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The
Supersuckers pick up where the Ramones left off. Just a bit edgier.
Sweet merciful Jesus, thank God The Supersuckers
are back! Yeah their little dive into country rock was a fun distraction
but these guys are always at their best when they are bashin’ out the full
force rock.
That’s always been true about tTe Supersuckers,
even going back to the days when other bands from their adopted hometown
of Seattle were riding the heights of popularity. The Supersuckers have
always keep to their core punk sound and never opted to adapt the grung
sound or any of the other styles that have came into vogue over the past
decade. No, The Supersuckers know who they are and aren’t about to
change anything. And that’s a good thing!
This band has been a staple on the music
scene for years because they’ve got the goods and are a perfect antidote
to the drab corporate rock that rules the airwaves. This is just down and
dirty rock n roll with plenty of attitude.
What makes The Supersuckers cool is they
take the framework of real old school rock n roll and inject it with an
overdose of punk. It’s melodic as hell but dripping with sarcasm, attitude
and a rawness that seems to have been lost to mainstream music. You can
call The Strokes raw all you want but if you want music that pealed down
to it’s core and delivered with all the subtleness of a slag hammer to
the head, then Supersuckers have got you covered. In many ways, The
Supersuckers pick up where the Ramones left off. Just a bit edgier.
This is a serious rock band that never
take themselves too seriously. That’s part of their charm and their charisma.
This is an album that you have to listen to with tongue firmly planted
in cheek. Just take a look at the title and that gives you little clue
as to the sarcastic nature that resides in The Supersuckers but once you
get into the actual songs that sarcasm goes straight for the throat with
lyrics like “she used to be pretty but now she’s just pretty f***ed up,”
or “I’m going nowhere special tonight” and then you take songs like “A
Goodnight for My Drinking,” “Someday I Will Kill You” or “Bubblegum and
Beer” and you know you’re in for a roarin’ good time.
But it’s songs like "Rock N' Roll Records
(Ain't Selling This Year),” and “The Fight Song” that gives us The Supersuckers
at their raw best. Give one of these songs to one of the leading
pop-punk poser band and you’d have a big hit on your hands. Then again
those bands probably wouldn’t get “it” or even be able to reproduce The
Supersuckers sound, that’s why they are pop bands and The Supersuckers
rock on the punk tip’ (sorry had to play up on hip-hop lingo to go along
with the album title). In reality, if The Supersuckers simply had the same
resources behind them as some of these other groups, their music would
take them straight to the top. It’s honest punk injected rock n roll but
also catchy as hell.
Nashville Pussy may have a little more
commercial success at bringing this kind of raw chord driven punk rock
n roll to the people, but The Supersuckers have been at it a half a decade
longer and with “Motherf***ers Be Trippin’” they are at the best of their
game as they enter their teens as a band.
This is easily one of the best releases
of 2003 and the motherf***ers may be trippin’ but The Supersuckers are
rockin and if this album doesn’t do it for you then you be trippin’!
The Full Story
Who better to tell you the story of The Supersuckers than Eddie himself?
You’ve heard our name, you’ve seen our
records, our t-shirts and our stickers. We’re probably the favorite band
of someone you know and yet we’re still a mystery to you. Well my friend,
that’s okay, I’m here to fill you in and help you to get to know the greatest
rock-n-roll band in the world, The Supersuckers.
Our story is almost impossible to believe.
This band is literally a human cartoon. We all grew up among the dead-ends
and cactus needles of Tucson, Arizona and have known each other since grade
school. We graduated from the same high school together at the same time
(a school immortalized in our song “Santa Rita High”) and we chose to play
in a band together because we liked to hang out together, not because we
were great musicians or anything. I truly believe that a band is defined
by their limitations, that what they can’t (or won’t) do is just as important
as what they can do. I guess that, in this era of pre-fabricated, put-together-to-have-a-hit
bands, we’re kind of an aberration and I gotta tell ya that that makes
us smile a little every day.
We formed the band in 1988 and we were
initially a five piece called The Black Supersuckers ( a name found
in some quality “adult literature” we had laying around in our impeccably
clean band house!), with me on bass, Dan “Thunder” Bolton and Rontrose
Heathman on guitars, Dancing Eagle on drums and a lead singer by the name
of Eric Martin. After firmly proving ourselves to be the best band in town
we decided it was time to get out of Tucson and try our luck somewhere
else. So we tossed a coin with heads as New Orleans and tails as Seattle.
