Another Form of Relief

Recently comminiques from Cult of Sue Todd headquarters (by which I mean their Myspace page) seem to be suggesting that the band may not be long for this world. Which would be a shame if true. While CoST have hardly set the music world alight with their releases so far, each has shown a bunch of potential that would be unfortunate to lose. In a world full of dreary identikit bands, here we have a band that seems to be purely in it for the fun. Random lyrics and curious instrumentation are key here. Still, at the very least, we’ll always have Tampa.

I don’t know how I keep doing it, but I’ve found yet another excuse to talk about Cult of Sue Todd. It’s a shame that I have to keep doing this, as everyone should be loving them by now, but there you go. Anyway, this time I have not one, but two legitimate excuses to bring them up!

First of all, their debut full length release came out this week. I won’t talk at great length about it here as I did a full review [link] a few months ago. Not much has changed in my opinion since then, although if anything the album has actually grown on me even more. I’m a pretty lazy music listener (iPod on shuffle most of the time) but I’m still giving this disc a fair amount of plays. It’s a good, fun album that you should certainly be checking out. You can get it from their website and all those other fun places like Insound and Amazon and the like.

Secondly, the band recently put up a new song, entitled ‘Top Notch Buggery’, that you’ll find below. It’s the first song recorded with their new bass player, Jason Vasquez, and the band sound tighter than ever. The song is currently appearing on a compilation called ‘International Pop Overthrow Vol. 9′, and a new version will probably appear on their next album.

MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Top Notch Buggery
MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – ExBoyfriends of the World (Unite and Take Over) (from Kelsey Grammer Loves Us)

Cult of Sue Todd: Website || Myspace || AFoR Interview

I should have something very cool to report soon, so my three regular readers will have something to look forward to there. Right now though, I’m going to bed, as I’ve got a busy day of sitting in a cinema planned for tomorrow. What kind of crazy person thought it’d be a good idea to release Clerks II, The Children of Men and Trust the Man all on the same day. A very crazy person. That’s who.

Release: 19 September 2006
Label: NachoBake Records

‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’ is the second release from San Francisco’s Cult of Sue Todd, following last year’s ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’ EP, a six song banjo enhanced indie-folk record that quickly became one of my favourites of the year. Their often non-sensical but usually witty songs got under my skin in the way that few bands could manage. As such, ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’, their first full length album, was one of the releases that I was most excited about for 2006.

Cult of Sue Todd’s website describes their sound as “anti-social songs for nervous folks”. It’s a surprisingly simple yet very appropriate description. This is the kind of band that I could imagine sitting out on their porch on rocking chairs yelling at the ‘dang kids’ to ‘get off our lawn’. But only if they didn’t look too intimidating. If you’re like me, that description alone would be enough to have me checking out a record, but I guess I should write a little more.

This is a considerably darker album than ‘Nothing Noteworthy’. While that record was made up of largely fun songs with odd flashes of cynicism, ‘Kelsey’ is almost the opposite. A darker, more paranoid sound is at the forefront here, with witty flourishes occasionally breaking through to the front. The gleefully shambolic ‘ExBoyfriends’ (mp3 below) throws us straight in at the deep end, giving us a rambling, witty and yet still grounded tale. Second song ‘Chatterbox’ opens with what should be quite depressing content: “I’ve been told that I’ve only got a year or so / So I’m writing down these stupid lines / As murky fluids fill my eyes”. The song is played with such an appropriate sense of urgency though that it never feels miserable at all.

Conversely, songs like ‘50cent’ evoke the first record with a fun, upbeat sound that sounds like the 2006 edition of previous best song ‘Burn Tampa’. Other songs like ‘Ohio2′ serve much the same purpose, and provide a welcome respite from the downbeat content on the rest of the album. Witty asides are what make these songs, like on ‘Gnome’ where lead Steven Perry sings “Make with the shitty chitchat so we can get out of here”. It’s a simple line, but one I can imagine everyone can relate to.

The instrumentation on this album is far more developed too. While the first album relied on catchy, yet relatively simplistic structures, ‘Kelsey’ isn’t afraid to experiment, at times flirting with the shambolic to the twangy upbeat banjo (‘Genuflect’) and just throwing in a bit of everything (‘Myth of Dirt’). The result of this is a lack of cohesion to much of the record, but an ultimately rewarding one as it’s hard to judge exactly what’s going to be played to us next.

This isn’t to say that the album is entirely without it’s flaws. ‘Nails’ drags a minute or so beyond it’s welcome, and there’s an over reliance on using vocal effects on Perry’s voice. While this works in a number of the cases, it’s a shame that his natural voice only shines through in two songs (‘Fine Fettle’ and ‘17′). These are pretty minor quibbles on an otherwise very solid album though.

I spent a bunch of time before writing this debating who I could use to compare Cult of Sue Todd with, and I never really did find an answer. Beyond some instrumentation on ‘Fake Off’ that could have slid perfectly into the last Arab Strap record, there’s no one currently making music that I can really compare these guys to, which is much of the appeal to me.

Ultimately, while ‘Kelsey’ isn’t perfect, it’s still about as good as debut full-length albums get. There’s a unique sound, instrumentation that is solid without ever sounding overly practiced, and a strong songwriting talent behind it all. Assuming they keep doing what they are doing and can cross that gap to reach a larger audience, there are well deserved big things in the future of Cult of Sue Todd.

MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – ExBoyfriends Of The World (Unite And Take Over) (expired)

Pre-order Kelsey Grammer Loves Us: Insound

Cult of Sue Todd: Website || Myspace || AFoR Interview

This is what Cult of Sue Todd look like:

At least, I really hope that is what Cult of Sue Todd look like. I wrote one of my earliest posts about them, and even interviewed Steven, their lead singer. All well and good you might think, until I discovered that on both of those pieces, I put up a picture of an entirely different band. The band in those pieces is apparently called 99 Tales, and the only way I even come close to having an excuse is by pointing out that their drummer used to also be in Cult of Sue Todd.

