This interview has taken long mostly because of me haha -- I was so nervous and I waited years to ask Jonny Slut for an interview, and then he said yes. Finally, I was so nervous and anxious and I waited forever to write it. Jonny was patient with me and in the end it all worked out and I am so excited to share this with ya'll. - Morticia P.S I went overboard on photos!
Cover photo includes a recent photo of Jonny Slut Deejaying at Slimelight!
Did you happen to develop any hobbies during the height of the pandemic?
First off let me apologise , I totally forgot about this interview, or maybe thought I’d already done it! But I know you are a fellow sloth so guess it’s OK.
Um, I can’t really remember much about the pandemic to be honest, it’s weird isn’t it? I did enjoy doing a few DJ sets from my garden studio which are on YouTube if you fancy taking a look.
Do you have any side projects that you are doing? If so, can you tell us about them?
I’m currently working on what I hope will be my next box set, which is kind of a history of electronic club music of the first 10 years of the 21st century. I ran quite an influential Electroclash club from 2002-2008 called Nag Nag Nag and it kind of feels like the right time to revisit the music from that era.
Young Limbs Rise Again - The Story of the Batcave Nightclub 1982-1985 which is a very special release. We see there are special signed prints, books sets and more! Basically a collectors dream! May we ask how this came to fruition? What was the process like getting this all together?
A friend of mine that is a music academic asked me why the original Batcave album had never been re-released. I waspishly quipped ‘perhaps because it wasn’t very good!’ But it got me thinking that it could be a valid project as a kind of document of the time. I made some inquiries and a friend that is freelancer in the record catalogue industry thought it was a good idea. However it was virtually impossible to find out who owned the rights to the tracks and all that, so instead we thought about doing it as a box set of tracks that used to get played at the club, as well as a kind of overview of what became known as the ‘goth’ scene in. The UK of the early 80’s. Also, Jon Klein the co-founder of the Batcave and Specimen guitarist had been working on a book on the Batcave for years, so we thought it’s be a good idea to combine the two.
You can check that out here. There are different packages too! Young Limbs Rise Again
Let’s get this basic question out of the way; how did you find yourself playing in Specimen? How did you learn to play the keyboards? Is there a story behind that?
Apparently the story goes that on my first ever visit to The Batcave both Ollie Wisdom & Jon Klein spotted me on the dance floor. They were looking for a bit of eye candy to play keyboards n their band Specimen ( I think they had a smelly hippy standing in at the time). The next week Ollie approached me and put the proposition to me. At first I was a bit apprehensive as a: I couldn’t play keyboards, and b: I’d never heard of Specimen! But he love bombed me so I ended up joining. I maintain that anyone can learn keyboards in a few weeks, it’ s really not that difficult, and after a few months I could play with both hands! But I had more fun just poking the odd finger at the instrument and freaking out Eno style with all the knobs.
Backstage at The Lyceum at a Meteors/Specimen/Alien Sex Fiend/Sex Beat gig (St Valentines Day Massacre 1983).
Photo above by Jenny C. Bill
This ghastly question that may be most annoying but many would really love to know how The Batcave came to be and did you deejay there?
Ollie & Jon were looking to open a club where Specimen could play basically. After the first week they were approached by DJ Hamish McDonald who said that he could really make the place rock (he DJed at a lot of influential gigs at the time) so they took him on. His set’s were excellent. When the club moved from it’s original Gargoyle Club venue to The Subway in Leicester Square in autumn 1982 there was an upstairs room (as well as the main dance floor downstairs) and I DJed there for a few weeks, before Anni Hogan from Marc & The Mambas took over for a while. At the beginning of 1984 Hamish left The Batcave and I became one of the regular DJ’s right up till the end in autumn 1985.
When did you start getting into deejaying?
See above!
Can you tell us about “Nag Nag Nag?’ It seemed to be a haven for many, and we would love to hear about why you called it that? What type of music was played there?
