Interview: Matt Chrystal Talks with LG of Thelma & The Sleaze Who Play Baby's All Right on 7/4 & Mercury Lounge on 7/5

Thelma & The Sleaze at The Saint

SleazeCloud, Wave 1

By Matt Chrystal

Earlier this year, two of Nashville's biggest independent bands, Thelma & The Sleaze and Birdcloud, embarked on a joint trek through the U.S. on the aptly named SleazeCloud tour. The tour was a powerful statement of empowerment for the feminist movement in rock n roll as well as for independent bands in general.

The SleazeCloud combo made some big noise and drew in some big crowds, thanks to their combined DIY work ethic as well as through a grassroots campaign that generated a reverberating buzz on social media platforms as and by word of mouth.

While the joint tour may have recently wrapped up, the SleazeCould party continues on into New Jersey this week thanks to the efforts of Little Dickman Records, who are celebrating their fifth anniversary this summer by bringing both bands into Asbury Park in two separate hard hitting waves.

Wave 1 hit when Thelma & The Sleaze rocked the Saint on June 30th. Frontwoman, Lauren Gilbert aka LG, captivated the crowd with soaring guitar solos, hilarious anecdotes between songs that ranged from vulgar to ridiculous, and led the band on an all-out rock n roll assault on the senses.

I caught up with LG of Thelma & The Sleaze just a few hours before she took the stage at the Saint to talk about her favorite moments from the SleazeCloud tour, the long road to releasing TATS latest album, Somebody's Doin' Something; and we also touch on her sobriety, her love for spandex, and her thoughts on politics.

CoolMattyC: Thelma & The Sleaze are known for live shows that are a mix of punk attitude and full force rock n roll; but your new album, Somebody's Doin' Something, spotlights your vocals and shows a bluesy side of the band. Was that the intention with this record?

Lauren Gilbert: I don't think there was really all that much intention behind the album. I had to write all of those songs really fast because Dave Catching from Eagles of Death Metal offered to record us, and he only had two weeks open to do it because he is super busy. So I had about two months to put it all together. I decided to just go for more straightforward, classic rock songs. "Lucy" and "No Time" were the only songs I had ready at that point, and so I wrote the rest of the songs in less than a month so that I had something to take out there.

I wanted to leave the arrangements open so that we could add in the textures and also focus on the vocals, because I actually sing more on this record than I usually do.

I made a Spotify playlist of bands that I really love like Tom Petty, Thin Lizzy, Eddie Money, and just some cool rockers and gave it to the girls that were playing on the record, and I was like everybody needs to listen to this before we start recording.

CMC: Somebody's Doin' Something was recorded in 2015 and was finally released in June 2017 on Last Hurrah / Burger Records. Can you talk about the long road that led to its eventual release?

LG: Basically, being in a band is a lot of fuckin work, dude. It sucks sometimes cause I put so much time and energy into it. But once the record started coming together I was like, "Whoa, this is pretty fucking cool;" and I felt like it really needed to be put out there. I could have done it myself a long time ago, but I wanted it to get put out there by a label.

At the same time, I also did not want to compromise my integrity or my ownership over the record. I tried to pick a label to work with that were cool with that and supportive of me so that we could both make some money and, oh yeah, put out a cool record!

So yeah. We thought we were getting signed by a certain label and this label would put the record out but then that fell through. Then our van broke down. Then the drummer and the bass player who played on the record both left the band, so I had to deal with that. Then came a whole debacle about the mixing and the mastering of the album in terms of money, so I had to pull that money outta my ass. Then there were delays on the production end. That's the thing with trying to work with a label to make a record: If somebody brings something up, it takes a month to resolve that shit. People have to go back and forth about it then send it up to someone else then redo it and it gets sent back to some other person to get talked about.

So, I had to get a new van. I had to find new girls to play with. We did a movie, and just a lot has gone on and by the time I looked up it was like two years later… and I was like, fuck.

But that's just the way it is, and I'm glad it didn't work out with that original label because it wouldn't have come out the way I wanted.

I think the record is special, and I am just hoping it just gets more of a grassroots buzz going around it because I really want people to hear it.

CMC: You mentioned a TATS movie, could you share some details on that project. Is it a documentary, concert film, erotic thriller, action movie or what?

