7. I think you guys have a terrific live thing happening and I would love to
ask you about it. So, first off- you boys are touring machines! These past
three years, in addition to opening for other bands and headlining your own
shows, Sugarcult has become a major player on the concert festival circuit,
including such popular ones as the 2001 and 2002 Warped Tours. How did you
guys get hooked up with so many? How different is the experience of taking
part in a festival than a regular Sugarcult show?

As far as playing live goes, we've always just dove right in the deep end. I
read a quote on a tea bag once that said, "Jump and the net will appear".
We've done that from the beginning, welcomed challenges and taken our best
shot. We started off playing clubs in and around our home town (Santa
Barbara, Ca) where we had the opportunity to fine tune our songs and tighten
up as players, before we hit the road. It's important for bands not to skip
that step; be the hardest working local band in your area; the biggest fish
in your small pond so to speak. Then you'll be able to stay afloat when you
get thrown out on the road with all the other "fish". Our first real tour
was Warped 2001, we originally were given 11 shows, which we were more than
honored to get, things were going well so they asked if we'd want to stay on
for the rest of the tour. The catch was, we'd be playing a tiny tent stage
called the Ladies Lounge with the tiniest sound system I've ever seen. We
were more than happy to do it and kept on with our goal of proving ourselves
from town to town. Meeting kids, handing out 3-song samplers (our album
wasn't out yet), handing out free stickers, meeting other bands and crew
people and absorbing as much advice and knowledge...and free beer as we
could! Festivals are always a trial by fire situation; usually we rush in
after a long all night drive or flight and try to figure out where to set up
our stuff; there are union sound techs running around barkin' orders and big
bands that have all kinds of silly demands so we tend to spend more time out
in the crowd hanging with the kids. It's great to play these though because
the diverse band lineups mean our band is going to have the opportunity to
gain some new fans and get some massive exposure; we played with Nickelback
recently; who knows how many guys went home in Sugarcult T-shirts and shaved
off their grunge beards! Our own shows are more comforting because all our
fans are there and the bands on the tour are usually all our friends, so it's
more like we are throwing a party versus attending a party. It's all good.
My advice to bands is to make sure you spend a lot of time hanging with your
fans before and/or after the show, and if you're on a tour make an effort to
get to know all the people on the tour and be helpful, pleasant and easy to
deal with; this is a relatively small world and word travels fast if you are
a fun band to tour with or a big drag. No one want to take an asshole on
tour no matter how big their sales and radio stories are.

8. 8. At a show of yours, I saw you headline along with fellow rockers
American Hi-Fi. You seemed to have a great camaraderie with each other, and
Stacey from American Hi-Fi even sat in on the drums for a song. You have also
toured with some “biggies” like Blink182. How did you hook up with them,
especially as a relatively new band? What do you look for in a band when
looking for a touring partner?

Like I said in question 7, socialize more; hang out in your dressing room and
tour vehicle less. We met the Hi-Fi guys through mutual friends in Los
Angeles; when we're all in town we go bowling on Tuesday nights at this tacky
1970's looking bowling alley. We were stoked to finally play some shows
together because we liked eachother first as people. Our drummer Ben partied
all night with the singer of Tantric and this band Trik Turner at a festival
we played in Boston; we had to be in New York the next day and Ben was
nowhere to be found, eventually we had to just hope for the best and leave
without him. We knew Stacey was originally a drummer before Hi-Fi, and was a
fan of our record; so just to be safe we called him and asked him if he'd
mind sitting in for Ben in cas he never showed up. Stacey agreed and learned
all our songs on their drive to the show and backstage at the venue. 30
minutes before our set time Ben shows up with wild stories of trains, taxis,
and shit I can't even talk about here...we felt bad that Stacey had spent his
whole day learning our set so we invited him up to play a song. The shows
with Blink were great as well, we were lucky enough to score a few shows with
them on the second stage which is really better than the main stage 'cause
that's where all the kids are walking around before Blink plays; near the
shirt stands and food vendors. The tight security tried to keep us and the
other band (Mest) totally seperate from Blink's universe, we weren't even
allowed to watch their set the first day. Mark and those guys caught wind of
that and had their tour manager totally override the arena staff; from then
on we had all-access laminated passes and were invited to eat dinner with
Blink; amazing gourmet catered food served by guys in chef hats! Blink spent
years touring as a small punk band so they have a soft spot in their hearts
for hardworking new and upcoming bands, total sweethearts all around.

