Southern-tinged rockers the Supersuckers bring latest tour to Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO -- Mixing up elements of garage punk, hard rock and southern-fried country, veteran band the Supersuckers have been dealing out their entertaining brand of party-hearty music for over three decades.
Founded as the Black Supersuckers in Tuscon, AZ, by high school friends Eddie Spaghetti (born Edward Carlyle Daly III) on bass, guitarist Ron "Rontrose" Heathman, guitarist Dan "Thunder" Bolton, drummer Dancing Eagle (born Dan Seigal) and lead singer Eric Martin in 1988, the band soon relocated to Seattle in pursuit of an audience more receptive to their raucous sound. The group stripped down to a four-piece as Martin departed soon after the move, with Spaghetti taking over as singer and the band dropping the "Black" from the name.
A series of 7-inch singles for a variety of independent labels led the Supersuckers to getting signed by famed Seattle imprint Sub Pop Records. The band's debut album for the label The Smoke Of Hell showcased their concise, tuneful style of roots-influenced hard rock that celebrated fast cars, good times and loose women while echoing the straightforward punky style of labelmates Mudhoney, the Reverend Horton Heat and the Dwarves.
Two more similarly minded albums followed, but in 1997 the Supersuckers delved far deeper into their country roots with Must've Been High. A full-blown exploration of honky tonk and cow punk that featured acoustic and lap-steel guitars and even a guest vocal spot from Willie Nelson, the recording was celebrated as one of the Supersuckers' best yet. The group also collaborated with latter-era country outlaw on an EP, but band would return to its sleazy, full-throttle earlier sound on it's follow-up album (and first effort after parting ways with Sub Pop), the landmark classic Evil Powers of Rock 'n' Roll.
Since then, the band has maintained a steady output of records while consistently touring for their loyal fanbase, even after the departure of longtime members Heathman and Bolton in the 2000s and Spaghetti's bout with lymph node cancer that surfaced in 2015. The current trio line-up of the founding bassist, guitarist "Metal" Marty Chandler and drummer Christopher "Chango" Von Streicher recorded the band's latest album, Play That Rock N' Roll, at Willie Nelson's home studio.
Released on Acetone Records in 2020, it featured the trio bashing out its trademark hard-rocking, tongue-in-cheek tunes. The following year, Spaghetti collaborated with fellow songwriter and Streetwalkin' Cheetahs' frontman Frank Meyer for the equally potent effort Motherf--kin' Rock N' Roll. More recently, Supersuckers contributed a cover of the AC/DC classic "Overdose" for the new Magnetic Eye Best of AC/DC tribute compilation and issued a number of live digital singles including covers of the R&B standard "99 1/2" and the Ramones gem "I Believe in Miracles" with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder singing and Zeke's Blind Marky Feltchtone playing guitar.
For their current tour that has two Bay Area dates in Santa Cruz and San Francisco, Supersuckers share the stage with fellow roots-punk veterans the Hangmen. Formed in the mid-1980s by Montana born and Idaho raised singer/guitarist Bryan Small, the underground group would be discovered and managed by ex-Black Flag singer and Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris, who produced the band's early demos. The quartet would get caught up in the sweepstakes to find the next Guns n' Roses. Capitol Records signed them and released their 1989 self-titled debut that hewed closer to the sleazy hard rock of the Sunset Strip than the punk of the band's early inspirations X, the Stooges and the Gun Club.
The Hangmen would move to Geffen Records subsidiary DGC, but their sophomore album would be shelved and Small would spend the rest of the decade battling substance abuse and general indifference to his music. However, he emerged triumphant in 2000 with a new band line-up and new album Metallic I.O.U. that more accurately captured the group's live swagger and ferocity. The Hangmen have consistently put out quality music ever since, regularly touring with like-minded acts including Social Distortion and the Supersuckers.
At the Wednesday night show at the Catalyst Atrium, the bands will be joined by SF punk outfit Alvie and the Breakfast Pigs. Opening the show at the Bottom of the Hill Thursday will be the Freak Accident. The long-running side project of Victims Family and Jello Biafra's Guantanamo School of Medicine guitarist Ralph Spight, the band has been putting out music that falls outside of the angular slide-rule punk of his other creative outlets for nearly two decades. The guitarist and his latest iteration of the trio featuring bassist Henry Austin Lannan (Mongoloid, Atomic Tide) and drummer Stark Raving Brad (Hellbillies, Antler Family ,Marginal Prophets to name a few) recently released the Freak Accident's fourth album Outer Space is Boring. The Supersuckers and the Hangmen take the show to Old Ironsides in Sacramento on Friday.
The Supersuckers and The Hangmen
Wednesday, May 3, 7:30 p.m. $18-$23
The Catalyst Atrium
Thursday, May 4, 8 p.m. $15-$18
The Bottom of the Hill
