sukiasukia
Lately it seems that most bands play by the book: drums, bass, guitar, and a whole lot of harmonies. But Sukia. Oh they definitely groove by the beat of a different drum. Their sound is a visual, esoteric trip into an exotic and erotic landscape. An eden where the future seems to waft into the present through sci-fi orchestrations. Trust me. You'll love it.
This wacky Camarillo-based outfit (Ross Harris, Sasha Fuentes, Craig Borrell, Grace Marks) adopted their name from an incredibly off-kilter Columbian comic book that focuses itself on a lesbian vampire, Sukia, and her gay slave/sidekick Gary. But, as Ross explains, the band not only borrowed the name from those crazy comic book creators, but also borrowed their ingenuity and inventiveness. In fact, they took upon the project of creating a soundtrack for the book. "We were just inspired that there are these insane guys in Colombia making these extremely twisted, violent comic books. That made us think, 'Well, the possibilities are open for people to come out of nowhere with something.' And that's what we tried to do.
"It seems to us that they're flagrantly flaunting the whole idea of stealing images and ideas, but grafting them onto some amazing artwork. And we try to do the same thing--as much as we can get away with."
Sukia's debut lp, "Contacto Espacial con el Tercer Sexo" is a fantastic mishmash of Martin Denny-enhanced soundtracks, new wave sans the towering hair, and kitsched-out lounge cocktails--shaken, not stirred. It's a record so far out in left field, it leaves one to often wonder what makes up the wild soundscapes of Sukia. "It's probably split into two things: the music end of it, as far as music that I enjoy and am inspired by like 70s futuristic action soundtracks like Rollerball and Logan's Run, experimental Moog music, and Indian classical music. The other thing that inspired us is the whole idea of going out and putting on this whole show. And whether people respond positively or whether people are disgusted by it, it's both a reaction that people can take home with them."
Well, two people who responded overwhelmingly to the eccentrics of Sukia are The Dust Brothers, who co-produced the album and released it on their own label, NickelBag--three years after the initial recording commenced. What took so long? "We got hooked up with The Dust Brothers and they decided they wanted to put it out, but they wanted to record two more songs...[which] took three or four months because they were doing Beck's album...Then we finished those [tracks] and went six or seven months just trying to get it out.
"We were the first album on their label, so all the learning experiences and growing pains of actually putting any record out at all the first time. We kind of were the experiment for them and that took some time."
But all ended well, everyone's happy, and the band are currently working on their follow-up, recording it with their newly expanded outlets. "I'm really into instrumental soundtrack music and I think I was trying to do that before, but the only means I had to do it was&emdashI had some organs that I got from the thrift store that had bass and drum machines in it, Sasha had one synthesiser, and we had one horn and one guitar.
"I was pleased with it, but I wasn't really doing the full range of music that I wanted to do...We're kind of mixing it now. We go back to the old organs and stuff like that."
So, who knows what ground Sukia will cover next, what unchartered territory they'll explore. We can only wait and see. And yes, I'm sure you've heard this before, this is the Ross Harris, child star, and Airplane! actor. But how did he end up making aural fantasies instead of gunning down banks ala Todd Bridges?
"I had my own deal, I just never got caught by the police. We all go off the bend I guess."
And Sukia is vivid proof of that too.
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