Sugarcult interview

e-Mo Magazine chats to Sugarcult guitarist Marko DeSantis

e-Mo: What have Sugarcult been up to recently?

Marko: Well, we finally toured Australia a few months ago. That was an amazing experience to play for people who had known of us for 6 or 7 years but NEVER seen us play. Australia re-charged our batteries and gave us a new lease on Sugarcult life.

Also, we've been kicking around doing random one-off shows as they come up. We are free agents now for the first time in 7 years, so we are kind of taking our time and carefully deciding what our next step will be as a band.

We've had a pretty mellow schedule in recent months; so we've all been indulging side-projects to quench our workaholism: I have a project with a bunch of old friends of mine where I even sing a few songs. We're called The Playing Favorites; we put a record out and toured Japan last month.

Tim has been producing and developing some really cool upcoming bands (Them Terribles, Vogue In The Movement, etc); Airin co-produced The Deadly Syndrome's debut record on Dim Mak and is now working on a project with the singer of IMA Robot.

Kenny is about to release a record with his roots-rock project Good Man Down and has started a drum company called LTD.

e-Mo: Are you planning on touring the UK soon?

Marko: We are DYING to get over there! Our UK fans are some of the coolest most dedicated people in Sugarcult's universe. Anyone have rich parents that wanna fly us out? We make great house guests, and promise to not discuss politics or football with your dad or flirt with your mum too much! Seriously, we feel bad that it's been so long since the last time we played over there. We have not forgotten you guys. We are trying to figure out a way to make it happen soon.

e-Mo: Are you working on any new material at the moment?

Marko: Yes. Despite all of our distractions with other projects!Doing other things has actually stimulated our collective muse; so I am confident that our next record will sound fresh and inspired. I'm really excited about all the new song ideas that have been bubbling up.

e-Mo: On your website you describe Lights Out as your 'turning point'. What does the future have instore for the band artistically?

Marko: With Lights Out we explored unchartered Sugarcult territory; I love that record to death, it's our best work in my never to be humble opinion.  Who really knows what the future holds?  I do believe a record should be important and have a mission, or else what's the point? We could never just bang out a bunch of 3 minute jams just to pay our utility bills. We owe it to ourselves and the fans that have given us this career to spill our guts into our work and truly MAKE something worth listening to.

I imagine our next record will be an opportunity for us to look back on almost 10 years of being a band and move forward with elements of all our past adventures represented alongside elements of today's ideas. We've always been a band that straddles the fence between the classics and the moderns.

e-Mo: One of the running themes in Lights Out is 'guilty pleasures'. What are your guilty pleasures?

Marko: Expensive cupcakes. I'm a grown man and I've actually waited in line for 45 minutes at Sprinkles in Beverly Hills just to have the pleasure of spending $6 on a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Now I know what it must be like to be a drug addict! This high-end cupcake revolution is getting out of control out here in California. Also Korean style frozen yogurt... have you heard of Pinkberry yet? So good.

e-Mo: Which of your songs would you recommend to Sugarcult virgins and why?

Marko: Pop your cherry with something off Start Static, like Pretty Girl,Stuck in America, You're the One, Bouncing off the Walls; it's our first time record so you'll know where we come from. Then skip to the latest, say Out of Phase, Los Angeles, Dead Living... then you can go back and fill in the blanks... If you can still walk!

e-Mo: How do you entertain yourself on tour?

Marko: Well, we guitarists have to exercise our wrist muscles you know! I also walk around and explore whatever city we're in. It would be a shame to have done all this amazing traveling and not have anything to tell your grandkids one day except, "yeah Nottingham Rock City... nice dressing room, good sound system, great catering!"

e-Mo: What's been your best tour and why?

Marko: I don't think we've ever had a "bad" tour. Warped Tour 2004 was a highlight for us: we had gotten our first real introduction to the world playing tiny side-stages and struggling along on the 2001 Warped Tour; so there we were a few short years later as one of the headliners on the main stage playing to huge seas of people everyday. It was on that tour that we also got the news that Green Day had handpicked us to be their support band on their American Idiot USA and Japan tours!

e-Mo: What's your favourite song to play live?

Marko: I like it when we bust out our version of The Beatles "Hard Days Night", but you'll never hear us do it unless you see us in Japan. The Beatles are nothing to f*ck with, so we only do it in places that don't speak English very well. I like playing Bouncing Off the Walls too, 'cause the crowds always sing along and go mental.

e-Mo: What's playing on your iPod at the moment?

Marko: Uh, nothing at this very moment because I forgot to charge my battery! But I like the new Jackson United record, been really digging this band out of New Jersey called Gaslight Anthem (kinda like Against Me meets Bruce Springsteen), some Lily Allen, MSTRKRFT and Whitey remixes, Them Terribles' 6-song EP, the new AKA's is really growing on me and Jesse Malin "Glitter In the Gutter" is not to be overlooked; so
many good songs!

e-Mo: What's been the weirdest gift a fan has ever given you?

Marko: I've had everything from a suitcase full of rare British punk records from the late '70s (thanks Barry!), to Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen designer ties, to Japanese-exclusive seasonal flavors of KitKat bars (banana, soy sauce, green tea, apple, etc).  I love it when people make me things: a British girl once painted me a picture of Dee Dee Ramone, another friend brought me one of those traditional hand-painted Russian dolls within dolls... of Britney Spears!

e-Mo: Finish this sentence: Sugarcult are like...

Marko: (adopts Brit accent) Sooo f*cking daft... yet brilliant... and bloody sexy!

e-Mo: And finally, the burning question: Who'd win in a fight? Sugarcult or Superman?

Marko: Superman, because who in their right mind would want to be in a fight with a grown man wearing blue tights and a cape! But, if push came to shove we'd kick Clark Kent's ass in a second!