The Sex Slaves are slaves to no one but their music. These guys are loud and dirty and I mean that in the best way possible. People like Gene Simmons, C.C. DeVille, Davey Havoc and Lemmy praise them up. I got a chance to talk to their bassist Del Cheetah about their latest album, Bite Your Tongue.
Buy Bite Your Tongue
Del Cheetah: Hey, whats up man?
Daniel Robert Epstein: Not much. How you doing? You sound sick.
DC: No. I just woke up. Are you in LA?
DRE: No, Im in New York.
DC: Oh. I was just about to say What the fuck are you doing up so early in LA?
DRE: Nope, born and bred here.
What are you up to?
DC: We fucking leave today for tour. So last night was a little bit hectic. It was our last night in the city so we had to maximize our fucking party time so I didnt get home until eight or something this morning. Tonights our first show in Philly. Its the first night of the fucking Winter/Spring Bite Your Tongue tour. Weve got 70 shows coming up in the next three months.
DRE: Holy shit..
DC: Yeah. Were going to do 250 shows this year.
DRE: Where did you guys go party last night?
DC: Most of it was done at Trash. You ever heard of Trash in fucking Brooklyn?
DRE: No. I dont go to Brooklyn.
DC: Its the only place I go in Brooklyn. Its this little place on Grant Street. We played there over the years. Two of our friends own it. Its the place that you roll into and you just cant possibly leave there without being carried out. I dont know what it is about that place, but its probably the fucking owners just pouring free shots down your throat the whole night or something. Its definitely a good place for a going away party.
DRE: Were there Sex Slave groupies there?
DC: There were a few of them there.
DRE: That must be awesome.
DC: Shit, you dont get SuicideGirl groupies?
DRE: Im a writer. What are you kidding?
DC: You dont actually work with them?
DRE: I get to go to parties and stuff where they are sometimes, but its not like they give a crap about me. Plus Im married too.
DC: Right. Ive been married a few times. Its not really all its cracked up to be.
DRE: How old are you?
DC: 26.
DRE: When was that first marriage?
DC: I was 19.
DRE: How long did that last?
DC: About four or five days. Something that.
DRE: So that was to Carmen Electra, then?
DC: Yeah. Very kind of spur of the moment. Its not always a good thing.
DRE: By the third day Im sure it sucked.
DC: It did. I was Fuck that.
DRE: Were you drunk when you got married?
DC: Not really. A little bit but not drunk drunk.
DRE: When did that second marriage happen?
DC: I was drunk for the second one. I used to work for this big company. When I was 22 they sent us to Vegas for this big convention thing. It was the only time in my life I ever had an expense account and it was my first time in Vegas. I totally went overboard and I ran into this girl and she was Ive always had this fantasy about getting married in Vegas. Blah. Blah. Blah. I was there for a week and we hung out for two days and we were just Fuck it. Lets just do it. She lived in Connecticut or something. I lived in New York. I was Perfect. Well just go see each other or whatever. We can meet halfway or whatever. Then after six months we hadnt seen each other once and were Yeah. This is stupid. So we just fucking split up.
DRE: Was there a third marriage?
DC: Yeah. The third one was for a friend of mine who wanted to stay in the country. It was this Russian chick and she needed to get married or she was going to get kicked out. So I married her.
DRE: That was nice of you.
DC: Im technically still married to her but its not a real thing.
DRE: Thats sweet.
DC: Im a romantic at heart.
DRE: Whats the writing process in the band?
DC: Somebody comes with an idea. Sometimes its almost a finished idea. Sometimes its a really rough idea. Then well just hash it out in the studio. Its definitely a process that involves all of us. But Bite Your Tongue was weird because we had had 25 songs that we were playing pretty regularly and when we first started we had another guitar player. We were a four piece and he wrote a lot of shit. We fucking canned him a few months before we signed the deal with Radical Records. So we dropped everything in our repertoire that he had anything to do with, which was a lot of shit. There was a lot of older shit that we just didnt feel was up to par to be on the new record. So we dropped all that shit. When we fucking went through what we had left, we only had five songs left. So actually seven of the songs on Bite Your Tongue were written the month before we went into the studio, which was not really the best way to do shit. But we just fucking really buckled down and put in long hours just to make sure this fucking shit could hold up. I think we got pretty lucky. We were very stoked with the way it came out.
