A new line-up and new album give Knox rockers new life
by Mike Gibson
For evidence that Knoxville's Superdrag is keeping heads happily above bog-level in the quagmire of today's pop-music industry, one need look no further than the liner notes of their recent release, Last Call for Vitriol.
On the first track, a swoony bit of Big Star-ish pop sweetness entitled "Baby Goes to Eleven," veteran indie rock singer-songwriter Robert Pollard is credited with harmony vocals on the refrain. The album, Pollard track and all, was released last month on the Arena Rock Recording Co. label.
"It was a Frank Sinatra thing," says drummer Don Coffey of the collaboration with the semi-reclusive Guided by Voices frontman. "[Arena Rock owner] Greg Glover sent the track for him to record over and we never got to meet him. But he apparently really loved the song, which made us proud in and of itself."
Coffey and bandmates Sam Powers (bass) and guitarist Mike Harrison are in the midst of their normative post-rehearsal regimen of swilling beer and shooting the breeze this evening in the hermetic little downtown-area studio that is now their usual practice space. On-the-wagon singer-guitarist John Davis is here, too, sans brew yet somehow just as gassed as his fellows.
Superdrag is a happy bunch these days, the tumult of years past notwithstanding. The band's odyssey has been well documented locally, from its '93 founding to its '95 signing with Elektra Records, from its successful first album Regretfully Yours and the attendant hit single "Sucked Out" to the poorly-marketed follow-up Headtrip in Every Key and a less-than amicable parting with the label.
The time since the Elektra parting hasn't been without its upheavals, either, as the last three years saw the departure of original members Tom Pappas (bass) and Brandon Fisher (guitar). But summer '02 nonetheless finds the foursome reinvigorated, enthusiastic, and creatively charged on the eve of its fourth full-length release (give or take a compilation or two).
"We got out with our skin and got to keep going, which is something a lot of bands who come off a major [label] can't say," Coffey says. "We've managed to build a career outside the record industry."
Like Pollard and a precious few others before them, Superdrag is living the dream of every garage-bound indie-rock hopeful in America, earning its keep solely by virtue of its own creative efforts; no day jobs or wedding gigs here.
Their previous release, In the Valley of Dying Stars on Arena Rock, has sold more than 13,000 copies to date. That's a healthy figure, given that small indies offer little in the way of promotional funds but give their artists a per-record return several times that of their major label counterparts.
"We can play a bar anywhere in the country on any given night and make enough to eat, get a hotel, and get to the next show," Coffey says, alluding to the band's renowned touring ethic and far-flung pockets of fans. "We make enough to sustain ourselves in the studio," he says, and adds, chuckling, "and we can always afford to fix the van when we get off the road."
"Our definition of success has a lot to do with longevity now," Davis explains. "It has to do with making the records we want to make, and with being able to go out live and deliver the goods."
Of course, live performance has always ranked among the band's strong suits, and that's especially true now with the addition of Powers and Harrison. Though Pappas' manic, implosive stage presence, and Fisher's unpredictable sonic embellishments are occasionally missed, Harrison (former V-roys singer and axeman) and Powers (former singer-guitarist for Nashville's Who Hit John) bring rock-solid instrumental chops, as well as providing frontman Davis with the luxury of two very capable back-up singers.
They also bring new, perhaps unexpected creative energy. Last Call stands apart in that it is the first Superdrag release to feature songs penned by someone other than Davis, with the two newest members taking or sharing writing credits on several tracks.
"Tom [Pappas] always wrote his own music, but it never jived right with my stuff; it was apples and oranges," Davis says. "But when Sam joined, we found that when we sat down to write together it was real natural. We complement each other as writers, and our voices blend real well too."
"There's three writers now, and there are a lot more opportunities musically," Coffey says. "There's also a challenge to turn their three perspectives into something user-friendly for our fans."
Long-time Superdrag fans may be taken aback by parts of the new record; some of the band's trademark airiness and elaborate guitar-pop orchestrations have been jettisoned, replaced with a certain riff-rock directness. Says Davis: "There are some curveballs. The songs that Sam brought in are full-tilt, balls-to-the-wall, and I had a couple that fall into that territory, too."
But taken as a whole Last Call for Vitriol is still very much a Superdrag record, a forceful and polished set of captivating power pop that stands on its own merits, yet sits well with the rest of the band's material. And rough spots notwithstanding, the men of Superdrag believe they'll be adding to that body of material for a long time to come.
"We're better than ever at realizing songs the way we imagine them," Davis says. "We've been through a lot of stuff, experience-wise, but I like to believe we haven't lost sight of what we're about in the first place. And I think we're better than ever at being true to that, at just being Superdrag."
August 29, 2002 * Vol. 12, No. 35
© 2002 Metro Pulse
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