Get to know the French horror metal band, Sleazyz!
Hello Sleazyz, thanks for your time. Would it be possible to introduce your band to our readers, as well as your roles in it? Hello, we are Sleazyz, a horror metal punk band from Troyes, France. Fred Dee Ceased (lead vocals/bass) David Ripper (lead guitar and backing vocals), Speed (drums) and myself Ileana Pandemonium Rodriguez (rhythm guitars and backing vocals). With a worldwide pandemic going on, how have you handled the management of your band over the past few months? Well, with a lot of patience, anger and frustration. It’s been really rough. We recorded March of the Dead in January 2020… If someone would have told us that two months later, we were in lockdown, I think the recording would have never taken place. So, we were force to adapt, like many other bands. The net was crucial on our album release. For example, all the interviews were by skype or email. Almost all the promotion of the album was through webzines, web tv, webradios. We had some papers reviews but mostly online. The CD version was sold online via our website. So, people played the game and after all, we are happy about it. We were really lucky to work with Roger from Replica Promotion. He knew how to handle things fast during these terrible times. You've recently unveiled your album, “March of the Dead”. Where did you find your overall inspiration for this record? The overall inspiration comes from our fascination with horror movies, books and our day life experience. Malleus Malleficarum, it’s about how witches take revenge on their tormentors, Chaos n Destruction and Wanna say are a critic to our society. March of the Dead album presents a terrifying and entertaining world where monsters and creatures have an incisive and biting gaze of today society. Any funny stories to share from your recording or writing sessions? Of course! It was an amazing experience for us. You have to know that it was our first professional studio recording! We recorded 10 songs in 5 days. A lot of pressure but fun! A funny story to share is when I was reviewing the lyrics at the control room and I wasn’t satisfied with some of them. I started to panic, and I started to write new verses while Dee Ceased was recording his lead voices on other songs. So, just before entering the live room again, I told him « ohh I made some small adjustments on the next two songs ». He was ok, but when he entered and read the « small adjustments » at the live studio, he was mad!! Because it was actually a new verse to memorize (laughs)! In the end, he was happy. Maz, our sound studio engineer, was really great with us! He knew how to handle the sessions and us as well! Between the broken bass strings from Dee Ceased in a middle of a recording session, and my new verses added at the last minute… He had a lot of patience with all of us! Is there one song that, according to you, best reflects the overall spirit of this record? If yes, which one and why? I think it’s “March of the Dead”. Because this song reflects our universe. Music and horror movies. First of all, the song starts with a zombie horde eating fresh meat and just after, the song begins directly with the chorus that is a catchy one. March of the Dead is metal, punk and sleaze. I loved the messy sound of this song. All our music influences are there. The lyrics also are fun, a zombie love song with a bitter end. Can we talk about the process of creating the artwork of your album and the overall idea behind this visual? Fred Dee Ceased knew Jess X when he was living in Saint-Ouen. They were in the same horror movies scene in Paris with Metaluna store and Distorsion. I met him at a Halloween party that we organized in 2019. We invited him to show some of his drawings and posters. His iconography is really what Sleazyz is all about. Classical horror movies from the 80s, with all the sleaze imagery. So, we asked him to work on the album cover. We exchanged some ideas and then he came to us with this fantastic cover, with us like demons and zombies and the classical haunted house behind us. I worked on all the graphic design of the album. We are really happy with the result.
I’m sure you are, like a lot of people, missing live shows. Do you already have some dates planned for 2021? Yes, we miss lives show a lot! We did a live streaming on October 1st at Chapelle Argence in Troyes. We have some dates planned for July, September, October and November. We hope that everything is going to be ok! We will be at Furious Metal Fest at Monster’s Art at Fréjus with Porno Graphic Messiah, Jades, Silmeria and Drop Dead. On September 11th, we’ll have our party release with High-School Motherf**ckers at Chapelle Argence, Troyes. After, we will be playing in Paris at the Klub on September 17th also with Porno Graphic Messiah and High-School Motherf**ckers. We are going to announce soon our tour dates! Of course, if the health measures allow them… We hope we are not going to be stuck in this Covid madness forever! To finish, what is one lesson you’ve learned that you think is important to pass onto other bands? To focus and enjoy the music as much as you can! To rehearse a lot and to go out to see live concerts and have a hell of a time! Thanks for your time!
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