DX: So at this point it has been over a decade with enough material for two, are you guys close to saying ,“I’m done making music?” Or is there still plenty left in the tank?
Slug: Nah, just beginning. Whether or not people accept the music, that’s a whole ‘nother story and they might say I’m done. But I’m so in this, I’ve got my girlfriend into this, she is making music now. I’m so in this, if I fucking lose my voice tomorrow I’m either going to go out and buy an ASR-10 and borrow some vinyl from Ant.
Ant: Be a ghostwriter.
Slug: [Laughs] Or I’m gonna start driving the fucking tour bus. I’ll go be a road manager. I’ve learned so much about this game that I’m gonna be up in this bitch forever, even if it’s not as the artist. If I’m the guy helping expose another artist, I’ll take that cause I’ll still feel like I have a purpose. Best believe I’ll go be Brother Ali’s tour manager, best one that dude could ever have. You know what I’m saying? [Laughing] Serious, cause I’ll still be doing something I love and something I believe in.

DX: Ant, we spoke over a year ago at Paid Dues and you told me then that the record was already done. If that is the case, how does it resonate with you guys now?
Slug: Uhh, it was probably close to being done, but not completely.
Ant: Yeah, we were done recording it.
Slug: We still had to mix it and put on the finishing touches and add a little magic here and there. But we had a year to add that magic.
Ant: We also did other recordings, you know? At least three albums worth of shit, and at least one of those was a completely different album than this one. In terms of the sound and all that. But we just kept going.
Slug: We started making the record in October of ’06, by the time you saw us at Paid Dues, we had it done; written, produced. Then we went and made Strictly Leakage [click to listen], instead of even going and mix the album. We just left the album alone and made Strictly Leakage, had some fun and kicked it.
Ant: Then we could go back to it and go, "Oh not bad," or "Jesus, this is terrible."
Slug: Yeah, then go make some Sad Clown shit. You know what I mean? Then go back to it again. 'Cause they told in April was going to be our release date in like fuckin’ June and we were like that’s almost a year. Let’s leave it alone, we don’t have to turn it in till December. We had until December to tweak and make some other adjustments and we kept ourselves occupied with some other stuff so that we could come back to it with something else fresh. Rather than sit there and beat ourselves in the head listening to it and trying to make it perfect.
Ant: Never as an artist should you just be focused on the 10 songs you’re going to put out over two years. That’s just stupid.
Slug: I totally agree. That’s why I’ve always tried to keep myself distracted with either touring or just writing other things, or whatever. Just busying myself in some way so that I can go back to Ant’s house with a fresh pallet and have a new way to look at what we’ve done.

DX: All the Sad Clown albums that have come out over the last year or so, has that all been new material or was some of it leftovers from You Can’t Imagine?
Slug: Oh yeah.
Ant: Shit, some of it was probably newer than the album.
Slug: Yeah most of it was. I think some of the best songs we’ve ever made are on those albums. [Sad Clown, Bad Summer] is one of the best albums we’ve made. The label actually wanted “Sunshine” to be on Lemons and be the single. We just didn’t think it fit in with what we were doing and what we were trying to say.

DX: At this point you guys are easily the biggest artists in the indy Hip Hop scene. Obviously, it isn’t just the good music, because other people are making good music too. Can you talk a bit about what you’ve done to get to this point?
Slug: Hard work, man, we did a lot of fucking shit that other people just weren’t willing to do. Touring was the biggest part of it, we would go anywhere and everywhere. I remember driving from Minnesota to Dallas once for a show for $250, which wouldn’t even cover the gas these days. But we did what we had to do to get our name out and sell records at the shows. Especially in small towns that didn’t get shows. Once we built it up enough to get distribution it was a whole new game.

We hooked up with Fat Beats for Godlovesugly and they were able to get us in some chains. So we’d go play a show in Boise, where they didn’t have an independent record store, just a Target and a Walmart or Best Buy. So we’d go there and these kids actually had access to our records. Boom, no other rappers are going to Boise. So these kids, regardless if they’ve heard of us or if we suck, come to our show because it’s the only rap show that they’ll get to go to this year. You know? We needed that. So, after Fat Beats, we did it with Epitaph. They had distro with ADA, I believe, and it was the same situation only Epitaph was able to get us overseas. Whole new game for us, 'cause before everyone in Europe would have to order imports. We had toured Europe two or three times already, but when we toured that time you could see the fucking difference. Now you guys have access to our records for a reasonable price, now you’re coming out to the show. Europe gets lots of Hip Hop, now I’ve gotta compete with Tame One and the Living Legends and people I’m competing with back home. So this feels right, and feels comfortable. Thank god our record is finally here, we used to come over here before and play in front of 60 people who were either online learning about us or bootlegging with each other, sharing it. Continued on page 3 »