LG:  It's called Kandyland: The Movie. We played 31 shows in 29 days around Nashville at spots ranging from music clubs to laundromats to laser tag places. At each gig, we handed out raffle tickets; and, at the final gig, we raffled off our tour bus. [Seth Graves] offered to film us, and we are hoping to show it before some of our shows on this tour.

CMC: The previous leg of tour in support of the record had TATS paired up with Nashville's Birdcloud and was aptly dubbed the SleazeCloud Tour. From following along with you on social media, it seems like the pairing was a perfect match and also seems like a lot of fun…

LG: I thought that more would be said about that tour while it was going on, but it really wasn't. We have both been on larger tours as support acts and paid our dues in that respect. But this tour was two, independent, female-fronted bands playing really good sized venues to some really big crowds and clearing some substantial money. Neither of our bands are on a label. We were doing all this on our own. As women and being musicians who have worked really hard for a long time, this was a pretty big statement. That was a huge deal for both of us.

CMC: To keep the party raging, the SleazeCloud tour also included Brooklyn's Ex-Girlfriends for support on some of the dates …

LG: Yeah. We were able to bring out Ex-Girlfriends for a couple of shows and they were able to eat, get paid, and kick ass. I was just really fuckin proud of the whole thing.

The whole thing was a fucking blast. We all went with the theme of taking things to the next level. Each band was trying to set the standard for the night, and we all were just throwing down. There was no faking it. Each night, we were all trying to top each other. It was awesome.

CMC: Now that it just wrapped up, what are your favorite moments or reflections from being on the road with all those ladies?

LG: At the end of Birdcloud's set, we would come out with them and cover "Zombie" by the Cranberries.

We did it because one of their songs sounds kinda like "Zombie," and I was joking that we should all just do "Zombie;" but then I realized that is a really topical song to be playing during these times. Ya know, 'cause there are capitalist fuckin pigs starting wars and killing people for no reason.

After our set, Bircloud and Ex-Girldfriends would join us for Leslie Gore's "You Don’t Own Me." I also realized that song is like one of the first ever female punk rock songs. It is totally punk, down to its core.

People were freaking out, because no one ever sees twelve badass girls out on stage just belting out a song together. It was all just really cool.

There was also some really cool, really sleazy, really dirty things going on that I am not gonna talk about now. Once the check is in the bag and the van is in the driveway, shit happens! That stuff will all be in my autobiography, How Many Fingers?

CMC: Looking forward to that! So speaking of sleazy, dirty stuff…  Similar to your pals in Birdcloud, TATS material is often tongue-in-cheek. Live performances can be in-your-face, and stage banter may be best described as "locker room talk."

Do you ever experience audiences that just "do not get it?" And, if so, does that become motivation for you to win them over or does it become fuel to make you go at it even harder as "fuck you" to them?

LG: In my own way, I am up there being very genuine. All of my songs are about actual experiences that I have had. My stage banter makes me comfortable, and I think it actually draws people in. It's like I'm stroking them on the arm before I punch them. I get people that come up to me after a show, and they tell me that the show was really funny, or it was really sexy or that it was really balls to the wall. That's because people will always take away what they want from the performance and I don't get to choose that for them but I do give them a lot of options.

All my songs are basically about fucking, and I am up there baring my soul so it just makes it a little more comfortable if I can say, "Hey guys, have you ever been in 1976 RV, listening to some tunes while getting head from a girl in a cashmere sweater? You have? Cool! Well that's what this song is about."

I'm not writing songs about coming of age. That's not what Thelma & The Sleaze is about. I have played in a lot of other bands, but I love Thelma & The Sleaze because I love the content, the personas, and the energy. I don't think you get that anywhere else.

Thelma & The Sleaze at The Saint

CMC: In addition to the joint tours, there is much social media love and promotion shared amongst TATS, Birdcloud, Margo Price, former members of Those Darlins, etc. Do you feel this is the emergence of an all new "girls club" that is tearing down walls and breaking through the glass ceiling of the "boys club" of the Nashville music scene? Or are you of the idea, that artists should simply be called artists?

