The Sloths are back from the grave
In 1965, five teenage boys stepped on stage of the famed Pandora’s Box on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. The Sloths were born. Now, over half-a-century after they released their lone single, they have finally, finally dropped their debut album! Cherry Anna Brearley talks to Tom McLoughlin from the band:
Hey guys. How’s it going? What’s going on in your world today?
Our SLOTHY World is moving at its usual sloth pace…slow BUT sure. Took over 50 years to get us back together. So we are enjoying every second. Lots of cool things coming up including coming to Europe!!
You guys formed in 1964. Holy. Moly. What was L.A like at that time? Was it just like the movies? What was the music scene like then… and, forming a band, what sort of opportunities did the music industry have for rock and rollers at the time, what was the dream?
Yes, it was like in the movies! Espectially since we were all 14 to 16yrs old so it was like living in a rock and roll fantasy. I was front row at the Monterey Pop Festival to see all those legendary performers. Mike was at the TAMI show seeing The Stones and James Brown. We played ALL the Sunset Strip venues opening for the now legendary bands The Doors, The Seeds, Love, Plus visiting bands like The Animals and Pink Floyd. Our dream??
Hell, to be the American Stones, Who, Yardbirds… to have girls and fame….and more girls. Hey, we were teenagers!! Every record company was trying to find the next big rock band. We, like everyone else, wanted it to be us.
What were the bands and sounds in those days to draw influence from?
Nothing but influences!! The Beatles without question. The Stones. The Kinks. The Who. Jimi Hendrix. The great American blues artists Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy… on and on!!
Your initial success reached relative cult status because it was so short lived. What were you guys all up to all throughout the 70s and early 80s? And why the decision to reform?
We all went into other bands after we split up in 1966. Some of the guys quit music and became lawyers, plumblers, or business men. But most stayed in music on some level. Mike joined the famed rockabilly band The Kingbees. I went off to Paris in 1970 to study with mime Marcel Marceau to be a more unique visual rock singer. Then in the 80s I became a filmmaker writing and directing Friday the 13th Jason Lives in 1986 plus 40 other films. Ray and George played in numerous bands. Mike also had a band rehearsal studio he ran. We all did whatever you could to survive and have families. THEN in 2011 The Sloths 45rpm MAKIN LOVE sold on eBay of $6500 and we only then learned it was a cult classic. THAT brought us back together.
I think it’s pretty funny of you to have playfully named your 2015 album Back from the Grave. Is it a tongue in cheek album, and why did it feel like time to release an album?
It’s our dark humor. I call us a ‘Death Defying Act’. In our mid-60s we should not be pushing the edge of the rock envelope. We play now with more passion and sweat then we did as teens. Many of the songs on the album do have a sense of tongue in cheek but we truly are hard rock zombies back from an early grave to.. ‘Rock ‘til We Drop’.
What’ve you been doing since the album came out? In both Sloth band and Sloth animal time-frames, it’s a pretty short length of time, but in music industry terms, 3 years is a long time to doze. What’s next for the band?
The dream of rockstardom was buried deep. But fate intervened and now we are actually living out teenager dream. So the SLOTH MESSAGE to all you reading this is DON’T EVER GIVE UP YOUR DREAM!
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You can get the album at The Sloths’ website.
Interview by Cherry Anna Brearley.
