If it wasn't for their buddy's alcohol problem, the NYC hardrockers Sex Slaves wouldn't have their most popular song.
When the band was on tour in New Orleans a few years back, thetrio were driving all over the city trying to find a liquor store sotheir friend could get his 'medicine.' After they found it, hehopped back on the bus with two bottles stating 'Thank God for JackDaniels.'
The Sex Slaves bassist/singer Del Cheetah and guitarist Eric13thought the expression had something to it.
'We both kind of looked at each other and the spark went off,'Cheetah recalls.
The group originally started out making a name for itself as a go-to hard rock party band in 2003 on New York City's Lower East Side.But it was the anthemic ode to rock 'n' roll's favorite spirit,'Thank God for Jack Daniels,' on their sophomore release 'Bite YourTongue' that led the band to bigger and better things.
It's a track that's found its way into jukeboxes and CD playersin bars all across the U.S. and overseas, and when they played thesong out on the road, Cheetah recalls the effect it had on thecrowd.
'No one thought it was a single or anything,' Cheetah says.'Looking back, it's so obvious. Every time we played that song ontour, it was the one that brought the house down every time.'
Now, Cheetah, Eric13 and drummer J/Bomb are using the momentum ofthat song to tour in support of their latest album 'Wasted Angel,'where the group tampers with a style that mixes Green Day and SexPistols-inspired punk riffs with Guns N' Roses attitude and energy.And thanks to the owners of Hammerjacks Rock-N-Roll Sports Bar, thegroup is coming to perform two sets at the bar starting at 9 p.m.July 14.
Getting the Sex Slaves to come to our area is somethingHammerjacks was working on for sometime. 'Thank God for JackDaniels' is basically the bar's theme song, and when the group hadan opening on its schedule traveling from Wichita, Kan., to Ottumwa,Iowa, the bar jumped at the chance to have the Sex Slaves in St.Joe.
Cheetah says the band is pumped to play here and finish out theSex Slaves U.S. dates before jetting overseas for its first Europeantour. He admits that 'Thank God for Jack Daniels' is largely whatgives the band opportunities like this, but it's the members' workethic and hitting the road hard and often that will make sure theylast beyond one catchy party song.
'It's like a billboard in the desert, it don't mean s***. You'vegot to take it to the ... people,' Cheetah says. 'I think that'swhat helped us survive and set us apart.'