LG: I think the numbers speak for themselves. Margo Price is doing incredibly well. BirdCloud is doing great. We are doing great. I don't think it's all about gender. I think it's more about camaraderie. We just play shows, and we are out there fuckin doing it. We all worked our asses off and look where we are, so we should and do support each other.

I have never equated any success I have had to Nashville or being from the Nashville scene. Sure, we have a lot of southern elements to us; but, at the end of the day, we do well because we are out there touring.

I do well because I am out there touring not because I am in Nashville sucking somebody's penis.
Musicians like Birdcloud, Those Darlins, Margo Price have done well because they don't sit around Nashville and only play at the 5 Spot.

I think Nashville used to be more supportive and, at one time, was an incubator for badass ladies; but some of the girls who play there now are not like the bands we mentioned and they choose to be competitive and don't have that camaraderie, and it is stifling. And so I thought the SleazeCloud tour was a great statement to say to all of them "Bye! See what can happen when you work together!"

CMC: If this is too personal, we can move along, but I noticed you made a social media post touting your sobriety, which -- I have to be honest -- came as a surprise just because it might appear as if the non-stop party that is Thelma & The Sleaze would include some indulging in spirits. With all that said, how has sobriety impacted your writing and your performances? And is it a challenge when being out on the road as relentlessly as TATs have been?

LG: It's not too personal. No one has ever really asked me about it because I think most people do assume when they see me naked and crawling around on things that I am drunk, but I have never mixed touring and drinking. I do not need booze to be sexual or confident.

I have been sober for five years now and that's a pretty good amount of time. I originally got sober when I turned 17 and was able to stay sober until about 25. But then I drank for about a year and quit again. Drinking is not reflective of anything in my life except for a short period of time during that one year when I would get blackout drunk and stick things in my… nevermind.

But, really, drinking has never been a big part of my life because I am just really bad at it. I really like being sober more than I like being drunk. I wish I could have just one beer when I am out, but I just never can. They are delicious and make me feel like Super Woman on the inside, but on the outside I look and act like an idiot.

It's really hard on the road because I am constantly surrounded by booze, but I always try to remember a simple thing that I learned in AA which is to tell myself if I still feel like I need to drink, then wait and have that drink tomorrow. Every time I do that, I wake up the next day and am so thankful that I did not have a drink. I have to be on point and stay focused. I have put in too much hard work and I do not want to spend my life in a bar.

CMC: On a less serious note, I have to ask about your Bruce Lee / Uma Thurman-inspired jumpsuit. I assume it's an homage to the badassness of Uma Thurman's character "Beatrix Potter" in the film, Kill Bill. How hard was it to track down something like that or did you have it specially made for you?

LG: I had it specially made by my friend Maria. She is a seamstress that makes really badass stuff. I called her up and told her I needed a Kill Bill suit. I only wear it for super special occasions. On the Eagles of Death Metal tour, there were a bunch of sold-out shows; so I wore it often on that tour.
Come to think of it, we sold out two shows on the SleazeCloud tour; and I should have brought my suit to wear. Shame on me for not thinking higher of myself that we would sell those places out!

But yeah, it fits like a glove and I love it. I either want to be naked or in a spandex suit. I want to be comfortable on stage and be able to climb shit. I don't wanna worry about jeans falling off or ripping when kicking or jumping around on stage. I need to either be naked or in spandex!

CMC: Ok back to being serious. With the July 4th holiday looming, I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on the current political climate in today's America and what are your hopes for the future?

LG: People would rather see a dog be president than a woman, and that is fucked up. Sexism is real. Donald Trump is an idiot dog. Don't get me wrong. I do love dogs. I have a dog named Waffles, and he is very sweet. But the dog I am talking about is a guttural, sexist, capitalist, old, saggy, bald motherfucker running shit; and that is just bad… all because people did not want to see a woman as president.

And, lately, it seems like it all boils down to fear. People are trying to make people scared of other people, and that is making shit get dangerous. These are scary times but we cannot let fear dictate how we treat each other.

People like to go on about how proud they are to be free, but they do not realize that if they are not open to other people and not open to diversity, then they are really repressed and ignorant.
Don't be scared of your neighbors. Don't be scared of your brothers or sisters. Try to reach out to people. Try to treat people well, and try and be as self-sufficient and non-reliant on pigs as you possibly can.

