Suncooked Speaks

Over the winter break from LSC, on-campus band Suncooked was asked to play a show with renowned ska band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at the House of Blues Boston by bass player of the Bosstones and LSC Professor, Joe Gittleman. This past week I had the opportunity to sit down with Suncooked members Ryan McDonald, Colin Murphy, and Jake Gregg, to ask them about their origins, the show, and a few other things. Also be sure to check out their facebook page at www.facebook.com/suncooked

     Critic:How did Suncooked Get Started? Where did you guys meet?

     McDonald (SC):Me and Colin met in middle school in math class. He sat behind me, but it wasn't until Junior year in high school when we started playing music together. I had been writing songs for a while and I knew he was a good musician so we started playing music together. Then we came up here to Lyndon to stay together and keep the band together. Last year we met Jake and asked him to hop on board. The first notable show we played together was at the Bolton Center in Long Island, New York. There were 300 people in the crowd and it's been history ever since.

     Critic:Who came up with the name "Suncooked"?

     Murphy (SC):I think it was Ry

     Ryan:It was me; I used to have a house in New Hampshire. We had just sold it and the lake it was on was called Suncooked Lake. When I was struggling to come up with a band name I just threw it out there and it stuck.

     Critic:So, you guys recently got to play with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.  How did you get the gig? What was the preparation to get it?

     Gregg(SC):We had been working really hard on getting our latest album out and we were approached by Joe Gittleman and he offered us a chance. He gave us 14 days and said "Here's a list of songs if you guys are interested. Keep in touch with me, try this out, come work with us and we'll try to figure all of this out"

     Murphy:It was an unbelievable day. On December 12th we released our EP that morning and it was getting a ton of good feedback all day around campus. then we were approached by Joe at a rock and roll style show we were performing at and he came up to us, I remember I was in disbelief, and he just asked us "Hey do you want to play at the House of Blues opening up for us" and we were just like yeah, [laughter] I think we can clear our schedules. And then Jake stayed with us down in Norfolk, Ma. He's actually from Rutland [Maine] and he stayed with us all the way until Christmas.

     Gregg:Left for 2 days and came back.

     Critic:How do you think the show went? Are there any funny onstage you might have?

     McDonald:Well our wardrobes was funny [laughter]

     Murphy:Our wardrobes were cool, we stayed in an electrical room, it was our dressing room.

     McDonald:We get into the House of Blues, we get in the back and they're like alright there's a sign that says Suncooked on one of the doors. So we go and look around for the room and we're looking around and saying where is this room? Then suddenly we look to our left and there's this giant red sign that says "Electrical Room" and underneath on paper it said "Suncooked". We walked in and there was stuff like a washer and dryer in there and stacks of soda

     Gregg and Murphy:Yeah there was soda everywhere.

     McDonald:We had a count of about 26 people who would accidentally walk into the room. We also had the main power supply  in our room so we could've shut the whole show down had we choose to. [laughter]

     Critic:Taken control....

     McDonald:Yes... [laughter] There was a main switch that literally said "Off/On".

     Murphy:But that would've been bad.

     Critic:At what moment in the show did you feel the impact of everything, like "this isn't a dream"?

     Gregg:I started to really feel it the second night, but it was really the third night that it hit me.  There was one moment in the middle of a song where the crowd reacted incredibly and there were people singing along.  It was just like "whoa this is actually happening". I knew it was big but I never knew it was that big. Also, I've been listening to the Bosstones since I was like, 4, so it was just huge.

     Murphy:I had two moments, but one came a lot sooner. We were driving around Boston trying to find this place and I was in the passenger seat with my Flip camcorder and I was recording Ryan and Jake and I just saw "House of Blues" in neon lights and that's where it really hit me. The second time was on the first night we played. The production manager of the Bosstones had us lined up back stage and he was just like"wait for my signal and you can go". Then he dimmed the lights , and you hear everyone erupt in applause, and he was just yelling "go go go!".  It was like storming the beach in Normandy [laughter].

     McDonald:It's kind of a toss up. I'd have to say that back stage a few minutes before we were about to go on. It's weird, because we were back there the Bosstones were there with us so you got to see them get prepared to go on stage. So seeing them in a way, get into an almost vulnerable state, I was like "oh my God"....

     Critic:They're human! [laughter]

     McDonald: It's like their thing. They do this all the time and they're freaking out. The thing that really put me over the edge was when Dicky Barrett, the lead singer [of the Bosstones] , came over and shook our hands and was like "good luck boys". I was just like "oh god". I'm pretty sure we got in a huddle and just said our goal was to make it our job. We wanted them to pick us again to open for next year, we didn't want to give the job back because it was such a great opportunity.

     Murphy:I was happy we showed that much professionalism and you could tell that they really did appreciate it.

     Critic:Is there any new material you're currently working on?

     McDonald:We're going to be working with Ethan Kascenska probably starting in about a week recording our new full length album. We'll be making that here on campus in the studio. Ethan will be overseeing the whole project pretty much. We are also in the works of getting a drummer to give more of a punch to our music. A lot of the songs on there will be on the EP but there will be new material. We're planning to record as many songs as we can, picking the best ones and throwing them on there and putting out a really good album.

     Gregg:A lot of the older songs on the new EP will be on there with a new twist. Like something that was acoustic last time will have more of an electric feel.

     Critic:Is there anything else you'd like to add or plug?

     Murphy:Right now, more than ever the entire Suncooked team, the band and the managers, Brooke Parciak and Victoria Reeves, are really now more than ever putting everything into this band. For the next few months, we'll be trying as hard as we can to get everything off the ground. We have a solid fan base at home and here. This is the time we're gonna make things real.

     Gregg:If there's anything anyone wants to know, like playing gigs or anything like that then feel free to contact us at suncookedband@gmail.com.

     Critic:Awesome, Thank you guys.

     While getting a few extra words with they also said they would try to be doing weekly "Dorm Session". Basically it will be a "behind the scenes" video of the band rehearsing or playing songs released every Thursday on the band's facebook page. They also participated in the very first Music Monday sponsored by the Music Business Majors. Once again, make sure to check out the band's facebook page at www.facebook.com/suncooked for any new updates on the band!