What’s the story behind Slugworth? How long has Slugworth been around, who’s in the band, where are you guys from, etc…
Slugworth has been around since March of ’99. The guys are Lionel Johnson on Vocals, Darren Kline on drums, Mike Longendyke on Bass and (me) Todd Jansen on Guitar. We are all from Kingston, N.Y.

How long have you (personally) been playing music both alone and as a band?
I’ve been playing since I was 12, so that’s 16 years. And as a band a little over 2 years.

How did everyone meet, and when/what made you guys decide to rock?
Me and Mike have been friends for over 20 years. We grew up in the same neighborhood. Me, Mike, and Darren met about 8 years ago. Lionel is the new guy. We meet him through the singer of the last band me and Darren were in together. So we’ve known him for like 3 years.

You guys just released your first full-length this past February (correct me if I’m wrong). Could you ellaborate on that and tell us how it differs from previous releases?
Well, that’s our first real release. We’ve had demos in the past but most of those songs are on the CD.

What’s your current relationship with Conspiracy Hero Records? Is that a solid label for Slugworth or was it just for this one release?
Our relationship with Conspiracy Hero is They put out the CD and I guess that’s it. We were told there would be some form of promotion behind it, and there hasn’t been any at all that we know of. I haven’t spoken with them in about 2 months. So maybe it’s huge in Yemen and we don’t even know it. It’s definitely a 1 release deal.

You guys have posted on your site that you will be recording an EP at the end of July and a possibility of a split. Can you tell us a little about the EP – who’s releasing it, song names, release date, etc… – and could you tell us a little more about th
Well it’s not gonna be a split. Matt Fox from Shai hulud is putting it out on his label March of Ides, which is a division of Revelation. We’re real stoked about that. It’s a bit different too. It’s not as fast, but more musical. I think we’re pushing ourselves to write better songs this time around. We only have 2 songs totally finished and they’re called “Lay Waste” and “In Wake Of You”. we’re hopin to have 5 or 6 tunes on it. Hopefully it’ll be out in November/December.

Besides the money from playing shows, what does everyone do outside the band as far as means of making money?
Lionel sells add space for the Times Herald Record, Mike is a Dietary Aid at the Kingston Hospital, and me and Darren are welders.

Does anyone or has anyone gone to college, and if so what for and where?
Lionel went to New Paltz College and UCCC for journalism I believe. And I just went for 1 year to learn some advanced web design stuff.

To me Slugworth delivers a sound like no other band, it’s really a mixture of so many styles combined together. How do you personally classify the Slugworth sound?
We consider ourselves a hardcore punk band. We’re all influenced by so many different things so that’s probably where the original sound comes from.

Could you tell us a little about the touring history of Slugworth? Have you guys played outside of the New York? What bands have you played with?
We’ve never actually “toured”. Hopefully that will all change with the release of this new E.P. We have played outside of New York a couple of times. We played in P.A. with the Stryder. And we’ve played in New Jersey. Not a whole lotta traveling outside the state yet.

At your shows, do you think you attract the punk kids or the hardcore kids?
I personally don’t know. We play a lot of metal shows for some reason. And the kids almost always go nuts. It’s weird but I think we’ve actually only played like 3 shows with other bands like us on the bill.

Any plans of taking the Slugworth show on the road in the future?
I’m looking forward to gettin out there and playin for a lot of people. I hope that this E.P. gets us to that next level and we get the chance to keep it going.

What’s next for Slugworth?
Well we’re gonna do this E.P. then play as much as possible for probably a year or so and then put out another Full Length with Ides of March.

That should do it. Thanks for taking the time our for Keroscene. It means a lot Anything you’d like to add?
Thanks to everyone who has supported us. It’s been a tough year. But things are looking up and expect to see a lot of Slugworth in 2002. Check us out online at www.slugworth.net