offer to go to Australia at the end of the year, and we're gonna try to go back to Japan at the same time. So we're going to tour the US until like November, hopefully go to Australia and Japan, and then come back and do more US dates. Then we're going to try to get to Europe.
So any plans to head back into the studio?\nDel: Man, you drive a hard bargain.\nEric: Well, we have started to write a couple new songs for the next record. We don't want to write songs in the studio, it's better to have your shit together. We can't help but write songs, our daily lives turn into songs.
Tell me a little about your sound. Where do you draw your influences?\nEric: We're a New York City band, you can't help but be influenced by a bunch of the big New York band, like Kiss, the Ramones, Johnny Thunders. Playing in New York and living in New York, that kind of stuff rubs off on you. Some of the funny stuff in the bio is the record label's take, but a lot of it is true. I'm really into the Beatles, Hank Williams, he's a great singer. We love Mötley Crüe, the Misfits. It's a combination of all that shit.
So the part in the bio about Eric kidnapping Del is just a record label creation?\nDel: That's a hundred percent true, actually, it was completely against my will.
So tell me what happened.\nEric: There's this bar in NYC that all three of us hang out at called 3 of Cups. It's the number one little rock dive in town, and when the band was coming together, I needed some badasses in my corner. Del's old band, Band Scouts, had an untimely demise. He had a reputation around town as a crazy motherfucker, so I knew I had to get him in there.
So with a burlap bag and a roll of duct tape, the Sex Slaves were born. J, when did you come into it?\nJ: I had known Del and Eric for a couple years, and we had played together before and written a few songs, and they had fallen out with their original lineup, and I was having trouble with my band at the time, so we got back together. That's where we are now.\nEric: Music is like that. The cream always eventually rises to the top. You can fight it as long as you want. But it was pretty much a no-brainer. We all have the same goals and we're pretty driven.
What are those goals?\nEric: To dominate, you know, to kick ass. Give a good show. It's a big fucking dedication. To move out of your apartment and quit your life and live on the road, but it's what you have to do if you want a record to break.\nDel: You have to jump off the cliff, and nothing less.
Tell me a little more about the newest album. It's been getting good reviews since it came out two weeks ago. And you've got girls in fishnets making out on the cover, which always helps. \nJ: Actually, that's Del and Eric making out on the cover…\nEric: We signed a deal with Radical Records over Christmas this year, and we were in the studio three days later. It's a labor of love. It's the hardest thing I've ever worked on in my life. Our producer, Ray Martin, he does amazing work, but he's a slave driver. He pushed us to our mental and physical limits to get it done. But it's the best thing that ever happened to us.\nDel: A lot of bands, the biggest mistake they make, is that they rush in and lay stuff down. We're emotionally in on every step of it to take it to the next level. It's cliché, but it's true.\nJ: You gotta take chances. We definitely went a lot of different directions, which is always risky, but whenever a really cool record comes out, that's why it's good. It's not predictable. Say what you about Green Day, like them or not, but this new record is a huge risk for them.
What's going to be in the CD player of the tour van this time around?\nJ: I wish we had a CD player in the van.\nEric: Yeah, our CD player got stolen, it was parked in Brooklyn, under the bridge, so right now we're shopping. \nDel: But if we had one, it would have the new Mötorhead album.
Anything else you want to let the readers know?\nEric: Just that we can't wait to get to Bloomington. I hear that place fucking rocks.
