Supersuckers, Eddie Spaghetti
by Alisha Amnesia
I was a huge fan of the Supersuckers beginning in 1992 when I first heard the Smoke of Hell. The next album, La Mano Cornuda, I loved too even though I don't know what it means and can't pronounce it. After that, the band kind of lost me for a while. I know they delved into country for a while and that contributed to my loss of interest. After at least 5 years since I'd seen the Supersuckers, I wanted to see what I was missing. I anticipated they'd be playing some of the country stuff, and prepared myself for it. I was pleased and surprised to see that the band rocked through their entire show and neglected the country stuff. The high energy and The Supersuckers' signature notorious guitar freak-outs carried on through out the entire show. The show rocked from beginning to end and kept the crowd's energy level on high in its entirety. The Supersuckers rock, and shame on me for having a doubt about it.
They've just started their own record label, Mid-Fi. I was given the label's first release, "THE SONGS ALL SOUND THE SAME," at the show, and had some time to give it a good listen. I got really excited when I realized they did a rock and roll cover of Madonna's "Burning up." I've been waiting for someone to do it, and to my surprise, it was the Supersuckers. The last song on the album is a Nazareth cover, "Razzmanazz." It's a long guitar big finish that you'd normally hear at the end of a song, but it lasts a ridiculous 24 minutes! It's like a joke that went a little too far, but I love that the Supersuckers have the balls to do something like that. "THE SONGS ALL SOUND THE SAME" was originally recorded as a demo back in 1990 when the band lost their lead singer and Eddie Spaghetti sang the songs because he knew all the words. To the band's surprise, people loved it, and he ended up as the singer. I've always believed that things happen for a reason, and I'm glad they lost their original singer. Because this happened, I was able to discover and enjoy the Supersuckers for the last decade (however on-again, off-again), whereas they might have been a different band altogether with their original singer. And even though I don't love the country stuff, I do know a few people who loved it. Through all the different turns this band has made, they have been able to reach legions of fans that they might have missed if they didn't explore their various tastes. And because I think this band rocks so hard and kicks ass, I'm now a bit curious about their country stuff and plan to give it a chance in the near future.
I talked to Eddie on the phone about a week after I saw the show. He's funny and well-spoken, and I enjoyed the conversation.
Alisha Amnesia: I got turned on to you guys around '92- I think- did you tour with the Reverend (Horton Heat) back then?
Eddie Spaghetti: We did, lots of times. Yeah.
AA: I got turned on to you guys in a really weird way. Um, an ex boyfriend of mine who I'd broken up with went on the road with the Reverend...
Eddie: Oh yeah?
AA: ...to try to forget about me (laughs). And he came back with a signed Smoke of Hell CD, and I'd never heard of you guys...
Eddie: Uh-huh
AA: And it said- from you- it said, "Baby you're fine PS (ex's name withheld) 's the man." (Laughs)
(Eddie laughs).
AA: And he also brought me back a signed Reverend record telling me he was "the one." (Laughs again.)
Eddie: Yeah, he probably you know, conned us into telling you- you know- whatever you needed to hear (laughs).
AA: I know, it was funny. But so, that's the first time that I heard of you guys cause he brought me that, and I LOVED it!
Eddie: Oh, right on.
AA: So that's the stuff (of yours) that I love, and I never heard the country stuff, but I didn't think I'd be into it so I just never bothered.
Eddie: Yeah, that's definitely sort of our alter ego and a side of us that not everybody likes, but a lot of people do and it's been nice that uh, we've been allowed to have that sort of digression.
AA: Well Chris gave me that "The Songs All Sound The Same," and I really liked it, and I was really excited that you guys covered Madonna's "Burnin' Up."
Eddie: (laughs) Yeah, those are super old recordings that we did, you know, like in 19- I guess 90, or 89 or 90 just to see if I would end up being the singer for the band, and uh- the rest as they say is history.
AA: Well, they're exceptionally good for demos.
Eddie: Yeah, they're totally demos, and you know, they don't really sound that good to me, but there's a spirit there. There's something to it. There's a- something in that moment that's worth hearing.