You got me all fired up now and should have cut me off a while ago, but I will just say this:
As an artist, as a performer, and as southern woman, I am going to continue use my voice to preach love, diversity, acceptance, and hope, and not fear. Just be good to each other.

Somebody’s Doin’ Something is out now on Last Hurrah/Burger Records.
Thelma & The Sleaze will be performing:

July 4th Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY
July 5th Mercury Lounge in NYC (w/ Ex-Girlfriends)

For more info go to: www.ThelmaandtheSleaze.com

Sunday Funday with Puffs, Little Dickman Records, and Asbury Park Brewery

Thelma & The Sleaze

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday...

I am a very lazy person by nature. Just ask CoolMom how much I get done around the house on any given day. Hint: Not a lot.

But I have my moments: Bopping from show to show taking 100s of pictures at South By Southwest or Northside Festival. Editing all those 100s of pictures in one, long sitting. Cleaning an entire winter's worth of rodent droppings out of the shed and sanitizing the whole area. And days like yesterday.

I got up pretty early for a Sunday; and, determined to inject a little exercise back into my life, went for an early-morning bike ride down to the beach. It's, literally, one of my favorite things to do; and I've gotta do it more often. Like daily. It was a stunningly beautiful day; and, on days like that, I'm just blown away when I stop and think that we live right next to the frigging Atlantic Ocean.

Anyway...

After I got back home and got myself together, the coolfamily and I headed into the Big City to see the Off-Broadway play, Puffs. It's a Harry Potter parody focusing on the lowly Hufflepuffs. The producers are very careful to avoid any form of copyright infringement, which makes for some pretty good jokes by itself. I think if you're super into the Harry Potter books and movies, you'll love the play. I thought it was pretty funny and have only a passing knowledge. The CoolDaughters guffawed the whole time. It's definitely a PG-13 (at least) production, so there were a couple moments when I questioned our decision to bring CoolDaughter #2. She's the real Potter expert, though, so we had to.

Then it was a somewhat stressful drive back to Jersey followed by the quick wolfing down of some leftovers and right out to Asbury Park for simultaneous shows at The Saint and Asbury Park Brewery. Our (very NOT lazy) friends over at Little Dickman Records were hosting the party at The Saint, and I hadn't been inside Asbury Park Brewery since it was still a gutted cavern of a space.

The Saint and the brewery share the same block in Asbury, and it's a matter of walking halfway around said block any time you want to move between the two. Doing this, I managed to catch sets from Erotic Novels (Brewery), Tight Lipped (Saint), Lady Bits (Brewery), Basic Bitches (Brewery), and Thelma & The Sleaze (Saint).

I'll sum it up as punk, glam punk, punk, riot grrrl, and garage rock. For me, the whole evening had that kind of exhilarating, festival-type feeling of trying to time things so I could catch particular bands at particular times. It also came with the disappointment of not being able to see everyone I wanted to (I missed sets from Darkwing and Little Vicious because of being only one person.) which is always part of that whole experience.

All the bands were good. New Brunswick punks, Erotic Novels, though (And they totally, 100% didn't tell me to say this while we were all standing in front of the big picture of Joey Ramone at the brewery. Honest.), were real standouts for the evening. Honestly, they played a really good set; and I'm not quite sure how I hadn't seen them yet.

Erotic Novels

Tight Lipped are a trio fronted, primarily, by TV Tramps' Joy Vay. They exude all the punk energy that fact would imply. The crowd at The Saint -- me included -- really dug them.

Tight Lipped

Brooklyn's Lady Bits were playing their last-ever show with their current drummer, and the friendship and camaraderie among the three women in the band was clear from the beginning of the set. They love making music together, and that spilled out into the crowd.

Lady Bits

Basic Bitches are now Naomi Scott (who had a birthday yesterday, I think) on guitar and vocals and Nick D'Amore (Overlake, Mr. Payday) on drums. The pair mesh really well, delivering the songs from their recenlty-released City Slackers with ferocity; and this incarnation of the band is the best I've seen so far.

Basic Bitches

Finally, Thelma & The Sleaze -- playing as a three-piece for this show -- absolutely burned up the stage at The Saint. Not only is singer / guitarist, LG, a rock and roll frontperson who ranks right up there with the very best; but LG also has the funniest stage banter I've ever heard.

