Coming Up
originally published September 11, 2002
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LINEUP:
Madeline Adams - vocals
John Nielson - bass, drums, vocals
Tim Schreiber - guitar, vocals
Ryan VanSickle - drums, bass
LINEAGE:
Cornish in a Turtleneck, Madeline, Pavlov & His Doggs, Spartones, Math Head, Dharma, My Dog is Scratching Himself, Sir Smegma vs. King of France
HISTORY:
The origins of Athens' The Sugar Shakers lie in an intricate web of bad grades, Waffle House summits and a chance meeting between future members outside the X-Ray Café. At the time, front-person Madeline Adams was somewhat dissatisfied with the limitations of her solo show.
"One of the things I loved about the Athens music scene was dancing, just getting up and dancing at shows," she says. "I was kind of bummed that I couldn't do that with acoustic solo stuff. That was my big goal from the beginning, to force people to have a good time."
Enter John Nielson and Tim Schreiber and, soon after, drummer Ryan VanSickle. The Sugar Shaker sound, an accessible and danceable, rock-oriented nod to Athens circa 1982 or London circa 1965, is at its most compelling when it adopts the course of a modern-day roller coaster: twisting, turning, accelerating and rolling relatively seamlessly, without the jerks and truncation of a vintage wooden version.
There seems to be an appropriate lack of inter-band conflict for a band of its age. One subject which they can't seem to agree on, though, is what to focus on more: the show or the music.
"I was really thinking show before music," Adams comments. "Not me," Shreiber retorts. "I was thinking both. I think we can't have a good show without having good music."
Naturally, Nielson steps in with a compromise worthy of a level-headed bassist: "Just as long as we don't suck, that's what matters. And if we put on a good show, it's that much better."
Never fear, the Sugar Shakers don't suck.
John Nielsen...
...on Madeline Adams' prowess as a frontperson:
"Even when Madeline's not singing or doing anything or having anything to do with the song itself, just like Exene Cervenka would do when John Doe was singing a song, Madeline still rocks out. And she might as well be playing the loudest instrument on stage."
...on the band's ability to put on a show:
"I definitely think people dance at our shows. We even have a Sugar Shakers dance club, with a captain."
...on the priorities of seriousness and fun:
"It's a pretty good 50/50 mix. We want to sound good, so we do our best to write good songs and sound tight or whatever. But we also enjoy playing it because we get to be on-stage and jump around and be loud."
John Knight
The Sugar Shakers play on Saturday, September 14 at the 40 Watt Club.
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