Preview
SUPERSUCKERS
Monday, December 15
MacEwan Ballroom
Few frontmen are the shameless, over-the-top, non-stop hype machine that is The Supersuckers' Eddie Spaghetti.
To attend a Supersuckers show is to hear Spaghetti remind the crowd every five minutes that the name of the band is The Supersuckers. If you check out their website or sign up for their e-mail list you will inevitably be reminded that somewhere out there a band is rocking hard on your behalf and that band, ladies and gentlemen, is The Supersuckers. And if you catch an interview or television appearance, such as their stint on Much Music's The Wedge in November, Spaghetti will notify you that The Supersuckers plan to really rock you when they hit your town.
Hell, they even have the balls to regularly shoplift the Rolling Stones’ Greatest-Rock-and-Roll-Band-in-the-World title, having gone so far as naming an album How the Supersuckers Became the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in History. It's audacity at its peak – and it's all forgivable. That's because The Supersuckers are indeed one of the more shit-hot rock bands to come down the pike in a long time. And, over a decade since their beginning, they're still going strong.
Which is not to say they're anywhere near finished paying their dues. Take that aforementioned appearance on The Wedge for example. Despite being armed with a slick new video for "Rock ’n’ Roll Records (Ain't Selling This Year)," the opening cut from their brand new album Motherfuckers Be Trippin', finding places to air it hasn't been easy, especially at home.
"MTV decided not to," says Spaghetti from his Seattle home. "We're definitely getting a lot more love for the video in Canada than we are here at home."
The adversity The Supersuckers have bucked goes well beyond typical MTV-won't-play-my-video woes. In the past there were hurdles such as guitarist Ron Heathman's reputed hiatus in the clink, forcing the band to record 1995's The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers album with Rick Sims from the Didjits. More recently, the band said goodbye to Dancing Eagle, their drummer since they relocated from Tucson, Arizona, to Seattle in their early 20s. Spaghetti sidesteps the issue as much as possible, but if you read between the lines it’s clear that not everyone was enjoying the ride.
"It's just your typical band stuff really. It just took us longer than most bands to come to that crossroads," says Spaghetti. "This is a great thing we get to do but we don't make nearly enough money not to have everyone having a great time – because that's definitely part of the pay."
Enter Mike Musburger, former drummer for The Fastbacks (except in western Canada, where drummer Jason Finn for The Presidents of the United States of America will sub in). It wasn't long before Musburger got to taste the adversity that the Supersuckers face. This fall they survived a serious van crash on a rainy day in Spain that left Musburger buried in gear and Spaghetti with broken ribs.
"It was awful," recalls Spaghetti, adding that the only proper thing to do was keep rocking – bruises, breaks and all. It proved to be therapeutic. "We felt like we could either go home with our tails between our legs or just get back on that pony and ride. It was a really good idea ’cause it made us get back in a van."
And so it goes for a band that also has to fight the fact that, as the current single’s title indicates, rock ’n’ roll records ain't the masses’ favourite flavour these days. Nonetheless, with the new record on their own recently-created Mid-Fi label, the band soldiers on, attacking Canada with a new zeal that means more live shows for an often neglected fan base.
"Be sure to wear a diaper," says Spaghetti. "'Cause we’re gonna rock your pants off." Of course you are, Eddie. |
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