Interview: Getting to Know Sleazy Money (Written)

Rambunctious South Wales hard rockers Sleazy Money have dropped their explosive new single, ‘It Ain’t EZ’, —a full- throttle anthem bursting with snarling riffs, blistering vocals, and a filthy rock ‘n’ roll swagger. The release is backed by a wild, no-holds-barred music video that perfectly captures the chaos of the band’s live energy. In this interview, we get to know the band a little better.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

Connor: Myself, Joe (guitar), and Franky (bass) have known each other since we were teenagers. We were all always into music, and we’re always making music but never managed to start a band together. Me and Joe went for a pint one night and got chatting about music and decided we wanted to start something. We called franky straight away and he was in immediately.

Franky: Yeah, I’d been wanting to do something for years. We had a few members in and out after playing a few shows and we ended up bumping into Morgan in the Express (pub in Merthyr Tydfil), and we went from there really!

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

Joe: We’re really inspired by the sound of the 80s sunset strip scene. Not so much the spandex and leather but the songs have attitude and groove but are also super catchy.

Connor: I dunno son, I think you’d look good in some leathers and a cod piece. Go all Blackie Lawless on us!

3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?

Connor: We’ve just dropped our new single and music video called It Ain’t EZ. It’s had a wicked reception so far, but it’s still got a way to go. We haven’t had any bad reviews yet anyways!

Joe: Yet being the key word! Nah, we’ve got a few big shows coming up, and will be announcing another big show very soon. We’re really excited for the future.

4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?

Morgan: Honestly, I think it’s the buzz it’s creating with our fans. People seem to be loving it and we’re getting people singing our songs back to us now. It’s mental hearing so many people knowing the words!

Connor: Yeah that’s a hell of a buzz! It is crazy how much love we’re getting back. We got a t shirt design sorted with our friend Rhys (Tweaked Design) and literally, within 3 shows had sold out and even being restocked, we’re starting to see certain sizes getting light!

5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.

Joe: Everything’s pretty flowy with us. We work hard with creating but it’s done because we love the feeling you get from creating something really bad ass sounding. We don’t put any limits on it. We see everything through so sometimes we end up at the end of a writing session with a hardcore song or something nu metal sounding. We don’t use everything but there’s always something to be taken.

Connor: Yeah you gotta see things through or you could miss something. One thing for me was seeing everyone turn out to help us film the video. It was absolutely crazy to see everyone come out and give it a crack!

6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?

Connor: Absolutely! I’d probably be in jail if it wasn’t for music! Music’s my outlet. It’s where we can have fun and be creative and it brings a deeper connection with my mates because we can speak the same language without saying a word.

Joe: Yeah, music is somewhere I can escape and think in a different way.

Morgan: It also can make you excited, creating something really cool gives me happiness!

7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?

Connor: I can’t really say we have much of a challenge with anything. I mean prices are prices these days so everything’s expensive but making music is the same as it always has been. Venues are struggling loads which obviously has a knock on effect to artists like us.

Franky: Yeah we’ve seen that side of it where people can’t afford £10 entry all the time so low numbers affect everyone but again we’ve been quite lucky as well. We’ve played on some brilliant bills and had some good turnouts on the ones we’ve organised.

8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?

Connor: It’s just another means to an end. Lots moan about it but social media is what MTV was in the 80s, and if you ignore it, you ain’t gonna get anywhere. Finding time to film as well as make music, record, play shows and work full time is where the problem lies for us.

9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?

Franky: We do a lot of skits that people seem to like. It kinda starts with an idea and we just end up howling laughing planning how it goes so film it because we think it’s funny.

Morgan: That’s literally all we do. We film some lip syncs and stuff, we just try anything. It’s a bit of a game to crack in itself, social media.

10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support you?

Connor: Come out to shows, come party with us. That’s what we do. Buy a t shirt, tell other promoters about us. Anything anyone can do to help us spread the word then we can’t ask for any more. We want to get on the road and bring this party around the UK so buying our merch and helping us to get show opportunities is the way we can do that.

11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?

Franky: I’m big into card games, I love collecting cards.

Joe: I game a lot. I’ve also recently gotten into playing darts.

Morgan: I game a lot, but I’m also a huge superhero fan so you can catch me at the cinema or a comic con.
Connor: I have ADHD so whatever tickles my fancy that week really! I got into drawing for a whole, then I was into rocket league, I read a book about a month ago now and so on.

12. Where can people find you?

Connor: We’re on all social platforms, Tiktok, Insta, YouTube, Facebook, we couldn’t be arsed with twitter or x or whatever!

Links

Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube