The Supersuckers Come to Firehouse 13

On Sunday, December 4, at Firehouse 13, beer will be swilled and a whole lot of rock ‘n’ roll will grace the room. The Supersuckers are coming through as part of a stacked show with Jesse Dayton, Gallows Bound, The Living Deads and locals The Quahogs for what has the makings to be one crazy night before the week starts. If you’re planning on going, then you’re in for a wild ride, and if you’re not, then you should reconsider.

Before this weekend’s festivities, I had a chat with Eddie Spaghetti from the band about moving from Tucson, Arizona, to Seattle during the late ‘80s right before the latter city’s musical explosion, being a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll and his experience working with a lot of different artists.

Rob Duguay: When the Supersuckers moved to Tucson in 1989 to Seattle right when the scene was about to blow up, was it difficult playing in Seattle at first? Did it take a while for people to warm up to you guys or was it a fairly smooth transition?

Eddie Spaghetti: It was pretty great. Everybody was friendly when we got there and there wasn’t a lot of a backbiting competition between bands. It was kind of surprising because when we moved there, we thought for sure that we would be best band going on in the scene. We had no idea that there was a whole scene going on up there already. When we moved up there and we got to experience all that, it was such an amazing time to be in.

RD: Do you still live in Seattle?

ES: I actually live in Arizona again.

RD: Was there a lot of changing in Seattle that made you want to leave?

ES: Seattle changed a lot; it’s a lot more expensive now to live there than when I moved up there. Everyone there now is more concerned with technology. It’s a lot more gentrified than it was when I lived there.

RD: It seems to be happening a lot in the Northwest. I know musicians in San Francisco have been saying similar things.

ES: Yeah.

RD: You’re a rock ‘n’ roll band, but the Supersuckers also have dabbled in country music. Notable examples are the 1997 release Must’ve Been High and last year’s album Holdin’ The Bag. Do you have a preference between the two genres or do you find rock ‘n’ roll and country to have a mutual relationship?

ES: Yeah, I feel like they get along pretty well together. In my heart, I’m a rock ‘n’ roll guy and I wouldn’t usually consider myself a country guy. I lean more to the rock ‘n’ roll side of the street, that’s my wheelhouse and that’s what I do. I like the songwriting challenge that country music offers; you have to be really clear with your thoughts while maintaining a sort of ambiguity.

RS: You’ve recorded with Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Kelly Deal of The Breeders and Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam among others. Who was your favorite person to collaborate with? Do you have any memories of the experience you’d like to share?

ES: The one who I probably learned the most from would be Steve Earle. He’s such a force in the studio and he played exactly what he wanted to hear and he did it exactly the way he wanted to do it. It was really eye-opening for me. When we recorded with him we did it continuously and I think we learned more in a couple days in the studio with him than we did during our entire time as a band leading up to that point.

RS: Steve Earle is a music legend and it must have been awesome to learn a few things from him. The end of the year is steadily approaching, so can we expect a new rock ‘n’ roll record from the Supersuckers in 2017?

ES: Yeah, we’re actually working on one right now and it’ll probably be out sometime during the summer. The wheels are always turning and they’re always in motion.

Grab tickets to see the Supersuckers, Jesse Dayton, Gallows Bound, The Living Deads and The Quahogs at Firehouse 13 on December 4 here: ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?eventId=6854635&pl=fh13&dispatch=loadSelectionData; The Supersuckers’ Website: supersuckers.com