Slunt - Interview
Slunt is rooted in the tradition of Sleazy rock ala AC/DC musically & Motley Crue Content wise, the band is a raw & natural mix of what rock music is lacking today...attitude, style, fun & a little debauchery!
SLUNT are a New York based band that is made up of 4 equally unique character, & they are:
Lead Singer/Guitarist: ABBY GENNET
Drummer: CHARLES RUGGIERO
Guitarist: PAT HARRINGTON
Bassist: JENNY GUNNS
Rooted in the tradition of Sleazy rock ala AC/DC musically & Motley Crue Content wise, the band is a raw & natural mix of what rock music is lacking today...attitude, style, fun & a little debauchery! The band has a 5 song EP out & I'll be the first to tell you, this is the best Indie release I've heard in several years....these guys should be huge! A little fact on Abby is that you might remember her from her stints hosting MTV2's Rock Video Show, or her times hosting VH1 as a VJ. It's weird how things work...everything about the show on 11/21/2004 in Philadelphia, where I took the pics of the band live & did the interview, was plagued with "problems" of some sort. I had actually done a longer interview with SLUNT, but I accidentally erased a portion of it, but luckily I managed to save what you are about to read, & the other thing that was bad about the evening was that even though I had a photo pass, Marilyn Manson is REALLY uptight about taking pics in the venues & after I snapped off about 10 pics, security came over & said NO MORE PICS, they didn't want me to take them, even with a photo pass, so luckily I got some good shots. I wanna personally thank Abby, who made all of this happen, & the rest of the band for being so kind to me....I'm sure that after the Manson tour ends I'll cover the band in a better environment & have a better feature on them, so here's my piece on SLUNT, or atleast what I could salvage of it..enjoy!
Rock N Roll Experience: How did you meet Jenny?
Jenny: I met Abby many years before even joining this band.
Rock N Roll Experience: Was Robyn Crosby there?
Abby: No, it wasn't Robyn Crosby...oh wait, yes it was...it was an original line-up, but Juan Crucier wasn't in it, I don't remember who they had playing bass, but we met in a parking lot & we started fake cat fighting & I flashed them my tits & we became friends ha ha
Rock N Roll Experience: What's with all of the writing on your body...is it tattoos or marker?
Jenny: It's Sharpie & when we get bored we play draw on me.
Pat: Jenny is a canvas
Jenny: Yeah, & you know, it's interesting, like some nights sharpie attacks get crazy & I will leave head to toe covered & some nights it's kind of mellow, if you're gonna be playing every single night it gets kind of messy ha ha.
Charles: It's a way to connect with the fans, it's a way for people to come meet us...
Jenny: It's a way for me to get more attention, because I love it
Rock N Roll Experience: Speaking of that, I saw you kissing that girl last night in DC!
Jenny: heyyy
Abby: Who didn't see that ha ha
Pat: I missed it!
Abby: Jenny, I thought you were straight ha ha
Jenny: You know, I attract beautiful women ha ha
Charles: She's straight, but she bends, that's the way we like to put it.
Jenny: I'm quite flexible as you can tell from onstage, you know, it's another way of connecting with the fans ha ha
Pat: Yeah, literally ha ha, physically connecting ha ha
Rock N Roll Experience: Are you big AC/DC fans?
Abby: Yes
Rock N Roll Experience: I described you, Abby, in my review as a cross between Sara Jessica Parker & Angus Young
Abby: Where does Sara Jessica come in? Rock N Roll Experience: You remind me of her from Sex in the City
Abby: Okay
Jenny: That's an interesting mix, but it's pretty cool.
Abby: I don't have the schnoz ha ha
Charles: It's because she's short & pretty
Abby: And I have the curly hair
Jenny: Who do you think Pat's a cross between?
Charles: He's just straight 100% devil, there's no combination ha ha.
Rock N Roll Experience: You tell me Jenny, who do you think Pat is a cross between?
Jenny: I don't know, I'm trying to think about that, that's a good question, that's gonna take up tomorrow ha ha, that will be tomorrow's conversation.
Rock n Roll Experience: Pat sorta reminds me of a rock n roll version of Danny Bonaduche
Entire Band: ha ha ha
Rock N Roll Experience: But it's a good thing though ha ha
Pat: boooooo
Rock N Roll Experience: I didn't mean it as an insult
Abby: Danny Bonaduche is cool
Charles: He does drugs....which doesn't necessarily make him cool ha ha
Rock N Roll Experience: So who are some of your favorite bands?
Charles: Velvet Revolver
Abby: Led Zeppelin
Jenny: I've been hit up with that question & I'd say Social Distortion alot lately, I'm a huge Mike Ness fan
Abby: We're all big Queens of the Stone Age fans, Eagles of Death Metal fans, Foo Fighters, definitely AC/DC, did I mention Led Zeppelin ha ha, we love Jimmy Page, or I do, so does Pat.
Pat: Yeah, we all love Jimmy Page, she (Abby) just REALLY loves Jimmy Page
Abby: I REALLY, REALLY love Jimmy Page.
Jenny: So this is crazy, because we've only know that we are on this tour (Marilyn Manson) since like 2 days ago (eds. note: this interview was done on 11/21/2004), so that is why everyone is moving us around, we don't really know exactly what we are doing, we're like, what time is dinner, we are like very..we're still figuring out what is going on at this moment.