9. 9. Last March, you had to cut a concert a tad short…when the floor of the
venue started to cave in! I don’t doubt it; I’ve seen how kids get down at
your shows! So, how did you handle things in a way that kept fans satisfied
and safe? Any advices for other bands that find themselves in a crazy live
situation?

Security guards are no match for a roomfull of pissed off audience members,
so the most important thing is to keep things under control from the stage.
Ensure the crowd that they will be rewarded for cooperating and staying cool.
During the Detroit floor incident, we didn't know the show would really be
cancelled; we thought they just needed to clear the house to assess the
damage, so we just said the sooner everyone evacuated the sooner the show
would go on. In the end they called the show off. It was snowy and freezing
outside but Tim and the singers of Unwritten Law and Mest got up on top of a
trailer with an acoustic guitar and played songs outside for the crowd. Then
we spent as long as it took to hand out free CDs and stickers to everyone and
sign autographs and take pictures or whatever; we actually broke our record
at the time for the most merch sold in one night, by dragging our shirts and
stuff out in the cold and selling them out of the back of our RV. The next
time we played that venue in the basement and Papa Roach was doing their show
upstairs, all I could think was "I really hope a roomfull of sweaty metallers
doesn't cave in on me!"

10. 10. Tim, as a kid you lived in 13 different homes and attended numerous
different schools. Do you think your musical interests or tastes would have
differed had you stayed in one place? In all of your opinions, how closely
linked is the location in which music is recorded with the final product? How
did your location influence Start Static?

I'm not Tim, but I do know that 2 of the 5 most stressfull things a person
can go through is a move and a break-up; Tim had both at the same time while
writing songs for Start Static, so go figure. Music is a friend that you
keep for life. I still flip through my record collection now and again when
I need a good friend.

11. 11. What are the most important aspects of a Sugarcult performance for
you guys? Any shows in particular really stand out in your head?

The energy of the crowd, the sound mix onstage, the atmosphere of the city
we're playing, and all the spontaneous things that happen. We've played so
many fun and memorable shows so it's hard to choose. Recently we were
scheduled to play a punk show this kid booked at a temple in Brooklyn, NY. We
were driving up from DC and there was horrible traffic, we had bad directions
and got lost; we showed up 2 hours after our set time, which meant the
temple's curfew for the show was over; we had the promoter set up one of the
other bands gear out on the grass next to the temple, jumped out of our van,
plugged in and played as many songs as we could before the cops showed up;
there was like 300 people there crowd surfing and stage diving off of the
front porch of the house next door, then we got back in our van and drove all
night to Buffalo. We did a basement show in Bakersfield, CA with no
ventilation in the middle of the summer, the heat blew the PA so we kept
playing the music and the crowd took over on vocals by singing as loud as
they could in unison. Whoever said "the show must go on" wasn't kidding!
Then there was day one of Warped 2001; our first day on the tour they decided
to surprise us by letting us open up on the main stage; all our gear was way
over by the side stage so I had to toss it all in a dumpster on wheels and
roll it through the crowd and set it up on the big stage. Rancid was
standing on the side watching our whole set; very intimidating! They video
taped our set and gave us many compliments which was very cool.

12. After the horrendous events of September 11th, Tim made a statement on
your website regarding your song “Stuck in America”, to ensure people
understood it was not a political song, but rather a track about growing up.
Do you regret releasing the song at all at this point?

No regrets. Sure it's a shame the song didn't get it's fair shot, but rock
music was the least of our worries after Sept 11. It's hard to care about
how your radio single is doing when the whole fuckin world is turned upside
down. We were happy that our song did as well as it did in the monthlong
period of time from when it was released up to that tragic day. If anything,
tragic events are reminders that strengthen your resolve to follow your
passions and dreams while you can, and not get caught up in all the trivial
bullshit in life.

