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54. Sugar Ray (w/ Eichlers)
266 Plays11 months ago
Is Sugar Ray Ska? In order to answer this earth shattering question, CPSC welcomes back thirdtimer, and HyperSka Superstar, Eichlers! But first, Ike catches the crew up on his last year, his tour of Japan and what new music he's listening to. Then, Rob, Celine, Engineer Joey and Ike dig in on the entirety of Sugar Ray's career with a focus on the larger than life exploits of lead singer and bon vivant, Mark McGrath. You might say... the story is unbelievable.
Check out Eichlers past episodes with No Doubt and Sublime!
Hosts: Celine, Rob and Engineer Joey Engineer: Joey Editor: Cutman Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
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Transcript
Introduction and Humor with Selene and Rob
00:00:00
Speaker
On this episode, we're one second off our 15 minutes of fame as we proudly make podcasts for cougars. I know you are floored, but tuck in with a plate of brownies and a tall glass of lemonade. Because yes, little Yachty, this episode is a pursuit of leisure. It's sugar-fucking-ray on Checkered Past the Skycast.
00:00:38
Speaker
What up, Checkerheads? Welcome to Checkerhead past the SCAAD cast of Selene and Rob. The show where a hey celebrity big brother, can you spare some SCA? And a don't forget the SCA lyrics. I never had to block on glue. Explore the history and impact of a different band each episode and hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Robyn. This is my sister and co-host, Selene. Hello. Hello.
00:01:00
Speaker
Hello. Hello. How are you? Fine. What did you say? The whole intro. Yeah, what was that? What is Sugar Ray? Yeah, correct.
Musicians on Reality TV: Mark McGrath and More
00:01:16
Speaker
Reality TV shows featuring Mark McGrath. Okay, that's fun. Can you give me them again? Hey, celebrity big brother, can you spare some Ska? Oh, that's fun. What was the next one?
00:01:25
Speaker
Don't forget the Scott lyrics and then I fucked up impression that I get on purpose because I forgot the Scott lyrics. Well, that reality show. There's a reality show called Don't Forget the Lyrics. Oh, Mark McGrath was on. Oh, okay. He did. He doing stuff. Yeah. I thought what I thought you might have used the Clone High reference. Explain. I thought wasn't Mark McGrath on Clone High?
00:01:46
Speaker
Was it Mark McGrath? That was the joke. Ashley Angel. Oh, it was Ashley Angel of O-Town. Yeah, Canada. I know. I should know better. Yeah, you should know better. The cartoon Ashley Angel from O-Town does look like Mark McGrath. I understand by that. I don't know if Mark McGrath has floating eyebrows though. I think they're equally hairless. Alopecia. That's when you have no hair. Yeah, I know. It's like Matt Lucas.
00:02:15
Speaker
Like Matt Lucas,
Matt Lucas: Humor and Cultural Impact
00:02:16
Speaker
exactly. Matt, thanks, Engineer Joey. Is Matt Lucas, does he have a thing? I assume Zoe has no hair. I thought that was just white people, like, you know, like white British guy. He was just that white and eliminated. I thought he was just, I thought he was just like jarringly British. No, he's got to help you. It's a lot of, it is a lot of pale.
00:02:39
Speaker
We were watching him on the Great British Bake Off recently. Oh yeah. He's not good at bits. No. He's not a funny guy. No, I watched that Little Britain show and... Did you? I'm sorry. There's some stuff that does not hold up. I would assume so. It's a little cringe. A little cringe. Seems like a guy who made jokes that I would not agree with now. He's got some Ricky Gervais energy. Real Ricky Gervais energy. No fielding though.
00:03:05
Speaker
It was a mighty boost though. Oh, he's on Great British Bake. My friend described his face to me as like each feature on his face is fighting each other. No fielding? Yeah. Just each feature so aggressive and fighting one another at all times when you're looking at it. She is attracted to him. She has lots of potential. It's getting dark a little bit, but then it just comes around. Yeah, no, she meant it as a positive. She likes the conflict. Yeah, she likes the conflict.
00:03:35
Speaker
Do you have a salinity? Yeah, but I don't have it. I'm very hungover, I will say, for Joey's birthday. I don't know why. I didn't let myself drink yesterday. Like we just had the night before. Thank you. God. Oh, my God.
00:03:50
Speaker
the day before. Okay, whatever. Oh, you got to talk about wrestling. That's what you're talking about. Wait, wait, wait. We have to pretend like we're drinking a beer. Oh yeah. We're fueled by sea change. It's too early in the morning to be drinking this beer. But we are fueled by sea change. And we do love the beer. And I had one of those beers before I left for wrestling. I also had a Prairie fairy last night in honor
00:04:14
Speaker
of this episode, I would say. No, I guess it was going to be too early in the morning. Which is a delicious blackberry wheat ale. And it's one of my faves. But yeah, I'm new, new, new to going to wrestling. It's been a blast, though. So I went to a like mid kind of wrestling. And I only got an insult. You don't mean to say it's mid or eight.
00:04:33
Speaker
No, I don't know what it's called. Mid-tier? It's like semi-pro. Semi-pro wrestling. The last wrestling I went to was just in a dirty hall. Amateur. Yeah, it was super amateur, but I almost preferred that, I will say. This was very impressive and shiny, but it was sweet.
00:04:52
Speaker
There's a fun little gay cowboy wrestler from Calgary that I love named Steven Crow. And they were very fun. They did very well. And yeah, it's fucking sick. I think one of my friends might do the wrestling camp. There's this dude named Michael Richard Blaise, whose bit was like saving people. And he's like, let me save you. And he had like the best wrestling monologues. And it was like classic, like 90s WWF level wrestling monologues. And it was incredible.
00:05:22
Speaker
And you said that the thing you like best about is that you get to yell.
Personal Stories and Guest Introduction
00:05:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. And I like to see if we can start a chance, a chance. Yeah. That's why I liked Michael Richard Blaise, because there's a lot of things to yell, like, because you can just, there's lots of playing off religion and God and, you know, do it for the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, you know? And you learned about new, new guessing. Holy shit. Yeah. Holy shit.
00:05:48
Speaker
That was awesome. That was awesome. People were doing it. I don't know what to say. And then when the riff goes two, I really like being like, two, two, two. And he looked at me in the rafters and I had my little two up. He was like, yep, two. That was a two count.
00:06:06
Speaker
Wrestling has a lot of like lingo, that's really weird, right? Like kayfabe, right? Which is like the face and the heel. It's important not to break, right? Don't break kayfabe. I don't know that. Yeah, face and heel, the baby face and the heel, right? The good guy and the bad guy.
00:06:22
Speaker
the babyface and the heel. I do know about the heel. Yeah. And the babyface is the opposite. The good guy. I'd want to be a ref. I want to be the ref. The big fan, a big fan of the heels because it means she gets the Elmore. Yeah. Yeah. You yell at the heel. Yeah. Yeah. There were the rads and they, their thing was to just touch their fingertips and whatever. I'm touching the tip. So now I have a little tip finger.
00:06:45
Speaker
You mean a big foam finger? A big foam finger. Yeah, that was what you're trying to understand. Very hungover. You guys are going to have to translate. No, I'm, I am. I had so much tea. I have so much tea. I'm just spilling so much. I actually did spill literal tea this morning. Usually I'm busy.
00:07:02
Speaker
Spilling metaphorical tea. But I actually spilled an entire mug of tea on the floor. You know when you're just like your hand just stops like there's just like a pathway that gives up from your brain to your hand and you just like stop holding the thing you're holding and there's like no other excuse. Hand called nerve damage. Get it looked at. You know how we all have nerve damage in our arms?
00:07:26
Speaker
Hey, I cut hair a lot. I probably do have some fucked up hair. Too much Barbicide. Too much Barbicide. Okay. So yeah, that was fun. That's a good slip in. Wrestling Suite. Also, there's the villain Tara Zep is from Vancouver, and she's this super hot tattooed indigenous chick, and her thing is being like an evil clown.
00:07:47
Speaker
They're they're athletes. They're not only actors. Also, what I will say is wrestling is filling my drag. I used to go to a lot of drag shows, but she got oversaturated. I still love drag, but.
00:07:57
Speaker
Got a little oversaturated for me. So this is filling my like drag. And the venue to watch drag in Edmonton is not great. And I think it's more inclusive. Oh, yeah. Like nowadays, I feel like it was like there was these two like Latinx dudes, like ParaLira, and there was like a Caribbean dude from Toronto. And then, yeah, there was a fun little gay. There was lots of chicks. Fun little gay. Yeah. It was really sweet. We met him. He was a little cutie. We shopped at the same places. We shared fashion brands.
00:08:33
Speaker
All right, we're absolutely thrilled to introduce our guest three Pete They're the one and only hyper Scott Superstar who released a flurry of singles this year the newest of which I'm screaming It's dreaming everywhere right now. Eichler's is back
00:08:48
Speaker
back again three years in a row.
Ike's Music Journey and Wrestling Commentary
00:08:50
Speaker
Ike, how you doing? Hi, back again edition. Back again edition. Thanks for having me back. I'm my favorite podcast. This is awesome. Thanks for being here. I told one of my friends that I was going to be here and told him about the band we were talking about and he's like, I love that podcast and I love that they only have you on for like the very Scott tangentially associated artists. And I was like, well, you know.
00:09:12
Speaker
This time I like, I even asked, usually the guest brings the artist in, but with Ike I usually just give you the, what you're doing. You're like, oh, tweet, no doubt sucks. And I'm like, okay, you should come on and talk about it. This time I even asked you, you're like, I don't know what we should do. And I was like, what about Sugar Ray? And you're like, yeah. So that's why.
00:09:40
Speaker
Uh, do you have thoughts about what we talked about wrestling? Yeah. Are you a wrestling boo? I have, I have no opinions on wrestling. I think it's cool. Um, I'm, I'm not a fan of like violence staged or otherwise fair. I don't know. Not, not, not a ton for me, but I, I think it's cool. I like that people are into it. It makes me happy that other people like it so much. I'm screaming. That's what I was doing at the wrestling show a couple of days ago. Exactly.
00:10:11
Speaker
wrestling started fun fact it was a circus side show right they would have a wrestler go there and he would like you know try to wrestle people in the audience it was like spider-man the first Sam Raimi spider-man movie yeah and so you're supposed to like you would be like try to flip me and then someone in the crowd would try to flip them and then if you want you got tickets for the circus or whatever
00:10:31
Speaker
And then, but they were like, nobody wanted to do it. So they would have like, um, bits where they'd have people in the crowd and say, you there, like, you know, like snake oil sales, you there try to flip me. And then the person would be like, you know, Oh, I'm still weak. But then they would do it because, you know, they would like lift themselves up and do the whole thing. And so from there, they kind of were like, well, why don't we just do that part? That's what people want to see.