AA: Well, I listened to it before I read the liner notes and I didn't realize it was demos from 1990...
Eddie: Right.
AA: ...so it's obviously a lot better than you think probably.
Eddie: Well good, well that's good. That's a good testimonial there.
AA: And Chris told me that you have a new Country Live album coming out?
Eddie: Yeah, we were recording our country shows because they were starting to sound pretty good, and we just kinda forgot about these recordings, and we turned em up again and realized- wow, these sound good, let's go ahead and put them out. We were just sorta gonna bootleg it and put it out ourselves real- um- just maybe for the fan clubs or something like that, but everybody who heard it was like- naw, you gotta really put this out, it's super good, so we did. And it'll- well it's not out yet- it'll be out in February.
AA: And what's it called?
Eddie: It'll be called "Must've Been Live," cause our country record's called "Must've Been High."
AA: I need to hear that stuff.
Eddie: Yeah. You do, cause it's good.
AA: Why did you decide not to play any country on this tour? Or was it just that particular night?
Eddie: No, we generally don't mix the two together. When we go out to do a rock tour, that's what we do. It sort of takes a special effort to get the country thing out there, you know- we do a lot of different instruments and stuff, you know, we don't usually bring that stuff around with us. We usually grab an extra guy or two, and really really kind of countrified things up with like pedal steel and all that sort of stuff.
AA: I love that.
Eddie: Yeah, it's killer, but um, generally speaking, we're a rock band. It's a special occasion when we bring the country thing out.
AA: I have a friend who told me that your first country album is like- her favorite...
Eddie: Yeah a lot of people think it's our best record, and it's actually sold the most of all our records.
AA: That's really interesting...
Eddie: Kinda weird.
AA: Well she said she was the only person she knew who just absolutely loved it.
Eddie: Yeah well it came out it was pretty roundly BOOed.
AA: (Laughs)
Eddie: People didn't dig it too much, but you know, once again we're ahead of our time.
AA: Well good for you for having the balls to do what you wanna do.
Eddie: Yeah, exactly, and we're super proud of it, and I'm sure we'll make another one. It's something that we've always done, we just never recorded, cause we just figured people didn't want to hear it, but how wrong we were.
AA: You just started your own label right?
Eddie: Yeah. Mid-Fi. It's pretty good.
AA: Just this year?
Eddie: Just this year, yeah. "The Songs All Sound the Same" is our first release, and it was sort of a co-release, and our first sort of real endeavor will be this live country record.
AA: Are you gonna put other artists out too, or just your own?
Eddie: We hope to eventually. But we definitely want to get to the point where we're able to do a proper job of it. I'd hate to make some promises, cause obviously these would be artists that I love, and probably am friends with, and I'd hate to say, 'yeah, let's put your record out,' and then screw em over. I wanna make sure we have as the bugs worked out as possible and have it set up as well as we can before we make any of those sort of guarantees.
AA: Did you decide to do your own label cause another label kinda screwed you over?
Eddie: Not so much. We just started seeing that our records sell X amount of copies pretty much every time we put one out. We have tried really hard to be as independent and ass-kickin' as possible, and when we started talking about when we were going to make our new rock record, um, you know, who should we talk to about doing it, and we started saying- we've said this a million times in the past, but been too drug-addled (Alisha laughs) or lazy to take up the endeavor and we decided that the time was finally right where we could probably actually keep our heads together enough to do this ourselves. And, you know, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't motivated by seeing how much money can be made by bands who've done it before on their own. Without having to have, you know we've always joked that we don't have a MTV video, we don't have a hit single, and we don't have Bentleys parked in our garages. You know we don't even have garages. (Both laugh). We're kind of a shit ass rock band and there's been a lot of bands like us that have been sort of more independent than we've been and made a lot more money at it.
AA: (Distracted) I hear a baby.
Eddie: Yeah that's my baby.
AA: How old?
Eddie: He's 11 months, and he's sick today.
AA: So you're married with a pretty new baby.
