Download "Filthy and Afraid" from Superdrag's Upcoming CD!
F. Scott Fitzgerald once famously said there are no second acts in American lives. But don’t tell that to Superdrag’s John Davis. Back in the mid ’90s, in the heady post-Nirvana alternative-rock world,
Superdrag were being hailed by many as the best American power-pop band since
Big Star. Record label troubles, alcohol abuse, and personnel changes dogged the group, but in spite of it all, Superdrag made a series of great albums.
And then it was all over. Or so it seemed. In a surprise move, the original members of the band decided to reunite for a handful of shows last summer. To Davis’s surprise, the old spark was still intact.
“We never made any blanket statement that we would never play music together again,” says Davis, who dissolved the band in 2003. “We always kept the door open, after we stopped working together. But by the time we stopped, we were in danger of running things into the ground. We had gotten into a pattern of touring all the time, going to the same place three or four times a year. We got burned out on that end of things. Plus, I had a lot of things to figure out for myself, spiritually.”
Those last words allude to an event that occurred in November 2001. Driving alone, overworked, and his health damaged by alcohol, the singer-guitarist pulled to the curb and began to pray. A floodgate of emotion overwhelmed him, followed by a powerful, unfamiliar sense of peace. In that instant, he knew his life would never be the same.
“I guess you would call it a conversion,” Davis says, “or a spiritual awakening, to the utmost. It really changed everything about my life. Afterwards I started to feel I was in a cover band, in my own band. I had written these songs, and we would go out and play them, but I wasn't able to connect with them any longer. When it got to the point where I didn't want to be on-stage, I had to start drawing things to a close.”
Davis remained with Superdrag long enough to complete one more album, but not long afterwards the band members went their separate ways. By that time Davis had settled in Nashville, where he recorded two solo albums and did session work, most notably on
Allison Moorer’s 2004 album,
The Duel. As time passed, however, to his surprise, the songs he was writing began sounding more and more like “Superdrag music.” By the time the band reconvened for the reunion shows, his sense of estrangement from Superdrag’s old material had begun to fall away.
“We were playing a lot of our really early music, things we had done before signing to a major label,” Davis explains. “And I began to see that it was still an honest expression of what the truth was in those days, even if it was about things I don’t subscribe to today. The truth is, it was just enjoyable to play music with those guys again. It was a positive situation from the very first time we went into the garage. The chemistry was still there, so much so that it was kind of bizarre. It had been eight years since the four of us had played together―the original four―but it felt more like it had been maybe eight months.”
Heartened by their rekindled spirit, the original Superdrag lineup of Davis, Don Coffey Jr., Brandon Fisher, and Tom Pappas went into the studio in February to begin work on new material. Splitting its time between Coffey’s recording facility in Knoxville, and Lake Fever Productions in Nashville, the group has since completed several new songs. A release date for a new album has yet to be set, but fans can get a preview when Superdrag appear at Bonnaroo in June.
Davis says the new material hews close to Superdrag’s signature sound, which he describes as an amalgam of Dinosaur Jr.-inspired guitar noise, Hüsker Dü-style energy, and melodies that aspire toward the pop sophistication of the Beatles.
“I remember having an imaginary band in mind that would have those things, in equal parts,” he explains. “I didn’t really know, at the time, that that was considered power-pop. But when I saw
Teenage Fanclub on Saturday Night Live, and they played ‘The Concept,’ I thought, ‘Wow, they sound just like my imaginary band!’ That’s also how I learned about Big Star, from reading those reviews of Teenage Fanclub where those comparisons were made.”
Davis goes on to say it’s been especially gratifying to hear Fisher’s guitar-work again―in particular Fisher’s knack for composing “second-guitar parts.” “That’s something we always prided ourselves on,” says Davis, who himself plays
Les Paul Standards and
SGs. “We used to be neighbors in the same apartment building, and we spent lots of time creating interlocking guitars. It’s been cool to step right back into that, after all this time.”
Davis also says he’s been surprised by the enthusiasm with which longstanding Superdrag fans have embraced the group as it embarks on a new phase.
“The outpouring of love has been pretty overwhelming,” says Davis. “I know that sounds corny, but that's what it feels like. People not only still care, but for it to mean as much as it seems to mean, to a lot of people, is flattering and humbling at the same time. We feel privileged.”