SLOKS!!!! Rawpower, super primitive garage punk, desperate no-wave, trashed out rock’n’roll combo, based in Turin/Italy. Tony Machete on drums, Ivy Claudy screaming and snare, Buddy Fuzz at strings. These guys run straight with hard and tense songs, a dirty sound and lo-fi noise excursions. Weird r’n’r made up of an abrasive and sick voice out of control. Delirious and strong. They performed all around Europe, from Italy to Serbia, including Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Slovenia and Hungary, venues and festivals as well.
How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
SLOKS: The band formed in Turin Italy in 2015 in the basement of a church where we used to rehearse. In 2016 Ivy Claudy joins, who took the place of the singer who moved to Berlin (Turin is a very tough city).
Now the stable lineup since 2019 is Ivy Claudy voice and extra flor tom,
Tony Machete drum, Buddy Fuzz guitar.
The name of the band Sloks is taken from the first film by John Landis, Slok, a 1973 film. The film narrates the story of a primate in small-town America, a bizarre retelling of King Kong.
Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
Tony: Since the beginning of the new millennium i started to play drums and then the bass guitar with The Kelvins. A few years later I started playing bass with Ponches. Now, in addition to the Sloks, I play drums with Surfoniani.
And the passion for rock 'n' roll, surf music and the Ramones led me by chance to find myself in the rehearsal room playing with drums.
Buddy: This is my first serious project, I started playing guitar after listening to the Oblivians album "Soul food". I remember that I decided to buy a guitar and started terrorizing and raping the ears of my neighbors… ahahahaha.
First concert that you ever went to?
Tony: I too, like Buddy, probably saw my first concert in my parents' town in southern Italy: I think it was Zucchero or Pino D'Angiò hahaha! The first concerts I consciously attended were many punk and hardcore bands in occupied houses - squat - in Turin, especially at El Paso Occupato, Delta House and Prinz Eugen.
Buddy: I don't remember my first concert, it was probably in the summer in the south of Italy an Italian singer-songwriter probably Loredana Bertè ahahahaha but I remember very well when I first saw Jon spencer blues explosion in a club Il Bloom in Mezzago, it was a revelation, a bomb exploding ... fantastic. And then many others but that one stayed in my head and I still remember it very well today.
What's your writing process like?
Sloks: The song writing process comes from an idea that comes to one of us, then we develop it in the rehearsal room, usually the guitar and the drums, we play it to Claudy who usually distorts them... ahahahaha anyway it's a work done together and very direct
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
Buddy: One above all, The Beguiled band on Cript records for the sound and atmosphere they managed to create.
Tony: The Cramps, Oblivians, Gories, Monsters, Jon Spencer, and Bo Diddley are my bible, my guide to help me improve my creativity.
What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing?
Buddy: I think Sloks are mainly a live band. For us live shows are the lifeblood of the group. During live we try to communicate all our energy through the sound of the band and Claudy's vocal and physical performance. I think live music shouldn't be the same as the album, when you record you're very focused on getting everything right, while live is more animalistic and original where you get sucked into it. Each live is one thing to itself, and we try to give our best every time, at least we try... ehehehehe
Tony: Ooh yes, Buddy, you're right haha! I think exactly like you!
Has the band toured? What has the touring experience been, best shows?worst shows?
Sloks: The band is touring a lot, especially in Europe, we also did a Japan tour in the autumn of 2019 where we played seven dates supported by the fabulous King Brothers and played at the Halloween ball with Mummies, Guitar Wolf Phantom Surfers, and many others, for me the most beautiful tour. The best show maybe we have yet to do but last week we played in Amsterdam at Bone Fest and it was fantastic. While in 2020 before Covid we were on tour in Serbia Hungary and Slovenia and in a place in Serbia at one point they cut off the power so suddenly, it was the police who made us stop because a boy had died the night before in the same club...
Then on tours, you meet a lot of friends and I find it very stimulating, so anything can happen on tours. Love and hate...
What's up next for the band?
SLOKS: Certainly a new album that we are working on and we will soon go to record it, there will be something new that we don't want to say yet... and then live show and live show ahahaha