With a career that spans close to two decades, including a break-up and reunion, Superdrag is gearing up for the March 17th release of their latest release, Industry Giants. Revolt owner Sherri Gibbons recently had the opportunity to meet up with founding member, songwriter, singer and lead guitarist John Davis for a Q & A session.

Revolt: Clearly, when the band returned in 2007, your fans were ecstatic. What factored into the decision to reunite?
Davis: It always seemed inevitable to me. I knew the band had more work to do.

Revolt: Was the decision to come together again after a long hiatus one that everyone readily agreed to, or did anyone have doubts?
Davis: It was unanimous. As far as I know. [laughing] You always have questions, but in this case they were logistical questions, mostly. Not questions as to whether or not it was a good idea philosophically.

Revolt: What was the best part about playing shows as a group again? The worst part?
Davis: The best part hands-down was the overwhelmingly positive response from the fans. The worst part was probably just not being able to go everywhere we’d liked to have gone on the first go-round.

Revolt: Is there anything that is vastly different- either in the dynamics of the band or the dynamics of recording this time around versus in the past?
Davis: This recording process was vastly different than any of the others, out of necessity. We had to do it guerrilla-style; sort of going in with laser focus for two days here or there and recording three or four songs, then abandoning it for two months until we could get back into a studio and get everybody in the same place at the same time. Life is much more complicated now than it was then, but in a great way. We all have families. Everything we do has to be scheduled within an inch of its life. That was one advantage to living in the same house like for years – just like The Monkees. We all ate, slept and breathed the band, 24-7. Things are much different now.

Revolt: When you look back, how do you feel the band has changed the most musically since the beginning?
Davis: I’d like to think we’re constantly narrowing the gap between the way a piece of music is conceived in the imagination and the way it sounds on record. I’d like to think we’ve become more effective communicators. There are songs on this album that could’ve been on the first album, in terms of the basic nuts and bolts of the tunes, but I think they benefit greatly from the thirteen years of life experience in-between. With time you learn more and more about the craft of arranging, and hopefully you learn to put more and more of yourself into what you’re expressing, even in a studio environment. There’s a fire that can get lost. I think this album’s got a lot of fire.

Revolt: You’re on the verge of releasing Industry Giants. There has been lots of music blog talk of this album rocking harder than any of your previous albums. What makes this album rock harder?
Davis: Several of the songs are just faster, more aggressive and more energetic than anything we put on record before. We’ve always played in Punk Rock bands, before, during and after Superdrag. That element of our music is probably just more upfront on this record than ever before.

Revolt: Superdrag is from Tennessee. Putting the words “music” and “Tennessee” in the same sentence will have most people instantly thinking only about “Country music.” What’s your favorite thing about the music scene in TN?
Davis: The history. All forms of American music have deep roots here. The first Rock ‘N Roll music was recorded here. Appalachian music, city Blues, country Blues, Gospel music and Spirituals, Jazz from St. Louis and New Orleans- they all sort of intersected in Memphis, Bristol, Nashville, Knoxville. Tennessee has a long and very prestigious musical heritage.

Revolt: Looking back, do you remember your very first show as Superdrag? What do you remember the most about it?
Davis: Absolutely I remember it. It was at Underdog Records on Cumberland Ave. in Knoxville. September 23, 1993. We were a three-piece. Brandon [Fisher] played bass. We opened up for Tom’s [Pappas] band, The Used [now referred to as The Used To Be]. No relation [to The Used]. Brandon and Don [Coffey, Jr.] actually played in both bands. We played one show prior to that under a different name, Rollbar.

Revolt: When Superdrag first started out, the band definitely was considered by many as a true indie band. There were waves of criticism after signing with Elektra in 1995. Did you see yourselves as an indie band? Was there ever a worry that your fans might think you were selling out?
Davis: We didn’t spend much time thinking about whether we were indie or not. I mailed one unsolicited demo in the history of our band. That was to James Agren at Darla Records. I bought the Grifters 7” he put out and I got his address off of the insert. I sent him a cassette of 4-track demos. We were shocked when he wrote us back, never mind wanting to put a record out! So we made a technological quantum leap up to 8-track cassette and recorded Stereo 360 Sound. Those were the songs that wound up on the Darla 7”s. So we recorded on cassette, and we took the cover photo for the first 7” with a Polaroid. These weren’t calculated indie moves, we just did the best we could with what we had. That record got some attention at about the same time we started touring steadily. We were just putting one foot in front of the other, literally. We had tunnel vision, and we just kept going forward, working toward one small step at a time. We talked to a dozen labels, at least, majors and indies. We just tried to choose the one that would help us reach as many people as possible with our records. In hindsight, there were pluses and minuses. I care even less about being called a sellout now than I did then. The Ramones were on Sire Records. Game over.

Revolt: How are things different for you now, label-wise versus back when you were on Elektra?
Davis: We have complete control over every aspect of what we do.

Revolt: With the release of Head Trip In Every Key, there was a distinct shift musically on the album. How does Industry Giants compare to Head Trip In Every Key?
Davis: There might be some similarities on some of the slower songs. Something like “Try” or “Live And Breathe” might’ve fit comfortably on Head Trip….

Revolt: If there is one message about the new album you want to get across to your fans, what is it?
Davis: It won’t be the last they’ll hear from us, God willing.

Revolt: What are some of your earliest memories of someone else’s music influencing you?
Davis: I don’t know if this answers the question or not, but the first album I ever bought with my own money was 1999 by Prince & The Revolution. I was in third Grade.

Revolt: Aside from the new album, what will 2009 have in store for Superdrag?
Davis: As many live dates as possible. Hopefully some TV and festival appearances. The record’s coming out in Japan, so we’re all really hopeful there’ll be a Japanese tour. Then it’s time to write the next record.

Revolt: Thank you so much for taking time answer my questions. Is there anything else you’d like to address that I haven’t asked?
Davis: Yes – Google “PDD 51”.

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