Artist: Cocktail Slippers

Title: St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

Publication: Cosmopolitan (Norway)

Date: March 2009

They are rock, they are beautiful and they never stop. On their upcoming album they even got help from the musical legend Steven van Zandt as a songwriter and producer. Mission: To save the rock.

In the basement in Nobels Gate 30 at Frogner is lively, garage rock, laughter and energy, topped by lots of balloons. It’s not every day that Cocktail Slippers have these prominent guests in the house. 

- As a matter of fact, it was Steven’s idea to bring the balloons, he wanted to create the right atmosphere, says Ingjerd Sandven Kleivan. 

 

some of the best advice they have received during this time is to be present in the moment. If there is one thing Little Steven knows, it must be to take a role - either as Silvio in "Sopranos" or as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. 

- The other day Steven and I went through all of our lyrics to a new song. Me, in Lenes cap and leather jacket, I looked like I was from Rebel Without a Cause, Ingjerd says smiling.

- You need to be present in the song, live the character, if you are not the sound won’t reach out of the speakers, the girls says. 

 

Little Steven comes out of the inner room in the studio, he has written two songs on their new album, but wont tell us what they are about. 

- Everything is about love, isn’t it? He he, he smiles.

He is in a good mood, and we are told that he yelled "Cosmo Cosmo" in the other room (maybe he is reading Cosmopolitan back home in New York?) Met his bandanas, cool shirt and dark sunglasses it is as if we actually see Silvio back there. 

- My character is still very much alive, he says with his well known smile on his face.

But where Silvio still is history, is the music very much alive. He will publish Cocktail Slippers on his on label, The Wicked Cool Records. A glimpse of The Cocktail Slippers on a poster back in 2003 lead to him playing them on his radio show, Little Stevens Underground Garage. In 2004 a call came from his office.

- I was on holiday in Greece when his manager called. It was so great to hear that he had played our music in the US. And we where invited to play at a festival in NYC. We where going to play on the same stage as Iggy Pop, New York Dolls, Dictators, The Strokes and Nancy Sinatra. After a while he started his own label, and we where his first signed band, Ingjerd says. 

 

Steven himself remembers very well what he was thinking the first time he met the band. 

- They had a lot of fun. They are an amazing band, they can play, they can sing, and they look fantastic. They have the whole package, he says. 

For The Cocktail Slippers image has always been important. It is a part of rock-lifestyle. They love to act out their roles on stage. They have confidence and a blast when they are together. 

- It was so much fun when we played in Antwerp Prison, dressed as prisoners. We joked about how we could escape from the prison, Lene says. 

 

Little Steven and John Luongo (label manager) have big plans for the girls in the nearest future. - A big problem today is that the young ones not are buying records anymore. One of the reasons is that the bands only have one or two good songs on their album. It’s rare to hear a good album. Our goal is to make the whole album really good, and have personality and quality, says Steven. 

Steven is leaning back to underline his point, and continues: - it is really important to build a foundation, and that’s what we are doing now. That’s how you’re going to sell records. There is not enough culture for Rock And Roll anymore. You have to look back at band such as Rolling Stones and U2 to find good rock bands, says Steven. 

 

- If we got the mission to save Rock And Roll that is a huge compliment. You can quote me on that, says a smiling Ingjerd.  

 

The Cocktail Slippers started their career back in 2001; none of the girls knew each other before they met in the band.  They spent tree years making this record, and now they are looking forward for the release. - The name of the record will be "St. Valentine’s Day Massacre" and as the name insinuate, it is not all about sweet candy, says Ingjerd.