sukia
Lately it seems that most bands play by the
book: drums, bass, guitar, and a whole lot of harmonies. But
Sukia. Oh they definitely groove by the beat of a different drum.
Their sound is a visual, esoteric trip into an exotic and erotic
landscape. An eden where the future seems to waft into the present
through sci-fi orchestrations. Trust me. You'll love it.
This wacky Camarillo-based outfit (Ross
Harris, Sasha Fuentes, Craig Borrell, Grace Marks) adopted their name
from an incredibly off-kilter Columbian comic book that focuses
itself on a lesbian vampire, Sukia, and her gay slave/sidekick Gary.
But, as Ross explains, the band not only borrowed the name from those
crazy comic book creators, but also borrowed their ingenuity and
inventiveness. In fact, they took upon the project of creating a
soundtrack for the book. "We were just inspired that there are these
insane guys in Colombia making these extremely twisted, violent comic
books. That made us think, 'Well, the possibilities are open for
people to come out of nowhere with something.' And that's what we
tried to do.
"It seems to us that they're flagrantly
flaunting the whole idea of stealing images and ideas, but grafting
them onto some amazing artwork. And we try to do the same
thing--as much as we can get away with."
Sukia's debut lp, "Contacto Espacial con el
Tercer Sexo" is a fantastic mishmash of Martin Denny-enhanced
soundtracks, new wave sans the towering hair, and kitsched-out lounge
cocktails--shaken, not stirred. It's a record so far out in
left field, it leaves one to often wonder what makes up the wild
soundscapes of Sukia. "It's probably split into two things: the music
end of it, as far as music that I enjoy and am inspired by like 70s
futuristic action soundtracks like Rollerball and Logan's Run,
experimental Moog music, and Indian classical music. The other thing
that inspired us is the whole idea of going out and putting on this
whole show. And whether people respond positively or whether people
are disgusted by it, it's both a reaction that people can take home
with them."
Well, two people who responded
overwhelmingly to the eccentrics of Sukia are The Dust Brothers, who
co-produced the album and released it on their own label,
NickelBag--three years after the initial recording commenced.
What took so long? "We got hooked up with The Dust Brothers and they
decided they wanted to put it out, but they wanted to record two more
songs...[which] took three or four months because they were doing
Beck's album...Then we finished those [tracks] and went six or seven
months just trying to get it out.
"We were the first album on their label, so
all the learning experiences and growing pains of actually putting
any record out at all the first time. We kind of were the
experiment for them and that took some time."
But all ended well, everyone's happy, and
the band are currently working on their follow-up, recording it with
their newly expanded outlets. "I'm really into instrumental
soundtrack music and I think I was trying to do that before, but the
only means I had to do it was&emdashI had some organs that I got
from the thrift store that had bass and drum machines in it, Sasha
had one synthesiser, and we had one horn and one guitar.
"I was pleased with it, but I wasn't really
doing the full range of music that I wanted to do...We're kind of
mixing it now. We go back to the old organs and stuff like
that."
So, who knows what ground Sukia will cover
next, what unchartered territory they'll explore. We can only wait
and see. And yes, I'm sure you've heard this before, this is the
Ross Harris, child star, and Airplane! actor. But how did he end up
making aural fantasies instead of gunning down banks ala Todd
Bridges?
"I had my own deal, I just never got caught
by the police. We all go off the bend I guess."
And Sukia is vivid proof of that too.
take me back home
You can write to us at
HeyHula1@aol.com
This page hosted by 
Get your own
Free Home Page
