DC: The first record that I ever bought myself was Kiss, Destroyer, but the first record that anybody ever gave me was Fleetwood Mac. I think the last one that I ever bought was the Tom Petty Echo record. I’m going to get the Tom Petty Echo record into every fucking interview. I fucking think it’s great, it’s the best thing he’s done in a long time.
SP: I’m trying to find the Teenage Fanclub record, I guess somebody ended up giving us a copy of it, but that’ll probably be the next record I buy. The first one? My oldest brother had 2000+ vinyl LPs, so I never really had to buy any. Probably a Replacements record.
DC: C’mon, you know you had the Osmonds Live.
SP: No, I never listened to that shit, dude. [laughs]
JD: I don’t know why the fuck I can’t remember the last record I bought—I haven’t been buying a lot of records lately. The first one I bought was 1999 by Prince. That was the first full-length record I remember buying. I used to buy 45s a lot because, when I was a kid, I had one of those little suitcase deals that folds up, and you’ve got your speakers here, and I had that and I thought that was just the coolest thing, probably in about third grade. I’m still trying to think of the last CD I bought; I’m having a total brain lapse.
DC: Well, the last one you probably bought was that Tom Petty boxed set you bought for me.
JD: Well, yeah, I got that for Don. [laughter] Probably the next one I’m going to buy is that J. Mascis and the Fog album, I’ve really been wanting to hear that. I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time, even though the last few things I’ve heard didn’t really knock me out all that much, but this record is getting awesome reviews. Supposedly, it’s the best stuff he’s done since the old-school Dinosaur, Jr. We can just lie and say that I’ve bought it already.
Name a strong musical influence of yours that people wouldn’t expect to hear. Someone in your closet that you’re maybe even a little ashamed of.
JD: I can’t really think of any that I’m ashamed of, because you know we have no shame, but let’s see…How about the Misfits? I love the fucking Misfits.
Could you guys explain the Disheverly Brothers?
JD: Well, I guess when we were recording background vocals, we kind of did the Beatle thing were we did them on one mic, facing each other. We were just screwing around and Sam was like, “Hey, man we could have a new vocal duo, the Disheverly Brothers.” Then, I guess I wrote a couple of songs and we wrote one together that we thought would sound good on the Disheverly Brothers album. It’s still kind of theoretical at this point, but the idea that we had was just to write a bunch of songs that rip off the Beatles as much as possible, and just record them on four-track: The Disheverly Brothers, Shabby Road. [laughs]
This question is probably going to be most poignant for Don. Which Spinal Tap drummers’ death would you prefer? Choking on someone else’s vomit, or Spontaneous Human Combustion? And which would you consider to be the most likely?
DC: It would have to be choking on vomit. It has to be that.
JD: That would be the most likely?
SP: It would most likely be [our vomit]. [laughs]
DC: The way I look at it is they’ve always done rock shit, but taken it to the next level, and I think human combustion would be a little too far out to be a realistic category. Whereas vomiting, every fucking drummer does that, it just depends on how grotesque they made it look. I think that would probably be the most likely scenario.
JD: I think I would choose the bizarre gardening accident, if I had to pick one. I don’t know how likely it would be, since I never really go outside unless I absolutely have to.
SP: I’d like the human combustion. I can kind of foresee that in my future. I sweat a lot.
If it all ended tomorrow, Superdrag would probably be remembered, at least in the mainstream pop lexicon, for “Sucked Out.” If you could choose a song to represent you guys, what would it be?
DC: “Highway to Hell.” [laughter] Realistically, it would have to be “Bankrupt Vibration,” for a shitload of reasons.
JD: I think I’d probably prefer that to “Sucked Out,” anyway.
DC: I just figure that if it all ended tomorrow, we’re as broke now as we were when we started out.
JD: I guess we’d rather be remembered for calling bullshit on the whole “one hit wonder” thing as opposed to being a part of it.
Are you guys planning on doing this for the long haul?
DC: Seven years and counting.
JD: Absolutely.
DC: I don’t know what else we would do. To be in a band for seven years sort of fucks up your resume.
JD: It’s weird because we kind of turned a corner not too long ago. Tom [Pappas, former bassist] left and then Brandon, for all intents and purposes, left. We got Sam and finished this new record and it’s kind of like turning a corner, it’s kind of a new chapter. I think we still have some good records left to do. I’d like to be able to sit back one day and have ten records under our belt, or a dozen records, you know, like old-school bands used to do. Nowadays, the [business] is kind of geared towards a band putting out two or maybe three albums and then never being heard from again, which is kind of tragic because you don’t get that development from what you had in the beginning to what it eventually becomes. Like, you listen to the first Rolling Stones record, and then ten years later you listen to Exile On Main Street, and it’s like a completely different band.
DC: And ten years later, Steel Wheels. [laughter]
JD: It was, Tattoo You, right?
SP: Hey, Tattoo You was a good record! And then ten years later, Steel Wheels. [laughs]
JD: But I can’t really imagine any of us being, like, 55-years old on a rock stage, like Keith Richards, but hey, I’d rather do that than anything else.
Finally, You all grew up in the South, right? Is Col. Sanders really Big Brother?
DC: I think he’s just a guy who knew how to fucking make some chicken.
SP: You know he actually kind of got the wrong end of that deal, because he sold KFC a long time ago, and he was just their spokesmen for a lot of years. He didn’t really make that much money doing those commercials, just like 50 grand a year on top of what he sold it for.
JD: Now that’s part of Pepsi Co., right? They own every fucking restaurant…
DC: They’ll soon be putting out everybody’s records, too.
SP: Free with the purchase of a 2-liter Pepsi.
Abridged version originally printed 1.29.01
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