Anyway, moving past that little blunder, today we’re going to talk about new material from Cult of Sue Todd. Their upcoming album, ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’, will be released in 14 weeks time, and during these 14 weeks, they will be making one song available each week on their Myspace for everyone to enjoy. This is the first week, so logically we’re starting with the final track, entitled “17″. Next week they will put up track 13, and so forth, all the way to release day.

Just in case you’re still out of the loop on the greatness of Cult of Sue Todd, here’s some old school mp3 action from their first EP, ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’:

MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Burn Tampa
MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Foul Fetor

Buy ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’: Insound (only $4.80!) || Amazon US

Cult of Sue Todd: Website || Myspace

Cult of Sue Todd are an indie folk pop punk (is that a genre?) band from San Francisco. They were one of the earliest bands that I wrote about on here, largely because their first release, 2005’s ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’ was one of my favourite discoveries from the previous year. Combining quirky lyrics with a bunch of unique instrumentation (including a banjo), it was sixteen minutes of pure joy.

Recently lead singer and guitarist Steven Perry was kind enough to answer a few questions about the formation of the band, what they are currently up to, and their upcoming release ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’.

How are you today?

Steven: I’m hungry. My ladyfriend has me on a diet. I’m not fat, but I really wish I were. I’m not supposed to drink coffee on the diet, but that’ll never happen. The bus was slow this morning, so I was irritated. I hate MUNI. How are you?

How did Cult of Sue Todd originally come about? Your website mentions that Sue Todd wrote the songs but is dead now, but doesn’t offer any further detail. Is there more behind that?

Steven: No–no more. It’s a complete fraud. We lie. Please don’t tell anyone. I have no idea what or where Sue Todd is.

Your new album is entitled ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’. Was this chosen simply because it’s a damn cool title or is Frasier actually a fan of your work?

Steven: Kelsey Grammer is my dog’s name. He likes it when we play and sing and dance. There is also an actor named Kelsey Grammer, but I’m not familiar with his work. He was in Down Periscope, yes?

The songs posted up on your Myspace from the new album seem to rock a little bit harder than your last release, and that the banjo has been toned down a little. Was this an intentional move and what other differences can we expect to hear in your sound?

Steven: I guess it’s partly intentional. Most of the songs on the new album were constructed by me and Jordan, our one-testicled drummer (we call him Uni-Ball).

We lost the banjo. Literally and figuratively. Nobody knows where it is. There is still banjo on a bit of the new album and there will be in the future (if we find another banjo in the garbage), but Mr Nagle (our banjoist) now teaches Japanese kids.

How helpful do you think the internet has been in getting the word out about your music?

Steven: That’s about the only place that has our word. We’re still only drawing friends and family at shows, but I get a lot of nice emails from nice people through myspace and our main page. I’ve made friends, so that’s cool. I just wish we could make it to all the different places they live so we could play for them. Hopefully soon.

Did you ever hear from the thief that stabbed you and stole 20 copies of your first EP? Do you think that he could be a fan now?

Steven: No, I never heard from him. He was just a crazy Mission Streeter. I rather doubt he has internet access or the coordination to type. But I do look for him when I’m down on Mission. He’s probably at Burger King.

What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t making music?

Steven: Crying. Eating more. Drinking less. Not being creative at all. And I’d probably have a savings account.

What does the future hold for Cult of Sue Todd?

Steven: We’re going to attempt to take this thing from a hobby to something more. Hopefully I can get a little exposure for ‘Kelsey Grammer’. Also, we have sack full of songs we’re about to take into the studio, so we should have enough recordings for a third album sometime this year.

MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Burn Tampa
MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Foul Fetor

‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’ will be released on September 19, although if you don’t think you can remember that far ahead, don’t worry as I’ll probably end up writing about it closer to the date. You can hear three songs from the release on the Cult of Sue Todd Myspace, and get a bunch of fun information from their website. You can purchase ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’ for less than $5 from Insound. Now you can’t really argue with that kind of price, can you?

“On June 12th, four days after receiving the order for Cult of Sue Todd’s first CD, Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today, singer Steven Perry was stabbed in the stomach and robbed of his wallet, spectacles, and backpack containing about 20 copies of the new CD. The thief is still “at large” and what’s worse, he has not contacted the band to let them know what he thinks of the CD.”

Ah, there’s nothing like rock and roll that contains a banjo. Although to be honest I can’t think of any other bands that use a banjo at all, and I certainly know of none that use one on a regular basis. Of course, I imagine there are a ton of people out there who know better and can rattle off bands that use a banjo, but it doesn’t matter. It’s uncommon, let’s just go with that. I fear I’m getting too hung up on the banjo here though. The nice folks in Cult of Sue Todd (no ‘The’) use a wide range of instruments, yet it’s the banjo that stands out the most.

I’m not really sure how else I can sell Cult of Sue Todd to you. Musically they are solid, but aren’t challenging in the least. Lyrically their songs are pretty much gibberish, yet they usually manage to bring a smile to my face. I think it’s the humour that appeals to me the most. The ‘history of the band’ detailed above just about sums them up, and when you’re this entertaining, it really doesn’t matter just how much sense your songs make.

MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Burn Tampa
MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Foul Fetor

If you’re intrigued enough to explore more, you can find their CD going for ridiculously silly prices at both Insound and, as you can see from the box to the right, the sellers at Amazon too. You really can’t go wrong for that kind of price. Their new album, entitled ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’ will be released in the spring. I’m sold on the title alone to be honest.