Eddie: Yeah, he's awesome. He just started walking around. We were up all night with him last night trying to get his fever down.
AA: Oh. Well, I don't know what else I should talk to you about. I mainly wanted to hear about your new album, and your label cause I know bands are gonna be interested, especially Supersuckers fans, are gonna be interested that you have a label.
Eddie: Yeah, it's super cool and eventually we'll be able to do some cool things like put out other bands, but right now what we're trying to do is get as much of our Supersuckers catalog together and owned by us and put out, and then basically just communicate with our fans that have been so cool a little bit better. Because we've been sort of- I don't know if it was taken for granted- but we're not the best communicators. And I think those people need to know that by having their ear to the ground and searching out some kick ass rock and roll, they've made our day, and our lives really. I mean, they've given us a career in doing what we love to do, and we hope with Mid-Fi to make that relationship even stronger. You know, get more stuff out to em, surprise em. We started this fan club. We're gonna send out some singles that only they can get, you know if you join the fan club, you can get some stuff you couldn't get any other way. Just start to do some more fun stuff like that.
AA: So, how do people join the fan club? Go to Supersuckers.com?
Eddie: Yeah, they can go to Supersuckers.com, and like you know, you send us a check for- I think its like 10 or 15 bucks or something like that, and then we'll send you a couple singles a year. You know, it's like the Sub Pop singles club was. We'll send you a couple of singles each year, and some newsletters and whatever fun stuff we might find laying around. Like you know, you never know when we'll find a kick ass live show, and we might make a hundred copies of that and send it out or something like that. That's what we've been talking about it for years and we're finally gonna do it.
AA: Well, cool. I'll have to join.
Eddie: Yeah, it's super cool. I'm gonna join myself.
AA: (laughs) I wanted to ask you about your name, Eddie Spaghetti. Is it only because it rhymes, or is there more to it than that?
Eddie: Oh, I think it's pretty much because it rhymes, cause I've just been called that my whole life. And it used to make me really mad when I was a kid. I was really upset about it. And when I started getting into punk rock, everybody was calling me Eddie Spaghetti, and I started thinking, yeah, well that's just funny enough to be cool.
AA: Well I think that everyone secretly wants their own rock and roll or punk rock name. I wanted one and I tried to think of one for a really long time and I couldn't...
Eddie: It's gotta be something that's thought up for you.
AA: Well that's what happened. Now my pen name is Alisha Amnesia, cause not only does it rhyme, but I was going through periods of blackout pretty often (laughing), and it's kinda punk rock.
Eddie: It is. Indeed.
AA: So I always wonder about how other people got their names. Like, there's a guy in the Toilet Boys called Adam Vomit (laughs). I've never asked him why.
Eddie: Those guys are funny.
AA: Yeah, I love them. I just saw them and the review of your show is going up in a column with my review of your show as well.
Eddie: Oh, cool.
AA: I had a photographer come and take photos of your live show.
Eddie: Just keep the ones where I look really fat out of it.
AA: Do you have anything else coming out besides your live country album?
Eddie: Yeah, we do. We have a split CD coming out with the Electric Frankenstein.
AA: Oh cool.
Eddie: That should be out like January or February as well. And then they do 4 or 5 songs, and we do 4 or 5 songs, and that'll be super good to get.
AA: What label's that on?
Eddie: It's called the Music Cartel, it's an East Coast label, some friends of theirs, the Electric Frankenstein guys. And the soonest thing you can get is if join the fan club, you'll get a single coming up in December.
AA: Cool. I think that's gonna be a Christmas gift for one of my friends.
Eddie: Yeah, it's a Christmas single. We got a Christmas song and then another song on there.
AA: I think that's a very cool fan club thing. I don't know any other bands that are doing anything like that.
Eddie: Yeah, I know. Bands have done it, but I think it's sort of a retro idea whose time has come once again.
AA: Well, I wish more bands would do stuff like that. And I wish that radio was retro, where DJs got to play what they wanted and stuff like that.