I’d been DJing at various indie clubs for years, all through Britpop, Big Beat etc. In 2001 I heard 2 tracks on the same night on the radio, one was Emerge by Fischerspooner, and the other was Hand To Phone by Adult. I just had a real eureka moment and thought ‘I need to do a club that plays all this kind of stuff….and I need to do it now!’ Those tracks reminded me of all the late 70’s early 80’s post punk & electronic stuff that I had always loved, Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Kraftwerk, Early Simple Minds & Soft Cell. So I thought I’d start a club that combined the two. I chose Nag Nag Nag as the name which is a track by Cabaret Voltaire. After a few weeks it just exploded and became the place to be /be seen. Very popular with the fashion crowd, apparently a visit to Nag Nag Nag was added to the curriculum for student s at St Martins fashion school!
It did become a global phenomenon and for a while was a celeb hang out. Bjork, Boy George and The Pet Shop Boys were all regulars.
Here is a link to a Nag Nag Nag mix Jonny did for Crack Magazine: Nag Nag Nag
Food is important. We have seen over the years you have been making all kinds of yummy vegan dishes. You are quite creative, have you become an accidental vegan chef? Or is your secret that you are a vegan chef?
I’m definitely an accidental vegan chef. I grow a lot of vegetables and I enjoy exploring new ways to serve them. I just made an amazing Middle Eastern chilli sauce Shatta with my home grown chilis. I made kimchi the other day too. I love pickles.
Morticia: Here is Jonny's Middle Eastern Chili Sauce along with the recipe! Your WELCOME hehe
"Made some green Shatta (Middle Eastern hot sauce) with some home grown chillies.
125g chillies, sliced thinly (I used scissors)
1 tsp salt
1tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice.
Quickly blitz with a blender (you want it to stay a bit chunky, not too smooth).
That's it! Can last for a week in the fridge.
You can make red, but my chillies haven't turned yet. "
Morticia: Also, this Kimchi Jonny made is to die for.
Can you tell us about your relationship with Gavin Friday?
I don’t have one! I did get him and Guggi to DJ at Nag Nag Nag once in 2004 I thin kit was, which was like a dream come true for me as I’d always been a massive fan. Their back catalogue was re released around the time, I like to think helped on by the fact that I’d included The Faculties of a Broken Heart on the Nag Nag Nag album. The single Nag Nag Nag got a re release around the same time too, with mixes by Tiga amongst others.
Can we talk about how you birthed Diskord Datkord ? We would like to know where you came up with the name and the unique music you made here!
After Specimen (and another brief dodgy band which I will ignore here) I was looking to collaborate with some like minded souls. An old friend from The Batcave Tinley said I should meet his brother Adam as he thought we’d get on. We hit it off instantly and the 3 of us formed Discord Datkord. At the time both myself and Adam were reading The Illuminatus! Trilogy and there is a secret group of disruptors called The Legion of Dynamic Discord mentioned which inspired us to call ourselves Diskord Datkord (and Every Other Fucking Kord!) It was actually Adam's idea, he always did love a pun! Adam & I sort of became alien from outer space twins with our shaved heads, unicorn hairstyles and jackets covered in toys, safety pins and soap powder packets on the back. We did look fantastic, but a lot of people couldn’t handle it. We were in Adam’s home town once (after a gig) and noticed we were being followed in a car by a couple of what we thought were thugs. In the end they stopped us and turned out to be plain clothes policemen. They basically asked us to leave town! Later that night we visited a pub and they really didn’t want to serve us ‘too heavy for here lads’ we were the least ‘heavy’ people you could ever meet!
Photos by Mick Mercer
You are a fashion icon for many deathrockers/goths as I am sure you know. You have been an inspiration to many many people! Did you have anyone in your life that you looked at for inspiration? Or how did you put together your looks?
I think the whole look just evolved organically. I didn’t really have a role model or want to look like anyone else. I lived with an old fashion college friend Linda when I first moved to London, and we used to spend evenings making clothes, or chopping things up from charity shops, and experimenting with bleach and crimpers, like you do as a teenager!
My first question for you when I started to work on this interview over a year ago was “Do you like water?” Such a dumb question – I was nervous, and did not want to ask you mundane questions, yet my first question was that haha. I decided to ask you that here anyways and explain myself haha. It went so far that when I was interviewed in September 2022 by “Open Graves Podcast” the title of my interview was “Is Jonny Slut hydrated? And Other Important Questions with Morticia Batz.”
