Slummy, the band name of Joshua Mohr and the medium for Mohr’s character Saint the Terrifying, sat down with Happy to talk his latest release
“Size Queens”, the debut single release from Slummy and the second track from his debut EP The Wrong Side, is a raw, real, punk-lovers dream.
Written not by Mohr himself but by his literary character Saint, “Size Queens” is a fierce track full of seething guitar riffs, rebellious spirit and punk-rock recklessness.
Following the release, Slummy chatted with Happy about the process of creating both “Size Queens” and The Wrong Side, describing his sound as guitar-lead, tongue-in-cheek madness.
If, like us, you’re as mad about books as you are music, then I suggest you check out Saint the Terrifying while you listen to the latest release, while you prepare yourself for all of the work that Slummy has coming up.
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
SLUMMY: I’m sitting in the airport on Kauai, with a three-hour flight delay home. But don’t feel bad for me. I’ve been in paradise the last 10 days.
In addition to the band, I’m also a novelist, so I’ve been teaching at a writers’ conference on the island, which I like to call Nerd Camp. The conference, I mean. Not the island.
HAPPY: Tell us a bit about where you’re living and what you love about it.
SLUMMY: I live in Seattle. It’s a city with so many beautiful rock and roll ghosts. You can feel them wandering the streets. I always go looking for the ghost of Mark Lanegan. I’ll let you know if I find him.
HAPPY: “Size Queens” has such an intense vibe. What was the inspiration behind the song?
SLUMMY: The band Slummy isn’t “real.” I wrote our WRONG SIDE EP from the perspective of the main character of my new novel, SAINT THE TERRIFYING. So these are his riffs, his lyrics, and I’m just the medium. It’s been fun collaborating with him.
Our drummer, Jessamyn Ward, conceptualised and directed the video. I only gave one creative note. I begged her to make the cop character a clown-cop. I laugh every time I see that crazy fucker.
HAPPY: Your sound mixes punk, noir, and a lot of raw energy. How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it?
SLUMMY: I’d call us Demented Whimsy Clowns. The songs are guitar-driven drivel with a tongue stuck in the cheek. The songs are mad about the world we live in.
HAPPY: You’ve got this cool mix of being a musician and a writer. How do those two worlds influence each other for you?
SLUMMY: They’re a big influence on each other. I try to work on a book and write a song every day, so I think organically they bleed into each other. It’s like two hearts connected by an umbilical cord.
HAPPY: You mentioned that your character, Saint, inspired the music. Can you tell us more about how he shaped the sound of Slummy?
SLUMMY: I have to credit our fantastic producer, Josh Evans, on really bringing Slummy to life. His ears are made of gold. Josh understood exactly what we were trying to do in the session—and by that I mean, Josh understood Saint. Yes, my imaginary friend and Josh had a dandy time.
HAPPY: Your music definitely has a cinematic feel. Do you pull from movies or TV shows when you’re writing, or is that vibe just part of your style?
SLUMMY: I write scripts, so that’s another ingredient in the creative cocktail. In Hollywood, they love scripts that are pared down to the bone in their descriptions, and that’s exactly how Saint wants his band to sound.
HAPPY: Do you think your punk rock influences are more about attitude than sound? Or do you still pull from classic punk bands when creating music?
SLUMMY: I don’t want to give the songs an autopsy after I finish them, so I never consciously think about influences. They’re there, of course. I just can’t see them, I just move onto the next song.
HAPPY: Looking ahead, what can fans expect from Slummy? Are you planning to keep pushing boundaries with your music and writing?
SLUMMY: I have a trilogy of novels all being published in the next year. The WRONG SIDE EP timed with the publication of the first novel. The plan is to record another EP to time with the third novel in October ’25.
HAPPY: You seem to have a pretty unique approach to making music. What’s your creative process like when you’re writing and recording a track?
SLUMMY: I write everything on the acoustic first, then demo in my basement. By the time we went into the studio the songs were locked. We made the EP in three days. We didn’t want anything overbaked and flabby.
HAPPY: What makes you happy?
SLUMMY: Writing! I write novels and memoirs, scripts for Hollywood and songs for the soul. I make art every day of my life, which makes me a lucky motherfucker. The world’s on fire, so we should be doing exactly what we want. This is the era of Zero Fucks art.
