Quick Q and A with Joziah Longo and Tink Lloyd
 by Kathy S-B  ·  24 September 2011

Describe Slambovia to those who are unfamiliar with the whole concept.

Slambovian was a term/expletive we began to use while making our first album to describe something unexplainably wondrous and transcendent. It became the root of the band’s name and our own virtual nation to build with our fans. We used to just be a band from Slambovia, but with the last album we gave ourselves a promotion and are now ‘The Grand Slambovians,’ a more official title.

You have many diehard fans who come to see you just about anywhere you play. Is there any similarity to Deadheads? Do your fans keep detailed set lists and trade concert CDs?

TINK: When we first started playing we heard a lot of fans say they liked the tribal/community vibe we had. Some were former Deadheads, so I think we filled a void for them. Some compete for how many shows they’ve been to... some fans even started a radio show called ‘Strictly Slambovian’ on WBCR in Great Barrington, Mass. which airs once a month featuring bootlegs of recent shows and interviews with the band.

Is there one song that you do that would be the best song to introduce someone to your music?

TINK: It seems that each album has a signature song that people resonate with. The song that still is the most requested is ‘Talkin’ To The Buddha’. It’s at once intimate, yet vast. The song was written right after 9/11 in response to the unsatisfying answers from some of the religious leaders who were asked “Why did God let this happen?” We’re all still reeling from that. Being from New York we had friends directly affected. This song addresses the age old question man has about how much control man has of events on the earth plane. . . .

Many of your songs contain a really mystical quality. Do you think this ghostly and often spiritual element is what attracts so many people to your music?

TINK: As we become more knowledgeable about science, we become more knowledgeable about the unseen world. This makes for more refined questions, and better answers. Our music is often inspired by the questions/challenges that we face as individuals but also as a human family. Understanding the invisible world helps to comprehend this visible world and deal with it in a more spherical way. I think a percentage of our audience is interested in those things, and for others the music is a big attraction.

If you could plan your own festival and invite any musicians, living or dead, to play with you on stage, who would that be? Name as many as you’d like!

TINK: We are planning to have our first Slambovian Summer Festival in 2012, it’s a dream we’ve had for years. We have a UK location and promoter, still looking for a US location. Our Grand Slambovian (Extraterrestrial Hillbilly Pirate) Halloween Ball is really a mini-festival which we plan to grow into a full day, or two-day festival next year. The Halloween show has elements of who and what we would have at our festival. We have aerialists, street performers, and for the first time this year we’ve invited another band, The Wiyos, to join in the fun.

JOZIAH: I’ll chime in on this one! Most of the musicians we’d like to play with have been known to show up while we’re playing. Keith Moon and Jon Bonham often make appearances at Tony’s station and no doubt Jimi or Duane have been sitting in with Sharkey on many occasions. Nico or Sandy Denny and other feminine spirit types grace Tink’s corner and I’m happily haunted by quite a number of them (I see ghosts!) that have gone to the other side while writing and performing. I don’t listen to enough music by artists that that still reside on the earth plane to be able to say who we’d invite to our own festival, but there is a crop of new music happening these days that is piquing my interest.

How did the idea of the Grand Slambovian (Extraterrestrial Hillbilly Pirate) Halloween Ball come about? What can someone expect at one of these balls?

Halloween was our first official gig in Sleepy Hollow, NY — so it seemed appropriate that we celebrate our anniversary as a band in a fantastic way given our history! Once a year we get to play dress up and create fantasy bands to be in. Joziah has quite an imagination — each year we add to the theme and expand — which is why the name is soooo long!!!