Sex & Outrage

The self-professed 'greatest rock'n'roll band in the world' Spersuckers just dropped their ninth studio album Get The Hell, and – while none of their output has been bad by any means – it may be one of their best albums yet, and has all the ball-tearing grit and roughhouse charm that made their early efforts so endearing.

“It's a good record, right?” marvels frontman-songwriter Eddie Spaghetti. “We have no business putting out a record this good this late in the game. We're stoked on how it came out – we kind of can't believe how good it is. It harkens back and looks to the future all at the same time. We definitely had a lot of time between records to sort it out and get it right and I'm glad we did.”

Fellow rock luminary Blag Dahlia (of The Dwarves fame) mixed Get The Hell, and Spaghetti is effusive about his impact on the album.

“He's the reason it sounds so fucking amazing,” the singer smiles. “Thanks to him I don't have a single complaint about the way it sounds at all. He was hands on for the mixing process but he wasn't there for the recording, which we kind of intentionally that because it's already mental enough when you're in there recording and to have another mental personality like Blag in there could have been detrimental. But he always has good ideas, so I'm thrilled that he's involved in it at all.”

One of Supersuckers' main strengths over the journey has been their audacious use of cover versions amidst their rollicking originals. Get The Hell contains two covers – Depeche Mode's Never Let Me Down Again and Gary Glitter's Rock On – and while they've done plenty of versions by their rock peers (Mötörhead, Flamin' Groovies) it's these more left-field renditions of tracks by artists such as Madonna (Burning Up), Outkast (Hey Ya!), Ice Cube (Dead Homiez) and even The Commodores (Sail On) which have benefited most from the Supersuckers treatment.

“It's a very serendipitous event that occurs every time we're going to do a cover song,” Spaghetti smiles. “The Depeche Mode cover came about because [guitarist] Dan Bolton was so adamant about wanting to record this song – he's been on us to record that for well over ten years now and we finally relented and did it, and I'm glad we did because it sounds great. It came out super cool, it sounds more like a Dead Boys song than some pop number. We've always really enjoyed [the more eclectic covers] from our Madonna cover to our Ice Cube cover to our Outkast cover to the version we did of (The Chips') Rubber Biscuit – we've been all over the map with our covers. It's a fun way to flex your muscle.”

From a lyrical perspective “liquor, women, drugs and killing” have long been Supersuckers' go-to tropes, and Get The Hell's originals are a typically hedonistic batch.

“Once again with the hedonism,” Spaghetti laughs. “I just think that's how rock'n'roll needs to be. Rock'n'roll needs to be about all of the things that you're not supposed to do and all of the things that you'll regret – it's supposed to be a way to live out these regrets and bad life choices, and this is my take on how rock'n'roll ought to be. It's kinda become passé to Mötley Crüe it up or whatever, but I still believe in those tenets of rock'n'roll – I believe that rock'n'roll should be a dangerous sport for the hardened at heart and tough-skinned.”

Of course Supersuckers are best experienced in the flesh, as they'll no doubt prove on their impending Australian return. “I always say that our live show is the one thing that we have that nobody can take away from us,” Spaghetti posits. “It's the one thing that we have left in our canon that you can't get any other way than to come and see it live. I liken it to a rollercoaster – you can watch a video of somebody riding the rollercoaster all day long, but until you ride it yourself you haven't experienced it like you need to. I just feel like we've got the fire in us – we've just got that something extra that not every band has, and I'm proud of it.”

And after 20 years of rocking Down Under they're rapt to be making the long trek back. “Yeah, Australia's great because you speak the English,” Spaghetti hams, “so even though I can't understand a fucking word you guys say, I know that you understand what I'm saying and that means a lot to me. It's nice to be down there.”