Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Sloths are back from the grave

Hollywood High garage-rock group — 50 years later!

Fifty years later... L.A. garage-rock group the Sloths release their debut record.
Fifty years later... L.A. garage-rock group the Sloths release their debut record.

When the Sloths play the Casbah November 9, the 1960s-era garage band will have a famous guest: Jason from the Friday the 13th films.

“There’s a guy I know down there who does a great Jason so he will be joining us onstage for the song, ‘He’s Back (Man Behind the Mask),’” says Sloths lead singer Tom McLoughlin, who got to know the Jason character very well.

The song was originally performed by Alice Cooper for the the 1986 slasher flick Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part VI, which McLoughlin directed.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Video:

"7 & 7"

The Sloths live at BurgerRama

The Sloths live at BurgerRama

“I’m not a fan of slasher movies,” McLoughlin tells the Reader. “They seem like a way to slice and dice women for the excitement of men.

“When I was hired, I thought, What am I going to do? So I decided, What if I bring him back like Frankenstein? He’s dead so he can’t be killed — just like Dracula, Wolfman, and Frankenstein, and none of them wanted to be back from the grave.”

Not coincidentally, Back From the Grave is the title of the band’s debut album, recorded 50 years after they first broke up and released earlier this year.

The band was part of the vibrant Sunset Strip scene of the mid-1960s. Smack dab in their teens, the Sloths shared bills with the Doors, Love, Iron Butterfly, Pink Floyd, and the Animals.

The Sloths broke up by the summer of 1966 and went their separate ways for 45 years, during which McLoughlin did a variety of jobs in showbiz, including training as a mime with Marcel Marceau.

His rock-and-roll past was a distant and happy memory until 2011 when he got a call from a lawyer. It seems a former member of the band had hired a private investigator to track the other guys down.

The reason: a recording of the band’s only recorded single, “Makin’ Love,” had caught the ear of garage-rock fanatics and was selling for upwards of $6000.

Past Event

The Sloths and the Bassics

  • Monday, November 9, 2015, 8 p.m.
  • Casbah, 2501 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego
  • 21+ / $10

“That turned into us getting together in a garage to see if we remembered the song,” McLoughlin said. “It turned into sort of a poker night for us.”

It also turned into a live gig in San Diego, thanks to Loons leader Mike Stax, who also tracked down the band members for a profile in his magazine, Ugly Things.

“Mike was instrumental in making this happen,” McLoughlin says. “If he hadn’t been determined to write a story on the Sloths and my other band, the May Wines, none of this would have happened. He kicked us off and, much to his surprise, we’ve kept it going.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Dim Sum Tour, Warwick’s Holiday Open House

Events November 24-November 27, 2024
Next Article

Live Five: Sitting On Stacy, Matte Blvck, Think X, Hendrix Celebration, Coriander

Alt-ska, dark electro-pop, tributes, and coastal rock in Solana Beach, Little Italy, Pacific Beach
Fifty years later... L.A. garage-rock group the Sloths release their debut record.
Fifty years later... L.A. garage-rock group the Sloths release their debut record.

When the Sloths play the Casbah November 9, the 1960s-era garage band will have a famous guest: Jason from the Friday the 13th films.

“There’s a guy I know down there who does a great Jason so he will be joining us onstage for the song, ‘He’s Back (Man Behind the Mask),’” says Sloths lead singer Tom McLoughlin, who got to know the Jason character very well.

The song was originally performed by Alice Cooper for the the 1986 slasher flick Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part VI, which McLoughlin directed.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Video:

"7 & 7"

The Sloths live at BurgerRama

The Sloths live at BurgerRama

“I’m not a fan of slasher movies,” McLoughlin tells the Reader. “They seem like a way to slice and dice women for the excitement of men.

“When I was hired, I thought, What am I going to do? So I decided, What if I bring him back like Frankenstein? He’s dead so he can’t be killed — just like Dracula, Wolfman, and Frankenstein, and none of them wanted to be back from the grave.”

Not coincidentally, Back From the Grave is the title of the band’s debut album, recorded 50 years after they first broke up and released earlier this year.

The band was part of the vibrant Sunset Strip scene of the mid-1960s. Smack dab in their teens, the Sloths shared bills with the Doors, Love, Iron Butterfly, Pink Floyd, and the Animals.

The Sloths broke up by the summer of 1966 and went their separate ways for 45 years, during which McLoughlin did a variety of jobs in showbiz, including training as a mime with Marcel Marceau.

His rock-and-roll past was a distant and happy memory until 2011 when he got a call from a lawyer. It seems a former member of the band had hired a private investigator to track the other guys down.

The reason: a recording of the band’s only recorded single, “Makin’ Love,” had caught the ear of garage-rock fanatics and was selling for upwards of $6000.

Past Event

The Sloths and the Bassics

  • Monday, November 9, 2015, 8 p.m.
  • Casbah, 2501 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego
  • 21+ / $10

“That turned into us getting together in a garage to see if we remembered the song,” McLoughlin said. “It turned into sort of a poker night for us.”

It also turned into a live gig in San Diego, thanks to Loons leader Mike Stax, who also tracked down the band members for a profile in his magazine, Ugly Things.

“Mike was instrumental in making this happen,” McLoughlin says. “If he hadn’t been determined to write a story on the Sloths and my other band, the May Wines, none of this would have happened. He kicked us off and, much to his surprise, we’ve kept it going.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Ramona musicians seek solution for outdoor playing at wineries

Ambient artists aren’t trying to put AC/DC in anyone’s backyard
Next Article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader