Interview by: Mark Lacey
If the ‘Shout’ era Motley Crue were to attend an orgy with Steel Panther, Cinderella, Poison and Ratt, their unintended offspring might look and sound a lot like Röxxi Red. Whilst the band are most certainly too young to remember 80s sleaze rock in its glorious heyday, they’ve bought the manual, and are seemingly on a mission to bring the sounds, sights, and lifestyle back to life through their electrifying stage show.
MyGlobalMind.com caught up with Robbi Roxx (vocals), Matt (drums), Andy (bass), and George (guitar) after their barnstorming set at HRH Sleaze.
MGM: That was some entrance! There’s no doubting your arrival at the HRH Sleaze festival. You’re still a relatively new band and building a following. How long have you guys been together?
George: About three years, isn’t it? We had a different bassist to begin with. 2022 is when this lineup got together.
MGM: And how did you all meet?
Robbi: I met George at a gig, and then we just decided to start the band up.
George: Yeah, we liked each other’s styles, and Robbi knew Matt already.
Andy: From AA!!
George Yeah. AA, the breakdown cover …. he was having a breakdown. Ha ha!! We started out with another bassist, but we parted ways. We’re still really good friends with him. But then we got Andy in even though he originally didn’t want to join.
Andy: Robbi eventually convinced me. I won’t say how, but he slowly seduced me into it.
MGM: Sleaze Rock had become unfashionable for a long time, but it seems to be making a comeback in recent years. How did you guys get into that scene?
Matt: My uncle got me into Motley Crue. I remember looking at the ‘Looks that kill’ video when I was a teenager and going, oh, this is the shit. Then that opened the door to all the other glam bands and that was it for me. I think it’s definitely stuff like ‘The Dirt’ that’s opened it up again.
Andy: I read the book, because I can read (!) despite common belief.
George: I got ‘The Dirt’ for my 17th birthday. I was taking it to school and reading it out to everyone.
MGM: HRH Sleaze has really played a big part in supporting the genre, and opening it up to a wider audience. There are so many new bands coming through, and you guys are going to be playing your part. You recorded in the studio really early on, didn’t you?
Matt: We recorded our single in 2022.
Robbi: We were playing it for a while before we even recorded it, and just constantly trying different versions of it.
George: We released it as a single and it did quite well. So, we decided to do an EP and really go for it.
MGM: Earlier today, you played the Motley number ‘Looks that kill’ in your set. Robbi’s voice is sounding more like Vince Neil than Vince Neil does these days.
Andy: It’s the same tuning as the first song, so it worked out.
Robbi: We like to add a couple of covers in there to get the crowd going. A few of the other bands have done it tonight as well. We also do ‘Round and Round’ by Ratt quite a bit.
George: We do play them quite differently to the originals though. We play them a bit heavier and harder with the way we attack.
Andy: We have the dance moves too. We just can’t sit still.
MGM: For all your moves, it’s now been an hour since you came off stage and you’re stood here talking to me. Where are all the adoring female fans?
Andy: Don’t you worry, we’ve had our shenanigans already.
Robbi: We had a gig last night as well. Our hometown show at Chinnery’s in Southend. So, we’re very hung over.
Andy: I was trying not to be sick on the car journey
MGM: Southend used to be known for having all the boy racers driving their cars around the promenade, and the pier. Does that still happen?
Andy: Yeah, there’s still people that do that shit. Now it’s police cars checking for machetes. They haven’t caught me yet.
MGM: Recently you’ve been out supporting tribute bands like Motley Crude. This HRH performance should be the catalyst to building momentum, and playing some more shows. What’s the ambition for Röxxi Red?
Andy: World domination. Government.
George: We spoke about doing an album. We’re getting a lot more material together and let’s just see where it takes us.
Matt: The thing that’s great about supporting tribute bands is that they’ve got big crowds, so it ensures we’ve got an audience.
Robbi: We cheated the system, basically. We went into the tribute scene because they had the crowds. A lot of bands should learn from it, because it’s like, get in there with the tributes, do your covers, but then do some originals. It builds our profile. Now we want to start supporting original bands and getting more into the original scene.
MGM: They’ll be a few comparisons to Steel Panther, not just because of your flamboyant trousers. They started out playing covers and then introduced their own material.
Robbi: That’s exactly what they did in Las Vegas. They were just playing covers for a long time, and then they edged out with their own stuff. Someone came up to me the other day actually, and said, you remind me of Michael Starr. I was like, really?
Matt: We love Still Panther, but we more look towards bands like Reckless Love.
George: For the last 10-15 years, I’ve loved the Scandinavian scene where you’ve had bands like Reckless Love, Santa Cruz, Crash Diet, and even Shiraz Lane, who are here tonight. They’re a really good band. Hans, the singer, has got such a vocal range.
Robbi: One thing about Steel Panther is that they’re one band that managed to edge out and actually become very big. Satchel in interviews is really intelligent. What I like about him is he’s really funny, but then he knows when to be serious at the same time.
Andy: We like the entertainment that they have on stage. They have some banter. Obviously, we’re all mates, so we have quite a lot of stage banner. We try and bring it on a little bit, get a bit of character involved. The lyrics are fun. They’re mostly about sex and all the normal glam stuff. But it’s not a parody of glam. It is genuine.
MGM: So, what will happen after this? Where can people see you?
Matt: We got quite a few 2025 dates.
Robbi: We’re touring with a couple more tribute bands next year, like ‘Hotter than hell’.
George: What we want to start doing is opening more for actual original bands as well, getting on that scene more. That’s the plan for 2025. I was talking to Continental Lovers, and we’re having chats with them about maybe doing a show together at some point. Fingers crossed when Reckless Love get back together, we’ll support them as well. They always love coming over to the UK because they’ve got such a good audience here.
Andy: I’m hoping to do a Duran Duran support tour. I’m pushing for it now!
Röxxi Red’s debut EP is out now, and available direct from the band:
https://www.facebook.com/RoxxiRedBand
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