Supersuckers
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, Motherfuckers 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
Crowning achievements of rock-n-roll glory
•Performed on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” backing Willie Nelson
•Played Woodstock 2000
•Played Reading/Leeds festivals
•Toured extensively throughout the world including Russia, Japan, Australia, etc...
•Recorded with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Steve Earle, Willie Nelson, Kelley Deal of The Breeders
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