No Slackin' for The Slackers

Photo by Joelle Andres

Despite the fact that there wasn’t much of a market left after the collapse of the nineties ska craze, a small number of ska bands have continued to deliver to the public. The Slackers, in particular, have managed to not only survive but remain successful. Much of this is because of their love of Jamaican music over any love of money or fame. Yet, this same love, on top of incredible songwriting skills and elocution, has this band broadening it’s stomping grounds and audience all over the globe. Skamp Zine had the fortunate opportunity to interview their saxophone player, David Hillyard:

The Slackers are going on 25 years of existence. Has this surprised the band on any level?

When I joined the band in 1993, I didn’t think it was going to be a serious thing. I just thought it was for fun.  I wasn’t even sure I was gonna want to do this full time.

But then, I remember being impressed by Vic’s [Ruggiero] musicality at rehearsal.  I realized that “hey, we could do something here!”  And the band began to take up more and more of my time.  

What acts and/or music has inspired y’all over the years?

Just speaking for myself, The English Beat was my first inspiration. They made me want to play music not just listen to it.

From The Beat, I got into 2 Tone. 2 Tone got me into The Skatalites, old ska, old rocksteady, old reggae. When I was in high school, I became friends with the Studio One distributor for San Diego (where I was growing up).  So I have a big collection of Studio One 45s.

So in high school, I mostly listened to Jamaican music. Then Jamaican music made me aware of a lot of other music that was coming from America: soul music, blues, R&B, and jazz.  So I started to listen to that too.

Nowadays, I listen to a lot of Brazilian stuff, Afrobeat, old blues,...but I always come back to old reggae, rocksteady, and ska which is my first love.

Sometimes I’ll hear a tune and become obsessed with it.  It doesn’t matter the genre. Most recently it has been, “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty, “Caminho do Bem” by Tim Maia.... A couple years ago it was “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed and “Wanted Man” by Johnny Cash.

I can only imagine how crazy NYC was in the early nineties. How did people initially react to The Slackers?

It was a fun time to be young and in the city.  Most stuff was happening on the Lower East Side and downtown.  Brooklyn was a cheap place to live.  I had a lot of fun in retrospect.

You know what though? People always claim there was some “Golden Age” that is always a couple years before you got there. I played my first NYC gig in 1988 at CBGB's.  It was a lot of fun but people told me “it was cooler in the 70s.” Then I moved to NYC in 1992.  When I moved there it was a lot of fun but people kept telling me “oh it was cooler in the late 80s.”

I think the main reaction the band’s shows got when I first joined it was indifference.  We were one of a bunch of bands messing around. Partying. Playing little local gigs.  It took a while to get a crowd at shows.

The band self-released their only two demo tapes on Special Potato. Were you guys surprised that Moon Ska Records wanted to put out Better Late Than Never?

Nah. We were starting to get our sound defined and were starting to draw little crowds by the mid-90s. Moon put out a lot of albums per year.  It wasn’t like an exclusive label that only put out a few things. I was surprised we had a recording budget!

How shocked were y’all that Hellcat Records was going to release Redlight?  

Well, me and Vic had met Rancid in 1995 and they had hired us through The Stubborn All-stars to play the Lollapalooza tour with them. So we made sure to get lots of Slackers music to them.  

Tim told us he wanted to start a label and then Vic's girlfriend was with us on tour and Tim/her started brainstorming and that label was Hellcat and Vic’s girl became the label president.

Of course, when they started signing bands, they signed Hepcat, The Pietasters, Dropkick Murphys, and U.S. Bombs first. We were like what about us?' And then we got the call.....

From my understanding, The Nods (Before There Were The Slackers...) weren’t a precursor to The Slackers but a way to release material independent of Hellcat. How much would you say that early material helped pull the punk crowd towards your music?

Not much.  I wouldn’t say The Nods’ album was exactly a top seller.

I think our real breakthrough with the punk scene were the tunes on the first two Give ‘em the Boot comps that included “Watch This” and “Have the Time.” Having a band like Rancid say, “hey… these guys are cool… take a listen” helped a lot.  

I would say that most people who like punk also listen to other kinds of music; they just want to feel its honesty and intensity from the heart.  That is more important than the little bits of punk influence that end up in our music.

Over the years, the band has gone through some lineup changes. How has that impacted y’all collectively?

Well, it’s hard to keep a steady lineup together.  We have been lucky that we haven’t had a change in membership in 11 years. Knock on wood.

But it’s tough. Some people are flaky and don’t want to rehearse. Some people don’t like being on the road.  Some people have a crisis in their life outside the band that they have to deal with.

I think for us, right now, we have a versatile band in that everyone is a good songwriter and everyone is good on their instrument.  But we value playing as a team most of all.  That’s what keeps us going.

From what I’ve gathered over the years, y’all have members with jazz, ska, punk, etc.. roots. Would you say that has helped as far as diversifying your sound and audience?

We don’t sit around going, “hey, lets write a tune” to appeal to this group or that group.  We try to have the band’s influences come out organically.

My favorite moments are when different influences mash together, like Marcus' tune, “TV Dinner” is very country and very rocksteady at the same time.

I dont know if it helps us get country fans. I think punks and ska fans are more likely to relate to old country while today’s country fans are somewhere else.

Festival wise, The Slackers have played fests like Punk Rock Bowling and Fest in Florida. What was it like to not only be invited but to perform at festivals like these?

They were both fun.  Punk Rock Bowling, when I saw we were on a bill with Anti-Nowhere League and Cocksparrer and The Business… I thought “oh man”... but it ended up being one of our best sets! I think we are a punk rocker’s favorite mellow out and make out music. Hehehehe.

The band has toured all over North America, throughout Europe, Japan, South America and probably a million other places. What was your favorite place to play?

Thats not a fair question.  When I go to different places I try to appreciate what is positive about each place, find things about local food or architecture and vibes that I enjoy.

And separate from that, even if the town isn’t my favorite, our crowd is very cool. We are very lucky to have such good fans. So the show can be great even if it’s bleak outside. Sometimes those are the best music towns: the ones that are down on their heels a bit.

That being said, Brazil is a pretty fucking cool place to tour.

If y’all could share the stage with any act, wanted dead or alive, who would it be?

Fela Kuti.

What can you tell me about The Slackers’ upcoming future endeavors?

We just came out with a new 45 of 2 fan written tunes. One of them is a real boogaloo summer party tune.  Good times!

Then we are working on a 12 song new album. We should have a fundraiser/presale available over the summer. So keep your eyes and ears out for it.

https://www.facebook.com/theslackers

http://www.theslackers.com/

@theslackersband

Photo by Imelda Malaczyck

Their new summer boogaloo party track, "Diskambobulated," as well as the other new track off of their new 45, "Year 2013," can be checked out here, along with other amazing Slackers’ tunes: https://soundcloud.com/the-slackers. The Slackers are playing with locals Liam & the Ladies and Alvin Bitsue at 7 PM on Sunday, June 21st at Crescent Ballroom. The show is 16+.

~ Garyn Klasek