A Chat with Dirty Slippers (27.09.23)
Originally from Budapest, Hungarian foursome Dirty Slippers travel from pop-rock and alternative rock to indie-rock with classic rock sounds. With a nostalgic heaviness and modern-day brightness, Dirty Slippers bring a retro but familiar rock vibe to their melodies. We speak with vocalist and guitarist Lazar Lobo-Szaloky about their new single ‘Wide Open’, good advice, superpowers and more.
OSR: What drew you to music? How did Dirty Slippers come about?
Lobo-Szaloky: That’s a really funny and old story. 😊 I was only 12 when I said for the first time to my teachers in the school: “Ohh I have a band named Dirty Slippers”. I was a bad kid with so many problems. I never understood why a lot of children were really arrogant of each other and when I was a little boy with glasses and braces I decided I wanna show the people what I am capable of! Dirty Slippers was my revolution against idiot teenagers and teachers with problematic backgrounds.
Honestly, my parents were the ones who infected me with music. We are a really cohesive family and my Mom and Dad are respected people in our hometown. Mom is a doctor, Dad is a teacher and they have really great musical taste. We always listened to Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dire Straits and so many amazing bands. I dreamed about a musical career and I am really thankful I became a musician and played in 10 countries with my band and sang my songs to the audience.
OSR: What inspires you to create music?
Lobo-Szaloky: Honestly, I am a really emotional guy. I wrote songs about everything that happened to me. Themes about love, friends, loss of a family member, changing lives during Covid or about this really bad Ukrainian-Russian war conflict. I never write a song that didn’t happen to me.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Lobo-Szaloky: Everything! Some years ago, one of my cousins said to me: “Hey Lazar, you are not just a guitar player and singer, you study at a university, you write poems, do karate and so on”. But I said to him: “I never wanna be like another person, I am a full-time rock n roll guy, I wake up and go to bed with my musical dreams and with the next steps.”. I have not got a switch-off button and I am happy with my life.
OSR: You recently released your single ‘Wide Open’. What can you tell us about the single? Is there a backstory or theme?
Lobo-Szaloky: This is an energy bomb, a motivational song! I know some bands write motivational songs, but ours is not a typical one. It’s about a middle age guy or woman who just looks deeply inside and realized, “Ohh I fucked up a lot of things in my life, and I am not at the point where I wanna be”. In our generation, a lot of people could not achieve their dreams about things like Covid, economic problems, inflation, bad family backgrounds and so on. ‘Wide Open’ is their song. The people who think they missed their dreams and successes. I wanted to give power to these humans.
OSR: Based on your discography, it seems you only started releasing English-speaking songs this year. Why did you make this change, and do you think singing in English has helped your career?
Lobo-Szaloky: Yes, definitely. We had two great gigs in the UK, which means a lot to us. We are from Hungary, which is a historical country in Middle-Europe. Travelling to the UK and playing shows in cities like London or Guildford is a dream come true moment. We recorded the whole new album at Abbey Road Studios with our amazing producer George Shilling, who supported our career since 2009 and I think he knows me better than I know myself 😊 I can’t wait to see what the people in the UK, US and the other countries will think about our first, full English language album.
OSR: ‘Wide Open’ is one of the songs you recorded with Grammy-nominated producer Tim Palmer. What was the experience of working with Tim Palmer like?
Lobo-Szaloky: Tim Palmer is a legend! He worked with iconic superstars like U2, Bon Jovi and Goo Goo Dolls. When I wrote ‘Wide Open’ and the song’s Hungarian version called ‘Nyitva’, I knew Tim would be the perfect producer to create the arena rock sound I envisioned. He liked the song and helped us like a musical father. I am really proud of this joint work and can’t wait to work on more songs with him.
OSR: ‘Wide Open’ is a track from your upcoming album. What can you tell us about the new album?
Lobo-Szaloky: The album will be our best so far. We chose the songs with George in March and our first English album will contain the best songs from our 3 Hungarian language albums and some new ones as well. The track’s new Abbey Road Studios recording version will be more monumental and emotional with a new sound.
OSR: What makes Dirty Slippers unique as a band?
Lobo-Szaloky: I think we are 4 really different people with really different visions. We want to put these ideas together in such a way that they create an exciting new musical world. Of course, you don’t have to think that we’ll be playing extreme metal from tomorrow, it’s more about the fact that we want to play melodic pop rock – indie music with exciting violin, cello or piano parts. George is the best producer, who is an amazing cellist and musician too, he always helps with new ideas.
OSR: What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Lobo-Szaloky: I learned a lot from the best Hungarian manager Miklós Abella. He was a really hard guy with amazing knowledge. Sadly, he passed away some years ago, I remember with much love our great talks. Someday we said to me: “a professional is a professional because he can adapt to everything”.
OSR: If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why that power?
Lobo-Szaloky: I’m a really big fan of superhero movies, so I really like Batman, Wolverine, Hulk and a lot of stuff from Marvel or DC. I never thought about a superpower, but if I could change people’s minds about important things like music, passion, religion, and love each other, I definitely do! I think the internet and especially the social media sites destroyed a lot of things, which I really hate! I am an evangelical, God-believing rock musician who does a lot of charity; we also have a prevention program in Hungary against drugs, alcohol and HPV. We try to do our best to leave behind value, not messes and problems.
OSR: What future plans do you have for Dirty Slippers?
Lobo-Szaloky: We are in a really busy period. We will finish our tour in Hungary in November or December and would like to travel back to London and play more concerts in the UK. In December we would like to release our new single with a video clip and do a great PR and radio campaign with this, to anticipate and prepare for the release of the album.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
Lobo-Szaloky: Yes, we would be super happy if you would listen to our 2 first English songs ‘Wide Open’ and ‘Honest kid’ on Spotify! You can listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4HUqCTYHR6kbAIW6Dvmdfc
Many thanks to Lazar Lobo-Szaloky for speaking with us! Find out more about Dirty Slippers on their Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