DRE: The production values sound pretty high for the kind of band you guys are.
DC: The shows are very big energetic crazy fucking parties. Some of the record is that too but we wanted to make it sound good enough so people could play it on the radio. If we made it as crazy as fucking a live show it would be a little bit inaccessible. Nobodys going to play something thats just totally fucking crazy and off the wall on the radio and shit. We want to know we at least have that option if the record did well and stuff. So we fucking hired producer Ray Martin. Hes bad ass. Hes done Black Crowes and Iggy Pop. He has a small studio on Shelter Island. About two months into the process he totally fucking regretted it because he had no idea how long it was going to take. By the end of it we fucking hated him and he hated us. But I think anybody who doesnt hate their producer by the end of the record has a producer thats not dong their job. Theyre supposed to push you so fucking hard that you hate them by the end. He busted on us the whole time and we fucking hated him. As soon as it was done and we heard it, were Fuck dude. Ray rocks.
DRE: The albums been out since the summer. How many albums have been sold?
DC: I dont really have any idea how its doing in stores right now. I know how many weve sold on the road. I do know that theres about 15 big radio stations in some markets who have been spinning it like St. Louis, Sioux City, Dallas, Jefferson City. On the road we probably did sold about 5,000 to 6,000 in the last six months. This is still a new record for us. The promotion and shit has really just started. It was a self-release and the radio shit is just picking up now. Its building momentum now. Were happy with what its been doing so far.
DRE: Do you guys have regular jobs when youre not touring?
DC: No. The record came out June 21st. We left July 4th and we got home on Christmas Eve last year. So we were home for two weeks. Then we did a little run through Pennsylvania. Then went out to Miami for the big music convention out there. We definitely dont have time to fit anything else in.
DRE: Howd you hook up with Radical?
DC: Hell probably get mad at me if I tell you. Its kind of illegal. Basically they put out this compilation called New York City Rock and Roll. Wed been playing around New York and we put out two independent CDs that sold out pretty much right away. So they asked us to be the first track on the fucking compilation CD and we did it. We toured with that for a little bit. We were one of the only bands in New York whos fucking touring and shit. Everybody else is just talking shit and sitting around. Thats the kind of band Radical likes to work with. It was a perfect fit. We didnt want a huge crazy deal. We wanted a small label that was going to give us what we needed and we could just keep doing shit ourselves. It worked out fucking perfectly. So we ended up signing up with them. Theyve been really fucking cool the whole time.
DRE: I know you guys have some pretty famous fans like Lemmy and Gene Simmons and all that. Did you guys ever hear from Iggy Pop after you did the cover of Search and Destroy?
DC: Nope, never heard from Iggy. He probably fucking hates it. You should call him up and ask him what he thinks.
DRE: How was doing Search and Destroy though?
DC: I thought it was fucking fun. We didnt want it to sound exactly the original. We wanted to do our own fucking spin on it. We looked up the lyrics and printed them out. Then we just wrote the music by ear and by memory. So thats why it sounds so different. I thought it was fucking great dude. Its one of the heaviest songs on the record and I love playing it.
DRE: You guys play it much live?
DC: It depends on how our throats, especially Erics throat, is feeling. Since we play nearly every night, it can be hard on the voice. So if its a night where weve been feeling rough and a little bit run down from, then well skip it. But if were all feeling good and everything, well bust it out.
DRE: What do you know about SuicideGirls?
DC: Theyre fucking hot.: We ran into this chick who was a SuicideGirl, this chick Jen. We ended up partying. There were these three girls out there that had five rooms at the Hyatt and we ended up partying with them the whole time. We were eating their room service and shit and she was one of them.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy Bite Your Tongue
Del Cheetah: Hey, whats up man?
