Dealin' With The Devil

In case you haven’t heard, The Supersuckers are the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world. Sure, we’ve all heard that from other bands before, but don’t doubt this particular claim — the unfathomable, unstoppable forces of the Evil Powers of Rock ‘n’ Roll are at work behind The Supersuckers.

"Ah, The Evil Powers of Rock ‘n’ Roll…my favorite subject. You know, it’s a celebration — the liquor, the women, the drugs, the killing — the good things of rock ‘n’ roll that your parents warned you against and that you found yourself unavoidably drawn to at every turn in your life," drawls Eddie Spaghetti, The Supersuckers’ comical frontman, explaining the source of the band’s powers. "Well, we were chosen by the Dark Lord, himself. He rose from the nether regions, tapped us and said, ‘You will be the most subversive of all my children because you will be the least popular, and therefore the most evil."

The Supersuckers make no bones about being drawn to the Evil Powers of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and despite the fact that they truly are the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band, the rest of the world has been a bit slow in recognizing it. This raucous four-piece has been kicking out the jams for a long time now — the last decade and then some — and they still haven’t reached a level of popularity that means regular airtime on rock radio, MTV or even M2, gigs at ridiculously huge venues, and being stalked by young starry-eyed fans. But, the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world has bigger things to worry about than mainstream notoriety.

"You know, that’s part of what makes us the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world — our ability to remain humble and low-profile. We see that spotlight coming, but we duck it. We don’t need the aggravation. How else could a band this good remain so unheard-of and unheralded in the mainstream rock ‘n’ roll world for so long? It’s because we’re that good," asserts Eddie, the sarcasm oozing like molasses through the telephone receiver. Perhaps it’s the fact that they’re the epitome of rock ‘n’ roll bands, a real representation of what rock ‘n’ roll is supposed to be about, or maybe it’s just the suggestive and literal themes of their music, but mainstream rock is scared of The Supersuckers. "Yeah, but we’re scaring them in a different way than a band like Marilyn Manson is scaring them, because we’re not so obvious, we’re a bit more subtle than that."

For a band whose roots lie so deep in rock ‘n’ roll that one might say they reach all the way to Hades, they’re a surprisingly mellow bunch of guys, friendly and good-natured.

"Yeah, aren’t we a wholesome bunch — eating our Wheaties and drinking our Ovaltine. Followed directly by eight eight-ounce glasses of fresh, hot blood," says Eddie, chuckling dryly. Okay, so they’re not choir boys, but The Supersuckers started the way many American rock bands do: in the garage, playing for the sheer love of it.

"We all grew up in Tucson," he remembers. "All of us lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same high school — Santa Rita High. We were all in bands, some of us together and some in high school band and other rock bands, stuff like that. After high school, we started playing together and found that it was more fun than playing in all the bands we were really in. It was then that we discovered we had this kind of magic that happened, that a lot of bands discover they have when they get the right guys together. We started writing a lot of songs and just discovered that, man, it’s just a lot of fun doing it our way, with no real goals, ideas of success, or designs to write a hit — just to write rock that we like and we wanna hear. So we started doing that and we decided that there weren’t enough bars to play at in Tucson. So we moved. It was literally a coin-toss between Seattle and New Orleans. We knew nothing about the whole ‘grunge Mecca’ thing — it hadn’t even happened yet. This was ’89. So, we decided to move to Seattle, mostly because we had some friends who had moved up there and they said it was a cool place with a few more bars to play at, places that our underage singer could get into."

After a minor personnel change, it wasn’t long before The Supersuckers, newly settled in the jewel of the Great Northwest, had some luck with record labels wanting to release their stuff. They released a few 7" vinyl records here and there, and then caught the ear of über Northwestern alternative label, Sub-Pop.

"It seems like it happened pretty quick. We moved up there as a five-piece and became a four-piece with me as the reluctant lead singer. Right after that, we hooked up with Sub-Pop and recorded Smoke In Hell," reminisces Eddie. "Immediately when we moved there, I thought we were fortunate. We knew some cool people there already, we were at the right place at the right time…and to our credit, we were pretty good, too. Sub-Pop decided to do something with us almost right away. We had recorded a few singles for other smaller labels during that time, and it was a real cool learning time. We didn’t realize, when we were in Tucson, that you could be in a band and put out records without having a major label deal. We thought that was the only way. We didn’t know anything about this independent spirit because we grew up on big, hard rock bands like AC/DC and whatnot. It’s great to know that we can have this career outside of a big label and do it on our own terms. Sure, we don’t have platinum records on our walls or anything, but we have great, great moments. We get to live and breathe rock ‘n’ roll all the time. We get to do the thing that we love doing. We don’t have to flop Whoppers anymore. Though, the world does need Whopper floppers."

The Supersuckers, while not living in mansions, draped in diamond jewelry and rolling around in stretch limos, are doing alright for themselves, lucky enough to make a living as a rock ‘n’ roll band. They’ve achieved enough success, in fact, for Eddie and some partners to start their own record label, Aces & Eights. Which has partnered up with a more powerful independent label, Kotch Records, to get the music out to the people.

"Aces & Eights is a label I started with some friends, Danny Bland and Scot Parker. We just wanted to put out some ‘kick-ace’ rock ‘n’ roll," he says of the small recording start-up. "Kotch is just kind of the pockets for that situation. I dunno, the label stuff is kind of boring to me. I’m interested in putting out good music through it — we put together this record called Free The West Memphis 3, and that’s the first really great thing we’ve been able to do through this agreement with Kotch. But, like I said, the artistic side interests me. The label side makes for a pretty boring read. It’s business and I don’t want to dwell on it too much."

The Free The West Memphis 3 album Eddie mentioned is a recently-released Aces & Eights compilation CD, the proceeds of which help a cause that Eddie feels pretty strongly about: the plight of three young men from West Memphis, Arkansas who are being held in prison — one on death row — for the murders of three young boys. The conviction has been punched full holes by defense attorneys and it has come out that the trio were originally convicted based solely on the basis that they listened to the wrong kind of music and subscribed to the wrong subculture. Though one would hardly expect activism from The Supersuckers, Eddie feels that this is just far too important an issue to remain silent.

"No, we haven’t exactly been known for our philanthropy. Seldom do we perform a selfless act," he jokes, then gets a little more serious. "But this case struck me as something I couldn’t really turn my back on. You know, I was feeling like one of these guys — who wore black and had heavy metal records and read occult books in high school — and if I were in the wrong place at the wrong time, it could have happened to me. I could be in prison or on death row like these guys are. I felt like the rock community — especially those who are part of the below-the-surface rock community like I’m involved with — should step forward and do something. I think what we can really expect to do is raise some awareness of their case and hopefully help to get it reexamined by the Arkansas court system."

The Supersuckers lent their name and their music to this project with the best intentions, but that’s not always what rock ‘n’ roll is about. In fact, despite performing for such a progressive cause, Eddie says that the band has always striven to keep their music very much the same as it ever was. When Eddie Spaghetti listens to the music The Supersuckers have made over the last decade, he hears something different than you might expect.

"I hear our struggle against progression, our fight to remain remedial. We decided to quit practicing in order to further that. We read an interview where Johnny Ramone said he doesn’t practice, and we got pretty inspired by that, so we’re endeavoring to remain the same — different album cover and different song titles, but other than that, nothin’ changes. That’s all my favorite bands ever did — AC/DC, The Ramones, Motorhead — they put out the same record over and over again, and that’s what I’d like to do."

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