Slaughterhouse: California Takeover
- Josh Kitchen
- Mar 28
- 8 min read
By: Josh Kitchen / March 28, 2025
Los Angeles punk band Slaughterhouse have been trudging along now for seven years, making in your face, angry, intense music filled with blistering riffs and vocals that can make your eardrums bleed. The great thing about them though is that they just keep getting better and better. Taylor Ramirez and Eddie Cairns, on guitar and bass respectively, have been mainstays in the band since it's inception in 2017 with vocalists evolving over time. Friend of the band Meriel O'Connell took the reins in 2023, and it seems Slaughterhouse have reached their final form - a band confident in its place in punk rock history while putting out tracks that still feel fresh and vital.
Seeing them live is essential - and they create an incredible communal atmosphere for people who want to feel secure and supported in their love of music and community. I spoke with the band about their epic new EP Sick and Tired, why it's so important to create safe spaces for fans that are queer and marginalized, being part of an exciting group of new female fronted punk bands, and wanting to get punched in the face by Amy Taylor.
You just released a new EP, Sick and Tired, about a month ago. I love it. Tell me how it feels to have it out in the world.
Taylor Ramirez: Feels great. It felt like a lot of the songs on it were a really long time in the making. We had a collection of songs that were already recorded, and then we decided to record one more so we’d have something fresh to release. Luckily, Pirates Press really wanted to release something with us, and the timing was just really good.
Eddie Cairns: It feels great. We were all eager to have new music out and start showcasing this next era of Slaughterhouse.
I’m glad you brought up the next phase of Slaughterhouse. Meriel, you joined the band about a year and a half ago, but you’ve been involved with them longer. What’s it been like joining and watching the band evolve?
Meriel: It still feels new, and yet, in a weird way, it also feels like it’s been this way forever.
Taylor: When Meriel joined, it just felt like the right thing at the right time. It was nice to have someone who wanted to be there and had the same goals we have. We’ve been working our asses off for about seven years now, trudging along, and it’s taken a lot of tenacity. It’s fun, but it’s also a lot of work. Meriel joining felt like, okay, this is it—this is what was supposed to happen.
Eddie: Yeah, there were just events that needed to happen to get us where we are now. I would’ve loved to have started the band with Meriel seven years ago, but I didn’t know her back then. What we have now feels really authentic and real, whether we’re on stage or in the practice room. Even when we don’t see eye to eye on how a song should go, that tension creates something genuine. It’s like we’re all throwing our ingredients in to create something new—it’s fun and collaborative. And it’s great having someone in the band who wants the same thing, who’s down to get in the van, laugh, and make cool shit, and who’s putting in as much as you are.
Meriel: And I don’t think I would’ve been ready seven years ago. Everything kind of happened the way it was supposed to. Before I joined, I was a photographer taking pictures for them on tour. I’d always wanted to be in a band, but I was terrified—I grew up singing and playing instruments, but the second someone else was in the room, I’d shut down. I had no idea how to cross that bridge. But when the opportunity came, I just wasn’t nervous anymore. I don’t even know why. And it worked. That was a nice surprise.
Taylor: You saw your opportunity, and I think you realized it was either now or never. You seemed fearless. You were just like I want to fucking do this, and we were like, damn—okay.
That progression you're all talking about—it feels like everything came together at the right time. Meriel, your story’s so interesting because it’s not a typical path for a performer: you joined a band you were already a fan of, and had never been in a band before. You're basically the Adam Lambert of Slaughterhouse.
Eddie: I'm gonna get her a badge that says, "The Adam Lambert of Slaughterhouse."
Was it weird taking the reins in a band you already loved?
Meriel: No, not really. The only thing I try to keep in mind is to not step on anyone’s toes. I’m not trying to copy anyone—I just try to do what feels good and aligned with me. There were things I was excited to bring to the table, and I think staying original and not imitating anyone helped me fit in naturally.
That’s what I love about the new music. I think it’s your best stuff yet. If you had completely changed your sound, it wouldn’t feel like Slaughterhouse. But this feels like your final form—like Eddie said, it just feels right.
Taylor: We’ve always been open to change when new people join. We’ve never wanted to stick to some rigid idea of what we’re supposed to sound like.
I first saw you live at the Teragram in 2024 with Niis, Kuromy, and Bitchkiss—such a sick show. What I loved most was the safe space you created. Punk has always offered that, especially for marginalized people, especially right now when everything sucks.
Meriel: I think it’s fair to say everything sucks right now—but it’s also always sucked, and it’s also always been beautiful. I feel good being part of something that you can find beauty in—whether that’s screaming really loud or moshing really hard. Being part of a world that I’d be in anyway, even if I wasn’t doing what I love, that's important.
Eddie: I love that people see our shows as a safe space. That’s what we want. Any space should be safe if someone’s there to help stand up when it’s not. If someone’s being a problem, I’m the first one to shut it down. If you're bummin' someone's vibe, I'm gonna bum this motherfucker's vibe. Don’t bring that bullshit to a Slaughterhouse show.
