SuperSuckers

by Squid

RAD: Did all you guys come from Tucson except for Richard Simms?
EDDIE: Yeah, Rick's the new guy so he's not from Arizona. We're all from Arizona.
RAD: So were you guys known as the SuperSuckers back then?
EDDIE: We were. In Tucson, we formed a band called The Black Super Suckers which later evolved into The Super Suckers after we were in Seattle for a while. The whole band grew up there, all of us went to the same high school, y’ know. When we had Ron in the band, it was everybody we went to high school with.
RAD: Which one was that?
EDDIE: Santa Rita, on the East Side where heavy metal and Camaros reigned supreme.
RAD: It seems from what I knew a lot of Tucson bands had a connection with kind of a country cow-punk thing, and metal too. Motorhead and all that.
EDDIE: Yeah. It kind of seemed on the East Side where I grew up there was only heavy metal. Then as I got older and drove all the way down town, I noticed there were other kinds of music in town, too, not just heavy metal. That was good for me... I think it was. But then it was like the thing about metal, it was all powerful and you could put it in your Camaro. And you'd turn it up and you're an idiot barreling down the highway. With the other Tucson scene it was kind of too thoughtful, too jingly-jangly and nice although it was a refreshing change for a while from metal. I found myself straying back toward the metal area.
RAD: It sounds like it in “Sacrilicious.”
EDDIE: It was kind of a rock record...
RAD: ...the song at the end that seemed kind of a nice, easy way to end it.
EDDIE: ...it was kind of a goof that turned out to be a nice little song. We were just goofing around at first. And then all these good musicians stared showing up and playing on the thing and turned it into a good song.
RAD: So that was Willie Nelson's sister playing on that one?
EDDIE: Yeah she plays the piano and the organ on there, and that's what turned it into something that we had to put on the record. I was just goofing off, we had extra time and me and Bolton recorded the song. Just me and him on acoustic guitars, then Bobbie came in, and we said, "Will you play on this?" and she did her bit. Then we had this guy come in and put some bass on there because we were thinking, "This could use some bass." I played guitar already on this so I didn't want to play bass. So we got a guy in there to do that, too, and the next thing you know it's on the record.
RAD: How did you hook up with Willie Nelson in the first place?
EDDIE: Well, our manager is pretty good, and he just somehow wrangled it. We're all just huge Willie Nelson fans. Awhile back, this label was chattin' us up about maybe being on their label, and they have Willie on their label. They're not a rock label at all, they're kind of a jazz label, and they were interested in us for whatever reason. Through that connection, Rick had this brilliant idea to make a Willie a tribute album and donate some of the money to Farm Aid so there's a purpose, not just blowing smoke up Willie's ass. They bought it and the next thing you know, we're recording with the guy. It was great.
RAD: I read about how you got arrested right after that.
EDDIE: That wasn't great. Me and my girlfriend were out after that tryin' to celebrate. We were walking down the street, and we had beers in our hand, and they grab her and start arresting her because she was kind of smarting off to them. I said, "why are you arresting her and not me?" I was carrying a beer, too. They're like, "OK, smart guy." I'm like, "Wait a minute, it's my birthday, and I was just recording with Willie Nelson." And they're like "Yeah, right."
RAD: And this was in Austin, Texas?
EDDIE: Yeah, on March 16, 1995. I remember it well. It was like my birthday or somethin'.
RAD: Well, it seems all of the fans are quite pleased, and you're gaining a lot more fans.
EDDIE: Yeah, hopefully we don't scare 'em off with this album being so, I don't know, it's produced better and you know how kids can turn on ya.
RAD: Oh yeah. They'll think you sold out.
EDDIE: Yeah, cause we made a record that sounds good.
RAD: Uh huh.
EDDIE: But you can't win either way. If you keep making the records that sound the same, you please some people, but then people start saying you're derivative and "Oh great, another SuperSuckers record."
RAD: So this one was produced by Paul Leery from the Butthole Surfers?
EDDIE: Can you believe it?
RAD: Sure.
