Sludge Mother: Pie Shop, Nov. 4

On the evening of November 4, on the deck outside Pie Shop, Sludge Mother sat wrapped in a fur coat and bandaged knees, fresh from the sound check for a show at the intimate venue behind us. Along with bands Sap and easterlin, Sludge Mother has spent the past several weeks on the road for the Erasure Tour. Her band grew out of a gap she heard in modern rock: a love for the intensity of 90s grunge, with little new music that matched it. Rather than wait for something to pop up, she wrote it herself, pairing grunge with skate punk influences from her San Diego roots. Out on the deck, we talked about what motivates her, the demands of life on the road, and where Sludge Mother goes from here.

Sasha: Okay, tell me about Sludge Mother. What should readers know? 

Sludge Mother: I started Sludge Mother for a couple different reasons. One was that I'm just so in love with 90s grunge. I couldn't find any bands at the time that were really making a sound that reminded me of the rawness and intensity of 90s grunge. I was just constantly listening to the same records over and over, and I was like, how come I can't find a modern record that makes me feel the same way, or a modern concert? And then on top of that, if I did find it, it was never female fronted. Now there's more, but when I started Sludge Mother, there wasn't. Even back in the 90s, a lot of the female fronted bands weren't getting the spotlight they deserved. So, that's what inspired me to make Sludge Mother. If you like angry women to the fucking front, grungy sounds, and just loud ass riffs, intensity, rawness, those are the pillars of Sludge Mother. 

You're originally from California, right? 

I am, I'm from San Diego. 

How would you say your environment inspired your sound, if at all? 

Yeah, totally. I think my environment definitely inspires the visuals a lot. Because I grew up in California, there's a lot of skate culture there. The skate punk of the 2000s is something I'm super inspired by visually. I think Sludge Mother’s sound does combine a lot of genres and that skate punk is also an inspiration that I always find myself going back to. I would definitely think San Diego is the reason for that.

What's the songwriting process for Sludge Mother? Do you guys do it as a group? Is it mostly on you?

Up to this point, it's mostly been me writing. I have a co-writer named Tony Kim, who's fucking awesome. I hope in the future we're gonna start writing as a band together. Right now, Tony helps me with the guitar and drums, and I write all of the vocals and lyrics by myself. We’ll flesh out the instrumentals, and then I go home and just lose my mind for a week. I'm a very, very neurotic writer. That's why I can't really really write with people because I rewrite the same song over and over and over, and oftentimes I go back to what I started with. 

You talked a little bit about this already, but what inspired you to begin creating music? 

My genesis in starting music was that I got out of a really ugly breakup when I was younger. I needed something in my life that would make me not destroy myself. So, I took a vocal lesson on a whim. I went into that lesson being like, if I hate it, I'll never go back, and then I exited it being like this is my thing that's gonna save me. It's just a feeling that I got. Ever since then it's been what I've been chasing. Music has always been how I identify and how I find myself. It's what grounds me, connects me. It's just, it's everything to me. 

That's really beautiful. To change topics a little bit, what's it like being kind of a smaller band in today's music industry?

Oh man, girl, it is hard. It is literally blood, sweat. and tears. All the money is scraped together from your day job. We have been sleeping on random people's floors, in the van, in, like, dingy ass motels. We slept in a music store one of these nights. You just do anything to make it happen. I think that's kind of the running theme of being in a small band that's trying to break through. It's just hunger. It’s the genuine love and passion for music that fuels it all. I tell everyone that tells me they want to do this: Don't do it unless you have that love for it, because it is extremely hard and like, it's just fucking intense. But if you have the love for it, then it is so worth it. Every time you play a show, you make a song, everything. 

What's your ideal show like? 

All I care about is the audience being there with me. I don't care if it's ten people or 100 people. If they're there with me, they’re moving, I can see that they're enjoying it, that's all that matters to me. One of my favorite shows we played thus far was in Miami. It was literally like 15 people there, but they were freaking throwing kicks around. They were screaming up in the mike, and I was like, this is my favorite show we've ever played. So, yeah, just that connection, I think that's what music is for. It's for connection. 

What's the experience been like so far in the Erasure tour? What's it been like working with the other bands?

It has been freaking awesome. It has been a grind. I've personally never been on the road for this long. We're just living in a van for seven weeks, right? But I don't know, I'm proud of us. I'm like, my idols have fucking done this. Sap and Easterlin, they've been great. You can tell everyone just loves the music and loves rock and roll, and that's what it’s all for. 

How did you meet Sap and Easterlin?

Sap, I connected with online. I was saying that I love 90’s music and was so desperate to find any bands that make me feel that way. I was connecting with any bands that have a semblance of grunge vibes, and Sap was one of them. They invited me to come to one of their shows, so I went, and then they invited me like a week later to go on the tour. 

On that note, how did you connect with your group, your band? 

Yeah, that's been trial and error, I guess. Joey has been around since the very first Sludge Mother show. And then, I met Soren through a friend, Livi through a friend, and Blake, our tour manager, is filling in for guitar. I love my band, they're the shit... 

What is next for Sludge Mother? What should we look out for? 

We just recorded an EP a month ago or something like that, so that's gonna start releasing soon. The first single “FEED ME” is out November 13th! We're gonna be releasing some music videos to go with it. Also, we are playing ShipRocked in January, which is crazy! Hopefully more tours next year, and more music for sure. 

Any parting words of wisdom for the readers? 

One of the reasons I also started Sludge Mother is because I wanted something very authentic and raw. Chasing that pure authenticity has brought so much contentment, joy,  and love in my life, more than I ever could have anticipated. I just wanna say, I think everyone should make that their priority. Chase whatever authenticity is for you. Find your realness, and I really think that opens up life. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Sasha Jayne is the current Creative Director of the INDY. Their true loves and passions are metal and punk music, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and wearing excessive amounts of black clothing.