Thelma & The Sleaze

When it was all done, I was exhausted. I'm starting to think I may be too old and lazy to be doing all of that stuff.

You can check out the rest of the pics in the usual spots if I ever get off my lazy ass and get them uploaded.

Cool Matty C's Top 5 Oh! Snap! Shows of 2016

Oh! Snap! What a year for Fruit & Flowers

Oh! Snap!

by Matt Chrystal

2016 will probably be remembered by most for some real WTF! Moments but there were still a ton of good times and a whole bunch of great shows that made me say "OH! SNAP!"

For my "Best of 2016 List," I figured I take a look back on some of the touring acts that came through the area this year.

Geez. Do you have any idea how hard it is to narrow down a year's worth of radness and badassery down to only 5 Oh! Snap! Shows???

Does anyone still say Oh! Snap!??

Did anyone ever say Oh! Snap!??

The phrase is an exclamation of surprise, happiness, and many other emotions.
See also "Wow!" "Whoa!" and "OMG!"

Well anyways, these are the 5 shows that I went to in 2016 that made me say "Oh! Snap!"


1. Matthew Logan Vasquez at the Saint in Asbury Park, NJ. July 27, 2016

The former frontman of Delta Spirit, Matthew Logan Vasquez, had just played a critically-acclaimed guest-filled set at the Newport Folk Fest and then played in front of thousands when he reunited with John McCauley of DeerTick and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes to perform a set as the indie-supergroup, Middle Brother. Next stop: A solo show at the Saint in Asbury Park.

In an interview prior to his coming to the Garden State, I asked MLV how he psychs himself up for small club gigs again after playing such giant events. He responded with, "I love clubs. I cut my teeth in clubs. Clubs are the real thing. It's not bloated. It's just real connection the whole time. Homie, more clubs please!"

But really what else was he going to say, right?

Turns out there was nothing else he coulda said, shoulda said or needed to say.

Clad in Hawaiian shirts, MLV and his band took to the stage, looked out at the maybe dozen folks that came out on this Wednesday night and proceeded to blow the roof of the place! And he looked like he was having the time of his life doing it.

The band tore through a mix of tunes from his Solicitor Returns album, his Austin EP, some Middle Brother songs and a few choice covers. He took requests, jumped on the bar, and slow danced with the bartender as he led a sing-along in honor of her birthday. He let audience members take over on lead vocals, invited the opening act (Brother Andrew) back up to play and even got the crowd to partner up for a some country two-stepping. At points during the show, he stood triumphant atop the drum kit while getting everything he could out of his guitar.

He closed the show by shredding and screaming out a cover of "In the Pines" that would have made Leadbelly and Kurt Cobain jump up, high-five and say "Oh! Snap!"

2. Thelma & the Sleaze at APYC in Asbury Park, NJ. May 5, 2016

Little Dickman Records came through big time in bringing the goods to Asbury Park in 2016. They somehow got Nashville’s Thelma & the Sleaze to come play a free show at APYC on their night off from touring with Eagles of Death Metal. Oh! Snap!

The band was absolutely killer in every great way possible. Throughout their set, I pictured them as vampire vixens straight out of some Tarantino film where they seduce the entire crowd with their music and stage show, only to destroy all the fools for even thinking they had a chance to get close to them. Then they throw back some jars of moonshine and go right back to playing rock n roll. Ok, I'm getting lost in my own fantasy here but TATS put on an intense, fun show that can seriously kick everyone's ass.

Also, you should follow them on Instagram and Twitter as front-woman, LG will keep you entertained with every ridiculous video she posts. Oh, and they just put out an Xmas Sampler with the soon to be hits "StripClub Christmas" and "Buttstuff."

3. Fruit & Flowers at the Anchor’s Bend in Asbury Park, NJ. July 8, 2016

Again, Little Dickman Records introduced me to so many great new emerging indie-bands in 2016.

Fruit & Flowers blew me away at LDR’s summer showcase which also featured Sharkmuffin and a surprise set from San Diego’s The Soaks.

Fruit & Flowers are the kind of band, that back in the day, I would have stayed up all night to catch them on MTV’s 120 Minutes or I would have called in to request them on the Video Jukebox Channel (anyone remember that one?)!