Eddie: Sure...DJs who want to play the band but no program directors are willing to tell the advertisers that they're gonna play the Supersuckers- the evil powers of rock and roll on the radio or anything.
AA: Well I'm waiting for somebody rich to buy a radio franchise and just take over.
Eddie: Give us shit bands some hits!
AA: I really really wish someone would do it because Clearchannel and Infinity own everything. It's awful. I'm a Publicist and I never even bother with any radio promotion anymore.
Eddie: Yeah, we don't. We're not gonna either because it's an uphill battle that's just too expensive and too futile to endure.
AA: It's really too bad. I mean, you guys could be played on the radio if it wasn't so narrow.
Eddie: Yeah, when I make up songs, I don't think so avant-gardly or anything. I just try to write hits every time. Sure, it's a little bit quirky, but I just try to write good songs. You know, we don't try to make people think; or you know, stretch the boundaries of rock music by any means. It's three chords. Liquor, women, drugs and killin'.
AA: (Laughs) I really love the song "She's my bitch," but I was wondering, is it completely tongue in cheek, or did you decide to do it because all the rap people were doing it, or was there someone that you actually had in mind (laughing)?
Eddie: Yeah, it's little bit of both. Like you know, rappers get away with tons of things, and people who make rock music don't really get to. You know, "I want the drugs," are you allowed to sing that? Is it real? What does he mean? Is he serious? Whereas a rapper can go, "Yo, pop a cap," and you know they can say the craziest ass shit you've ever heard and have hits, they just bleep it all out. And it's irritating, so a lot of us is tongue and cheek, and a lot of it's sort of stretching, you know, saying things that people don't dare say. And you know, it's Fun.
AA: What was the deal with that "Razzmanazz" Nazareth, wasn't it like a 24-minute guitar finish?
Eddie: Yeah, well we just, this is back when we first started and we used to jokingly at the end of our shows, which were about 20 minutes long at that time, we would hoist our guitars up in the air to the 7 or 8 people that were in the room, and do this rock and roll ending that lasted as long as they'd let it go on until somebody shut us down. So we did that in the studio that day too.
AA: Well I let it go on for a long time (laughing), and I looked at my CD player and it said like 12 minutes, and my boyfriend was going, "What the hell is this?" And he fast-forwarded, and I think it was 24 minutes.
Eddie: Yeah, there's an actual ending on there. (Alisha laughing) It goes on for a long long time.
AA: I was like, what the hell are they doing? And then I looked and saw that it was a Nazareth song, but I didn't know that.
Eddie: Yeah, Nazareth doesn't do that. That's extra.
AA: Are there lyrics in that song?
Eddie: Yeah, there's a whole beginning to that song, that's like the regular song. You know, the regular part of the song is like 2 1/2 minutes long. The ending is like 25 minutes or something like that. We actually had to shorten the ending for the CD cause we added some songs. The actual ending is quite a bit longer.
AA: MY GOD! (Both laughing). That's so funny. I like that you guys have such a sense of humor, and I think it would be totally ridiculous if people took songs like "She's my bitch" seriously, but I'm sure there are imbeciles that do.
Eddie: Of course.
AA: Do you ever get hate mail or anything on your website?
Eddie: Not nearly as much as we'd like.
(We went off on a tangent for a minute)
Eddie: Thanks for helping us get the word out. I really appreciate it.
AA: Well, I absolutely fell in love with the band and told everybody from about 92 to 96 that you were my favorite band, and then when you kinda delved into the country, you sort of lost me there for a little while.
Eddie: Yeah, we lost a lot of people there for a little while. But we're back.
AA: And it had been so long- I haven't seen you guys since at least 5 or 6 years ago, and I decided 'I want to see what's going on now'; but I braced myself for maybe some country that I wasn't gonna be that into. And I was so excited; I loved the show from beginning to end.
Eddie: Right on. I'm glad you did.
I want to think Chris Neal with the Supersuckers tour for setting me up. Thanks, Chris!
XXXOOO- Alisha Amnesia
Supersucker photo by Ashley Roach
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