00:10:55
Speaker
And then it just kind of cycles. They were figuring it out. Yeah. Took them a little bit to figure it out. The one that I saw yesterday, what I will say, I mean, they definitely do like get hurt, but you can like very, very much see them, especially from the rafter. It's like not actually making contact or like making the sound with their own fist. Or like hitting the ground when they do the pun? Yes, there was like, but in a good way, though, I don't want people to actually get punched in the face.
00:11:21
Speaker
Totally. So I actually just remembered I have been to WWE once. Oh, whoa. I've never been big time. Yeah, Mike. Mike Park got free tickets and he took me and the rest of my band Kill the Bats back in 2013 and my then girlfriend now wife. And he he took us. We all went out to sushi and then we drove up to Daily City and went and said WWE and he put $20 in hopes gas tank.
00:11:48
Speaker
After promising to fill it up all the way, he put $20. It was awesome. Can you recall any of the... Were there any big name wrestlers there? Dude, that's the thing. I only remember the drive there and back. I don't remember shit about wrestling. I don't remember a single thing about the wrestling we saw. It's kind of fucked up.
00:12:11
Speaker
three and a half hours to like, like WWE is like, so that's what this one was. Yeah, the one that the last the super amateur I went when I went to was like an hour and a half two hours. And that's what I was kind of planning for. But this one was like three, three and a half.
00:12:25
Speaker
So long, it's long. It's a commitment. It is. That's a whole ass evening. Yeah. What's up, Joey? I was going to say, that's like a party. That's like a party. That's party time. How much time is there in between the matches? None. There was a little intermission. Just roll on through. I guess they don't have to switch over any gear or anything. Well, and they don't pipe it. Well, depending on where it is, but like on WWE, they don't pipe in the announcers.
00:12:53
Speaker
Oh, okay. Because that would be super distracting. Yeah, yeah. And so you would just you just watch it. And so only when they get up and are on the mic, do you actually hear from people, but the commentators are that's just for the TV.
00:13:06
Speaker
Interesting. It's wild. The more you know, the more I know.
Ike's Tokyo Experience and Cultural Insights
00:13:09
Speaker
Full of facts. Speaking of facts. Hey Ike, catch the listener up. 12 months since you were last on the pot-ish. What has been 2023 all about for you?
00:13:24
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a cool year. I played a show in Tokyo, Japan in Shibuya back in April. That was pretty crazy. My wife and I went there just like as a belated honeymoon, you know, three years after we got married. And then I figured like, oh, it'd be cool to like try and play a show while I'm out here because, you know, my life set up. I don't have any gear. It's not like I take a guitar and amp with me.
00:13:47
Speaker
whatever. So I just like brought my little bag and my auto tune pedal on my mic. And luckily through like friends of friends and on through like the bad time community, I got linked up with Nobuyuki from Punk Mart. And he was able to patch me in with these cool like hyper pop adjacent rappers. And we ended up playing a show together this place called Jump in Shibuya like a less than five minute walk from like the world famous like Shibuya scramble that big like
00:14:13
Speaker
crazy crosswalk that you see in all the videos. So it was like in the heart of the, like one of the most popular prefectures in Tokyo. Yeah. It was, it was crazy. And the show was really fun. I was really nervous, really like self-conscious cause I don't, I don't speak Japanese and you know, I'm trying to be friendly, but I can't like communicate with anyone. So I'm just like sitting there waiting to go on. And it was, it was a really cool experience and people were hype as fuck and really liked my shit.
00:14:40
Speaker
that's awesome it was it was a really really sick experience yeah that's so cool good for you for doing it that is high pressure i feel like saying high in a really positive manner like transcends language high yeah yeah and that is i if i remember correctly that is how i open the set and everyone's like
00:15:00
Speaker
There's this one dude, shout out Zach, who's a fan of mine. He's from Illinois or something, but he's been living in Tokyo for 10 years. He showed us around and he came to the show, knew all the words, front row singing all the lyrics back at me.
00:15:18
Speaker
super reaffirming to have someone there who I knew and can communicate with who was very hyped to see me and sort of bring in everyone else up who'd never heard me before like around him. So it was it was a really positive experience overall, though, like one of the most probably the most nerve wracking thing I've ever done as an artist.
00:15:36
Speaker
That's always, have you been to Japan before or is that your first time? Yeah, that was our second time going. Oh, wow. Yeah. So like we're familiar with like how shit works and like Hope speaks a little Japanese and understands a lot. And I speak almost none and understand even less. Yeah. It was I kind of felt like a ding dong for not like learning anything beforehand and just like going in like, oh, I'll be the dumb white guy. It'll be fine. Everyone will be nice to me. I'm going to prepare better next time.
00:16:06
Speaker
But yeah, it was it was really cool. People rely on Google Translate a lot from what I've read on like travels of Reddit, Japan. Yeah. And that is and that is like a lot of what we did. A lot of phone communication like Google Translate type and shit out. And it was cool. Like it worked out. Everyone everyone there was super sweet and super nice. Like best meal.
00:16:25
Speaker
Best meal in Japan. Oh my goodness. Best meal. This place called Katsuo Shokuro. It's this Michelin star restaurant in Tokyo, but not like Michelin star in the way that like you usually think of. It was like very low key in this little apartment building. I think there were probably 10 or so seats in there and it's like the shredded bonito flakes over rice.
00:16:50
Speaker
And that's it. She dries the fish herself and hand grates it. And it's just the most perfectly balanced flavor of any meal I've ever had. That was the best meal I've had in my entire fucking life. That sounds yummy. And it was like $10.
00:17:05
Speaker
That's sick. Yeah. And it was like chill and kind of casual. It was super chill. She was. Yeah. The like chef was so sweet and she like followed me back on Instagram afterwards. And I was like, I was like freaking out. Yeah. And every every now and then I see her posting my feed and I just drool and hope and I talk about that meal all the time. So watering. And I love rice. Oh, my God.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah, so I let's see. Yeah, so it's just like the shredded bonito over rice and then like a raw egg. You could like the egg goes extra. It'd be like a topping you could add. And I got the raw egg and the eggs in Japan are different eggs. Was it umami?
00:17:43
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's what I like about Japanese food is like it's so, yeah, they're like big on like that umami flavor. Even Japanese mayo is like a lot better. Oh my god, it's so good. Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. Yum. So hungry. A little baby is cool. Did you have like a traditional Japanese breakfast? I'm assuming.
00:18:02
Speaker
We did. Yeah, we had one last time and then I'd be curious and then yeah this past time we did too. Yeah, that's really cool because I I I love like that that sort of Like low-key Japanese breakfast. I'm not like a big like hearty, you know stack of pancakes
00:18:18
Speaker
Like breakfast person so I like I like a low-key breakfast anyway But yeah, I had like not though which is fermented soybeans and rice and then like a piece of fish And it was in some teeth was amazing. They really figured it out, you know, that's what I'm saying. Yeah Figured a lot of things out there. Yeah, it's much better than here. It's from having an isolationist I know I know I know Also, they're like
00:18:44
Speaker
You know very the fish fresh fish is readily available. Yeah. Yeah, unlike where we are Yeah, I barely know what that's like know what a fresh fish tastes even just tea though like even tea Yeah, even tea culture is just so much better. Totally. Did you do pachinko?
00:19:01
Speaker
No, too scared, too loud. Every Pachinko place we walk past, I told Hope, I was like, I want to go in and I got to know what it's like. And she's like, no, it's too overwhelming. I can't go in there. If you're going to go in, you're going in by yourself. And I was like, I can't go in by myself.
00:19:19
Speaker
racket because like you're like you have to buy chips to do it, but then the rules are you can't use the chips to cash out. Yeah. So you're supposed to go like around the corner to a different shop, right? Yeah. What? You have to like go outside. That's how they get around the rules. And it's like every pachinko place is the same. You go around to like some guy outside.
00:19:40
Speaker
who will just like catch your chips in. Otherwise, if you stay in the Pachinko place and exchange it for prizes, that also marks you as a tourist. Because it's like, yeah, like no local ever does that. I just wish our 7-Elevens had like delicious rice balls and not taquitos.
00:19:58
Speaker
Hey, I like a tequito every day. The seven tequitos are for the people. They're there when you need them. No one needs them. I don't think that's good for anyone's body. No one can break that down in process. Sounds like you haven't been driving to Calgary a lot lately.
00:20:16
Speaker
Road takitos. Road takitos. They are easy to eat while driving. I will give you that. Dylan, what do you got against American hot roller cylindrical culture? I don't like my food to sweat. For like all day.
00:20:34
Speaker
Sweaty a sweaty sweaty steamy little hot dog. I just It's a culture cultural event. Yeah, it's a kind of for Queen country I'm like not opposed to like a futon on the floor like a Japanese futon
00:20:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah, because like laying you'd like on the ground is nice on your back. What do you think about those triangle pillows? I don't know about the triangle pillows. Yeah, they're like, I don't know. The old timey pillows that are kind of shaped like a triangle and you're just supposed to lay your head directly back on it. Yeah, it's supposed to be good. Yeah, that sounds nice. But apparently sleeping on your bike, I think there's something with like head goo, like if you're going with this, I think it's like bad for your brain.
00:21:30
Speaker
To do it like yeah, it's better like Yeah, there's like a reason but it's something about the head goo The floor thing no how often you all lay on the floor never you've never lay on the floor every single day
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, you gotta lay on the floor. Just about every day I think I lay on the floor. But do not have a sore back, bro. Okay. I have a terrible posture. Get back problems. Get back problems. I have enough problems. I think get back to me. Get back to me. Land on the floor for a few minutes after work and letting the dogs crawl all over me is like a classic, classic D. It's a good way to decompress.
00:22:12
Speaker
Yeah, totally, totally. It's great. I was actually doing that earlier this morning. Oh, right. I'll try it. I got home from my run and I was like laying on the ground about to like do my sit ups and all my stretches and stuff and Topo comes over and he just like stands on my hair so I can't lift my head and just starts licking like my eyeball. Just licking all the sweat off my face.
00:22:31
Speaker
It's exciting when the human is on the floor. It's on my level. Get him. Yeah, get him now. They're sitting so excited when you're on their levels. It's looking time. Time for looking. It's looking time.
Ike's Recent Releases and Musical Inspirations
00:22:45
Speaker
Let's talk about the music. So what's been going into the music that we've been putting out this year and what should people expect coming into 2024? Yeah. So let's see. The music this year, I put out the My Checker Future B-Sides record.
00:23:00
Speaker
earlier this year. Which fucks. Yeah. Joey every time his car turned on. Or his Bluetooth connected to my car for like three months. Which is good. I'm happy to hear that. Yeah, I'm really proud of those songs and I'm glad that I like after sitting on them for so long could finally release them.