Tails it was and in May of “89 we packed up and went north.
We had no idea that Seattle was about to
become “Rock Mecca USA”, we just wanted to go somewhere where we could
wear our leather jackets a little more often. It was exciting and encouraging
to see all of the great bands there, doing their own thing and making some
kick-ass, aggressive rock-n-roll that we could relate to, so we started
recording immediately. After some classic “creative differences” with our
lead singer, we decided to try it as a four piece with yours truly as the
singer (I was the only one who knew all the words) and The Supersuckers,
as you may or may not know them today, were born.
Our first recordings as a four-piece wound
up on various singles for small labels and then were compiled for a C.D.
called The Songs All Sound The Same. (For the full story on these recordings
I highly recommend picking up the re-issued version on our own label, Mid-Fi
Recordings). But it was our live shows that caught the eyes of the good
people at Sub-Pop Records and, after a particularly scorching show one
night, they offered to put out our records. We said ,“Buy us some beer
and you got a deal!” And our long and enduring rock-n-roll ride was officially
under way.
Starting with 1992's “The Smoke Of Hell”,
we released a total of three rock records, one country record, split singles
with Steve Earle and The Rev. Horton Heat, countless singles and a “best-of”
double album (all on Sub-Pop,) then we put out what is considered to be
our finest recorded moment to date “The Evil Powers Of Rock-n-Roll”(Koch/Aces
& Eights) in late 1999. We’ve also been touring our asses off all over
the world with bands like Mudhoney, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, The
Ramones, Motorhead, The Toadies, The Butthole Surfers, The Reverend Horton
Heat, The Dwarves and White Zombie. We’ve played a couple of Farm Aid shows
and backed Willie Nelson on The Tonight Show. Our music has appeared in
T.V. shows (Beverly Hills 90210), Movies (Baseketball, Hype) and commercials
(Mountain Dew) as well as countless snow and skateboarding video compilations.
Throughout this entire time, our sole mission
has been to create and perform timeless, quality music and get as many
people as possible to hear it. That goal has never changed. The pursuit
of that perfectly imperfect rock-n-roll moment is all we’ve ever been after.
We’ve been doing this for well over a decade now and we’re just getting
started.
2001 found us starting our own label; Mid-Fi
Recordings. We’ve finally decided to take control of all of our affairs
and have become a lean, mean, self managed, totally independent rock-n-roll
machine. We’ve got the greatest fans in the world and no one cares more
about them and our music than we do. Having our own label gives us the
freedom to make more of our music available to them without the hassles
of “the middle-man” worrying about things like “marketing” or “demographics”.
Hell, these are just hard words. All we want to do is get some kick-ass
music out to the people and with Mid-Fi we have been able to do just that.
Our first release was a live country record entitled “Must’ve Been Live”,
that came out in March, 2002. Since then, we have dug into our “private
reserves” and released several singles of some our finest outtake stock
(a habit we intend to keep). We’re also planning some split singles with
other great artists, the first one being “Never Go Home” by The Hangmen
b/w “Flyin’ Into The Mid-Day Sun” by the ‘suckers.
But, by far the most exciting thing we’re
doing now is gearing up for the release of our new rock record, Motherf***ers
Be Trippin’. It’s the perfect follow up to The Evil Powers Of Rock-N-Roll
and will be available to rock your ass on April 22, 2003. We feel better
about this record than any we’ve done to date, which is amazing for a band
that has been around as long as we have, and we know you’ll dig it as much
as we do. It truly seems like we’re just getting the hang of this music
making thing!
So, the next time you see The Supersuckers
name, whether it’s in the record store or on the marquee at your local
nightclub, know that there’s some quality, honest, ass-kicking, hard working
individuals in there, trying to make your life a little better through
the “Evil Powers Of Rock-n-Roll” (and the occasional detour into the country
of course) and we’d love nothing better than to have you there with us.
Just remember to wear you clean underwear, because we’re gonna rock your
pants right off of you.
Rawkously Yours,
Eddie Spaghetti.
Want More?
Hear
Samples and Purchase "Motherf***ers Be Trippin'"
Visit
the Official Website for more on the band, tour dates and more
Read
our past interview with Eddie Spaghetti
Photos Courtesy Supersuckers/Mid-Fi
Recordings
All Rights Reserved
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