Ultraspank

An Ultimate Spanking Of Metal Pleasure
By Bret Lueder

Like the quintessential "slap up side the head," Santa Barbara metal band Ultraspank and their self-titled debut CD smacks you from all directions with an amalgam of hard core sounds that run the gamut of song styles and structures.

"Our producer, David Bottril (Peter Gabriel, Tool, King Crimson) helped us out a lot," says Ultraspank lead singer Pete Murray before a recent Sacramento area gig. "He’s got a good sense of the metal / thrash thing, and then he brings in this world beat influence. He’s worked with African tribes, [that’s] where you get a lot of the percussion on the CD. His overall experience was good for us."

"I’m from the Bay Area," says drummer Tyler Clark. "So I grew up with the whole Bay Area speed metal thing; Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, bands like that."

At various times throughout their CD, Ultraspank will resemble any number of their influences like Tool, Pantera and old Metallica. With the addition of sound loops, like that of White Zombie, they can even resemble Eugene, Oregon rockers Floater, although they have never heard them before. Then there are songs like "5," "Butter" and "Suck" that have several of these elements mixed together, conjuring enthralling grinds and rhythms.

"There’s a lot going on," said Murray. "I just sample the loops and I do it live too; we all just threw in ideas and Bottril brought it all together. I’ve never played with a DJ though, but I would love to."

"Pete does all the lyrics exclusively," says guitarist Jerry Oliviera. "I’ve tried that in other bands and it didn’t work because I wasn’t very good at it."

Murray kidded him: "Yeah, thank goodness we’ve never heard of any of those bands either!"

Ultraspank is one bunch of fun-loving friends whose friendships go way back. With the exception of Clark, growing up in Santa Barbara, enabled the rest of the guys—Murray, Oliviera, guitarist Neil Godfrey and bassist Dan Ogden—to know several band members from most of the notable bands from the area.

"We shared studios with all of ‘em," quips Godfrey. "Toad The Wet Sprocket, Ugly Kid Joe, Snot."

"I used to play in a band with Mike Dolean of Snot," says Ogden. "We were practicing in the same studio, so when that band broke up, I hooked up with Pete and Tyler in a band called Indica, which was also at the same studio."

Indica played an MTV gig in Daytona Beach, Florida back in ’92 after winning that year’s Best College Band search. Nothing much more happened with Indica, aside from a few short tours leaving the door open for the forming of Ultraspank.

They then acquired Godfrey from yet another band that was playing at the same studio and Spank was born. Spank was more speed metal/ groove-oriented than the now Ultraspank. Shortly after, Oliviera entered the fray and after a small copyright infringement case was settled, they changed the name to Ultraspank upon the request of their new record, company Epic Records.

"We were kind of lucky to get Epic," says Murray. "We have a really big management company, AGM (White Zombie and Pantera). A guy we knew at the company, some intern, passed on a tape to Epic and we just caught them at a good time, I guess."

"They worked with us to make the new demo and shopped it out for us," says Oliviera.

"Yeah, and at our first LA show, there was, like, 200 industry people there," explained Murray. "After trying for about 8 years in a row, we got all this in six weeks."

Things have definitely happened fast for Ultraspank. Having a brilliant 12-track CD with a major label has helped when other bands look to choose opening acts. They’ve played with Sevendust, Clutch, Stuck Mojo, Cold Chamber, Roarshack Test and Killgore. Ultraspank even filled a slot on the critically-acclaimed Ozzfest tour.

"We didn’t get to meet Ozzy," says Oliviera. "But we got to meet Sharon (Ozzy’s wife/manager). She really liked us a lot."

Then it struck me: Didn’t Ozzy have some relative or some connection with Ugly Kid Joe linking him with the Santa Barbara scene?

"No relatives, but Wittfield is his boy," says Murray. "That’s how Ugly Kid Joe hooked up with Ozzy back then. He [Wittfield Crane, former lead singer of Ugly Kid Joe] sang with Black Sabbath or some crazy shit."

"That’s what it was all this past summer," adds Godfrey. "Us, Snot and Wittfield’s new band all sharing the same studio. It was all these Santa Barbara-heads going around."

"It’s a small world," says Oliviera. "Too small sometimes."

"I’m from this little one-horse town outside of Santa Maria," says Godfrey. "It’s called Solvang. I played in a couple of bands there but when I went to Santa Barbara I was kind of intimidated, these guys played so hard and aggressive."

"I’m from the Bay Area," reiterates Clark.

"I’m born and raised in Santa Barbara," declares Ogden proudly, "but we all go way back."

Now all are living in So Cal and refreshed from a recent six week lay-off from hanging out on the beach and in the what few clubs are left in the downtown area (even Toe’s Tavern is gone), Ultraspank is back out on the road at least through December 12.

"It keeps getting extended," says Clark. "So who really knows when it will end."

"Santa Barbara is just a tourist town," shrugs Murray. "There aren’t that many places to play any more."

"Even at Toe’s, the only metal bands that would draw would be us and Snot," explains Oliviera. "It could have something to do with a certain conservative influence downtown."

All politics aside, Ultraspank is one hell of a good metal band. Few hard core bands incorporate such diversity, sounding like a cross-section of all the styles prominent today. Yet the final product is all Ultraspank.

"Like I said," assured Murray, "Bottril brought it all together."

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