13. The next couple are for you, Marko 72, so hopefully you’re around to
answer these! You had played bass, quite successfully, in popular bands such
as The Ataris, along with about 20 other bands (damn!) Yet you chose to
start afresh with a new band, Sugarcult, and a new instrument, guitar. What
was the catalyst for this change?

Well, I played in many bands that went on to being big, years after I played
with them! The Ataris started out touring in my beat up '83 Toyota truck,
with the three of us crammed in the front seat together, then we upgraded to
this jalopy of a van that Kris (the singer) bought with what was left of the
money Kung Fu Records had loaned him to buy a van; he had spent the rest on a
vacation with his wife at the time! We were a walking/rocking disaster but
we did a few tours and learned a lot which is the important thing. I can't
wait to tour with them this Nov/Dec. Kris has come such a long way, I'm
really proud of him. In highschool I was in a band called Lost Kittenz;
Chris the guitarist now plays in the Foo Fighters (his older brother Scott
plays in Face to Face), Steve the drummer is in Nerf Herder, and Luke the
singer/guitarist has his own thing and toured as the guitarist of Abandoned
Pools this summer. Somehow, Santa Barbara musicians find a way to get out
there! I played in many short-lived bands that never really gelled and did
some hired-gun fill in gigs. I was in a band called Popsicko for a few years
that got pretty big and was just about to get a shot at the big leagues when
tragedy struck and our singer was killed in a car accident, so it's been a
long road with varying degrees of success. I've learned so much along the way
that I've applied to my career. Sugarcult came along at a time when I was
ready to either hole up and do my own thing, or try something totally
different. Tim called and asked if I would play guitar, which I thought
would be an interesting challenge. Oddly enough the last band I played
guitar in was my first band ever, Illiterate, when I was only 14; after which
I switched to bass until Sugarcult.

14. Marko, in addition to playing in all those bands, you ran not one, but
two indie labels in Cali, Cooler Records (dig the name!) and My Records.
Basically, you’re amazing. How did you manage all this? And, for all of you,
how did knowledge of the business side of music help you guys with this band?
Are any of you involved with these aspects when it comes to Sugarcult?

Well I didn't do it all at the same time, though there was some overlap I
guess. I kind of fell into it. Back in 1996 I was still trying to get back
on my feet after Popsicko's sudden end, jamming with a few potential bands
and just working a boring day job screen printing T-shirts with Steve from
Nerf Herder. My good friend Joey Cape (singer of Lagwagon and my side-band
Bad Astronaut) had started a label (My Records) so he could produce bands he
liked and release their music; he met with me about taking over the day to
day duties and basically managing the label, since he was leaving on tour for
a few months and had the Nerf Herder record coming out soon. The next thing
I knew I had his computer set up in my bedroom at my mom's house and a few
phone numbers he left me to call if I had questions. I sat around in my
underwear all day getting a plan together and calling other indie labels to
get advice and contacts. The next thing I knew Nerf Herder was becoming a
runaway success at radio and I was being picked up by a limo and flown to New
York City to privately showcase them for music industry legend Clive Davis at
Arista Records. Crazy times, again I applied my "jump and the net will
appear" attitude and hoped for the best. They ended up getting bought by
Arista, which gave My Records some money to put more records out. The weird
thing is almost the same thing happened with the next band we put out called
Ridel High (now called AM Radio and managed by Rivers from Weezer), they got
bought by A&M. Both them and Nerf Herder ultimately got totally fucked over
by their major labels which taught me to be very cautious when they started
sniffing around Sugarcult. A big reason we signed to Ultimatum is that they
were more independent minded and not corporate. I stared Cooler as a way to
do one-off projects like promoting monthly garage-punk shows (my
Live-in-a-Run-Down-Dive and Get-Down-at-the-Hi-Bar series lasted 2 years);
putting out a CD by a great Santa Barbara band called Blazing Haley; doing an
80's metal tribute compilation called Metal Rules with punk bands covering
Motley Crue and Twisted Sister songs, etc. Having this experience under my
belt is helpful, but it also helps that Sugarcult is Tim and Airin's first
real band so they bring a certain unjaded innocence to the band that is
healthy as well. A fresh perspective, if you will. Ben is another book to
read!

Answers to 15 - 20....coming soon.