00:23:23
Speaker
It was good summertime driving music. Yeah. Starting with the Kenny thing, which is great, and then just finishing it off with Chicken Chain, which is also great. What a silly fun listen. Oh my goodness. It's so true. Adam from Omnigon is like, when are you dropping Chicken Chain? When are you dropping it? Fine, dude. It's going on this fucking record, okay?
00:23:47
Speaker
And then like someone Thanks someone that I was playing Gilman earlier this year and someone's like bro I'm coming to your show and seeing you for the first time. Can you please play chicken chain and I was like Yeah, I guess sure
00:24:02
Speaker
That's for you if you promise to sing and then I did it and just like the crowd was completely dead Hope was there with a couple of her friends and afterwards. She's like you shouldn't play chicken chain I was on the set list. I would have done the same thing Chicken
00:24:26
Speaker
It's one of those things where like, yeah, like there's other songs like that from artists I like to you're like, Oh, if they played the song live, it would go off like I would be going crazy. And then like, you're actually there in that moment. And you're the only one you're like, kind of feel a little weird about going crazy. I'm so excited. Like, it all depends on the crowd depends on the yeah, totally. And then this year, it's been been mostly remixes. I've been really, really fortunate to
00:24:51
Speaker
have a lot of like, especially Scott Bonk International artists, shout out, Ham Bonk International, like hitting me up to remix their songs. Let's see, we did the Sad Snack remix, Indica and Decay remix, and a couple other ones for getting off the top of my head, but yeah, that's been a lot of fun. It's been, that's like one of my favorite things to do is just reimagine an artist's song, especially an artist that like, I like and look up to and I'm friends with, like, that's always a treat for me.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah. When you do remixes like that, do you usually like get stems and then kind of like reconceptualize right from the stems? Or do you kind of like do it kind of like more traditional remix style? It's definitely like reconceptualizing from the stems. Like the Flying Raccoon 2 remix. I listened to the song like, I think I listened to the first 15 seconds of Swan Song when Andrew sent it to me and I was like, Oh, I want to do this one. And then like didn't listen to the song.
00:25:49
Speaker
at all. I just took the horns and Jessica's vocal and I was like, I'm just going to write a song underneath this because I think that's more fun for me and more enjoyable as a music listener than trying to stay true to the structure or some parts of the original song because it's just like, how would this sound if I wrote it?
00:26:10
Speaker
Hell yeah. And that's how I like to do cover songs too. Doing a verbatim cover is fun and it's cool, but the artist is already doing that. It's more fun to reimagine it as a different song. And that's how I approach remixing too. I think people come to you for that as well. I was just going to say. For sure. Yeah. They want that when they reach out to you to do something like that.
00:26:36
Speaker
Yeah, totally. It's cool that people fuck with it too and want that treatment for their own songs. Yeah. It's so fun. They want to give you something to reimagine and be like, well, what would it sound like if you did this? Plus, Hyperskaw is such a unique sound. I feel like all of
00:26:53
Speaker
anyone in the community who appreciates what you do but doesn't do Hypersca for them to be like, hey, it's me doing Hypersca and Ike himself is doing it. That's extra cool. And so what's coming out in 2024? What can people expect over the next 12 months?
00:27:11
Speaker
Uh, let's see. I'm hoping the next record will be done pretty soon. Um, I'm like 99% of the way done writing it. So you need to finish up a verse here and there. Um, so hopefully next summer, new Eichler's LP, um, a special, special something or other at the beginning of this year, uh, I'm working on, I guess you might as well say it, who cares. Um, it's going to be an acoustic record.
00:27:39
Speaker
Oh, wow. So, like, your favorite Hypersca songs from the past couple of years done acoustically. No auto tune. Didn't you do a show like that kind of recently? Yeah. Cool. I think sometime last year, yeah, I played at Silver Sprocket in San Francisco with Elon from Indica and Decay and a couple other people.
00:28:04
Speaker
And yeah, that, that went really well. And, you know, Eichler started as an acoustic project. So it's, it's cool to like how, how far it's like gone removed from just me playing with an acoustic guitar and sort of bringing it back to that and really putting, I don't know, it's more like self reassuring that like, Oh yeah, these are like good songs that can, I think stand on their own without all the bells and whistles that, you know, people come to know my songs for like the auto tune and all the goofy arrangements and whatnot.
00:28:34
Speaker
Well, there's something like Selena I've talked about this quite a bit where like when you talk about like covering a song or whatever like and making it more punk rock or something like that a lot of pop songs there just Isn't really enough to them to simplify them into like a pop punk song or something to that effect, right? so then to take songs that like I guess like hyper Scott kind of like to an un
00:29:02
Speaker
an educated ear it might sound pretty simple or whatever but to be able to pull your songs back and be like oh they're just good songs to begin with like you just the guitar and the vocals and stuff like like you say you don't need all those extra bells and whistles they're just good songs and it's really cool to be able to be like
00:29:19
Speaker
hey, check this out, you know? Prove it to yourself, you know? For sure, yeah. And I think it's that way, but I'm really curious to see if, you know, if other people feel similarly and sort of have everyone hear the songs in a different light, especially like, you know, the people who've fucked with me like really heavy for the past few years, like you guys and people who know the songs really well, like hearing them re-imagined and stripped down, like I think is going to be a really cool fan experience. And it's, again, really exciting for me to
00:29:48
Speaker
hear them that way after hearing them the same way for so long. The only other question I have is I'm always interested to hear what new things you're listening to like in the field because you always every year it seems like you have like found something cool and interesting that's happening in the in the universe. So what's what are you listening to? What are you spending these days? Oh my god, I have been obsessed with this. They're this mysterious duo from the UK. They make music under the moniker DJ Sabrina, the teenage DJ.
00:30:18
Speaker
It's like nostalgic 90s outsider house. People have labeled it. They put out a record this year called Destiny that's four hours long.
00:30:32
Speaker
And it's incredible. Not a minute wasted. I mean, there's like, you know, lols and dips. It's four hours of music. No one can write a four hour, like, straight top of the bottom banger. I feel like that's an impossible feat. Sounds like a challenge. I mean, I'm not saying no one.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah, but like this this record like more more often than not is is hitting it's really really cool Yeah, if anything if y'all are trying to check that out I would recommend like the first probably 35 minutes of it or she actually like
00:31:15
Speaker
I say she just because that's they use like the like the sort of pixelated version of Melissa Joan Hart from like Sabrina the Teenage Witch like on all the album covers. So even though I put time into watching that show. Yeah. Right. So even then that's like the immediate nostalgia hook. Yeah.
00:31:33
Speaker
She put out like an abridged version of the record that's only an hour and a half. That's just sort of like all the songs distilled to like their parts. But yeah, just the first track on that record, Honey, has just been like, it's eight minutes long, which again, hella long, but just incredible. And I can't get enough of it. Every time I listen to it, it's like I'm hearing it for the first time. And I'm just like, washed. DJ Sabrina, the teenage DJ. Yeah, also the name is 10 out of 10. Bang or ass name, so funny.
00:32:03
Speaker
I love that you're like, I love this eight minute song, but that's like four Eichler songs. Oh, for sure. Yeah. My music listening has just come full circle and taken all sorts of weird turns over the years. If you told me in high school that my favorite current song is eight minutes long, I would have been like, that's stupid. I do appreciate that they put out a record that's half of a work day though.
00:32:27
Speaker
I'm saying, yeah. You just come back from lunch or whatever and put that shit on and you're good until you go home. That's exactly what I do. I put it on like the top of my day by the time the record's over. I'm just like.
00:32:38
Speaker
I'm halfway through. I'm going home soon. Kinda. Kinda. I get lunch, then I go home. So, are we ready to enter the time station? Let's do it again. How European. How European. Eat lunch in the cold. I wake up, I listen to my four hour record, I eat lunch and we go home.
00:33:00
Speaker
It's like our people. What country were you from then? All of them. Yeah. All of Europe. Europe, European. It was your Eurovision accent? Yeah. Time's catching. Time's catching. Here we go. He was in Europe. Song bangs.
00:33:26
Speaker
Shout to Keelan. Yeah, shout to Keelan. Shout out. We did. Yeah. He was there. He was hanging out. He was, I won bouncy balls and he was juggling them. Yeah. It just seems like a person with very talent. He has many talents, yeah. Very impressive that it's just like, you're like, oh yeah, Keelan juggles. I'm like, yeah, of course he does. Like, of course he can do a thing I can't do. He can play drums. He can write ska songs. He can juggle. He can draw.
00:33:56
Speaker
Uh, the times got she takes us back to 1968 to explore the checkered past of the one and only sugar Ray.
Sugar Ray's Formation and Jazz Influences
00:34:03
Speaker
Yeah. Big Scott band, big Scott band, the biggest, the biggest Scott band that anyone's ever known and everyone knows them as a Scott. I mean, it's the one that people have been asking for it. Right. I would say like, it's like my, my boss people have requested it and Rob's like, no, no, not yet. We need the right time. It wasn't the right time. I dropped.
00:34:24
Speaker
Commence the summer of ska the amount of time that was a disappoint bands by not talking about sugar ray Yeah, that's usually their first thing and they're like, I guess I'll talk about real big fish Yeah, it's usually it's usually real big fish. Everyone wants to talk. Oh, they can't anymore. Yes. It's done No, you guys have had there's rumblings Rumblings international
00:34:52
Speaker
Mark McGrath was born in 1968 in beautiful but friendly Hartford, Connecticut. At a young age, his family picked up their roots to move across the country to the slumbering town of Newport Beach. He got his love of the arts, however, from his mother who designed, crafted, and sold bespoke tall houses. She always aimed for perfection and wanted to build the absolute best for her son who at a young age was obsessed with cowboys.
00:35:15
Speaker
she meticulously created her masterpiece for her child a multi-unit set of an old west village featuring a blacksmith a jail and a three-story saloon complete with a miniature horse watering in front marked by then a boy of 13 said to his mother i think i'm too big 13 i think i'm too big for this one horse town i think i'm too big for this one horse town one mini horse town yeah
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, one mini horse town. One mini horse town. But the creativity bug was bit, and Mark knew that more than anything else, what he wanted to be was a musician. Playing on the biggest stages in the world, playing on his favorite radio shows, and collaborating with his favorite rock stars. So he went to the pawn shop and gazed in the window. His eyes went past the Les Paul, past the Stratocaster, and they fell on a beautiful black and white number with a sultry silhouette. Ah, this is the one he said to no one in particular. And a legend was born. Wow. Weirder Mark did not take to the accordion immediately.
