Living and breathing California’s alt-rock scene, Slummy is a double threat with a penchant for punk noir
Joshua Mohr’s “Size Queens” is the raw, blood-pumping single punk rock didn’t know it was waiting for.
Pulled from The Wrong Side, Mohr’s debut EP under the band name Slummy, this track doesn’t just live in your head—it crashes, thrashes, and slings its way around with a gritty, DIY attitude that reeks of West Coast punk noir.
For those not yet in the know, Mohr isn’t only a singer-songwriter; he’s a literary renegade, with eight books no less, under his belt, including Model Citizen and Damascus, which the New York Times called “Beat-poet cool.”
So it’s only fitting that “Size Queens” exists alongside Saint the Terrifying, the first book in his new Saint trilogy.
Mohr’s protagonist, Saint, a one-eyed, self-made anti-hero, is the reason this track exists at all.
As Mohr explains, “I didn’t really write these songs. The main character in my book did…I captured his sound, his riffs, and his lyrics to really feel the demented whimsy in his soul. So did the book lead me to his music, or was it the music that allowed me to write his trilogy of novels? That’s the magic of Saint. He’s a galaxy.”
With each track and chapter, Mohr blurs the lines between artist and character, creating a world where fiction and music pulse with the same wild heartbeat.
“Size Queens” combines a sordid, LA-cool aesthetic with a punk heart that feels battered but defiant. The video, shot in Venice, CA by Jessamyn Violet, layers on even more grime and grit with visuals that feel straight out of a fever dream.
With Eva Gardner, Fox Deluxx, and a demented “Clown Cop” played by Jacob W. Davis, the video plunges viewers into an eerie, no-rules territory that Mohr thrives in, leaving behind any notion of safety or sanity.
The track, much like Mohr’s punk rock persona, oozes danger and recklessness. It’s got a polished edge, but with the raw, rebellious energy that comes from living on the edge of LA Confidential and Brick (two of this journalist’s favourite punk-inspired films of all time: a little clean, a little dirty, and a whole lot of edgy).
Unapologetically fierce, it features a guitar line that cuts like broken glass and a chorus that lingers like a whispered threat. Imagine Iggy Pop meets David Lynch, run through the wringer of a one-man, noir-inspired soundscape
Mohr has achieved a rare feat, creating music and a novel that fuel each other. Saint the Terrifying and The Wrong Side are a punk-lit fever dream, proving Joshua Mohr as a force with creativity to burn and no interest in playing by anyone else’s rules. This is punk, raw and real—just as it should be.
Check out “Size Queens” below, and head here to wrap your eyeballs around Saint the Terrifying.
