Questionable Corner: Suckers

by Pop Tarts Suck Toasted on Wed, 2009/07/22 - 3:00pm Post to Twitter

A couple of weeks ago Suckers started a month long residency at Pianos and we thought it would be great to promote their four July shows with a nice fun interview. Then life happened and we scored one last interview with Oxford Collapse and one with the far more attractive Those Darlins and suddenly Suckers were pushed to the back of the month. Apologies are probably due all around, to the band and the fans that would have seen these shows, because these guys are super fun and a great sounding band. But then you know that already because you saw when they got Best New Track over on Pitchfork or when they got labeled Band to Watch over on Stereogum. Now you get to find out which tag they liked more as well what their favorite sucker is and what part of their record collection they’re most embarrassed about! Oh and you still have tomorrow and next Thursday to see them at Pianos!

PTST: Let’s kick this off with some of the goofier questions and we’ll get to the real meat and potatoes later on. What would be your favorite flavor of suckers (lollipops)?
Suckers: Cherry Blow Pop or Chocolate Tootsie Pop, I can’t decide.

PTST: What part of Brooklyn are you guys living in? What’s the best pizza joint in your
neighborhood?
Suckers: 3 of us live in Williamsburg and 1 in Bed Stuy. I don’t have any great pizza places in my immediate neighborhood, but the closest would be Betterfella’s, which used to be Vinny Vella’s, also, La Nonna on Bedford. Neither can even compare to New Haven pizza though.

PTST: Do you guys have any guilty pleasures that have seeped into your musical upbringing and maybe even influenced you a bit?
Suckers: We’re all collectively influenced by so much music and I don’t think any one of us feels guilty about any of it.

PTST: Was there ever any thoughts to wearing costumes on stage? If you were to wear
coordinating costumes, what would they look like?
Suckers: Well, we don’t really wear costumes. Quinn’s been painting his face ever since he was a child and Brian enjoys the occasional “on-stage dress-up” now and again. If we were to coordinate? We would probably dress up as characters from “The Wizard of OZ”

PTST: What’s your favorite TV show right now?
Suckers: “Sons of Anarchy”, a pretty sweet show about a biker gang in Northern California.

PTST: OK, let’s get a bit more serious (though not too much). Your 4-song EP was produced by Anand Wilder of Yeasayer, what’s your favorite Yeasayer song?
Suckers: I really like this new one they have called “Amblin’ Alp”

PTST: What was it like working with Anand?
Suckers: We’ve been good friends with Anand for a long time now and it was a pretty natural choice for us to ask him to produce the EP, since he would always tell us what was we should change with our songs anyways!

PTST: Do you guys think of yourselves as a typical Brooklyn band?
Suckers: I wouldn’t be happy if I considered us a typical anything…

PTST: Do you think you fit in one genre of music better then another?
Suckers: Not really. I think in the end we play pop music, which is a pretty broad genre at this point.

PTST: What do you guys think you sound like?
Suckers: I like to say “Extraterrestrial Pop Music” but we’re basically just 4 guys who like to experiment and try to do interesting things within basic song structures.

PTST: What does your Mom think you sound like?
Suckers: I just asked her this and she said we sound “harmonious”, she’s not a big music nerd.

PTST: Do your parents support your decision to pursue a life as a starving artist? Are you a starving artist? Do starving artists eat a lot of fried bologna?
Suckers: Yeah, all of our parents are super supportive, right now, only half of us are starving. Quinn lives on fried bologna, but Brian keeps stealing it from him.

PTST: You guys are doing a big July residency at Pianos, you know it gets really hot in there right? How do you plan on combating the heat?
Suckers: It’s not the heat I’m worried about, the last time we played there, they had some septic problems and the whole back room smelled like shit! I just hope they figured that out by now.

PTST: Do you guys have a favorite beverage to drink while on stage? Why don’t more bands get drinks with umbrellas in them while on stage?
Suckers: Whiskey, water & beer, but now that you mention it, I think I might drink more umbrella drinks on stage.

PTST: Are you more excited to do your residency shows or to open for MGMT at Prospect Park?
Suckers: Opening for MGMT will be our biggest crowd so far, so I’ll go with that one.

PTST: Who is a better band, Suckers, Yeasayer, or MGMT?
Suckers: MGMT are better looking, Yeasayer are better musicians and Suckers are better lovers.

PTST: Some of you grew up in New Haven, do you know the guys from Vampire Weekend?
Suckers: Nope, I’ve never met those guys…

PTST: Earlier this year you guys made a stop at SXSW, will you be playing CMJ this year? If you are do you wanna play my unofficial showcase? What’s better CMJ, SXSW, or Holy Week?
Suckers: I’m pretty sure we’ll be doing CMJ and yeah, sure! Why not?! Get in touch with our booker. SXSW has definitely been the most fun, Holy Week is a close second.

PTST: I read somewhere that the lyrics of your songs are taken from the collected poetic works of one of you guys, which one was that? Were these poems you wrote for school or for personal gain? Are they all in iambic pentameter?
Suckers: Haha that was a joke! I think Quinn was pretending to be like Jim Morrison or something!

PTST: What did you guys listen to growing up? What do you listen to now? What would you never ever admit to listening to?
Suckers: A lot of oldies/doo-wop stuff growing up. I personally was listening to a lot of different stuff in high school, everything from Metallica to Parliament to the Dead. All of us have really eclectic tastes in music, it’s hard to pinpoint and I will never tell anyone I had a New Kids tape when I was a kid - never.

PTST: Have you seen an increase in groupies since landing Pitchfork’s Best New Music tag?
Suckers: Yes we have. I think we’re up to 3 now.

PTST: What was more pleasant, being Stereogum’s Band of the Week or Pitchfork’s Best New Music? Were you guys attention whores as children too?
Suckers: “Best New Music” is a bit more definitive than “Band to Watch”, so I’ll go with that. As far as being an attention whore, I definitely made a guitar out of cardboard and lip-synched Poison songs with my cousin at family functions as a kid - so I guess so.

PTST: So the EP is out, you’re touring behind it, what do you guys wanna do next? Double
album? Rock opera?
Suckers: Well, Quinn already released a double album and actually, some of us are already partially involved in something like a rock opera so, all of the above!

PTST: After the Pianos residency what are your plans for the rest of the summer?
Suckers: We would ideally like to start recording a full-length, but my only definite plans this summer are drinking margaritas.

Listen: Suckers - "It Gets Your Body Movin’"
Suckers - "Easy Chairs"

Upcoming Shows:
July 23rd @ Pianos, New York, NY (w/Bear In Heaven, Intermissions, Hexa)
July 30th @ Pianos, New York, NY (w/Sean Bones, Acrylics, Class Actress)
October 4th @ Austin City Limits