Daniel Robert Epstein: Not much. How you doing? You sound sick.
DC: No. I just woke up. Are you in LA?
DRE: No, Im in New York.
DC: Oh. I was just about to say What the fuck are you doing up so early in LA?
DRE: Nope, born and bred here.
What are you up to?
DC: We fucking leave today for tour. So last night was a little bit hectic. It was our last night in the city so we had to maximize our fucking party time so I didnt get home until eight or something this morning. Tonights our first show in Philly. Its the first night of the fucking Winter/Spring Bite Your Tongue tour. Weve got 70 shows coming up in the next three months.
DRE: Holy shit..
DC: Yeah. Were going to do 250 shows this year.
DRE: Where did you guys go party last night?
DC: Most of it was done at Trash. You ever heard of Trash in fucking Brooklyn?
DRE: No. I dont go to Brooklyn.
DC: Its the only place I go in Brooklyn. Its this little place on Grant Street. We played there over the years. Two of our friends own it. Its the place that you roll into and you just cant possibly leave there without being carried out. I dont know what it is about that place, but its probably the fucking owners just pouring free shots down your throat the whole night or something. Its definitely a good place for a going away party.
DRE: Were there Sex Slave groupies there?
DC: There were a few of them there.
DRE: That must be awesome.
DC: Shit, you dont get SuicideGirl groupies?
DRE: Im a writer. What are you kidding?
DC: You dont actually work with them?
DRE: I get to go to parties and stuff where they are sometimes, but its not like they give a crap about me. Plus Im married too.
DC: Right. Ive been married a few times. Its not really all its cracked up to be.
DRE: How old are you?
DC: 26.
DRE: When was that first marriage?
DC: I was 19.
DRE: How long did that last?
DC: About four or five days. Something that.
DRE: So that was to Carmen Electra, then?
DC: Yeah. Very kind of spur of the moment. Its not always a good thing.
DRE: By the third day Im sure it sucked.
DC: It did. I was Fuck that.
DRE: Were you drunk when you got married?
DC: Not really. A little bit but not drunk drunk.
DRE: When did that second marriage happen?
DC: I was drunk for the second one. I used to work for this big company. When I was 22 they sent us to Vegas for this big convention thing. It was the only time in my life I ever had an expense account and it was my first time in Vegas. I totally went overboard and I ran into this girl and she was Ive always had this fantasy about getting married in Vegas. Blah. Blah. Blah. I was there for a week and we hung out for two days and we were just Fuck it. Lets just do it. She lived in Connecticut or something. I lived in New York. I was Perfect. Well just go see each other or whatever. We can meet halfway or whatever. Then after six months we hadnt seen each other once and were Yeah. This is stupid. So we just fucking split up.
DRE: Was there a third marriage?
DC: Yeah. The third one was for a friend of mine who wanted to stay in the country. It was this Russian chick and she needed to get married or she was going to get kicked out. So I married her.
DRE: That was nice of you.
DC: Im technically still married to her but its not a real thing.
DRE: Thats sweet.
DC: Im a romantic at heart.
DRE: Whats the writing process in the band?
DC: Somebody comes with an idea. Sometimes its almost a finished idea. Sometimes its a really rough idea. Then well just hash it out in the studio. Its definitely a process that involves all of us. But Bite Your Tongue was weird because we had had 25 songs that we were playing pretty regularly and when we first started we had another guitar player. We were a four piece and he wrote a lot of shit. We fucking canned him a few months before we signed the deal with Radical Records. So we dropped everything in our repertoire that he had anything to do with, which was a lot of shit. There was a lot of older shit that we just didnt feel was up to par to be on the new record. So we dropped all that shit. When we fucking went through what we had left, we only had five songs left. So actually seven of the songs on Bite Your Tongue were written the month before we went into the studio, which was not really the best way to do shit. But we just fucking really buckled down and put in long hours just to make sure this fucking shit could hold up. I think we got pretty lucky. We were very stoked with the way it came out.