00:36:07
Speaker
But damned if he didn't try, and perseverance paid off. In the vein of his hero, whom we can't name due to legal reasons, he crafted hit after hit, including Take On Beans, Total Eclipse of the Tart, and Hungry Like the Wolf. While his work was prominently featured on Gargantuan Regional Station 101.5 KOCILP classic tracks, and earning the nickname the mighty Hercules of the Newport Beach comedy and or rock parody scene, he wanted more.
00:36:34
Speaker
And so when he told his parents he was going to move on from his highly lucrative $50 a month career, his parents asked if he was serious, to which he replied, I'm as serious as three heart attacks and I would know I've had five.
00:36:47
Speaker
So that's time. Yeah, I would say yes, very. Yeah. Yeah. He's really. He was treading on it. If there's anything I've learned from that documentary that came out is that he's highly litigious. How and that documentary is as real as this bio. That's right. So, OK, how old is he at this point? And he's had 15 and he's had five heart attacks. Yes. That's crazy. Yeah, I know. Right. People don't talk about it enough.
00:37:13
Speaker
Yeah, I know. But that's like, you know, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Like, that's Simpson's bed. He's so strong. He's so strong. At 15. At 15. Wow. A powerhouse. He paced back and forth in his kitchen, trying to come up with his next big project, but was hitting a brick wall. It really hurt, and it also didn't help him come up with ideas. Rob looks happy with himself. He's a listener.
00:37:38
Speaker
He then looked at the oven and a light bulb went off. After opening the oven and changing the light bulb, he saw what was actually inside and he got an idea. Shrinky Dinks was formed in 1986 by Mark and his chums, Rodney Shepherd, Murphy Kargas, and Stan Fraser. People don't know that Shrinky Dinks is attributed to Mark McGrath.
00:37:57
Speaker
There were shrinky dinks in the oven. And he's like, ah, that's the name of my band. Yeah. Right? Yeah. You know, you look around the room and you see things and you come up with ideas and that's like, yeah, you know, it's a classic Kaiser Soze situation. Was it his mom doing the dinking? One could only assume because he didn't know the dinks were in the oven. No, he didn't know they were in there. I mean, I'm sure she was pissed. She's like, no, they're not done yet.
00:38:21
Speaker
They're not small enough yet. These aren't even dinks yet. Yeah, they're shrinking dinks. While Mark wanted to be the band leader, his bandmates were concerned about a few factors in the band, so they sequestered in Joshua Tree with as much ayahuasca as they could procure. Eight years later, they reemerged and Mark agreed to their terms, not to play the accordion.
00:38:47
Speaker
While playing at a small club in the OC, the band was simultaneously discovered by DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit, Charlie's Angel director, Mick G, and Baywatch actress, Nicole Eggert. They were all there as a part of the, we will always be relevant crew, and found a kindred spirit with the performance. DJ Lethal was quoted as saying, we may be the, we will always be relevant crew, but there that on stage will be remembered for decades.
00:39:11
Speaker
Mick G immediately wanted to produce their debut album, but was concerned that the fact that they dressed up as John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, the Unabomber, and Charles Manson was too niche for the mainstream. Nicole Eggert also came along.
00:39:23
Speaker
Before they could record though, the name was a sticking point. There were already 68 groups named Trinky Dinks active in Southern California alone, and it was considered crude to add one more. So they went to their backup, to name themselves after a pugilist of the utmost rapport, a boxer with renown and prestige, someone to aspire to be and whose neon name they wanted to emulate.
00:39:44
Speaker
the Markie of Queen Sugar Ray. The debut album was the soulful smooth jazz sounds of the class act Lemonade and Brownies that had no double entendre whatsoever, just about their favorite foods to stop, so stop asking.
00:40:00
Speaker
It matched the band's penchant for classical motifs with the burgeoning soft jazz and adult contemporary movement of the early 90s. It was only improved by Mick G's subtle production techniques. It was a smash hit eclipsing Michael Bolton's time, love, and tenderness thanks to its seductive lead in single Mean Machine. Let's listen to Lemonade and Brownies by Sugar Ray.
00:40:32
Speaker
fucking hard as fuck and for jazz cats these guys can riff but all jokes aside this is a this is a time man it's not that bad yeah not bad at all not that bad they were playing hockey in the music video from what I recall that's true yeah
00:40:55
Speaker
And they did that thing in the music video where, like, the drummer does, like, a snare roll, but, like, the snare drum is filled with milk. Yeah. So just, like, yeah. I'm surprised they didn't fill a drum in me. Is this true? Right? Yeah, I'm 100%. Yeah. The video is, like, them in a hockey rink. This is good. I feel like...
00:41:20
Speaker
Mark McGrath could rip a sweet punk band. Yeah. It's called Sugar Ray. That's true. There's definitely moments on this record that I was like, all right, you know.
00:41:35
Speaker
Maybe early sugary gets too much flak. I've been listening to a lot of New Metal this year, not ironically. I actually lit Biscuit Bang. No, New Metal's good. Are you getting into Spirit Box and all those cats, those new New Metal bands? Yeah, kind of. There's actually this band from Canada called Flashback.
00:41:57
Speaker
who I've been really fucking with. They rule. We have a huge, like in Vancouver or like BC, there's like a huge new, new metal band, whatever you call it, second wave new metal. Yeah, they got a whole, they got a whole like a bunch of people there who are like eight string guitars, amp, like computer amp sims. Let's just make the heaviest shit we can possibly make. That's like, that's Vancouver's metal scene right now. Yeah, it's wild.
00:42:26
Speaker
drop C tuning, drop C like drop a nine strings, bitch, you know, Eichler's was doing the Dio thing with the metal sign. Yeah. So nine strings, bitch. Yeah. Uh, let's talk about lemonade and brownies. Uh, yeah. You know what? For a
00:42:45
Speaker
It is a nice balance. It is kind of sweet on sweet, but I think the tartness of lemonade really balances out sweetness of brownies. Cuts the chocolate in this area. It's a good combo. Yeah, let's talk about it. It's a good dessert.
00:43:00
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like, T-time. It's T-time. I thought it was really tasty how they named their debut album Piss and Shit. I think that rules. Yeah, I guess. And it was put out on Atlantic. And it was produced by a music video director. Okay, this record. It's not bad.
00:43:23
Speaker
I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Honestly liked it way more than I thought I was going to. The song Danzig needs a hug.
00:43:35
Speaker
It's so like I went in I was like this is this is gonna be the hit on the record look at this name and then you know in It's just they don't touch on it at all spoiler alert I was I was listening to it again this morning and I realized the only reason I like it is because it reminds me of a song from Homestar Runner and
00:43:56
Speaker
There's a strong bad email bit where he's doing, strong bad, bottom 10. And one of the things in his bottom 10 is songs that use na-na, shoe shoes, and dupe-dos instead of actual lyrics. And he talks about this limousine song, feed the childrens. And the chorus is na-na, na-na-na, hey, hey, do, do. And it's almost exactly like the chorus of dancing needs a hug. And I was like, holy shit, this is just the Homestar Runner song. This is crazy.
00:44:23
Speaker
do you remember poot slap it's also a uh homestar runner song and i'm like i try to talk about it often but like it goes like poot slap poot slap dong with that dong round two what's next
00:44:38
Speaker
Don't don't don't go round and all together with that dong dong with that dong boot slap boot slap. It's really good. Sounds like boot doggy doggy doggy. I don't know. I don't really
00:44:54
Speaker
I don't really appreciate how we're just skipping over Ike's like absolutely pitch perfect yeah strong bad we did yeah absolutely impressive excellent I mean Ike is homestar though so homestar hangs around strong bad you know the Wong bad yeah a gmail um homestar yeah the witches I'm more of a homestar
00:45:21
Speaker
Actually a more teen girl squad. Teen girl squad! I have a crush on every boy! We're just doing home stars. Yeah, we're just home stars. Home star, the Scott Cats. Alright, what else is on here? There's a bit. They do a bit on this album. That's fun. So they like bits. Two minute comedy skit.
00:45:41
Speaker
Oh, the drive by. Yeah. Oh, yes. Right. Yeah. That's what I did not. That did not come on. Oh, that's fine. Here's a fun fact. Come on, playlist. I don't remember. This is definitely not on whatever was on Spotify, but they do a cover of White Minority, the Black Flag song that's on the Japanese. What? Wow. That's bananas. No, I'm not looking at it right now. And it's that good. No, I would love to know.
00:46:11
Speaker
Like. Sounds good. Listen and tell us. Tell us. Did Sugar Ray nail it? But yeah, speaking of Limb Biscuit, DJ Lethal does all the scratches. He's the guy. Oh, really? This is before they got their they got their own DJ. Well, so DJ Lethal was also in House of Pain. Yes. That's a fun fact. Right. So he. Yeah, this is before Sugar Ray got their DJ. That will come up in the future. I appreciated.
00:46:39
Speaker
And I think the first two records are kind of like this anyways, it's mixture of like, there'll be like two rock songs and then there will be like, uh,
00:46:50
Speaker
like a P-Funk interlude for like two minutes. And those are the two styles of songs that they do. They do like weird new medley punk songs on these records and then every now and then just like something you might hear in an interlude on like a Dr. Dre record or something. It's really weird.
00:47:11
Speaker
they uh i i do think that mark's like metal voice is not grating like you know when he's being all metal yeah like i find it not annoying in the way that like huba stank when they do like a metal song is like annoying yes you know what i'm saying
00:47:26
Speaker
who boosting yeah um yeah i don't know it's it is worth a listen let's be honest like at its at its worst it feels a little bit like the limp biscuit we have at home but yeah
00:47:43
Speaker
But I feel like there's more redeeming redeeming qualities like like I will stay lyrically just like singing songs about cars and Basically, that's it. Like yeah, that's really fucking yeah, but it sounds not bad at all. Really? Yeah, they just love cars like I'm sorry if people like everyone's allowed to like what they like But it's like Fu Manchu like there's a boring Manchu love songs about cars
00:48:06
Speaker
I was going to say there's definitely a couple of songs on this album that veer into Fu Man Chu territory for sure. If they're talking about F1, okay. I'll listen. No, I think he's talking about his car. Yeah, I don't care about your... You're like, you know what? Songs about hot rods broke. Songs about F1 woke me up. Or it'd be funny if it was about a Toyota Yaris.
00:48:33
Speaker
We need more Yaris Rock. Yaris Hilton. Yaris Hilton. That's crazy. It's not original. That was the Mighty Car Mods name. Yeah, man. I was going to say DRB changing my stage name. But listen to this one. I had a Honda Fit. Honda Fitney Steers. Jane Honda, but also Honda Fitney Steers. It's not Fitney Spears. It's a hat on a hat on a hat. Fitney Steers. Yeah. Anyways, Honda Fitney Steers. That is original.
