ROCK PULSE MAGAZINE, UK - April 2004
Answers by Marko 72 (Sugarcult guitarist)
1. How was your recent UK tour? Were there any particular highlights you can
think of?
You Brits use these great terms for saying something is great; brilliant, smashing,
bloody brilliant, shit-on!, right chuffed, etc . All we have in California
is “totally awesome” “rad” and “bitchin!”;
I’d have to say the UK tour was bloody bitchin! Sold out shows in
almost every city we played. Fans bringing us souvenirs and food from their
hometowns. Sharing our bus with (support band) Division of Laura Lee and
learning about the scene in their country (Sweden) and lots of hot gossip about
the Refused.
2. How do you decide which support bands to take with you? What were Cardia,
Division of Laura Lee and The Fight like to tour with?
We were fans of Division since their last album, so we were excited to hear they
were available to tour with us. Cardia and the Fight were both suggested
by our friends who promote us in the UK; we were happy to get to know them; Cardia
are not like most bands we play with so it was an interesting mix. We llike
a wide variety of musical sounds, so when it comes to touring we like to mix
it up a bit; not have Sugarcult with special guests Sugarcult Jr. and Sugarcult
Light, you know? Come to our show and get turned on to new sounds, new
scenes, etc.
3. How was Japan? Did you get on well with Bowling For Soup?
We had a blast getting drunk with them and watching them win over people in a
country they had never been to before. As fun and off the cuff as they
come off being, they are very serious and professional about what they do. Jaret
and I are the same age and had an almost identical musical coming of age; going
from 80s metal and punk rock to bands like the Pixies, Nirvana, etc. He
also loves Nerf Herder, a great band from my hometown (Santa Barbara, CA) that
I used to help out a lot before Sugarcult mania started. Good people and
hard workers.
4. Did you have fun at the MTV Music Awards in Tokyo? Did you get to go to any
after show parties?
We got, how do you say in the UK…bloody pissed! Slaughtered! Then
we went out there and had a blast. You can’t take things like that
too seriously or they become really stiff and stressful. A bunch of people
we know were there (Story of the Year, Kelly Osbourne, Good Charlotte) so it
was fun to share the strange experience with them. I got to meet Pharrell
Williams from the Neptunes/NERD, Big Boi from Outkast, and hip hop queen Missy
Elliott; Janet Jackson and her entourage of bodyguards walked by me to fast for
me to storm in and snap a photo. I have this huge collection of photos
of me w/ various celebrities that I’m always trying to add to, I scored
a few more shots that night (note: go to www.sugarcult.com and find the “beautiful
stalker” section on our photo page to see some of these pictures)
5. This year you’ve played festivals, been to Japan, and had another album
received well; what has been the main highlight for you so far this year?
It’s hard to say. A big high point would have to be April 13, 2004;
the day “Palm Trees and Power Lines” finally saw the light of day
and was released; we were on a headlining US tour and that day we were in New
York City taping “Late Night with Conan O’Brian” a huge nightly
show that everyone in America watches before they go to bed; it was also
the first time we played full-electric after our singer Tim had gone through
a crisis with his ear condition (he suffers from Tinnitus, a constant ringing
in one of his ears); we had been doing a few weeks of acoustic shows until his
confidence recovered. So yeah, big day April 13; it’s all been a
steady flow of great things ever since.
6. How long did it take you to record Palm Trees and Powerlines? How do you find
the recording process compared with playing live?
We wrote the songs pretty fast; in less than 2 months; then it took about the
same amount of time to record them. We jumped overseas a few times during
the recording process to support our last album “Start Static” which
was still pretty fresh to people in Europe and Japan, so that broke it up a bit
and allowed us to test the songs out live at things like Reading and Leeds; as
good as any place to test our new songs! Playing live is in-your-face heat
of the moment delivery of instant rock n roll; whereas in the studio it’s
a much more controlled environment, you can go back and erase stuff you don’t
like or start over again. They are totally different animals.
7. You’re playing the Warped Tour this summer. How many times have you
played it? How would you describe the atmosphere at a Warped Tour show? What
are the best things about playing shows with such huge line-ups?
