Holy hell! This video still timewarps me. The escapism that it demonstrates is something that I yearned to achieve day in and day out and I could live vicariously thru John Davis' gusto and attitude that he strutted in the captivating video. It's lost none of its affect. My enthusiasm for grunge was pretty much feigned. It's muddy guitar work and meaningless apathy devalued the music, I felt. Superdrag showed me power-pop with bite. Unlike Weezer, who wore their melodic sensibilities like a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, Superdrag spit it like fire. I have bought Regretfully Yours, the album that features 'Sucked Out' three times, I listen to it so much. When people gush about how much Nevermind blew their pubescent mind, this album is how I relate.
The sweet hooks and sugary choruses are ones that I would later find in the catalogues of The Kinks and, especially, The Zombies. Besides the straight out rockers like 'Sucked Out' and 'Destination Ursa Mojor,' 'Nothing Good is Real' is a hidden gem of a ballad that bowled me over with its massive crescendo and glorious guitar crests. Check it out on the left.
Did I mention I was in my awkward phase? Well, I wrote a typical fan letter to the contact address in the CD booklet and, lo and behold, a few weeks later, in the mail comes a hand written letter from Don Coffey, the band's drummer. To a nerdy teenager in rural Pennsylvania, this is like a visitation from the angel Gabriel. It showed me a whole new type of band that could actually be bothered to let their fans know that they were appreciated.
I got Head Trip in Every Key, the band's sophomore album, the day before it came out at one of the local record shops that would inevitalby be gone soon and that made me feel special. I listened to it on my discman at school during rehearsal for the spring musical and imagined myself as one of the first people listening to the new songs and fell in love with the music and the pretty girl between the headphones on the cover.
The opening track, 'I'm Expanding My Mind,' a breezy and uplifting tune, did what it promised. The glory that is 'Pine Away' made me light-headed, and the epic scale of the finale, 'The Art of Dying' pierced me thru.
After being exposed to so much music, it's rare that things move me like they did in these days of discovery, but 'The Art of Dying,' with its expertly inserted sitar, remains an earth-shaking.
In the Valley of Dying Stars, finds the original band disintegrating, with singer/songwriter John Davis using the album as a means of coping with the loss of his father. The results are mostly dark and brooding as on 'The Warmth of a Tomb,' and 'Unprepared.' A couple of major-chord driven tracks like 'Lighting the Way,' revive some of the more meldoic memories of the band's first two albums. 2003's Last Call for Vitriol, is not a pretty affair. Check out the saving grace number of The Staggering Genius at left as one of the few bright spots on a fractured, meandering collection of songs.
Then, the hiatus and John Davis' born again Christianity. The man who menacingly eyeballed the camera while lighting a cigarette from George Washington's burning face turned to Jesus Christ for help with his solo work. I was not aware that Jesus knew how to play any insturments, but Davis manages to work his presence in pretty smoothly on his two solo works, a self-titled debut and Arrigato, which employ Brian Wilson sized melodies to make the songs so damn enjoyable that you don't even care what the lyrics are preaching. The stregnth of Davis' faith is admirable thru these records and the stregnth of his songs make them more than simply interesting curios for the Superdrag superfan.
And now for the triumphant reutrn:
The thing is, I'm happy to say, I'm not being sarcastic. 'Industry Giants,' takes a couple spins to make it's mark but strightaway with 'Slow to Anger,' Superdrag show they've still got pleanty left in the tank. In a era where many of my teenage favorites are planning their reunions and falling flat on their face (see that old Verve review, and to Spacehog: don't f*ck it up), Superdrag pull it off. 'Industry Giants,' lacks the ultimate cohesion that makes Regretfully Yours the alt-rock juggernaut, but its urgency and energy make it authentic. The single, 'Everything'll Be Made Right,' sounds vintage and thunder-laden. The guitars are as cascading as ever and, with the original lineup back in place, the chemistry comes across in every song.
It's nice to have at least one thing from that awkward period that you can hold onto with pride.
PS - Hooray for the learning curve! I'll try to hook up tracks to all of the music I ramble about from here in.
