Sugarcult "Palm Trees and Powerlines" Island Records ** 1/2
Sounds like: Green Day and New Found Glory teaming up to fight off the Get Up Kids but failing in an awesome way.
Sugarcult, of Santa Barbara, Calif., have had a quick rise from being a local bar band to touring the world with pop-punk and ska's finest, as well as headlining several club tours of their own. Their latest album, "Palm Trees and Powerlines," was released Tuesday.
If 2001's "Start Static" was Attention Deficit Disorder, then "Palm Trees And Powerlines" would be the Ritalin. There are a few poppy rock songs such as "Memory," but for the most part Sugarcult seem a bit more somber, bitter and melancholy than before on tracks like "Back to California," "Over" and "Sign Off." Although "Palm Trees and Powerlines" is not the deepest well in the genre, it is deeper than most would expect from Sugarcult. The band has matured musically, and this is working for them.
In a phone interview, Sugarcult guitarist, who simply goes by Marko 72, described the title of the record and how it is about the stark differences that the band sees and lives in.
"It was an accidental album title," Marko said. "I was standing in the back alley of our studio looking at the skyline. In the horizon, all you could see for miles from that perspective were just the tips of palm trees and power lines everywhere. So looking at it and I'm thinking, wow, this is the flipside of California. This is the California they don't show you in post cards."
Marko continued, explaining that there is a distinct dichotomy in California that goes unnoticed.
"You have one person who is on top of the world with cameras flashing at them walking down a red carpet," Marko said. "On the other side you have someone sitting there begging for change. You see that everywhere. I think palm trees and power lines are something that unifies Southern California. Everywhere you look, you've got the palm trees, which are part of the Sunshine State and then you see the power lines and telephone poles and it reminds you that there are a lot of people here. So there is a lot of that theme in the songs on this record."
Marko also associated the title of the record with the band's constant tour schedule.
"It's the contrast and conflict of being in a rock band," Marko said. "You're living your dream - you're doing music for a living and traveling all over the world, meeting all kinds of new people. Every night is a Saturday night. But at the same time you're sacrificing familiar streets, friends and family, support systems and your health in a lot of ways."
Touring can certainly take its toll on a band in many ways, an experience that Marko is very familiar with.
"You put a lot on the line, and you don't realize that you're putting it on the line until you travel for two years straight and then you get back and people have stopped calling because they feel like they will hear about you on TV or the radio," Marko said. "You kind of get alienated. Suddenly the only people you can relate to are truck drivers and other people in bands."
Marko and rest of the band have trouble relating to their friends they have left behind for touring.
"It's hard to relate to your buddy who wakes up every morning and goes to work at the same shop he's always worked at," Marko said. "It's a transformation and it's kind of weird. You don't notice until you get back from it all."
Time also passes differently when a band is constantly on the road.
"Things are moving so fast - it's kind of like looking at pictures of someone's kid," Marko said. "You see them when they are one month old and then you see them when they are six months old, then a year. Things are moving so fast you hardly have time to reflect or digest it all. Then you get home and it is a screeching halt and you're like holy sh--, last Wednesday I was in Tokyo and the Wednesday before that I was in Cincinnati, and before that London and before that New York."
But despite all the hardships, Marko is enjoying his time on the road.
"[It's] a lot of time with no sleep, burning the candles at both ends," Marko said. "But it's an awesome ride and crazy adventure."
Sugarcult will be playing the Flipside Festival in Virginia on Saturday with Fall Out Boy, Maxeen and more. After that, the band will claim a spot on the main stage of this year's Vans Warped Tour.
