Though from New Jersey, Super Satellite’s British overtones give their brand of rock a unique sound. The four-piece rocked out as SXSW this year and PopWreckoning editors Bethany and Joshua took some time to talk to the group about their latest release, recording at a legendary studio and their plans for the future. Check it out:
Bethany Smith, PopWreckoning: So, you guys are from New Jersey, did you all meet there? How did you form?
Christian Edwards, Super Satellite: I was playing with a few different guys and Chris [Wenzel] and I met through that. Chris came along to play bass and he was friends with Tim [Foster] and Tim filled in for us for awhile. He’s been here for three years so he kinda just joined when we got it together and Brian [Hurst] the same.
Joshua Hammond, PopWreckoning: It says that you guys are self-releasing a 10 song EP, what’s the story behind the EP? What are your influences?
SS: Influences: I love like The Beatles, The Monkees and up to like Oasis and the Kooks. We worked with producer Jeff Zanoff and we did most of the recording at Stratosphere in NYC that’s owned by James Iha and Adam Schlesinger. It has that similar aesthetic, I guess, you know Fountains of Wayne, and it was a great experience doing that with them and they put a nice touch on what we’re doing.
JH: When can we expect that to drop?
SS: April 7th, I think, it comes out.
JH: What are some of the challenges you guys have faced from self-releasing an album?
SS: I think in a sense we have a lot more freedom this way, we don’t have a straight jacket on and we’re taking it one day at the time and going with the flow of it.
JH: Do you think that self-releasing an album as opposed to releasing on a record label is more beneficial for the band in the long run or do you think you lose aspects of it because you don’t have the giant label pushing it down at people?
SS: If I can dream about things it would be great to have a label to build a team obviously it helps us to take us outside of where we’re going. We do all of this on our own at this point. It’s been great. We’ve been traveling and we’ve opened up for Lifehouse in Milwaukee. We’ve played with Hal Sparks. We’re gonna be doing a bunch of shows with Hal Sparks, the comedian. We played with him in Boston and just getting out of the area we drove 30 hours to get here from New Jersey and it’s been great. This week is awesome in Austin for us. 
JH: I’ve recently found that like with Kevin [Devine], Kevin self-released his album, that it actually turned out to be way more beneficial for him because all the benefits and all the work that he did went to him instead of them piecing 90% off and here’s your dime.
SS: It’s definitely a new time in the whole industry now. It’s unclear how far you can really go by yourself cause there’s all the success stories of bands that are now just coming off Myspace as their only source of publicity so you never know what can be done by one person if you’re motivated enough and you go out and do it. In that sense, it’s cool to have that dream that no matter what you never know. We’re building a great team. We have a great manager and we’re working with Big Picture Media, Dayna, so one day at a time, that’s a big part of it in our understanding, building a team.
BS: You guys said you recorded at a place that was owned by James Iha and some other pretty big names. Did they have any role in your recording? Did you ever seen those guys?
SS: I did see them at the studio when we were mixing. One time Conor Oberst was there and it’s exciting and totally inspiring to be in that situation and I think it comes across on the recordings as well. But like everything else, I don’t think you can expect miracles in that situation either. Everybody’s working hard.
BS: Are you guys going to go check out Tinted Windows? You know James Iha’s here?
SS: I saw that today, possibly. We’re just going with the flow and I don’t have an agenda as far as seeing bands. I’ll walk in anywhere that I like going in that direction.
JH: We definitely learned yesterday that the agenda is a bad idea because it’s not gonna work anyways.
BS: What are some of the bands you guys like and who do you find influence from?
SS: We’re all really different in that sense. I listen to Hank Williams. We’re playing with the Gourds in New York on April 1st and I’m just a big fan of their music even though we don’t sound anything like them. For me, what we do and write it’s not a representation of what we listen to and I think that’s what makes what we’re doing kind of unique.
I was brought up on 70s jazz fusion and death metal, heavy metal and that’s what I listened to in my teens like Slayer and all that stuff. I have a big wide range of musical styles that I like.
JH: That will officially be the first time Slayer is ever on our website. A crowning achievement.
SS: It keeps us up at like three in the morning when we’re driving.
What we’re doing I think is unique. You don’t wanna be the next Fleetwood Mac or the next this. We’re trying to be ourselves. And when you write you clear your mind and tap into what you’re doing.
JH: I definitely like that you guys all bring different musical influences to a band. I think that I’ve found when each individual member has their own eclectic, distinct style that it tends to bring more to the band for the most part. You hear things that the other members wouldn’t necessarily hear.
SS: Right and the personalities, I think it’s great everybody’s different and a good combination for us as people we get along great because of that I think.
BS: The first single you guys have is “Sleepwalking.” Is that a problem for any of you guys?
SS: Not that we know of but we’ve woken up in some weird places before.
BS: What’s the weirdest place? Crazy tour story here?
SS: No, nothing on tour, you know I will say for the most part we’ve been able to keep it together within reason when we go out on these tours. Not all the time. You know, you spend enough time in a van and things start getting a little wacky. Akron was crazy cause that town is like, there’s like one bar that town is like a ghost town but everybody’s in one place drinking. Brian spent the day walking around and every picture he took of the city there wasn’t one human being. We’re trying to be a little more responsible now.
JH: You guys are doing the adult tour this time.
SS: Yeah, we’re trying. Well, you know what it is? We live in Jersey and a lot of the stuff last year we played in Chicago we drove to Chicago played the gig and came home the following weekend. We drove to Milwaukee played the gig and came home. So in that sense it’s been great for us with this group of guys to stretch our legs out a little bit get out of the area but at the same token not turn it into a two week party. Get in get out and hopefully continue doing that.
JH: What should we expect from you guys in the future?
SS: This year we’re taking it one step at a time this week and we’re gonna be doing all this stuff with Hal Sparks and definitely this summer we’re gonna be touring a lot and hopefully get out to California and love to play Europe too trying to get on a bunch of festivals and keep on with this. We’re working on new music. Christian’s always writing new songs we got like four tracks, five tracks, pretty much done so I guess we’re gonna be releasing that sometime maybe the end of the year, early 2010. A little different than our last album that will be coming out.
BS: Different, how so?
SS: We got the pro tools thing going at home, saving money that way. At the same token we’re working with a different producer now that’s put a lot more effort into what we’re doing in this situation. He’s a friend of ours and spends countless hours mixing things on his own.
BS: What’s his name?
SS: Larry Bentley, Cellar Dweller Studios in New Jersey. It’s kinda neat to be able to record. We’ll do some tracking in a studio that Christian has. It gives you a lot of flexibility there where you’re not on the clock necessarily. Especially on a Budget. We’re adding some electronics and some different things that aren’t on the last record and pretty much everything on that record is natural sound. Tim just built his own amp. He’s very humble about this, but he has an awesome amplifier that he built and he’s reading like NASA electronic manuals at three in the morning. That’s the way he does things so the sounds are a lot different than the new album. We’re extremely excited about this, but we’re always moving forward and love writing music.
JH: I can’t even use the microwave and you build an amp.
SS: And we’re playing tomorrow, I don’t know if I should be saying dates here, we’re playing tomorrow at 4 o’clock at the Troubadour and it’s a benefit for To Write Love on Her Arms and you can see us electrically. We played yesterday for the PureVolume party and that was acoustic. A couple weeks ago we did 101.9 with Matt Pinfield and we did an acoustic show there. We did acoustic yesterday, we’re doing electric tomorrow and hopefully you guys are out there you can hear Tim’s new amp.
Super Satellite and PopWreckoning @ SXSW:
Super Satellite: website | myspace
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