FLOORED (Album #2)
Producer: David
Kahne Release Date: 06.24.97 Tracks: 13
Length: 43:05
Mark McGrath - Vocals
Rodney Sheppard - Guitar
Murphy Karges - Bass
Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock - DJ
Stan Frazier - Drums
"Don't ever leave me in Manhattan for two weeks with nothing
to do and a ton of speed," says Sugar Ray singer Mark
McGrath, sounding straight off the pages of Dr. Hunter
S. Thompson's Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.
Such was the case when Sugar Ray set up shop in a New
York City rehearsal studio/crack-house to write songs
for a new album. After nearly two years on the road, the
Los Angeles-based quintet had decided to rent a cheap,
run-down room in midtown Manhattan, a perfect place for
the band to regroup. "That place was sketchy," bassist
Murphy Karges recalls. "You could get Chinese food or
cocaine delivered."
The band set up the room with their gear and recording
equipment, enabling them to record long jams or spontaneous
riffs at will. "We could jam all day," says guitarman
Rodney Sheppard. "Then we'd get ripped at this Irish bar
on the corner, and then go back and listen for the stuff
we liked. Somehow, we work best that way."
With no firm schedule in front of them, Sugar Ray settled
in and started piecing songs together, eventually recording
demos of more than twenty new tunes. Many of those ditties
can be found on the band's raucous sophomore effort, "FLOORED."
"FLOORED" finds Sugar Ray expanding on the hard riffs
and heavy grooves that marked their 1995 Lava/Atlantic
debut, "LEMONADE & BROWNIES." The band have added stronger
melodies to their music and further integrated the unique
scratching of DJ Homicide's wheels of steel into the mix.
As a result, "FLOORED" swings from mood to mood with ease
-- from the total heaviosity of "RPM" to the eclectic
cover of Adam & The Ants' classic "Stand and Deliver"
to the free-flowing "Fly" (featuring the dance-hall stylings
of Jamaican toaster Super Cat).
Sugar Ray met with a multitude of producers before hooking
up with Sublime/Soul Coughing knob-monster David Kahne,
whose universal knowledge of producing, writing, and recording
had great appeal to the band. In addition, his varied
resume of credits assured his ability to understand Sugar
Ray's admittedly-schizophrenic approach.
The two years of near-constant touring tightened the band's
already-considerable power. The aural attack of "FLOORED"
is fronted by the supertight section of bassist Karges
and drummer Stan Frazier. Their potent rhythm dynamics
are ideally matched by Sheppard's ferocious buzzsaw axe-work.
Rather than focusing on individual virtuosity, the three
musicians concentrate on pounding out their music as a
cohesive unit, an attitude reflected in the record's vigorous
and unrelenting energy. The road also provided DJ Homicide
(aka Craig Bullock) the time to develop his own sound
within the band. Homicide was bigtime excited about getting
into the studio after the seemingly-endless tour. "I love
the studio," he says. "It's always a fucking madhouse
in there."
Not content to simply scratch, Homicide focused on innovating
his instrument. Sounding at times like a second guitarist,
he twists and manipulates sounds into complex shapes and
shrieks that seem as if his head might have been jammed
up a Sega video game during the recording of "FLOORED."
"I didn't want to just record some bullshit stuff that
you've already heard from a DJ in a band before," Homicide
explains. "I wanted to do something different."
On the lyrical tip, McGrath continues to write about life's
simpler pleasures, filtered through his keen eye for wit
and irony. It is Mark's skewed outlook that defines the
Sugar Ray attitude and philosophy. Although his words
may not seem to represent any deep or social concerns,
the voice of Sugar Ray is unafraid to address the big
issues in his own idiosyncratic way. Take this bit of
science from "American Pig": We get our culture from a
mini mall/Fuck inside a bathroom stall/Rob Peter, pay
Paul/I'm just like you/I want it all...
The brass tacks is that no matter what, the primary goal
of Sugar Ray is to entertain. "We started this band for
fun," McGrath swears, "And we haven't changed."
The men of Sugar Ray all grew up in sunny Orange County,
California, with the exception of the Pasadena-raised
DJ Homicide. All five of them shared a common dream of
playing rock 'n' roll music for a living, a dream that
has indeed come true.
At the impressionable age of 14, McGrath's suburban life
-- "I was a latch-key kid," he says. "I'd come home to
flat Pepsi and Kojak." -- was rattled by the ferocious
sound of the Sex Pistols and Black Flag. From there on
in, Mark knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. That
is, as he so succinctly puts it, "Drink, scream, and fuck."
The rest of the band share diverse influences and dreams.
Drummer Frazier's heroes include Keith Moon, Stewart Copeland,
and TV's John Ritter, while bassist Karges (who learned
to surf and smoke at age 12, and someday hopes to open
a "1-900" psychic hotline and chicken farm) idolized bands
like Devo, T.S.O.L., and the Dead Kennedys. Sheppard says
his musical destiny was forever determined when he saw
KISS' 1979 "DYNASTY" tour. Finally, DJ Homicide's musical
tastes extend from hip-hop to heavy metal, a combination
of influences that enables him to dig the diverse Sugar
Ray sound and style.
The band spent 1995 and '96 touring the world in support
of "LEMONADE & BROWNIES," performing over 200 gigs, both
as headliners and as special guests of bands like Korn,
Cypress Hill, The Deftones and the reunited Sex Pistols.
They also logged a bounty of TV appearances on shows that
include MTV's 120 Minutes, Sound F/X, and The Jon Stewart
Show. In addition to being blasted in many a North American
hockey arena, their "Mean Machine" single was immortalized
by America's animated arbiters of music taste, Beavis
and Butt-head. They became special friends with Howard
Stern by virtue of their awesome cover of "Psychedelic
Bee," a song originally written and performed by the King
of All Media's high school band, the Electric Comic Book.
The Sugar Ray and high-profile comedy connection continues
with their performance in the Robin Williams-Billy Crystal
flick, Father's Day, a role that saw the boys hand-picked
by the legendary director, Ivan Reitman.
A great many things lie ahead for Sugar Ray in 1997 and
beyond. Tours and festival appearances are already planned
for the U.S. and Europe, with the band also scheduling
in some dates as openers on the KISS reunion jaunt. Needless
to say, Sugar Ray are pumped about hitting the road and
bringing the big sound of "FLOORED" to the people. "I
can't wait to get back out there," Mark McGrath explains.
"Free bear, deli plates...and the fans. What more could
you ask for?"
© Atlantic Recording Corporation 6/97