Meriel: And we’ve seen it.
Taylor: They should be able to come and have a release, away from their shitty jobs or the shitty world.
Eddie: No one should pay $20 to see a band they love and have someone ruin it - or to see a band not giving 110%.
It means a lot to hear that—especially coming from you, Eddie. Because for a lot of people, punk shows are still seen as male-dominated spaces. And when you have trans and queer people in that room, it’s good to know people have their back.
Meriel: I think that's an important thing that you bring up, I’m queer, and I think it’s really important to say very actively that our shows are for everyone—especially for trans people, queer people, and people of color. And I think in order for people to feel safe and comfortable we need to talk about these things because they get evaded all the time. Talking about this stuff helps, and these conversations are fun, because hopefully you’re connecting with someone—not rejecting them.
It only makes the show better. That connection—that's what live music is for me. It’s communion. That shared connection is real. You might not know anything about the person next to you, but you’re there because you both love the same thing.
Eddie: That’s exactly it. And Meriel making space to talk about these things matters. I remember once someone told me, “I think you lost the audience a little with that speech.” And I said, well, then that’s exactly who we needed to be telling.
Speaking of community—you’re going on tour with Thick soon. It's such a cool moment right now for female-fronted and nonbinary punk bands: Slaughterhouse, Niis, Reckling, Die Spitz, how does it feel to be part of that?
Taylor: It’s exciting. I feel lucky to be in a band with a female singer. And this moment is exciting because all the bands are genuinely good.
Meriel: Yeah, I think the best anything has women in it. It feels normal now, but even three years ago, I would’ve died to be considered part of that group.
Taylor: We were going to see Niis even when we were a band too—like, “Damn, would love to play with them,” same with The Paranoyds.
Meriel: I saw this random Reddit post with Poly Styrene, Amy from Amyl and the Sniffers, Taylor, and me all on a list together. It was so weird—but cool—to feel like you're in conversation with the people you admire.
What are some changes you’ve seen in the punk scene since you started? And what changes do you still want to see? -
Eddie: Something that’s always bugged me is how clicky the scene can get around subgenres. People love to dissect whether or not something is “really punk,” and it’s like—what are you even saying? The Sex Pistols didn’t sound like Devo or the B-52s or the Ramones. That diversity is what made punk - punk. When it gets cookie-cutter, it gets boring.
Taylor: Yeah, people grow out of that eventually. Like what you like—who cares? Just be yourself.
Meriel: I’d like to see less weird DMs on Instagram.
Eddie: I’d also love to see people wearing their guitars lower.
Taylor: Yes—lower instruments!
Eddie: Dee Dee Ramone didn’t pave the way so we could have 10-inch guitar straps.
The Sick and Tired EP is out now—it’s great. Are you working on a full-length? What’s next?
Eddie: We jumped right into writing. We’ve got a list of riffs, Meriel’s got a book of lyrics, and we were just talking in our group text today about which songs to finish next.
Taylor: We’re also maybe looking into collaborating with other people and producers—just to stretch ourselves creatively.
What's everyone reading?
Taylor: I’ve been slowly working my way through Cured, Lol Tolhurst from The Cure's autobiography. For like… a year now. it’s a great book so far. Meriel’s probably read 20 books in the time it’s taken me to read half.
Meriel: I’m reading One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against Us by Omar El Akkad. It’s nonfiction and tackles the flaws of liberalism, Islamophobia, the U.S. in the Middle East, and the genocide in Palestine. It’s stunning—he’s a beautiful writer.
If you don’t get political, politics will come for you.
Taylor: Exactly.
Meriel: Shut up and sing? Nah.
Eddie: I’m reading Comfort and Darkness by Rickson Gracie. It’s a follow-up to his last book Breathe. He was a pro fighter, and this one’s about the spiritual connection between meditation, breath work, and focus. How it changed the way he trained and lived. And I’m finding so many ways to apply it to life—even though I’m not a fighter.
Last question - If you had to start a WWE-style feud with another band to generate heat, who would it be? Call them out right now!
Meriel: Amyl and the Sniffers. I want to fight Amy. She’s a fighter. It’d be epic.
Taylor: You vs. Amy. She’d take us all out one by one.
Meriel: I want to get punched by her.
Eddie: I love wrestling storylines because they always lead to a bigger payoff. We could feud with Spiritual Cramp, Scowl, anyone—then form an alliance and take over. California Takeover.
Taylor: Yes!
Eddie: Like the nWo in the ’90s—but it's Slaughterhouse, Amyl and the Sniffers, Scowl, Spiritual Cramp...
Meriel: Let’s just fight everybody.
That’s the energy. Friendly punches. Save the angry ones for people who deserve it.
Eddie: I’d love to play a wrestling event. Have one of the heel wrestlers interrupt us and start a feud. I don’t want to get beat up—I want to be the hero. Get in a little spot, powerbomb the guy. Legendary.
That’s the dream. I’ll be in the front row.
Eddie: Manifesting it.
Listen to Sick and Tired below and follow Slaughterhouse here!
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