They are a band that I would make sure to track down at a festival, get there early for if they are opening a show or stick around for if they are playing late.

The sun hadn’t even set in the background of the patio they were performing on, and it felt like they were playing their last show ever and had to make it count. Frontwoman, Caroline Yoder, was completely immersed in the moment and the music and had the moves like Jagger even while getting herself totally wrapped up in the microphone wire. The band was pretty damn amazing. Oh! Snap! I couldn’t get enough.

4. Xponential Music Fest (Day 1) at the Camden Waterfront in Camden, NJ. July 22, 2016

Oh! Snap! A major festival with a diverse line-up of exceptional talent that I didn't have to travel across the country for!

I stood on stage and watched as White Denim attempted to match the intensity of the July sun with a blazing hot set of psych and fuzz that made me wonder why they were opening the fest instead of headlining it.

Father John Misty treated the crowd to a verbal tirade about taking a moment to be "profoundly sad" and then went on to rage against the symbolism of having a warship floating in the harbor as a backdrop to a festival which he stated was more like a cookout than a rock concert.

He played one rambling impromptu song with no chorus followed by a few more political tirades and covered Leonard Cohen’s "Bird on a Wire" before walking off stage leaving a baffled audience in his wake.

Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle were up next. And just like their album, I felt the duo just did not work. Colvin sounded strong but Earle reminded me of someone’s dad singing along to the radio in the car. I just wanted him to be quiet so I could hear the actual song.

Night fell and attendees were herded into the pavilion where Kurt Vile put on a solid set that segued in and out of folky dreamscapes and Crazy Horse-esque reverb soaked jams.

Day 1's headliner, Ryan Adams, came out and made a joke that Vile's hair looked like "two mops had crashed into each other." The crowd was still bewildered from Father John Misty's set earlier in the day and had almost zero reaction.

Adams won everyone over quickly with witty stage banter, self-deprecating humor and, most importantly, with an epic set of music that spanned his vast catalogue. Die-hard fans were satiated and new converts were made with every heroically posed guitar solo.

Adams has been a target of Father John Misty on twitter in recent times, and I felt that he made it his personal mission to take the attention away from that train-wreck that was FJM's earlier "show" and put on a performance that would leave everyone talking. Oh! Snap! Mission accomplished!

5. Joe Fletcher at 10th Ave Burrito Company in Belmar, NJ. November 13, 2016

Singer-songwriter and alt-country folkie, Joe Fletcher, is my hero so I had a lot of fanboy Oh! Snap! moments at this early afternoon show. It was cool just to see him play at a taco joint in Belmar, but I got all giddy like a schoolgirl when he gave me a shout-out saying he enjoyed my interview with him and about how I had reminded him about a few songs he hadn't played in years so he was going to play them now. Also, in my interview with him, I likened his songwriting to my other heroes like Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt,; so when he covered a song from each of those artists, I went from saying "Oh! Snap! This is awesome! This is awesome!" over and over in my head to actually yelling it out loud. By the time he encored with "I'd Never," the other patrons had finally turned away from watching football and left the free buffet to sing along to the chorus, "I'd never gotten on this ship if I'd known it was gonna take me home. I was never meant for life on land and I can't make it on my own."

Oh! Snap! That was a good show… and some good tacos!

Honorable Mentions:

Band of Horses at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ. June 7, 2016

During their Acoustic/Electric Mirage Rock Tour in 2012, Band of Horses played a set of music at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC that sounded so beautiful I was moved to tears (Hey, shut up. I’m a sensitive guy).

Fast forward to June 2016, I was walking into Vintage Vinyl to grab a copy of BOH’s new album, Why Are You Ok?, when I saw a poster on the door that the band was playing a free in-store performance that evening.

Oh! Snap! Why is Band of Horses playing in Fords, NJ?! How did I not know about this?
Who cares! I know now!

They played a great acoustic set that lasted a little over thirty minutes with selections coming from several of their albums. I wasn't moved to tears at this one (and, to be honest, I still have yet to connect with the new album) but I got to experience this intimate show in a local record store with my three year old daughter on my shoulders so it was a still a special Oh! Snap! show for me in 2016.