Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > July > 19 > Entry
Interview: The Supersuckers
Supersuckers photo by Michael Lavine
Twenty years along, Eddie Spaghetti still fuels the Supersuckers’ barrelhouse rock with teenage vitality. Today, though, the songwriter’s messages reflect wisdom from roads traveled. Key lesson learned: The Seattle quartet’s surefire quality-assurance test. “We run the things that are important to us through the Willie (Nelson) filter,” Spaghetti says. “‘Would Willie approve of this?’” The Supersuckers support “Get It Together,” last year’s adventurous and lyrically rich collection, Tuesday at the Scoot Inn.
American-Statesman: You just returned from touring Europe.
Eddie Spaghetti: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. We played a festival that’s comparable to the Hootenanny in (Irvine), Calif., that went really well. There was a weird Euro version of hot rod culture. They don’t quite know how to do it, but they try (laughs).
Was the (Spaghetti Family European Holiday) tour literally a family event?<br>
Yeah, I took my wife and kid, and we went on a three-week road trip through Europe. My son got a real mathematical education in how to make European change. He loves traveling with the guys and feeling like he’s part of the gang. My wife is pregnant right now, so we’re trying to get one last hurrah in before the baby comes.
How did such adult concerns inform the songs on ‘Get It Together’?
I just don’t see it as immediate as our other records. It’s not like we intentionally set up to make this thinker of a record, but when we got done and sat back we realized it was a lot different than Supersuckers albums have been in the past.
Are you talking lyrically or musically or both?
Both, but I’d say mainly lyrically. It has a lot more mature themes on it. There are things that I’ve gotten less afraid to say as I’ve gotten older. In the past it’s always been all about the liquor, women, guns and killing, which is cool, too. There’s a place for that as well. There are relationship songs, but there are also goofy songs like “I’m a (expletive) Genius.”
Right. What was the inspiration for that song?
You know, just thinking that you’re a (expletive) genius (laughs).
Fair enough. What have you learned after two decades on the road?
Well, we never considered ourselves to be musicians to begin with. But at some point, you have to put on your passport under occupation: “musician.” You comes to terms that this is who you are, and you have to take it seriously. You have to want to succeed at it and want it and slug it out in the clubs like we do. Unfortunately, that’s our lot in life. For better or worse, we’re a club band.
You’re not OK with that?
We’re happy to have the job, that’s for sure, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t want to have it better and have more success. That’s, of course, always the goal.
Your creative online marketing - on your site and selling rarities on eBay - certainly helps spread the word.
Yeah, it’s invaluable. If you told me even seven or eight years ago that it’d be this invaluable tool and you’d be using it like a (expletive), I would’ve laughed in your face. Now we always have our laptops with us and are asking if there’s a wireless signal at the club.
The Supersuckers perform at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at The Scoot Inn, 1308 E. Fourth St. Tickets are $12 at the door. 524-1932.
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Permalink | | Categories: Interview