00:49:02
Speaker
Well, actually my mom misheard me because it was fitney spears and she was like fitney steers and I was like, yes.
00:49:17
Speaker
It's way better than a mom punch down. Way better. If there's anything about my mom, I know she punches that. She's like George Carlin. The massive success of the album woke up Mark's superstar persona. He cleaned up his clown makeup and decided that he needed to lean in on the thing that was going to make... I did say it was dressed as John Wayne Gates. Okay. Decided that he needed to lean in on the one thing that was going to make him famous, academia.
00:49:45
Speaker
Sorry, one second. I forgot that I did this. Okay. Mark spent much of 1996 attending the University of Gottingen and getting his PhD in theoretical physics. He then began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where he began flirting with the Communist Party. It was there that he was approached by the US military to do experiments and develop a weapon to counter its enemies.
00:50:08
Speaker
He gathered a team of super scientists and succeeded in developing a massive nuclear weapon. While grappling with the cost of what he had done, he is then thrust into an ugly court battle that sees his name dragged through the mud but ultimately is victorious thanks to the help of his friends and colleagues. In 1997, Sugar Ray recruited a new full-time turntableist, Craig Bullock.
00:50:29
Speaker
On the day of record, Craig showed up with a shirt covered in blood, a tattered copy of Catcher in the Rye, and took on the name DJ Homicide. Years later, Craig would be hauled off to prison for premeditating a hit and run, with Mark quoted as saying- Bad dude, bad dude. Mark was quoted as saying, the signs just weren't there.
00:50:49
Speaker
The album recorded was floored, produced by underground producer David Kane who would produce their future albums, who's known for producing such cult classic groups such as Tony Bennett, Kelly Clarkson, and Paul McCartney.
00:51:01
Speaker
It features the band at their most collegiate, owing to Mark's time in university, but the world was just not ready for progressive elements. It does feature out deep album cuts that fans call criminally underplayed like this one. Number three. What it is. All nice and decent slip of the curl. This is a cat and sugary ride. Hey, light it up. Toasting so much toasting.
00:51:29
Speaker
Alright let's talk about it, Floyd. This is the one, right? This is the one. I got this album when it came out. I don't know dude. When I say it's the one I mean it's the one people
Sugar Ray's Hits on Big Shiny Tunes
00:51:40
Speaker
know. I got this album when it came out and when I was listening to it this week I was like
00:51:47
Speaker
Why is the human brain wired in such a way that I remember 90% of the lyrics from an album that I last listened to in 1990? No way. But I still know so many of them. It's giving sublime. The rest of the album. So I was listening to...
00:52:04
Speaker
The beginning of this discography at my desk at work, and my boss was like, boy, what I got really just came out and ruined an entire generation of bands. And I was like, yeah. Hacky sax aplenty. So I love that this song is on the record twice.
00:52:24
Speaker
Yeah. In case like the Supercat bit was too much for people, they put like the non-Supercat version last on the record. At the end. At the end. If you tell Google to play Sugar Ray, which is what I did all week at work, apologies to my co-workers and clients, but this came on just like over and over and over and over. Now, be honest. Gets better the more you listen to it.
00:52:46
Speaker
uh well it got more like it definitely became background music at some point it is how it is so um grocery store yeah what do we got what do we got for numbers on that song oh that's a good one spotify streams how many how many times it's in the top five uh one 139 139 million 139 it seems low people want to fly yeah that's too much
00:53:12
Speaker
You know what though? Here in Canada, in the late 90s, we were served up from the powers that be a compilation record every year called Big Shiny Tunes. And everyone had this compilation.
00:53:31
Speaker
everyone had it and it was basically just like a comp of like all of the fucking hits of the hits of like alt rock basically there's some popular stuff because there's much dance and there's big shiny tunes much dance had all the dance songs big shiny tunes had all the rock songs yeah and big shiny tunes too had this song it had song two by blur
00:53:51
Speaker
i had a whole bunch of other songs yeah but that because of that i think in canada fly has probably more like spins than most places everyone knows this song here yeah period yeah it might as well be steal my sunshine i am like i know which i feel like i always get
00:54:11
Speaker
It does want to be. You know who's a big fan of Len, and she'll be editing this podcast. My lovely wife, Arianne. Yeah, big Len fan. This is really creepy, but I did Google Mark McGrath young. Okay. I've been staring at the Google image page of Mark McGrath images the entire time we've been recording. The entire time. I just started. He looks better with dark hair. He didn't ask. Yeah, I don't know why he frosted so hard.
00:54:38
Speaker
Yeah, I don't like the darker looks great. Whoa, he's dated some hotties. He did well. Yeah, I don't know. OK, I found one bad picture of him, which I feel bad about, but. Yes, I was going on there and there's a little flea energy going on in that picture. Joey, a little bit like he kind of looks like.
00:55:03
Speaker
The guy from it. I mean, this is pretty body shaming. Wait, are you talking about the one where he's in the water wearing the checkered shorts? No, but I want to see that one.
00:55:16
Speaker
So, I mean, I guess we'll learn more about him. Oh, no. Here's a picture of vanilla ice. He's got a lot of work done now. This is a fun tangent, but I just purchased a bass guitar this week because it's cheap. And I went into that thing and I don't know about other people, but each guitar that I own needs to have its own strap. So I was looking at a strap and they also had straps for sale.
00:55:37
Speaker
And one of the straps that were for sale was a checkered strap, right? And I was like, ooh, I could get the on sale, like ska strap. I said, this is the guy, the guy was like, Oh, you don't like ska? And I was like, no, I do a podcast about ska. And he was like, uh, okay. My brother in Christ, I live ska. You don't understand.
00:56:03
Speaker
Yeah. You asked the wrong person that question. Yeah, exactly. I don't hate his tattoos.
00:56:10
Speaker
He's got the swallows on his shoulders. It's cute. Those are classic. Those are totally cute. That's what I was saying. And little praying hands, like pretty classic. Nautical star. He's got a nautical star for sure, right? He did get the feather and Botox got away from him for sure, which is always a good reminder. Kate's got an animator. You've got to do it. Well, I mean, like objectively. Kate, young, like 12, young, dark hair, like with the dark.
00:56:37
Speaker
Well, get out of here. That's out of control. That's objectively a very good looking person. He's hitting us with the blue steel there. For sure. The idea that he'd be born looking that way and he wouldn't be a millionaire. Yeah, that's just someone who would be famous regardless, like Pam Anderson style, where it's just like you look at them and you're like, you will have a job. Just looking nice. Yeah, looking nice.
00:57:01
Speaker
That's what my boss said too. When I was just berating him with Sugar Ray for an entire work day. He's like, this dude was too handsome not to be famous. And I was like, yeah. Yeah, just straight up. Despite what he chose to do to himself. Yeah, that's real. The sexy list. Mark McGrath, Aaliyah Ashurnelli for Taro Alicia Keys and Paul Walker. Whoa, was that lug yesterday?
00:57:23
Speaker
Can you play RPM? Because we need to keep playing songs about cars. So now we're about at a six or five for Mark. This is literally one of two songs on the record I liked. This song started playing and it got past the first couple of words. And I was like, oh yeah, I do know all the words to the song. I was singing along to it in my car. This bit where it's like the accelerator and the slide on the guitar. That's a wild choice.
00:57:51
Speaker
Man, I'm sure they just thought they were so smart. This doesn't go very hard. I love that the record starts with like the 311-esque chill, but it's, ah, ew! That rules. I'm not into the way he's, I'm not not into the way he's singing. This is doing something. He will let you down. He will. He says so.
00:58:19
Speaker
This is a leaning, a little. It's like monster magnetic. No. So good. Sorry, what was that? She said monster. Monster magnetic. Monster magnetic was acoustic guitars, though. Just a point.
00:58:34
Speaker
This part is so dumb. This isn't so good. That's dumb. It goes a little hard, but it was- Rock music with cool little tricks on turntables were the thing, all right? I would argue that it's a classic sound.
00:59:01
Speaker
You don't even need real noises. You just scratch them and they become fun noises. That's it. Um, the first time I heard this record, I'm sorry. I just remembered this. I was actually on a boat, which I feel like is the most appropriate thing. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
00:59:15
Speaker
I was. Were you on a dolphin too? No. I was on a lonely island. I was on my friend's dad's boat and we were going boating. I was a teenager and he's like, dude, you got to check out this record. Sugar Ray used to be a rock band.
00:59:34
Speaker
Yeah. And I just remember, like, even back then, I was like holding onto the inner tube. He's blasting sugary. And I was like, this isn't great. But that is the right con. If you can enjoy it in that contract, then you can enjoy it at all. Yeah. I was fucking wakeboarding. I had my Oakley's on. Sugar Ray was blasting. Yeah. It was freshly frosted. It was all start. Wishing it was all start. Wishing it was all start. Wishing it was all start. Wishing it was all start. Wishing it was all start. Wishing it was all start.
01:00:03
Speaker
What other thoughts do you have on Floyd, Ike? What songs do you like and what songs don't you like? I liked RPM, I guess I like Fly, and I like the American Pig. I like the songs that sound like Limp Bizkit reject songs. I feel like, I can't believe I'm saying this, Lemonade and Brownies started out on high and then I feel like they lost the plot for this record.
01:00:29
Speaker
I feel like this record sucks compared to Lemonade and Brownie's. Their record's so much better.
01:00:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's like it's kind of tougher. It's faster. It's like a little bit more like that. Don't give a fuck. I think they gave too many fucks on this one. I think that's the problem. Trying that cover on this album is bonkers. It's so it's like a liver. It's like so weird, but it's so great. Oh, I thought you meant like the album artwork, which I thought you meant. Yeah, I'm also saying like pen and pixel like but for Southern California. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And why is he being like a karate guy?
01:01:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You might as well have bears with money. It might as well be the same thing. But no, that weird stand and deliver song is a cover on this album. Adam and the Ants, right? Yeah, yeah. And it's a very weird- And Adam and the Ants is a legit punk rock. Yeah, right? Yeah, again, and they did a
01:01:22
Speaker
So they've cut, like they get, like they seem to listen to good music. They have the right taste. Yeah. Yeah. There's no problem with their taste. It's just the delivery. There are, I was pleasantly surprised that there was some edgy, edgy tunes, some new metal creeping in at work. It says here in the same two week period, Insane Clown, Posse, Limp Biskin, Smash Mouth all released their biggest records.
01:01:49
Speaker
Wow. Wow. What year is that? Because now we know it's the 97, the golden age of music, all music. The summer of Scott also had that was also the summer of new metal. I'm holding on to the ICP. That's the connection. Just ICP in general, like it came out to the world. Oh, because if it's a great Milenko, then we're fucking talking. You know what I'm saying? If we're talking great, Milenko came out. I think it was. Yeah. Great Milenko.
