SHOOTING THE SHIT
with The SUPERSUCKERS
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Supersuckers/135339756866?ref=ts&fref=ts
http://www.reverbnation.com/thesupersuckers
https://twitter.com/eddiespaghetti4
by David Nobody
A few nights ago I was lucky enough to stand before The Mighty Supersuckers. Eddie Spaghetti and crew played two shows in Austin; the first at the Hole in the Wall was a last minute surprise. The show was originally booked at the Beauty Ballroom but for reasons unknown to me The Supersuckers did not play at the Beauty Ballroom. They played a free surprise show at the Hole in the Wall, and oh, did they play. The crowd was charged and so was the band. They gave the folks just what they wanted, a rock show. A great rock band is like a good bourbon, it will make you feel happy, wealthy, handsome and wise, make the bad times good and turn a good one bad. It will make you chase wicked women, curse god and tell lies. The Supersucker’s like a good bourbon would appear to have gotten better with age, they ROCKED, they tore the joint up. They gave the excited mob the good stuff, top shelf, they played the classics, they played the hits, they played them hard, they played them fast and the middle digits did fly. Dan and Marty’s guitars were dangerously, intoxicating with no mixer, no ice and no fruit, just straight rock, I would be very surprised if any one left that show dissatisfied, if so, only because they wanted more.
Photo by Chris Barbero
The Junkyard Dogs is a name I hadn’t heard in a long time. I was living in Seattle when The Supersuckers first moved there from Tucson Arizona. I became very familiar with the couch in their big crazy band house in one of Seattle’s more sleazy areas. Before moving into the basement of that house I spent a lot of time in the living room, (where they kept the couch) and the living room was the place where I first heard The Junkyard Dogs. The J.D.s was the acoustic side project of the guys, drunken fun, playing street fest and late night parties. Since those day they have refined and matured their country set into a respected institution, and documented it on their Must’ve Been High release for the Sub Pop recording company. Hearing that they were playing their rocking country set at the Continental Club as The Junkyard Dogs was exciting and I couldn’t wait. The boy’s delivered the goods, Must’ve Been High, Hungover Together and Non Addictive Marijuana had the crowd swaying and singing along. Watching these laid back pros doing what they do best was amazing and when Austin troubadour Jesse Dayton join them on stage it only got better. I had a few words with The Supersuckers front man Eddie Spaghetti after the show and here is what he had to say.
An Interview with Eddie Spaghetti of the Supersuckers by David Nobody
Nobody: What’s your favorite
color?
ES: Black.
Nobody: Oh yeah? Why
is that?
ES: Cause it’s tough…like your
Mother.
Nobody: True, If you could be an animal, what
animal would you be?
ES: I’d be a
shark.
Nobody: And why is that?
ES: A
shark has to keep swimming to survive and that’s how my life
is.
Nobody: What about a small seed eating
bird?
ES: I’d like to fly.
Nobody: A
humming bird?
ES: A humming bird has a great little
life…sneaking in, taking food that people set out for them, I am sure that would
be awesome.
Nobody: Humming bird’s rock, what’s your
favorite thing that ever happened on tour?
ES: The day I met
my wife.
Nobody:Cool…next favorite?
ES: The day Willie Nelson came and played with us at the Roxy in LA.
Nobody: That’s what I’m talking
about. What was a crazy part that stands out in your
mind?
ES: Like the moment he showed up we actually knew it
was going to happen. It was kind of crazy. Like we heard that Willie
Nelson might show up and he pulled his bus right up behind the Roxy in
LA… right up to the back door of the Roxy, walked in, put on a guitar and played
a couple of songs with us.
Nobody: Besides that was there a
point where he was onstage with you when you guys just
went…Whoa!
ES: Well there was a point onstage when we were
on the Tonight Show…with him. There was a point while we were actually doing a
live taping where it really counted and I knew we were nailing it. And about
halfway through the song I knew it was going to work and everything was going to
be awesome. And that was really a huge moment for me. Willie
looked up at me and I could tell when he looked at me it was like, “You guys are
doing this alright!”
ES: And I thought, Yeah! We
are!
Nobody: Beautiful. Now what’s the worst thing that ever
happened to you on tour?
ES: That would be the sound check
on the Tonight Show. It was the WORST sound check ever and I kept telling
myself, “Don’t smoke pot with Willie Nelson, Don’t smoke pot
with Willie Nelson…no matter what you do, don’t smoke pot with
Willie Nelson”. Well the sound check went horribly and we knew
we had to do it again but Willie said, “Well that was good, want to go burn
one?” Immediately I said, Yep. It took me about .3 seconds to do exactly what I
told myself I would not do.
Nobody: So say in the early days
what was the craziest, most insane tour or bad thing that ever
happened?
ES: Well one time we were playing in Canada with
the Dwarves and I went and knocked on Dan
Bolton’s hotel room. We were staying in a hotel that was above the
club…it was in Winnipeg or someplace like that. This hotel has since been shut
down or we were banned for life. So ,I went up to the room, opened the door and
there’s Dan Bolton, Sucker guitarist and Vadge
Moore, the drummer from the Dwarves, and they
were there with these two really large chicks and there was blood everywhere,
and one of them said “They won’t drink my blood!” And I just said, oh no! and I
shut the door and that was the last I saw of them.
Nobody:
That’s pretty good. Do you still get a moment of clarity when you see
genius?
ES: I do. I have moments of pure rock-n-roll
clarity.
Nobody: And you think , we can keep
going.
ES: I think it’s required. 
Nobody: Do
you have any regrets?
ES: I regret not being smarter about
money. When I had a lot of money I should have been smarter with
it.
Nobody: What about languages? Do you speak
Spanish?
ES: No, I don’t speak any! That would be a regret!
I should learn how to speak Spanish.
Nobody: What about
school?
ES: I graduated high
school.
Nobody: Where was that?
ES:
Tucson, AZ…Santa Rita High.
Nobody: I heard that Tucson’s
was a very fun place to grow up in rock-n-roll, was it?
ES:
No! It was terrible. You were grossly misinformed.
Nobody:
So would that make you want to pack up and drive, and go somewhere
else?
ES: It WOULD make you want to drive and go somewhere
else. And I did.
Nobody: And where did you
go?
ES: I moved to Seattle, WA in
1989.
Nobody: And how was that? What was your first
impression of the Pacific Northwest?
ES: Awesome! It was
like being Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when her house gets scooped up and it’s
all in black and white and then it lands on the Wicked Witch of the North (?…or
whatever it was), and she opened the door and everything was in Technicolor?
Well it was like that.
Nobody: If you had 3 wishes what
would they be?
ES: One, for more wishes! And then my wishes
would be infinite! I’d wish for the ability to fly.
Nobody:
Do you love the rock-n-roll?
ES: I do, I love the
rock-n-roll.
Nobody: Do you feel fully committed to
it?
ES: I’m fully committed to
it.
Nobody: What / who are you listening to right
now?
ES: The latest thing that I’m listening to is the
new ZZ Top record.
Nobody:
Really?
ES: It’s actually quite motherfucking
good.
Nobody: Do you give it the devil fingers of
approval?
ES: I give it the double devil fingers up!
At
this point a merchandise transaction takes place, a bunch of drunk chicks
invade, and fans are jabber-jawing ES’s ear off. Interview ends. (or at least
the interview with ES…at this point, Nobody starts interviewing the drunk
chicks).
Photo by Chris Barbero