EDDIE: He seems like this big fuck up flake you know. Yet, he can make a good rock record. I mean he can make good records on his own, the Buttholes are great. But until I started listening to his production, I never really thought, "Wow, they really know what they're doin'."
RAD: So who's idea was it to have him produce the record?
EDDIE: Oh it was a combination of ours and his. And Rick had nothing to do with the decision. He was selected after we had chosen the producer. So, he'll definitely want it known that he had nothing to do with the selection of the producer.
RAD: Okay, we'll make sure we include that.... So did you guys already go over to Europe and do the Reading Festival?
EDDIE: Oh we were supposed to but we got canned.
RAD: Ahh. How'd that happen?
EDDIE: I don't know. They like to string you along when you're just kind of an underground band like us. In England, it's kind of fucked up anyway for bands, especially like real Rock n' Roll bands cause they just like whatever is trendy at the time. So they wanted to string us along and wait, and wait, and wait, till the last minute, and maybe they'll let us play. And maybe... We just decided we weren't gonna be treated like that way. So we just said forget it. You know, either give us a slot or forget it. And they wouldn't. So basically they told us what they wanted or didn't want.
RAD: Did they want somebody more Glam-rock?
EDDIE: I don't know. We're pretty Glam-rock. But we played a couple other festivals. We played one in Germany called Pop Comp. We played on in Holland called Lollens Festival, which was really great. That was the best one. A bunch of bands: Foo Fighters, Riverdales, I don't know, Beck and Radiohead. It was a big festival, well, I don't know how many people were there but they camped out. There was like ten thousand watchin' us I think."
RAD: So did you do any others or like little bit of touring in Europe besides...
EDDIE: Yeah, we played about six shows over there just recently. We got back a couple of days ago.
RAD: So have you toured Europe before?
EDDIE: Yeah, we have. It was like our third or fourth time over there. But this was kind of a promotional tour. Our record is not out there yet. So no one knows why we're there. They hear that we have a new record out in the States, and they're all asking us... we didn't bring any. So they'll have to wait.
RAD: What are your shows like for people who have not seen you guys perform? What kind of experience is it?
EDDIE: It's like going to see the tractor pulls or somethin’. It's like we're gonna drop a car from the King Dome. The ground pounding, heavy hoggin' SuperSuckers. It's good - it's like an action movie, you know.
RAD: So do you guys have like, monster trucks come out?
EDDIE: God, I wish we did. Hopefully, you know we're playin' the songs right. And hopefully, I'm not falling down too many times on the stage. But hopefully I do fall down a few times.
RAD: Oh yeah. I think that's expected.
RAD: Well, is there any other things you'd like to say to all of the Internet readers.
EDDIE: If you come to the SuperSuckers show, maybe you could wear clean underwear cause we're gonna rock the pants off you. And pay at the door if you can.
RAD: Oh yeah, have the Ramones been one of your favorites bands?
EDDIE: Oh totally, they changed my life when I was trapped in heavy metal-ville. I first heard the Ramones, and I was like, " Oh my God." This has been going on for the last few years. Fuck! Yeah, the Ramones were big time eye openers for me way back when.
RAD: So are you looking to be a huge band like filling stadiums and all that?
EDDIE: I'm still surprised that we get to make records. I can't believe someone lets us put our crap onto a tape.
RAD: Yeah, as much as you guys suck.
EDDIE: It pays for it ya know. When we started the band out, we were young and having dreams of being rock stars, to having them crushed, to let's just form a band for the fun of it and make music with out any hope of ever becoming popular. Because Eddie, frankly, you can't sing. So uh as soon we started having that philosophy things started going really well for us. Now here we are five years later or so, we're in a rock tour, dude. So I don't know, it would be nice to see some cash rollin in for the band of course, but I don't have any expectations really.
RAD: So you're just happy as long as you can keep having fun.
EDDIE: As long as we can keep the band going and keep recording. The main goal for me is to be able to look back after, even looking back now, I look at the fact that we made three of four records and all these songs. The goal for me is to look back and go, "Wow, look at all those songs we wrote and that's great." And then I'll have accomplished all my goals at a young age, and I'm only 44 right now.