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In 1997, Sugar Ray’s smash hit “Fly” seemed to be on endless rotation at nearly every rock radio station around the globe... and then there was silence. Not one other song off their album Floored was ever heard. Filled with distortion and yells, a bit harsh and difficult to digest, the rest of Floored lacked the cool, casual catchiness of “Fly.” It’s hardly surprising, then, that the Californian quintet’s new album 14:59 picks up where “Fly” left off, continuing down the breezy Caribbean road of carefree melodic pop tunes. Currently crossing the country with Orgy on MTV’s campus tour, Sugar Ray recently announced that their summer touring plans will include appearing with the Goo Goo Dolls. NYROCK: Was the attempt to score another number one hit song the reason that 14:59 is far more mellow than Floored? NYROCK: We never planned to write an album with mellow songs. That was never a plan, not something we had in mind. We didn't have any plan at all. All we did was to sit around, collect some ideas, wait and see what's going to happen. That was it. NYROCK: So the success you had with "Fly" took the pressure off? NYROCK: "Fly" was basically the first hit we ever had. We could relax and kick back, and you know, scoring a hit single gives you a lot of confidence. For the first time, we were really confident about our skills as songwriters. Nothing better for that than success. NYROCK: Your 1995 debut Lemonade and Brownies has a lot of similarities to "Fly" and 14:59. It seems ironic that you changed your direction almost completely with Floored, and the only song that remained in the old Sugar Ray style made it as a hit single... NYROCK: We were always open to all sides and experimented an awful lot. That way we had a lot of mellow songs and a lot of noisy, loud songs. But when we wrote and recorded Floored it was difficult. We were kind of caught up in the genre trap. We didn't really have a lot of artistic freedom. They wanted us to go into a certain direction, so they could promote us easier. You know how it is with drawers and labels in the music business. They don't want anything to be complicated. They just want it simple, as simple as possible. NYROCK: And why that drawer? NYROCK: It was all around the time when the Deftones and Korn got really popular, and they tried to squeeze us into that drawer. And truth to be told, for a while we were really convinced that that's the way we want to go, that it's our destiny. Of course, we wrote the songs accordingly and performed and recorded them that way. At that time, we really thought it was right, but you know, seen in retrospect, it made the album sound forced, and not really great. I think now we found our own way, our own style, and that really does work for us. NYROCK: The new album is called 14:59, reminiscent of the Andy Warhol quote that every person has 15 minutes of fame. NYROCK: There are a lot of people out there who are just waiting that we fail. They brought up the theory that we're one-hit wonders and they want us to fall flat on our noses, just to prove them right. NYROCK: Isn't that a bit fatalistic to pick a title like 14:59? Only one second left? NYROCK: We picked the title just to show them that we're aware of the fact, that we're slightly disillusioned and aware of what goes on in the music business. Truth to be told, it's the same everywhere. Today they're praising you sky high, place you on a pedestal and tomorrow they don't want to know you. Of course, that happens all the time and it might happen to us. There's nothing we can do about it, but we really did what we could to avoid it. I think we recorded a really great album. I really do think we have grown. NYROCK: How do you think your audience will react? NYROCK: Of course, we're still going to play the loud songs live, but I wouldn't mind if our audience would be a bit broader, you know, if people outside of the cross-over genre give us a chance and listen. I never really thought we'd fitted into the cross-over drawer. But I think the real Sugar Ray fans did like us because we always had variety and because we experimented a lot. I don't think they'll be shocked. I think they'll really dig it – at least I hope so. NYROCK: How do you think 14:59 will do in terms of success? NYROCK: I really do hope that the people will like 14:59. The critics seem to like it. We got a lot of good reviews. They ripped our last two albums to shreds, but that could mean that now that the critics seem to like us, we might not sell so many albums... But you know, even if we don't, at least our third album carries the stamp "Approved." I always wanted to have that one. NYROCK: You were also facing the "sell outs" accusations... NYROCK: It's funny; we never had anything like credibility. Even though we all have some sort of punk-rock background, but so what? I really don't care about that. What's credibility anyway? Who has credibility? Marilyn Manson? I'm really fed up with all the credibility talk. A lot of times it seems to be more important than the music. Well, I guess for a lot of people it actually is. We don't care for credibility. We're trying to write the best songs we can, and that's good enough for us, and hopefully for our fans too. April 1999 |