Ha ha I just had a quick listen to this! Erm, yes I do like water. But I prefer a margarita.
Morticia: Maybe Pirate water will do. Teehee
At Goth Haus LA we really love sloths and you – so much that one of our main logos is a deathrock sloth inspired by our love for sloths and you. His name is “Jonny Sloth.” Not many people put that together, unless we talk about it on our anniversary haha. Do you have any thoughts on this?
I’m flattered to have been paired with my spirit animal.
Above is how it started, below is how it ended.
And that is how our logo that everyone loves Jonny Sloth was born! We are happy Jonny loves it too!
Are there any causes that are important to you?
A fully functioning democracy and the annihilation of right wing populism/fascism.
If you could be a mythical creature what creature would you choose to be and why?
I always wanted to be Multi Man from the Hanna Barbera cartoon The impossibles as a kid but I’ve no idea why
Anything you would like to leave us with?
Use sunscreen and earplugs!
Fan Questions
What was it like working with KLF? -anonymous
They were friends and would throw the best parties, so anything involving them was always a lot of fun. The best time was the visit to the Scottish island of Jura where there was a Wicker Man inspired ceremony held for a number of assembled journalists, who were flown in a private plane to what the were told was ‘The Isle of Mu’. A couple of them freaked out and managed to escape, and a few of the locals put wild garlic on their front doors as they thought we were a bunch of devil worshippers!
What were your favorite bands at the time of the Batcave? - anonymous
Virgin Prunes (I listened to If I Die I Die every day for a year).
Marc & The Mambas
Siouxsie & The Banshees
Psychedelic Furs
Echo & The Bunnymen
What was Specimen inspired by?- anonymous
Hammer Horror movies, Glam Rock, John Waters , The Banana Splits.
Do you have any diy tips, tricks or hacks or suggestions for people that want to stuff that you did back in the day to get your signature look? Or do you have any modern suggestions for this? -Pyramid Goth
Keep the gusset of your fishnets clean!
Where do you find your clothes now? Who are people I can support that you may buy from that is not mass produced?-Pyramid Goth
I have a couple of friends that make stuff for me, and Libidex is great for latex wear
Links to all things Jonny Slut
Jonny said I could share any of his recipes here, so because of that I will share a few! However, I think Jonny should make a cookbook, because many of us take down his recipes and make them. Brilliant food! Technically, you all have access to three different recipes from Jonny. :)
Recipe 1: Possibly the most interesting thing you could do with a courgette all year.
Heat 4 tbsp oil in large frying pan, add 2.5 tsp panch puran (mixed spice blend). When seeds start to pop turn down heat and add 1 large chopped onion and 2 red chillies.Fry for 6-8 mins until onion is golden.
Add 1 medium potato peeled and cubed into 2cm chunks, a quarter tsp tumeric & eighth tsp chilli powder & fry gently for 20-25 mins.
Add half a tin of chopped tomatoes (200g), fry for a bit then add 4 bay leaves and 2 large courgettes cubed into 2cm chunks. Stir & cook for 10 mins.
Add 1tsp salt & sugar and juice of half a lemon, stir & serve.
Recipe 2: Due to popular demand here is my current favourite courgette recipe.
1- Chuck a 400g can of chopped tomatoes into a large roasting dish.
2- Slice 600g of courgettes and 600g of potatoes (I use baby new) and put in a large mixing bowl.
3- Add 4 minced cloves garlic, a handful of fresh parsley, 2tsp of dried oregano, salt, pepper and chilli flakes (optional) and a really good slug of olive oil. Mix together.
4- Arrange in the roasting dish alternate rows of courgette and potato.
5- Slice a large red onion and add to the dish (pictured).
6- Add another 400g can of tomatoes on top, as well as any of the oil and stuff from the mixing bowl.
7- Cover with foil and cook on 200 degrees C for 45 minutes or so.
8- Remove foil and cook for another 30-40 minutes till most of the liquid evaporates and it starts going slightly brown on top.
That's it! I've made it before using all courgettes instead of the potatoes, adding a sliced pepper or 2.