DRE: The production values sound pretty high for the kind of band you guys are.
DC: The shows are very big energetic crazy fucking parties. Some of the record is that too but we wanted to make it sound good enough so people could play it on the radio. If we made it as crazy as fucking a live show it would be a little bit inaccessible. Nobodys going to play something thats just totally fucking crazy and off the wall on the radio and shit. We want to know we at least have that option if the record did well and stuff. So we fucking hired producer Ray Martin. Hes bad ass. Hes done Black Crowes and Iggy Pop. He has a small studio on Shelter Island. About two months into the process he totally fucking regretted it because he had no idea how long it was going to take. By the end of it we fucking hated him and he hated us. But I think anybody who doesnt hate their producer by the end of the record has a producer thats not dong their job. Theyre supposed to push you so fucking hard that you hate them by the end. He busted on us the whole time and we fucking hated him. As soon as it was done and we heard it, were Fuck dude. Ray rocks.
DRE: The albums been out since the summer. How many albums have been sold?
DC: I dont really have any idea how its doing in stores right now. I know how many weve sold on the road. I do know that theres about 15 big radio stations in some markets who have been spinning it like St. Louis, Sioux City, Dallas, Jefferson City. On the road we probably did sold about 5,000 to 6,000 in the last six months. This is still a new record for us. The promotion and shit has really just started. It was a self-release and the radio shit is just picking up now. Its building momentum now. Were happy with what its been doing so far.
DRE: Do you guys have regular jobs when youre not touring?
DC: No. The record came out June 21st. We left July 4th and we got home on Christmas Eve last year. So we were home for two weeks. Then we did a little run through Pennsylvania. Then went out to Miami for the big music convention out there. We definitely dont have time to fit anything else in.
DRE: Howd you hook up with Radical?
DC: Hell probably get mad at me if I tell you. Its kind of illegal. Basically they put out this compilation called New York City Rock and Roll. Wed been playing around New York and we put out two independent CDs that sold out pretty much right away. So they asked us to be the first track on the fucking compilation CD and we did it. We toured with that for a little bit. We were one of the only bands in New York whos fucking touring and shit. Everybody else is just talking shit and sitting around. Thats the kind of band Radical likes to work with. It was a perfect fit. We didnt want a huge crazy deal. We wanted a small label that was going to give us what we needed and we could just keep doing shit ourselves. It worked out fucking perfectly. So we ended up signing up with them. Theyve been really fucking cool the whole time.
DRE: I know you guys have some pretty famous fans like Lemmy and Gene Simmons and all that. Did you guys ever hear from Iggy Pop after you did the cover of Search and Destroy?
DC: Nope, never heard from Iggy. He probably fucking hates it. You should call him up and ask him what he thinks.
DRE: How was doing Search and Destroy though?
DC: I thought it was fucking fun. We didnt want it to sound exactly the original. We wanted to do our own fucking spin on it. We looked up the lyrics and printed them out. Then we just wrote the music by ear and by memory. So thats why it sounds so different. I thought it was fucking great dude. Its one of the heaviest songs on the record and I love playing it.
DRE: You guys play it much live?
DC: It depends on how our throats, especially Erics throat, is feeling. Since we play nearly every night, it can be hard on the voice. So if its a night where weve been feeling rough and a little bit run down from, then well skip it. But if were all feeling good and everything, well bust it out.
DRE: What do you know about SuicideGirls?
DC: Theyre fucking hot.: We ran into this chick who was a SuicideGirl, this chick Jen. We ended up partying. There were these three girls out there that had five rooms at the Hyatt and we ended up partying with them the whole time. We were eating their room service and shit and she was one of them.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
courtneyriot:
The Sex Slaves are slaves to no one but their music. These guys are loud and dirty and I mean that in the best way possible. People like Gene Simmons, C.C. DeVille,...
roza:
oh delmar...you are such a nerd sometimes.