01:02:18
Speaker
Where my chuckle was at? All right, on to the next thing. Yeah, 97 Great Malenko. Oh, fucking yes. Oh, smokes. You know I can pull that. My friend had a Blacklight poster of that. That cover's sick, too. I can't wait till we get to the ICP episode. I know. It's coming next year. 1998 saw the band at their lowest.
01:02:40
Speaker
They couldn't get their song airtime. Mark McGrath was being turned down for media appearances and they're being threatened to be dropped by their fans. He wasn't on TV at all, which was really weird. It was very weird. I've never saw him on TV ever after that. That's why he got all that work done. Yeah. So they could get back on TV. Right.
01:02:56
Speaker
Mark in a fit of depression got super into numerology. The man often couldn't find him for days at a time and he would return to shoveled with a long beard unbathed in his hair its natural color. Finally, he uncovered what he dubbed the ultimate secret. Quote, quote, there are 10 fingers, but two are thumbs.
01:03:13
Speaker
Ten minus two is eight, which is pronounced the same as eight or two. Two sounds like two. There are two ears and two eyes. Two plus two is four. There are four members in our band. Quiet DJ Homicide, I'm on a roll here. Four, four. Four is French for oven. A microwave is also an oven. Microwaves have popcorn settings, which is two minutes 30 seconds. That's 150 seconds. One tenth is the first tithe in the Bible. One tenth of 150 is 15. 15. 15 is everything, man. It's biblical.
01:03:42
Speaker
The album they recorded after this revelation was 1459 in 1999 due to a one second margin of error in Mark's calculations. It features choral arrangements, significant pipe organ, and sung entirely in Latin. While it was seen as unwise to go all the way to worship music, it was a monster smash hit and made the band $21 million, which is the GDP of the Vatican. Yeah, I was like, that's a specific number. And Mark said this about the album. See?
01:04:09
Speaker
See? Here we go. Every morning. Let's listen. Okay. Let's talk about this one. Another classic. So this is, they were just like, you know what? I'm hanging with my friends. I will say, if I was Sugar Ray and Fly was this like unexpected, gigantic hit that just took over life, I also would just say double down on that shit. Oh yeah. Oh, for sure. Not the wrong new hat. Yeah, keep doing that. Yeah.
01:04:40
Speaker
I do like the intentional misdirection with the intro track before going into this one, though. Yeah, it's like opening up with a thrash metal instrumental. It's like, oh, that's cute. And then they go into just fun beachy shit. Yeah, they're just like full on twangy Beach Boys music, like just right in right in there. He can sing. Yeah, like he can.
01:05:09
Speaker
Do you think he's a good singer? Do you think the DJ Homicide and the drummer just like rock, paper, scissors for who are going to play drums on songs like this? This is nice. Raising. Shut the door, baby. He's so good. So good.
01:05:35
Speaker
This song, I feel like, hold up. Like, I was surprised how good this song was. Because I've never just put it on and listened to it. Yeah, the song doesn't... Yeah, I thought I was going to fly the most, but this is the... This is kind of the hit.
01:05:52
Speaker
And that's like, we used to get these samplers at Sunshine Video Music Station where I worked when I was a child. And I remember these songs. And they would have like these particular Sugar Ray songs we're listening to next. And so they're just like locked in my memory now. Almost like, I don't even know if I have an opinion on it. Just like, oh, these are just songs that are always living in my head rent free, just constantly.
01:06:20
Speaker
Uh, truly a grocery store banger. Yeah. Yeah. Talk to me about 14 59 because it's one second off of 15 minutes of fame. Just, that's what the joke is. I get it. Oh, I like the album cover. There's a dog on a diving board. That's adorable. Big fan. Um, they're good. They're good at album art.
01:06:40
Speaker
Duh-huh. They're making choices. They're definitely making choices. Huge, huge. Decisions even. Yeah. First and last decisions. Honestly, I like all the beachy songs. I feel like Live and Direct with KRS1 is amiss. I think they just heard Sublime do that song about KRS1 where they sampled KRS1 and they were like, let's get KRS1 to do some ad libs and not even do a verse.
01:07:09
Speaker
I will say, the professor needs to fucking not do features. Like, KRS-1 rules, but man, can you just like features on a song and you're like, whoa. Step back, sneeze more BDP. So true. Anyway, sorry. I like old hip-hop. Fair. So yeah, what else do you think about it? I think you probably put some time on this one. This is actually the record that I didn't play more than once.
01:07:38
Speaker
Really? Yeah. Just one and done. Every morning, got it. Someday got it. And then what's the other one? Even though, yeah. Those three songs are like the Sugar Ray sound. Everything else I thought I liked falls apart just because like, oh, it's kind of like an indie rock song and nah.
01:07:56
Speaker
That was a good, that was a single too, right? Wasn't it? They had four singles on this. I can't remember. Four singles? Yeah, Sugar Ray in 99. You don't think they're getting four singles? No, not with the history that we just learned. There was probably a dozen tracks on the album, so like a third of the album came out as singles. The song Glory was used in American Pie. Of course it was. We should listen to Someday. I remember this song. Here we go. Falls Apart was a single.
01:08:26
Speaker
I didn't yet realize they had as much. I like a break. Yeah. This is a bag or two though. As much as Joey and I have our opinions about slow and grandpa guitars, I feel like- If you put a record backbeat behind it though, it's fine. Yeah.
01:08:51
Speaker
I do like that little move. Again, Sublime really made a move. I don't know if I drew the line between Sugar Ray and Sublime as strongly as I'm seeing it now. You know what I mean? There really is a lot of parallel things happening.
01:09:14
Speaker
I like this song. Yeah. This song's a jam, man. Yeah. And then this part coming up.
DJ Homicide and Mark McGrath's New Directions
01:09:21
Speaker
Yeah. We're just like, steps away from the mic. So good. So good. Sing in the other room, you know what I mean? Don't sing in this room. Sing in the other room. Sing in the other room. Just the subtlest little scratches, just a tuk-tuk-tuk.
01:09:41
Speaker
I wouldn't even call it a turntable ism. I just say like that's like some like a studio turntable is like the equivalent to like ghost notes on drums or something like that. Just like just in there a little bit to serve for some flavor. Yeah. DJ Homicide showing up for work. Dude, easiest job. Good job. All right. Let's take a break. I think we're, I think we're ready for a break. We're really getting in it. Yeah. And then we'll get back and we'll talk some more of Sugar Ray.
01:10:20
Speaker
Welcome back to Checkered Past, we're here with Ike talking Sugar Ray, and after the album 1459, Mark sought serious help and got much needed conversational therapy. He cut his hair, re-frosted his tips, and decided to get into the lucrative world of international hospitality. He always loved the Philippines and decided to start an open-air cruise.
01:10:41
Speaker
He needed a hook, so the entire staff was dressed in ape costumes, and they served nothing but tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and nachos. The time away also allowed Mark to get into more difficult music. Wanting to shy away from the clean coral effects of the previous album, he began listening to Death, Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death, and Cannibal Corpse, and wanted his next album to reflect his new interests. That album was 2001's Sugar Ray, a brutal, nihilistic, and devastating wall of sound of C-Tune guitar's bone-rattling bass and faster-than-light drumming.
01:11:12
Speaker
Mark's vocals and lyrics were equally brutal and shocked the world as they saw him as a clean-cut scientist up to this point, and were blown away by his new persona, especially on stage where he spat blood, wrapped himself in barbed wire, and slung curses at the crowd. Let's talk about the self-titled Sugar Ray with this classic death metal song. You can hear it.
01:11:40
Speaker
Anyway, I really really like how they like where they put the eighth string in the mix on this one. You really get those gent overtones. Yeah. It's cool that they use the double kick. Blast beats.
01:11:57
Speaker
Not bad! Not bad! Okay! I might be like, this might be my number one. What you were saying about the singles from the last record living in your head, this is that song for me.
01:12:19
Speaker
Oh, this one. This song has been in my head since I was like nine years old. This is a pretty perfect pop song. Yeah, I agree. Totally. Yeah. Oh, that also- Fucking banger. Missing you. Yeah. Oh my god. The harmonies. His harmonies are good. He's a good singer. Yeah. He's also singing right down the middle. Yeah. Hey, that's where I like to be.
01:12:48
Speaker
Listen, Manny, he just was like the key of C. Yeah. That's what four people see, man. Who's saying you got to break stuff? There was a third in there. He brought it to a third in some of those harmonies. Brought it to a third. Yeah, I just learned these terms a week ago. That's how you make harmony. But then they did tell me those are the two most important ones. That's real. That's real. That's what that band is called. Fifth Army is the second most important one.
01:13:16
Speaker
So let's talk about this record a little bit more. Nick Hexum shows up. I keep wanting you to put that song back on. I keep being like, where'd it go? I want to listen to it again. Is the song with Nick Hexum the first Sugar Ray ska song in the discography? Pretty much. The most ska they've gotten so far?
01:13:35
Speaker
pretty much or maybe even the only right stay on well no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
01:14:00
Speaker
No Peanut though. That's the only unfortunate thing. That is an unfortunate thing. This record has Answer the Phone. That's a fun song. Oh, I love that song. Oh my God. I like that song too. I almost put that one on, but I was like, but when it's over, man, what a classic. When it's over is the hit. Answer the Phone is the people's song from that record. It's real street level. A lot of people didn't realize it was written about the Scream franchise.
01:14:30
Speaker
Nice. That would have been contemporary of this. You know, it's a good joke. You have to like lightly apologize. Well, I do it all the time as well when you have to lightly apologize. It is a good one. I'm sorry that you guys didn't find it as funny. Yeah, you heard sorry. Yeah, that was a real sorry. I apologize. You keep being Canadian. I don't know. 1459 Sugar Ray self-titled. Pretty good. Really good. I think I think it's better than 1459. Not bad.
01:15:00
Speaker
I like more songs than not on this record.
01:15:05
Speaker
Yeah, I would say honestly do as well. I would say 1459 was not the last second of their 15 minutes of fame. Yeah. Oh, the irony. What's going on? Yeah. He's got all this birthday birthday juju happening. I'm still on island time. Yeah, you're on island time. But I think that I think in 2001, the the big song that Sugar Ray is most known for is like the hidden track on the album. Like we should listen to that.
01:15:36
Speaker
I hate Robert. I hate him. God, they were so real for releasing this one. You could have put a hidden track. Actual song. I could have. But it was 2001. So if I have to talk about this year... It's been a while since we've been caked. It's been a while since we've been caked. It'll catch on with Rick rolling.
Hypothetical Scenarios and Political Themes
01:16:23
Speaker
Honestly, Mark McGrath would body those vocals.