Rock N Roll Experience: But it's very cool getting the entire opening slot on the Marilyn Manson tour, congratulations
Jenny: It's like how do you get more excited than finding out you're paying the Roseland (in New York), then all of a sudden it's like...wow, okay
Rock N Roll Experience: Who told you you were invited to open the entire Marilyn Manson tour...did Manson tell you himself?
Abby: No, our booking agent called us, he was like, pack your bags, & the good news & bad news part of that was we had already been booked to play a tour with Monster Magnet, it wasn't like a full tour, it was like 5 or 6 dates from like the 9th to the 14th (of December) & then when our booking agent called us & said you are on this tour (Marilyn Manson) till the 19th (of December), I was like, Oh Shit!, does that mean we are gonna have to cancel? So we unfortunately had to cancel the Monster Magnet.
Jenny: But we'll be with them sometime in the future
Rock N Roll Experience: How long exactly does this tour go for?
Abby: Till the 19th (of December), or maybe the 20th, they might add another L.A date, but it ends in L.A.
Rock N Roll Experience: Any chance you would jam with Manson?
Abby: I doubt it ha ha, as I see it, no, the music is very different & plus they have their whole show pretty tight, I don't think they are gonna let any of us on there to jam ha ha...we'd let them come jam with us ha ha
Jenny: Yeah!
Abby: You never know, maybe by the end of the tour we might be playing "Be Obscene"! ha ha
Rock N Roll Experience: Have you gotten to hang out with Marilyn Manson yet?
Abby: No
Jenny: I mean we literally just got on this & then as soon as one show was done, we realize we needed to pack for 5 weeks, so we are still like...
Charles: We're still sorta running around & getting ourselves situated, we're still going back to New York because it's our home base until we get far enough away that it doesn't make sense for us to go back home.
Rock N Roll Experience: So this is your first major tour?
Charles: Yeah
Jenny: We've done a couple of little ones, but this is definitely the first time out being the main support
Charles: And for someone who is as big & great as Manson
Abby: We are playing to sold-out shows which is great, so there is no pressure for us to bring our crowd ha ha
Jenny: We're not carrying out equipment this time around, or I'm sorry, Pat & Charles are not carrying around our equipment this time around
Pat: Yeah, so that is an added bonus
Rock N Roll Experience: How many guitars are you taking on the road with you?
Abby: We tried to keep it simple
Jenny: 2 guitars each
Abby: Just incase we pop a string, but
Pat: If everybody goes out & buys our record then we can go & buy more guitars
Abby: Yayyy!
Jenny: Our record just hit stores last Tuesday (already out!)
Rock N Roll Experience: I got it at last nights show, but the interactive video on the CD rom extra does not work
Abby: What?
Jenny: What do you mean?
Rock N Roll Experience: I have a Mac & tried to play it & it does not work, it never loaded the video
Charles: I actually had the same problem ha ha
Jenny: I do not like the way that it was set up, I did play it on my Mac, but I don't like the way that it was set up ha ha
Pat: & we'll just leave it at that
Charles: I tried it on Diana's I-book & it wouldn't take
Jenny: It does take, but you have to go around a little bit to make it play
Abby: We are going to have to make sure it's fixed by the next pressing
Charles: Yeah, so come out & buy the first pressing & have the original shit that don't work ha ha
Rock N Roll Experience: Is the SLUNT 5 song EP your first release?
Charles: That's our first national, our first record as a unit
Pat: We will have a full length coming out in either February or March of 2005
Rock N Roll Experience: Will it have the same songs as the 5 song EP?
Charles: A few of them, a few of them will be back on remastered
Pat: But a whole lot more!
Abby: Oh yes
Jenny: We are already finished with it actually!
Rock N Roll Experience: Have you guys signed with a major label?
Abby: No, we are with an indy label, Repossession Records
Jenny: And they have been treating us awesome!
Charles: It's a brand new Indie label that also has Dry Kill Logic on the label & a band called Austin & a British band called The Fight, a young sorta punk band that are real good.
Rock N Roll Experience: I know this is only your 3rd show opening for Marilyn Manson so far, but how has the crowds been?
Abby: It's been good, last night (in DC) was really fun, they were chanting our name when we got up there & we were like, what?
Jenny: Are you talking about us??
Abby: We were hoping that the audience was going to be really diverse, because we knew the audience was there to see Manson obviously, but we were hoping that they like other kinds of music too besides that specific genre
Pat: I think we are winning them over
Abby: Yeah, & if not, then we just have to flash them our boobs ha ha
Jenny: Goddammit, not again!
Charles: Now that we are actually on the tour & they are advertising us on the bill on the radio & all that & that we are support, people I'm sure will say, well who are these guys? And they can go to the web site (www.slunt.net) & look & sorta get a feel for what they are in for & you can see from even our first show, people were not expecting any opening band, so it took us a little while to get them warmed up & then at the 2nd show there was immediately a more open response, so hopefully as the tour goes on people will get a feel for what we about & be excited to see us, or atleast sit through it to see what they really wanna see
Jenny: We are having fun, & that's what counts dammit!
Charles: Yeah, it's just straight rock n roll & when people ask us what kind of music is it, when you say rock, they are like, well what kind of rock? It's just like straight up Rock N Roll, we get AC/DC alot.
Rock N Roll Experience: Who came up with the name SLUNT & what is a SLUNT?
Abby: A friend of a friend came up with the name...& it's just one of those combination words that...
Rock N Roll Experience: I know what it means ha ha
Abby: Ha ha, you just wanna hear me say it! It's just a fun word that sounds dirty, but it's not, you can say it in the classrooms & you can't get in trouble because it's not a dirty word