Date: Fri 15-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A12

Quick Words:

Superdrag-Coffey-Tuxedo-Darla

Full Text:

(phoner/concert preview w/ Superdrag drummer Don Coffey, 11/15/96)

A Concersation With Superdrag's Drummer-

Touring Isn't Such A Super Drag

BY SHANNON HICKS

DANBURY - Superdrag has had a long, positive year, between landing a spot on

MTV's much-coveted Buzz Bin with its first nationally-released video and

single, "Sucked Out," and spending the last ten months on the road,

alternating between opening for Weezer and co-headlining with Nada Surf. It

has been a busy 1996, with a steady stream of shows supporting Superdrag's

first major label release, Regretfully Yours , on the Elektra label.

Superdrag has four more weeks to put in on the road, and then the foursome -

John Davis (guitars, vocals), Tom Pappas (bass), Brandon Fisher (guitar) and

Don Coffey, Jr (drums) - will squeeze in a well-earned break, taking about a

month off before getting right back into the recording process.

The band has a pair of shows within the week in Connecticut, the first of

which will be the initial show on the band's final leg of 1996 touring. This

final set of dates has Superdrag as the headliner. The first concert will be

Sunday night (November 17) at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury, followed two nights

later with a show at Toad's Place in New Haven. Both shows are slated as

"early" starts, which in club atmospheres means the show's opening band will

be starting around 7:30 pm. Also, both shows are open to all ages.

Drummer Don Coffey telephoned from Seattle last week to talk about the

differences between "true" indie labels and major labels, why the group enjoys

opening for other bands, and the Presidential election.

SH: Now that you have your big label debut under your belt, do you feel more

pressure to perform to a certain level for your fans? In other words, is it

any easier or even more difficult to perform live now?

DC: I don't think it makes that much of a difference, because we've always

been more of a live band than anything else. Basically, before we were signed

to Elektra we had demos people had listened to, which is what turned into The

Fabulous 8 Track [ Sound of Superdrag , a seven-song EP released on San

Francisco-based Darla Records, the first label Superdrag signed with ], which

wasn't even that great of a sound, and people started to notice us.

We've always considered ourselves to be a live band first, recording second.

But even with playing live, you put a lot more pressure on yourself: We've

been playing these songs five months on the road now, we shouldn't make any

mistakes. We're just happy because we've been able to do what we've wanted to

do, and we've held onto our credibility.

What ever happened to The Fabulous 8 Track Sound of Superdrag ? Can fans still

find it now?

I think you can still get it around. It's probably harder to find. I don't

know if it's still in print or not. Darla is still in business; they're

stronger now than they've ever been, I suppose.

Elektra is hugely different. We've been on tour for about nine months, and

that wouldn't be possible on Darla. [Being on a major label] also enables you

to do other things: We've done the Conan O'Brien [show]. And you don't usually

put out a video if you're on a true indie label.

The biggest difference is money, as it is in every facet of the business.

Our contract is for two records, then there's options after that. Elektra's

been real good with us; we're really pleased. We haven't had any of the major

label horror stories other bands have had.

How does Regretfully Yours compare in sound to the older work on The Fabulous

8 Track... ?

I think they're similar in that they're both very guitar-driven records, but I

think going in with Tim O'Heir [producer of Regretfully Yours ], as opposed to

doing it ourselves, was significant. He had his own ideas.

A lot of the songs are different than we play them live. There are a lot of

guitars on the album, but they're in layers so you really don't hear it until

we play live. The songs came through differently in production, but it's the

same basic idea: guitar driven.

I think the thing that's surprising to most people is, [the album] was

completely finished and "Sucked Out" wasn't on it. We wrote a batch of songs

before touring, and just out of courtesy to our A&R guy, we recorded "Sucked

Out" and added it to the album later.

It sounds significantly better than the rest of the album's tracks because we

knew what we were doing by the time we recorded that. At the time, we were

happy, but looking back, we would probably remix the album. But we refused to

do that.

It took two weeks [to record Regretfully... ], total maybe 13 days, which in

major labels is probably unheard of. We don't want to do it that quickly

again. We're going to take a lot more time.

We've toured, and we haven't had a chance to write, where we had our whole

lives to write the first record. We aren't going to try to slam out another

record. We're going to try for August 1, but if we can't, it may be another

whole year before we get the next one out.

Is it difficult, mentally, do go back and forth, from opening for Weezer,

co-headlining with someone else, to headlining your own shows?

It's most difficult when you're headlining because you're playing for an

hour-fifteen, to and hour and a half, and especially when you've opened for as

many bands as we have, it's easy to open. We know we're going to have a few

certain people there to see us, so that's easy.

Headlining is difficult because you can't go up there and get blown away. You

have to go up there and be so much better than the first band.

We all prefer to open, actually. But headlining's fun, too, because you get to

play a lot more songs, and that's what it's all about: getting people to hear

your songs. The hardest thing is to keep it all fresh. It's a matter of

keeping the set fresh every time.

In Danbury we'll be headlining, so we'll do a little bit of both: Probably a

lot of songs off the record, probably a lot of new stuff, too.

What's on your CD player/Walkman these days?

I love Big Star.

I think the band, we all have such drastic things we like. John, the Beatles

and Rolling Stones; Brandon, Velvet Undergrounds; Me, stuff going on now:

Guided By Voices, Sebadoh.

We all have such drastic differences, and I think that comes across in our

live shows, and it comes across in our albums. We listen to all of it

together... We've been together, on the bus for ten months; we've listened to

everything!

Did you vote by absentee ballot [last week]? What do you think of the election

results?

No, I didn't vote, but I watched the returns on TV. It turned out the way we

all wanted it to.

It was amazing, because we're all from the south [the band calls Knoxville

home] and there it was basically the Presidential election. But in California,

where we were just a week ago, there were a lot of referendums, so it was

great to see the different forms the election took on across the country.

What is the first thing you would like to do after you finish touring for

Regretfully... ?

We go all the way up until December 18. Then I'm gonna enjoy Christmas with

the folks, and I'm going to New York for New Year's, just because I want to

see the ball drop there.

We're taking the month off in January, starting to write and take it easy at

the same time; by February we'll be in Woodstock, NY, and hopefully we'll be

in pre-production by then. We haven't picked a producer yet, but by the time

we get to Danbury, we probably will have.

Tickets for Superdrag's November 17 concert at Tuxedo Junction are $6 in

advance, $8 at the door. Call the club, located at 2 Ives Street in Danbury,

at 748-2561.