Minneapolis’s The Sleaze are a band. Unless they aren’t.
Either way, they’ve put out a string of great 7”s, leading up to
a fantastic 12”, Tecktonik Girlz, that came out on Total Punk
a few months ago. They blew away the few people watching
their set at our SXSW showcase, and sat down with us to
answer a few questions afterwards, even though they told us
that they’re “really bad at interviews.”
--Miranda Fisher
So are you guys a real band or not? It seems like you’re
always breaking up and then not breaking up.
Mark: I think someone said that we were never a real band, so.
Connor: We’re not a real band.
Joe: Yeah, we are!
Will: We’re a real band!
Joe: We’re a real band.
Conor: Mark and I leave the country a lot, so that’s why we
always break up, and then we say we’ll never get back together,
then something always happens and we do end up getting back
together.
Joe: We’ve done...three last shows ever? This is the last show
ever.
Ha, okay.
Will: But no, is the answer.
Not a real band?
(laughter)
Will: Oh, yeah, we’re a real band!
Is this the first time that you’ve played in Austin?
Will: Yeah.
Is this your first real tour?
Mark: No.
Where else did you go?
Joe: I dunno, around, like...east coast. We went down from Minneapolis to Omaha and then to New York and back, and we did
the east coast along the way. It was like a two-week tour.
What’s the worst place to play?
Joe: Ohio!
Conor: ...No, Ohio was fun, though.
Mark: Pittsburgh was pretty bad.
Joe: Yeah, Pittsburgh sucked!
Mark: We stayed at a nice house, though. But the show was not
good.
What happened?
Conor: We argued over what movie to watch at this guy’s house.
Will: Some people wanted to watch Monty Python and the Holy
Grail, and other people, like, refused to watch Monty Python
and the Holy Grail. It was...I felt so bad. Then we broke up. In
Pittsburgh. Then we had to get back together in Pittsburgh the
next day, because we had more shows.
Mark: Conor almost got beat up.
Wait, what?
Conor: Don’t make Wagnerian jokes in Pittsburgh.
Wait, what happened?
Conor: This girl had a very nice voice and I called her “a regular
Brunhilde.” She didn’t think that was very funny, or I don’t think
she got it. But it was a compliment. And they didn’t like us after
that, not one bit.
That was in Pittsburgh?
Conor: We were playing with metal bands.
Joe: But, like, shit metal bands, the ones with like, shirts that
have arrows on them and stuff.
Conor: Cyberpunk bands. Cyber metal.
Will: Spank metal, I think that’s what it was, actually.
Why were you guys playing with spank metal bands?
Joe: Whoever booked that show fucked up.
Mark: Andy from Fashionable Idiots is a real douchebag.
(laughter)
That’s on the record?
Joe: Yeah, that’s on the record.
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You guys ever been to jail?
Joe: I have.
Why?
Joe: I got a little too drunk on my birthday and wound up
making what seemed like te