OC Music Awards 2012: Slime Kings Aren’t “Your Typical Ska Band”

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ It's all about community and energy. And wanting another drink and being broke.
” Eric from Slime Kings Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“We didn’t want to just be a punk band. We’ve all been punk bands or rock bands or something like that. Now everyone loves everything; everyone wants to dabble in a little of everything,” said eclectically-influenced Orange County band, Slime Kings.

With influences like the “Clash, old soul, punk, jazz” and tinges of reggae scattered throughout their music, Slime Kings is definitely not a straight-ahead punk rock band. And according to guitarist and vocalist Adam, they’re also “not your typical ska band.”

Sucking down the last remnants of his Jack and Coke (and hinting a few times for another one), lead singer Eric admits to not “liking” a ska song they were playing in the car and said he “didn’t listen to any punk or any ska before these guys.”

“But I was their friend,” Eric continued. “I was in another band that was progressive rock and we would play shows together at this house that we lived at…Eventually, things happened and I was a huge fan of theirs. As I joined the band, they started teaching me more of their influences and I just grew to love them. It’s all about community and energy. And wanting another drink and being broke.”

“ It's cool that we're doing all this with a demo out...We're definitely taking our time with the album, doing it right. Definitely taking a lot longer than we thought it would, but it's worth it...Recording made us a lot better.
” Joined by Max on bass and vocals and Mike on drums, Slime Kings has been together, albeit in different forms, since about 2008, but are just now putting out their first full-length album which they dub a “new-and-improved version of the demo.”

The new album will feature fourteen songs, some of them from the demo, but with “professional takes” and their a “secret” weapon–which they can’t revel.

“It’s cool that we’re doing all this with a demo out,” said Slime Kings about their OC Music Awards nomination. “We’re definitely taking our time with [the album], doing it right. Definitely taking a lot longer than we thought it would, but it’s worth it…Recording made us a lot better.”

Slime Kings said that writing music is the “best part” because “everybody’s got something to bring to the table” and the songwriting process is a “democracy.”

“All of us have a stack of songs that we’re just waiting to put out, that we’re working on personally,” explained the band.

“ And it took us a long time to write, but when it finally got finished, you can't really tell what it's about, but it makes you feel creepy.
” “Adam just comes up with a riff or he’s got an idea for a song and the music just kind of comes together. Whoever jumps on it first and says, ‘Hey, I got lyrics to this‘ then will throw those on the table.’”

“I think the feel of a song,” elucidated Eric, “the notes will give a face to it and then we’ll come up with it. Like, we wrote a song called ‘Creep & Crawl.’ He [points to Max] goes, ‘This kind of reminds me of a creepy thing, like dudes after the sun comes down creeping around and stuff.’ And all of us just lit up and thought, ‘Alright. Let’s start writing the song.’”

“And it took us a long time to write, but when it finally got finished, you can’t really tell what it’s about, but it makes you feel creepy.”