Q&A With Sticky Business Guitarist Joey Zlotek Part 1

After a week of delay, I finished the Q&A with Sticky Business guitarist Joey Zlotek. It will be split into two parts, with the second part being posted on Friday. Enjoy!

Can you tell me where the name came from?

Basically, we were trying to find a name for ourselves because we started out with Ragnarok, but that has been overused a lot. It’s supposed to mean end of the world, but we wanted to use it because it had ‘rock’ in it. When we decided we couldn’t use that, we tried to find a bunch of different things. Being die-hard Ghostbusters fans, we looked for a couple of different references…almost every possible thing was taken, from Proton Pack to Slimer; I didn’t think anybody would be crazy enough to name a band that…we came down to Sexual Probation, Holstered Magnum, and Sticky Business. After a lot of thought, we thought Sticky Business was the least offensive, yet most provocative, name out of the bunch. 

When did the band form, in its current incarnation?

About three or four months ago. However, the band goes all the back to me and the drummer, almost a year and a half now…we played with other people doing cover material, but its not just any cover material; it’s us playing the cover material. You know that Matt Banks (drummer) and Joe Zlotek are playing these tunes. The thing we strive for when finding other people is to make sure it means the same thing. It great to be able to be a chameleon as far as playing music goes, but if you are trying to define your own sound, you don’t want somebody to go, ‘oh, that guy sounds like Ozzy Osbourne’ or ‘that guy is imitating Slash.’ The bass player (John) is a great guy; he has his own vibe. The singer Gary definitely has his own vibe as well…played in a band called Cryptovirus that was fairly successful until he got kicked out. They were a ballsy metal band and Gary did a lot more screaming. We’re not necessary into screaming…he does more singing, but he still screams a bit. It’s a talent that you don’t throw away.

 

Joey Zlotek rocking the guitar with his bandmates by his side

 

 

Tell me a little bit about the songwriting process and some of the songs that will be on the band’s new EP.

We have a studio in our rehearsal area. It’s not the best, but as far as what people can afford and try to record their own stuff…I’m of an old school mindset. I don’t particularly care for Pro-Tools; it’s like taking the apple off the proverbial tree. You have all this great stuff, but you can use it in a dishonest fashion. I try to stay away from that stuff…we basically recorded all three tunes in that studio as demos. We’re going to give them to this guy Chris-I’ve worked with him before with a few other bands in the engineering process-and so now he’s doing something for me. We’re going to give him those tracks first. “Jumping Jack Flash” (cover of Rolling Stones track and the band’s first single) is going to be awesome; as far as the arraignment goes, it’s a culmination of jamming the song out for a while…once John came it, that took it in a whole other direction and based on hearing everything from that, I set the arraignment up.

The other song, “Your Girlfriend,” is the sequel to “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” The groove of this song is a dirty groove; just makes you want to bob your head along…that song came about as a jam between me and Matt. I came up with the main riff for that to match Matt’s drum track…I came up with the refrain laying down, staring up at the sky, drinking a beer…it’s about a guy who satisfies an unsatisfied girl…most of the instrumental stuff was Matt and I. John added what he thought the song called for…a collaborative effort, but the lyrics were me and Gary.

 “The Last Guitar Hero,” the six to seven minute epic, was the first song that Matt and I initially played together when we started to write our own stuff. It was a combination of Van Halen, AC/DC, and Skid Row…the solo is almost everything I can do. You never give it all away. When we play it live, it’s twice as long…it’s collaborative in the long-run, but it usually starts out with me and Matt.