01:16:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The vocals are the only thing keeping me from liking Cake. If Mark McGrath was singing instead of Mr. Cake, I'm in. Mr. Cake. I think that's his name. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mark McGrath, Sugar Ray should cover.
01:16:49
Speaker
cake. It would go hard. You should just do an album. Yeah. Let's look it up and see if they've done it. Sugar. No. You should definitely cover a cake like if they're, um, you know, at a, at a. The baking competition. You don't want to get flies in it, you know? Important. Can you like speed up that those gaps area? Shorten the pauses, please.
01:17:19
Speaker
All right, the album was another massive success, showing that their brief slump in the 90s was only a minor setback for their ever-evolving brilliance. Mark had moved past his business as a restaurateur to pursue his next favorite pastime, acting. He earned a Tony Award for his book lyrics for his one-man show, Mark My Words, that the New York Times called dramatic, poignant, and maybe just a little bit horny. For some reason, this time I was like, oh, I didn't know he had a one-man show.
01:18:06
Speaker
The New York Times called the dramatic poignant and maybe just a little bit horny. It's everything you want from someone who just recently closed down his floating restaurant.
01:18:15
Speaker
The next album was 2003's In Pursuit of Leisure that harkened back to the old west and the outlaw country of a bygone era, where people were not afraid to call it as they saw it and take shots at those in power on behalf of the farmers, the laborers, and the workers of the world. It was deeply political and is often cited as a Bush era call to arms and one of the most fiercely topical albums of its time. Let's listen to Mr. Bartender. Oh no. This is the one you picked?
01:18:43
Speaker
It's the single. Really? Oh no. My man. It's the single. What a crazy song, right? It's usually me saying that to Rob. Always upset with the pegs. It's so easy to rock it all night, guys. So easy. It's all right. This is just so cool. And we're going to talk about tasteful covers. They have Jimmy Joe Jackson cover on this as well.
01:19:06
Speaker
I actually remember hearing that on the radio, like, back then, and that's how I heard about the Joe Jackson songs, despite my mom being, like, a huge Joe Jackson fan. Oh, Joe Jackson can rule. It's really going out with him. Really? Yeah. And Look Sharp, that album, is awesome. It's so sick. That's an awesome Joe Jackson album. Yeah. They're covered. That song's really good. I like it a lot. Their covers are good. Yeah. And they're, like, legit, like, good choices.
01:19:35
Speaker
I have to say, this song is some background music. Yeah, this is all just so fucking boy bandy. Oh, so this album is really leaning in on... Just we're a boy band. It's 2003. Yeah.
01:19:52
Speaker
And Sugar Ray is, at this point, doing reality shows. Probably the record execs were probably like, hey, this is what's selling. I don't know if by this time he had done his stint on, was it, I'm trying to remember what reality show he was on.
01:20:09
Speaker
It was right at the top. Well, yeah, he was on Celebrity Big Brother, but I like he was American Idol. I believe he was like a guest judge on for like a season. Oh, yeah, he was. Yeah, I do. Yeah. Like he was in the mid aughts. He was like he was like a reality show guy. Yeah, for sure.
01:20:27
Speaker
Like to the point where he was more pop like kind of like Randy Jackson or whoever like almost more popular as like a like a talking head on those shows than he was as a musician. Right. Yeah. Which is wild to think about. What do you think about this record in pursuit of leisure? Honestly, love love the name. Genius hits the hits in the right on the head.
01:20:49
Speaker
Relatable, relatable content. They're on a beach like on this dress as Mariachi musicians. Yeah. Yeah. For some reason. Yeah. Why? Because they're pursuing leisure. Leisure, I guess. Everyone knows that Mariachi is the height of leisure. Yeah, I guess it seems their music seems hard to do. When I hear Mariachi music, I'm chilling. Yeah, that's true. Straight up. They got shaggy on a song. That's crazy. Really? That's fun.
01:21:18
Speaker
Was he slipping to curl? What? Well, he says that, I don't know, it's one of the many things he says.
Shaggy's Career and Sugar Ray's Experimentation
01:21:26
Speaker
Like, in 2003, what was Shaggy's career looking like? Like, no fancy. I feel like good. That wasn't me long after it wasn't me came out, right?
01:21:40
Speaker
Three years, but it was still a hit at that time. Like three years on the radio in the 2000s was like... The culture didn't move that fast. Hey Sexy Lady was his big single at that point. I like your flow, your body's bringing... Oh, shit. There's a song like the second to last song in this record, In Through the Doggy Door.
01:22:02
Speaker
What a song name. I spent like deadass, spent a half an hour after hearing it on the computer, trying to figure out if Rivers Cuomo co-wrote it. Just because it sounds like a fucking Weezer song. Oh yeah. Oh, it's so Weezer. And no, no promo. No, Cuomo. No, Cuomo. No, Cuomo. I think the Sugar Ray is, you know, no, Cuomo. No, Cuomo. No, Cuomo. No, Cuomo. Yeah, no, Cuomo. Many Rivers to cross, but no, Cuomo. No, Cuomo.
01:22:32
Speaker
I have respiratory illness and it's making me wheeze or no coma. Oh my god. That's fun, actually. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah. Did I? I felt like I was just like piecing it together. But like not that long. Beautiful. Masterpiece. It's all hits with you today, Rob. Yeah, you're on you're on a roll. You're the Mark McGrath of podcast bits.
01:22:57
Speaker
Do that. Fucking finally. You're the, um, you're the Ashley O of podcasts because Ashley O sang on a mirror and that's from, uh, on a roll and, uh, it's a black movie. I was going to say with Sugar Ray, the band, like, you know, I, we don't talk about the other bands that they play instruments. Um, they're kind of like weird Al's band where, you know, like weird Al's band can play anything.
01:23:22
Speaker
Yes. I think Sugar Ray's band can just play anything. They're just like, what's popular? Let's just play that. And then they can just do it really well and just like... Maybe it's the same band. Maybe like John Bermuda Schwartz or whatever it is. They're playing guitar. Bermuda Schwartz gets around.
01:23:39
Speaker
Yeah, right? Yeah. Weird Al's not touring all the time. I mean, Bermuda Schwartz has got to play for the other guys. Weird Al kinda is touring all the time. Yeah, he does tour a lot. He does like 200 dates at once. God, he's so busy. Plus, like, there's nothing more sugar ray than having a member named Bermuda Schwartz for being real.
01:23:54
Speaker
I love that so much. Yeah, we're talking. Listeners, if you got it in a weird out, we've got to get them on here. Help us out. Help us out. Oh, God, imagine next level. All right. That's the dream. Then Mark crafted a TV show for Nickelodeon in the spirit of Bill Nye to bring his love of science to children. He earned a daytime Emmy for his program, The Van McGrath Generator that Vulture said.
01:24:21
Speaker
You know what this show has? Heart. I hope it stays afloat longer than his restaurant. After six seasons and a movie, their next album was 2009's Music for Cougars that featured found sound recordings of rabbits, geese, and prairie dogs layered over minimalist beats in order to answer the question, what if we made Music for Cougars? It was audacious, experimental, and yeah, so Sugar Ray. So let's play Boardwalk.
01:24:51
Speaker
Yeah, music for Cougars. Honestly- I bet predatory cats love this shit. Yeah. Big cats, big fans. Sugar Ray. Now, Rivers Cuomo is on this one. Wait, really? For realsies? Yeah. Yes, Cuomo? Yes, Cuomo? Yes, Cuomo? Yes, Cuomo? He wrote- He got Cuomo? Yeah. Love is the answer, co-wrote by Rivers Cuomo. Are you fucking serious? I am.
01:25:20
Speaker
This is like Rob I have to pull the bit aside, but yes, yes Yes, cool. Yes cool. Yes cool. That is yes bananas. Love is the end. Oh my god
01:25:32
Speaker
Maybe he heard that other song and he's like, I gotta get on that. He's like, they get it. They get it. They get it. That's what I was thinking. I was like, well, he must have heard the song and been like, all right, what's up? Why didn't you guys call me? Let's do the next one. Let's do it.
01:25:51
Speaker
makes, makes choices and decisions to quote Eichler's. Yeah. That's real. That boggle the mind. And I think co-writing and featuring on a Sugar Ray, why not? Not just any Sugar Ray record.
01:26:07
Speaker
Music for Cougars. Dear Marky, I want you to write a song with me. You know, that's the letter you wrote him. Dear Marky. Dear Marky. Dear Marky, I write you. Dear Marky, I write you. Let's talk about Music for Cougars. They really understand their audience in 2009. What do you think about this record?
01:26:32
Speaker
It's like it's it's giving her to Sean Kingston song once and a lot of the tracks Or no somewhere else in Ontario Joey it finally happened
01:26:55
Speaker
you got a good one thank you uh anyway continue let's see there's there's ska there's autotune this this record and am i cougars is this music for me am i am i cougars i was
01:27:15
Speaker
I was shocked at the high level of auto-tune on this record. It's so sick. It's wild. Yeah, I think Mark McGrath- It's 2009, right? Yeah. Well, in 2009, that was like T-Pain was- Yeah, I was going to say T-Pain was at the top. Yeah, totally. What do you mean was? I mean- He won the Masked Singer. Big fan of T-Stream. He also won my heart and the eternal admiration, but that's different.
01:27:41
Speaker
I saw him live in San Francisco. Have you heard his new song about, uh, turbo cars that samples turbo cars for like a bunch of the beat? No, that sounds sick though. I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. It's this rad video too. It has a bunch of cars just drifting in circles and stuff. He has a giant gold, um, moon tonight from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. That's fine. Is one of his like, like bling that he has. He's also a huge racing sim nerd.
01:28:09
Speaker
Like his own like racing sim like like haptic feedback seat fucking like racing simulator thing in his house. You could like build houses and get Sims to like live together, but you can erase them too.
01:28:23
Speaker
You can. That's crazy. You put a hot dog on a table and then you like the lead a wall and you just let him go. That's how the Sims work. Sorry. Sorry. You're so apologetic today. I'm very apologetic today. I don't know why.
01:28:44
Speaker
You know what I love about The Sims? That I really enjoy the economy of The Sims because the highest paid job you can have is a rock musician. I just used to get so stressed out when they would get stressed out in the morning. It always bummed me out so much. Yeah, but real fuels. I know, too real. Too real. Too real. Too real.
01:29:09
Speaker
What other thoughts you got on music for Cougars, as a Cougar? As music for me, I am Cougars. I actually really like it. I like it more than I care to admit, but I will admit it, and I like it a lot. I think She's Got the Woohoo is a really good song title. As a feminist, I like She's Got the Woohoo. I gotta say, these are song titles. Girls Were Made to Love.
