Back in the High Life with Superdrag

Anyone remember Superdrag? MTV, 1996? Buzz-bin hit "Sucked Out?" Catchy power-pop number, a-la the Beatles or Cheap Trick, full of driving guitars and impassioned chorus? No takers? \nWell, that's understandable. The Knoxville, Tenn., foursome was definitely there though, in all its MTV glitz and glory -- albeit not for long. Just don't think Superdrag leader, vocalist and guitarist John Davis cares too much. Davis (no relation to the Jonathan Davis of a certain MTV-friendly rap-rock outfit), is a man of principle, a man brought up on a strict diet of rock 'n' roll royalty. The Beatles, the Stones, The Beach Boys, The Kinks. And the list goes on. He's certainly not about to let some bozo in a suit tell him what's hip. He knows rock 'n' roll. He is rock 'n' roll.\n"That's the thing," Davis says, calling from a gas station touring pit-stop just outside Scranton, Pa. "I mean, we're just such rock fans. We're just goofy dorks who have nothing else to do with their lives than to listen to rock records. It's always been like that, as long as I can remember -- being a little kid, just loving it."\nSuperdrag is on the road in support of its latest album, In the Valley of Dying Stars. Since 1996, Davis, along with new bassist Sam Powers and drummer Don Coffey Jr. (Brandon Fisher played extra guitar on Dying Stars), have stood their ground. And what they've come up with this time in Dying Stars is 46 more minutes of pop-rock bliss a la their heroes. \nIt's certainly not a record without connection to the past. As a matter of fact, the first uttered words on the album seem to echo the frustrations of the last four years. "I want rock 'n' roll but I don't want to deal with the hassle," Davis sings in "Keep It Close to Me." "I know what I know but I don't want to feel like an asshole."\nPerfect sentiment from a guy whose band scored one hit and then spent the next three years running from major label coercion. \n"The people at the label weren't interested in the stuff we were doing," says Davis. "I guess they didn't feel that there was anything with any commercial appeal; or we didn't have anything that sounded like Limp Bizkit; or whatever it was." \nAfter promotions on the band's sophomore release Head Trip in Every Key stalled and its label, Elektra Records, remained cold, the band became fed up.\nSo, after writing and recording about 40 songs for a third Elektra release and continually being rebuffed by major label suits, the band took its master tapes and a reasonable settlement, bought some gear and finished the album. Then they called the much smaller Arena Rock Recording Company and had an album of fresh material on its way to stores immediately, no questions asked.\n"It's like night and day," says Davis, comparing Superdrag's corporate experience to its independent one. "On a daily basis, the way things are done is just so completely different. There's two guys who run (Arena Rock) and those are the only two guys we deal with. \n"As opposed to being on a label like Elektra where every move that gets made or every decision that gets made, there's like two dozen people who have to weigh in with an opinion before you can do anything."\nSo with all their major hassles behind them, Davis and Superdrag seem re-energized, ready to retake what was rightfully theirs from the start. But what does he think now of the current musical mainstream, that fluorescent-colored beast they stumbled upon some less than five years ago?\n"Well, I don't know man," says a resigned-sounding Davis. "It's pretty dismal. It's pretty depressing. There are so many good bands that have such great tunes that'll just never get heard because they don't have the right number of tattoos or they're not, like, a 14-year-old, half-naked girl."\nThrough it all, Davis' primary goal remains getting his songs out and having people enjoy them. Although he wouldn't mind soaring record sales, he refuses to compromise his integrity by pandering to mainstream marketing. \n"I don't really know whether I'd want to be associated with all that," he says. "There's just so many hoops that you have to jump through and so many idiots that you have to listen to. We had just enough of a brush with fame on that level to see what a crock it was. Selling lots of records is one thing, and that would be awesome, but I don't really think we belong there. I don't know if we ever did"