99. Single Review of Unlucky13 by Sleazy Money

Originally Published March 10th

About the Artist

It’s 6:45 in the morning, on a Monday. This weekend, I spent a little bit of time in the studio tracking a song, I bought lumber to build some boxes for our vegetable garden, I took our girl Kali to the vet (she has a sprained ACL), and I ran some other routine errands. The weekend was kinda great in that way that makes Monday a little more difficult to find my motivation. 

Body aching from the bit of labor I did, I groggily press play. I super charged guitar riff starts playing in my left ear, then it layers in my right. The drums come in, unapologeticallyn, accompanied by the bass. Then the line: “Rain on my parade. Skies are turning grey. Luck an’t my friend. No, not today.” Not only am I awake, I’m looking for a wall to run through by now. 

It’s no secret. It’s no surprise. Ever since Joan Jett & The Blackhearts screamed into a microphone the phrase “I Love Rock 'N' Roll” in 1981- even before then- it’s become very clear, she’s not the only one. Rock is the actual sound adrenaline makes. That’s why, no matter the genre anybody prefers, they can get down with rock. 

It wasn’t until I was a teenager growing up in the 90’s that I would discover rock music. It was an unconventional path full of forgotten favorites. “I Just Want You” by Ozzy Osbourne, Until it Sleeps by Metallica, and a power ballad by Bon Jovi called Always. I say unconventional because, though the bands are notorious, the songs aren’t exactly favorites by these artists. However, they struck a chord with me. Before long, my world would be opened to rock music, the generations, the genres, and the eclectic identities. I found out that I, too, loved rock & roll. 

Sleazy Money is the most recent example of how passion can be poured into rock music. Founded in 2024, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, they found their shared love for 80’s rock and started playing and releasing music.

“Taking inspiration from the raw excess of 80’s rock and the rising glam-metal scene of the sunset strip, Sleasy Money’s live performances are a spectacle of sweat, energy, and chaos.” (Spotify Bio). The moment I heard them, I knew I was listening to authentic rock musicians. There it was: adrenaline. 

Sleazy money debuted their first single on August 16th, 2024 with Problem Since Day 1. Then, on November 8th, they followed it with Shoot From the Hip. Both pulsate with energy, constantly reaching to that next plane of audio warfare, never satisfied. 

Sleazy Money have one speed; fast.

Sleazy Money have one volume; deafening.

Fuck. Yes.

About the Song

Unlucky13 is the third single release by South Wales’s native 4-piece, Sleazy Money. At just under 4 minutes, it released to the world on February 16th, 2025.

About the Music

As a musician, I love and can appreciate when an artist tries to be experimental. We should be regularly challenging ourselves, expanding our knowledge and incorporating our new found wisdom into our music. 

But…

It is also perfectly acceptable to say, “Fuck that.” Sleazy Money, had two choices: to be experimental or to melt faces. Needless to say, I feel like I just looked inside the Ark of the Covenant. 

Unlucky13 opens with a very heavy, layered guitar riff, which brings in the drums and bass. After opening with the riff, the band vamps for a couple of measures to bring in the vocals.

The vocalist sings over the vamp for two bars, the band transitions to a bridge, building to the chorus, where the vocalist sings over a riff and backing vocals come in.

The second verse follows the blueprint of the verse, with the guitar player getting more experimental with little solo fills between vocal lines.

After the second chorus, there is a phenomenal intstrumental break down that is purely energetic.

As stated, Sleazy Money isn’t trying to bore us with experimental concepts here. They had one mission. They wanted to do a rock record and they wanted to do it well. 

Mission accomplished.

About the Lyrics

Unluck13 is a song about exploring the concepts and figures of speech with regard to being “unlucky.”

“Rain on my parade. Skies are turning grey. Luck ain’t my friend. No, not today. There’s no excuse. I always lose. Black cat crossing. The midnight blues.”

In this verse, the songwriter/narrator is tying metaphors of being unlucky to themselves, in an effort to make a personal connection. In other words, through analogy, he is trying to introduce a story as to how he’s unlucky in an articulate way.

“If we can’t see the wool being pulled over our eyes. Then we deserve just what we get. Yeah we deserve to die.

The prechorus is indicating the narrator has had the misfortune of understanding an experience only in hindsight here. This could be a relationship, this could be an addiction, or this could be an incident. Not entirely sure yet.

“Don’t ever trust her she’s number 13. My lucky number my bad luck queen. She’s out to get you stuck in between. You’re my bad omen, unlucky 13.”

The chorus confirms one of the theoretical possibilities for the prechorus. The narrator is speaking of an object of affection. He speaks in a way that he recognizes that she is bad for him and yet he is still drawn to her. Like this isn’t the end of the story. The line “she’s out to get you, stuck in between.” I think that line refers to the narrator and how they’re torn between staying or going, in spite of knowing staying would be toxic.

I think the lyrics of this song follow the formula of what makes rock music rock, while adding originality and creativity to the recipe. Bad luck, tough relationships, dark, heavy concepts totaling out to a purely entertaining rock experience in “Unlucky13.”

Final Thoughts

All the while I’ve been listening to these three tracks by Sleazy Money, I’ve been trying to put my finger on a comparison. For some reason, I keep wanting to go to Alice in Chains but I think their influence could stem from before that. Ironically, if we look a little more recent, I can also hear some early Stone Sour possibly fitting, though Stone Sour is a bit of a heavier band. 

I think the special thing about Sleazy Money is that there may be a hint of influence from several different places but there isn’t one true origin story. That’s because they are their own origin story. They’re rock and roll pioneers, destined to breath life into a genre that is being constantly challenged by the digital age. They’ve seemed to have turned their backs onto this new era by embracing the elements that stand out in traditional rock. Instead of ornamenting their music with effects, synths, electro beats, they went another route: they learned how to play their instruments and play them well. 

It’s radical thinking. It may have just worked.

If you’re a fan of authentic rock, you should definitely scope these places to keep up to date on the latest and greatest from Sleazy Money: Spotify, Instagram, and Threads.

You can dubscribe to their YouTube channel to check out some lyric videos and more, and also make sure to follow along on TikTok for some live clips and other videos.

Unlucky13 is streaming wherever you stream music. Today is your lucky day. Go press play!