01:29:40
Speaker
Honestly, I really like that song. That came up while I was running this morning and I was like, okay. Love 101. Where are the cars? That's what I'm asking. They moved to Vespas, dude. Look at the record. Yeah, there's a Vespas. No, it's the album covers. I'm looking at them, which I don't like get, but I guess they were just popular. I did really want to Vespas in this era.
01:30:08
Speaker
Why just in that era? Well, actually, I was a passenger one on recently. It was very scary. I did not feel stable. Finally, Mark earned a coveted Oscar for best production for his hyper-realistic bed design in James Cameron's Avatar 5. The blue people fucking this one. In a medical review, the guardian said,
01:30:38
Speaker
In a middling review, The Guardian said, I wish I could sleep on Mark McGrath's meticulously designed 3D bed as this three and a half hour movie put me to sleep. Kind of like how McGrath is sleeping on his restaurant. At McGrath's acceptance speech, he was quoted as saying, I'm sick of people saying I don't have an eight base Mexican food themed restaurant on pontoons in the Philippines. There's still a gorilla tortilla flotilla in Manila.
01:31:01
Speaker
It was a short 10 year turnaround to record their next album, 2019's Little Yachty. A cover album to all rappers that are little, from Lil Wayne to Lil Uziil Vertical, to Lil Nasirati Xylophone, to Lil Dog Noises. It was an homage as much as an ode and the tracks were practically note for note copies. It again was met with critical acclaim. Lil John when he heard this cover was quoted as saying, yes, indeed.
01:31:30
Speaker
Let's listen to the song, Good Good Lovin'. Little Dog noises made a cameo earlier in this episode. Little Dog, yeah. That's real. That's real. So it's just a full on Ska Reggae album. Just a full on free weapon album. If you put this at five speeds, this could almost be an Eiklish jam.
01:32:02
Speaker
Yeah, okay, I was like this there's there's something it's giving it's giving Eichler's energy. Yeah Okay, first of all when I was looking to do the discography when we were talking about doing this band I was like I have to listen to like Current Sugar Ray Oh No, and then they thought that their most recent record is called Little Yachty and I was like, okay, let's fucking go. That's hilarious Hear this with your vocals, that'd be fun
01:32:30
Speaker
How fun with that I'm so fast and just like heartbeat Can I say little Yachty all jokes aside it's really good. It's a really good really good. It's fucking awesome It should not be like as it is
01:32:48
Speaker
I feel like because it was like a decade between the previous one, they didn't have to give a shit about like being the most current being sugar. Yeah. They're like sugar. Ray doesn't have to sound like a boy band. What year was this again? 2019. Huh? Wow. That's wild. Really good. Yeah. Yeah. It's like super solid. That's fun. Yeah.
01:33:13
Speaker
Joey, did you listen to it? This has Joey energy. This is coming from a post filler in Botox, Mark McGrath singing this. I'm impressed. His face was tighter, therefore his vocals are tighter. Yeah. That's all you need. Snatched face. Better music. It has a cover of the Pina Colada song. That's fine. What? Yeah. I can't believe I didn't make it this far. So just leaning into full yacht rock fantasy. Lil Yachty. More like Lil Yachty.
01:33:41
Speaker
Yeah. But yeah, that is literally what the album's name is. It's obviously a joke on Lil Yachty. But it's like we're like we're doing Yacht Rock. Yes. Yeah. But like more than Yacht Rock, it's like reggae. It's just like reggae. It's crazy. It's just reggae. Has Cool Chris heard this record? I was just thinking that. I'm worried because I'm going to text him right now. This also has late 311 energy, which he very much does not like.
01:34:08
Speaker
Right. Oh, so I might put him off. He might like, but the rest, maybe after the rest, maybe after the step, maybe after this, right. Yeah. Or like the whole, he'll come around, he'll come around or maybe he's already pumped. Maybe he just needed to hear the history of the band to really buy it. I actually think that getting the whole band history is really what, um, people are going to be like, okay, listen to the picture. Just really, really makes you root for our friend, Mark.
01:34:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He is my friend. The people's friend. After this episode. He's been through a lot. I really want him to get that restaurant happening. It's happening. He's always still happening. But how much energy? People just don't believe it's happening.
01:34:47
Speaker
Well, that's the problem. They keep saying it's closed, but he's saying no, it's still open. Okay. You seem skeptical, honestly. Okay. Okay. Rank the albums. Okay. Let's see if I can do it. Okay. Lil, I think Lil Yachty, number one. Whoa. Whoa. Fucking awesome. I just love hearing that they have a record called Lil Yachty. That will never not be funny. And it's number one. And it's good. Yeah. Two, self-titled. Interesting. Three.
01:35:14
Speaker
Lemonade and brownies, four, 1459, five, floored, I guess. Wow. And then the last two kind of like mixed up. I don't necessarily, Music for Cougars. Fly doesn't just wait on that. Music for Cougars, six, and then Pursuit of Leisure is just trash, seven. I don't like that one at all. We're going to get canceled based on that ranking. That's my ranking. Ix, do you have ranking? Ix, what's your ranking? Yeah. Let's see.
01:35:42
Speaker
Self-titled, music for Cougars, Little Yachty, Lemonade and Brownies, in the pursuit of leisure, floored, 1459.
Exploring Sugar Ray's Ska Influence
01:35:59
Speaker
Oh, wow. Okay, different.
01:36:02
Speaker
Different. Different. My brain isn't going to be smart enough to do that. So I feel like, Eichler, you did such important research for this episode. Yeah, you crushed it. What is their Skaes song? Oh, fuck. I feel like it might be closer from Music for Cougars.
01:36:26
Speaker
I feel like it has it has a one drop in it and it's pretty like up tempo. It's sort of like rock steady more than it is like reggae like a lot of Little Yachty is. Yeah.
01:36:40
Speaker
That might be it. I also might just be biased because I really, really like that song. It was for iKoodlers. iKoodlers. And then the Nick Hexum song. Oh yeah, I got more stuff. No, you got more stuff. I got another thing. I got an ending thing. Yeah. Okay. That brings us to the modern day. We all know Sugar Ray is this group that suffered a major blow in the mid-90s that eventually rose to multi-platinum success throughout the 2000s.
01:37:05
Speaker
with a constantly experimental sound that borders on outrageous. They never seem to sit still and are thirsty for the spotlight. Led by the larger than life scientist cum restaurateur cum thespian Mark McGrath who did
01:37:17
Speaker
who to this day has not earned the G to finish his EGOT, which I think is absolutely criminal. Maybe not as much as DJ Homicide's conviction, but a close second. And we leave you with this new track from the band, unreleased and waiting for their next experimental album that will clash genres once again. Shine a light on one of the singular talents of our generation. Will this be the one that finally gets him the G? Only time will tell.
01:37:48
Speaker
Damn, Sugar Ray rocks. Yeah. What I like about Sugar Ray is that they're always pushing the boundaries, right? Truly the, like, King Visor, Gizzard and the Wizard of Lizard. Man, you fucked that up so fast. Just roll with it. Oh, good. Yeah. Ain't nobody can keep track of all those zeros. That's their name now.
01:38:11
Speaker
I feel like more people need their own producer callouts in their own songs. It's the best. I love it when people do it. I view it as the modern equivalent of rappers saying their names the minute before they start their verses on features. Hell yeah. It's a hype thing. I think it's fun.
01:38:35
Speaker
I love it. Yeah, I sing along to every E-I-C-H-L-E-R-S. All of them, whatever happens. Amazing. It's fun. This song's great. This is jam. Thank you, Banger. Thank you. You nailed it again. I'm really, really proud of this. You're not a fan. Yeah. You should be. And I snuck it in. I like to think you wove it into the tapestry that is Mark McGrath's career in life. Yes, yeah.
01:39:04
Speaker
Also, this could be your yes, Cuomo situation where on the next album, he gets ahold of you to do a song. Oh my God. Dear Eichler's, I write. If River's Cuomo hit me up to write a song together, I would say no thanks.
01:39:22
Speaker
Whoa. Hard to hear first. What if Rivers Guomo called you up and was like, yo, I need you to do a song with my buddy Mark McGrath. I'd be like, oh yeah. On behalf of Big Yachty. Big Yachty. Anyway, enough about Weezer. Ike, thanks for joining us. What have you got to plug? Of course. Thanks for having me.
01:39:44
Speaker
Sorry, I just got distracted. Cool Chris just texted me back. And? Sorry, this is important. Yeah. Breaking truths. Hugskin, wait. Cool Chris is eternal. I said, have you heard this law and sent him a little yachty? He said, only the pina colada cover. Haha. Which means that Joey's lagging, dude.
01:40:03
Speaker
It's like a wagon. Just lagging. Yeah. Lagging wagon. Yeah, lagging wagon. Lagging, much like our dear friend Joey Cape. Plugs. What do you got for plugs? Let's see. I just put out a song called I'm Screamin' and a cover of 100 Gex Hollywood Baby. You probably just heard it.
01:40:19
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have anything super pertinent. Like I said, Acoustic Record coming out early next year. Check that out. You'll see me posting about it, talking about it a lot.
01:40:33
Speaker
Yeah, I've been, I've been keeping my new tone ska playlist up to date with all the cool stuff I'm finding. I spent like probably more time than I should on Reddit and just like, especially our ska, which is like mostly like a toxic place has yielded some like pretty cool discoveries. I found this band called goofy at night. They posted their EP. Yeah. I saw you post that the other day. It's sick.
01:40:54
Speaker
For like, for like a band's first release, like it's half of it is covers, but like the original stuff is really cool. And I like, I like the production a lot. I feel like it's, it's really like creative and well thought out. Um, like shout out to RJ for like who curates the art. Oh, for sure. Yeah. RJ's. Yeah. Like doing the Lord's work. We've said it before. We'll say it again. RJ does the Lord's work out there. That's real. Yeah. Shout out. Um,
01:41:22
Speaker
Yeah, I am gonna keep putting on music, playing on some shows, some tours next year, so be a lookout. You can follow me everywhere at E-I-C-H-L-E-R-S underscore underscore. Come say hi. Perfect. Well, thank you for listening to Checkered Past. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok at checkeredpastpod, or send us an email at checkeredpastpod at gmail.com. Just port the pod and get bonus content, including a full length and unedited video of this episode I recommend doing. Eiklers is fun to look at.
01:41:50
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, boy. You are, but that's just a weird thing to see. It's a nice thing. Sign up for our Check Your Head Patreon at patreon.com slash checkeredpast. We also have merch available at checkeredpast.ca. Checkered Past is edited by Arianne and engineered by a Joey. Until next time, I'm Rob. Celine. And you're Joey. In the mortal words of Sugar Ray, the caboose is juiced.