We’re a week into the Warped Tour as I write this, we’re actually
late today because our bus got a flat tire on the way to Kentucky! This
is our 3rd time on Warped; the 2001 tour was our first US touring experience;
we had no record out yet, so we just used it as an opportunity to promote our
band, play our hearts out everyday on this tiny stage, and learn as much as we
could from the bigger bands. In 2002 we did about 2 weeks on a medium sized
stage; this time we are one of the big bands on the main stage right alongside
NOFX, Bad Religion, New Found Glory, etc so it’s a real honor to feel like
our hard work over the past few years has been recognized. It’s a
huge traveling circus of people who have at least one thing in common: the spirit
of punk rock. There are over 600 people on this tour when you factor in
all the bandmembers, crew, athletes, drivers, caterers, production staffers,
etc so you’re always meeting new interesting friends. There’s
the young hungry upstart bands killing themselves everyday on little to no sleep
to keep up with the tour; I have a lot of respect for them, because we went through
the same thing a couple years ago. I cruise around all day before and after
we play and watch other bands do their thing. It never ceases to amaze
me that this tour has been going strong for 10 years; a big part of this whole
subculture started in my hometown region in Southern California skating, melodic
punk, etc; I watched it happen as I grew up in the 80’s, so it’s
cool to see it go big!
8. What are the main differences between festivals in America and festivals over
here, like Reading and Leeds?
There aren’t a lot of annual festivals in America that go on year after
year; I really like the tradition of the European rock festival; I suspect it
can be traced back culturally to the medieval times, with big decadent gatherings
being a huge part of social interaction. We got a big thrill out of doing
Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds, etc. you grow up hearing about these things and to
actually be there playing them is like a dream come true.
9. You’ve got quite a few photos in the ‘Beautiful Stalker’ section
of the photo gallery on your site. Who did you most enjoy meeting and who would
you most like to meet?
I eluded to this in one of the earlier questions; I am like a hunter except that
I don’t like to kill so I hunt for pop culture figures and shoot them with
my camera instead! It started out as an innocent enough pursuit, but now
it’s become a passion; besides it gives me a chance to make art out of
these experiences in my life; it’s kind of a joke in our band now, like
how huge of a star can Marko manage to get his photo taken with. Most people
are super nice; Dido was really pretty in person and nice, but James Hetfield
from Metalllica was a grouchy old bastard, but I kind of respected him more for
it, after all Metallica’s music is angry, wouldn’t it be a dissapointment
if you met them and they were happy go lucky. I want the big ones now;
Madonna, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan; I would love to get my photo taken with President
Bush and secretly hold up a sign that said “idiot” or “liar” or
something, that would be a total score!
10. Now some random questions! If you could go back in time to any point in history,
where would you go and why?
I’d like to be in Paris in the 1920s’ when all the artists were at
their most decadent; or England in the late 70’s when punk was at it’s
most primal and important stage; or back to Rome a few centuries ago, find some
of my ancestors and see how they were living; maybe get my picture painted with
Leonardo Da Vinci or something!
11. If you were a Superhero, what would be your name and what powers would you
have?
I am already a fucking Superhero! My name is Marko 72 and I am powerless!
12. What has the band got planned for the rest of the year?
After Warped, we go home and do a few California shows, then we fly out to New
York (on September 11!!!) play a show, then fly straight across the Atlantic
Ocean to do another Europe/UK tour that is being worked out right now; then we
come home and (this is hot off the presses)….we do a month long US tour
opening for Green Day! After that we’ll do some Christmas shopping
and keep on touring….
13. Finally, is there anything else you’d like to add or promote?
Yes. There is a great website that Fat Mike from NOFX has started to educate
punks about getting involved politically; www.punkvoter.com go there and check
it out. Americans are pretty apathetic about the government, as a result
we’ve ended up with some fucked up leaders; hopefully that will change
as more and more people wake up and get active. You don’t have to
be an American for that site to be relevant to your life; it’s a small
world and we’re ultimately all in this together.
Take care of eachother!! Cheers.
Marko 72, Sugarcult