Suite 88

Interview with Suite 88

July 8, 2009

by Tawny Khat

This is a great interview. The members of Suite 88 are cool guys and I thank them for taking the time to do this interview. Enjoy!

EP (Electric Pussycat): Let’s start with the basics. When and how did Suite 88 form?

MG (Mike Gunns): For Jesse and I, Suite 88 has been our dream band since we first started playing music together when we were thirteen. We never felt like we had the right guys, so we made a record as a duo called Clutch N Gunns in 2005, and had been looking for the right pieces for our ideal band ever since. When I discovered Kolton Lee in 2007, I knew I’d finally found the right guy.

JC (Jesse Clutch): Mike and I had always had this vision of forming a kickass rock n’ roll band that (in my opinion) hasn’t been seen since Guns N Roses. We just needed to find more guys like us who were on the same page—that was really the hardest part, because it seemed like every guy we met wanted to play a million miles an hour with no feel in their playing or just straight-up death metal with terrible vocals. Once Mike found Kolton Lee, we both knew from the first time we played with him he was “the guy.”

KL (Kolton Lee): Well for me this whole journey started about two years back when I attended an audio engineering conference in Tucson, Arizona. I was staying in a room all alone and didn’t really know anyone there—then, I ran into a guy from the school I was going to at the time and started hanging around with him. We later met all the people that he was staying with back at his room, and from across the room I spotted a guitar and instantly went to pick it up. It was kind of a safety blanket for me so I didn’t have to talk to anyone. Then, in walked Mr. Mike Gunns who picked up the other guitar and started jamming with me. At first I felt a little bit of animosity—

MG: Well yeah, at first I didn’t like him ‘cause the kid was showing me up on my own guitar. (laughter)

KL: But after the second Stevie Ray Vaughan song he seemed to warm up and there was an instant musical connection. The rest is history…

JC: But we’ve had trouble with bass players since the band was formed. I was once told, “you shake a tree and a million bass players will fall out!” Ha! That was the worst thing anyone could have told me—it was a curse! Suite 88′s first record had Mike Gunns on bass because we couldn’t find anybody who wanted to play our kind of music, and we’ve just had tons of guys come and go but we knew none of them were the right fit. When we were introduced to Vick, he was a guitar player but liked most of the same stuff we do, so we showed him the songs. A few days later I called him and he was so excited I thought he was going to jump through the fucking phone!

VB (Vick Bourne): I was blown away! When I saw the video for “10 Shots 10 Minutes” I was hooked. Jesse reminded me so much of Tommy Lee I just kept playing the song over and over and over. I really wanted to join and when Jesse called a few days later I was frickin’ excited!

JC: So the next day he came over and was great at guitar and seemed to get along with us too, but we eventually told him that we didn’t need a guitarist right then and asked if he’d be willing to play bass. That was pretty much it; not to mention that he’s also better then any of the “real” bass players we’ve ever had. (laughter)

EP: So many people in your age group (early 20s) are either into hip-hop or nu-metal, emo, screamo, grindcore, etc. How is it that you guys came to be influenced by such classic rockers as Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Van Halen, etc.?

KL: Well for me it all started with my dad. All of my musical taste comes from him. See, growing up I was a huge country fan because that’s all my parents listened to, and I still am a fan (to some extent). But it wasn’t until he played me Van Halen 1 that my heart stopped. The first time I heard “Eruption” I was completely floored. I couldn’t believe that it was only one guy, and as stupid as it sounds, it was right there in the backseat of my dad’s truck that I realized what I wanted to do—play guitar. And once you start down the road on great music like that, there is no looking back.

MG: It started with my dad for me, too. I grew up listening to my old man’s records: Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Elvis, Pink Floyd, etc. In Junior High is when I really started finding heavier bands like AC/DC, Def Leppard, and GN’R. Now I’ve really developed a much broader taste in music—from Classical to Jazz to Country to Hip-Hop to Metal. I still can’t get past a certain barrier of heaviness, though. I love Metallica because James always SANG. I just can’t get into metal with screaming and growling and all that. It’s not musical to me.

JC: On the day I was born, the first song I ever heard was Rocky Mountain Way (Triumph’s version). My parents were rockers—especially my dad. He would listen to music all the time. Stuff like AC/DC, Tesla, Triumph, Skidrow. I would be two years old just rockin’ to all that stuff. I remember in elementary school everyone listening to the Spice Girls and crap like that while I would go home at lunch and throw in my George Thorogood album! My dad would make me mixtapes full of kick ass rock n’ roll, so it’s just always been a part of my life.

VB: Parents for me too.

EP: Who does the songwriting in the band?

MG: We certainly all contribute in shaping our songs, but it’s different for different songs. Sometimes one of us will come in with a song almost entirely written and then the rest of us will just tweak it here and there, and sometimes a song will develop out of a jam during rehearsal.

VB: We all give it uniqueness just by how we play since we have really diverse tastes in music.

KL: Yeah, we all share a bit of the responsibilities. Usually I bring in just a lot of parts and riffs that have potential but no direction and Mike and I will run through what’s good and what’s not. However, the majority of the productive responsibilities fall on Mike. Usually Mike will come in with ideas and melodies, or lyrics and the two of us will sit down with acoustic guitars and make sense of it all.

MG: I probably have the most influence in the songwriting—primarily melodically and lyrically, but it’s definitely a collective effort. I’m very lucky to have Kolt to work with because of his knowledge of music theory, so it’s great being able to run things by him when I’m working on new material. And I’ve been writing with Jesse since we were thirteen, so there’s obviously chemistry there.

JC: Mike does most the lyric writing, but it’s always different. Sometimes we just sit in a garage and jam ideas (for example, that’s how Soul Rider came about), or sometimes Kolt comes to the table with a sweet riff; it all depends. We’re not the kind of band that goes “Okay, this is how we write songs,” because there isn’t just one way.

KL: One idea that may have started out someone’s baby usually ends up being bastardized by everyone by the end.

EP: You guys currently have an album out. When was it released?

MG: It was released in the fall—October or November, I want to say. It’s the first SUITE 88 album and it’s actually going to be released online on iTunes and Amazon and all that by the end of the month, I’m told. You can also buy autographed copies of the CD off our Myspace page.

EP: Tell me about your music and what makes Suite 88 stand out from the crowd.

KL: What makes us stand out from the crowd of shit that fills the Phoenix music scene is that we are just good old fashioned rock n’ roll. There are no frills or fluff—it’s just good music. We have a singer who can actually sing and a drummer who doesn’t pummel your balls off with nothing but blast beats. We stand out because we are different than all the bands that are trying so hard to be different that they all end up sounding the same, which to me sometimes sounds like the cookie monster trying to fuck a drum set. (laughter)

MG: I think that as musicians, we are mature past our age. What I mean is that a lot of young bands try to play faster, harder, heavier, louder than anybody else, and it often ends up just being a clusterfuck. A lot of—probably most rock bands these days lack dynamics and texture in their songwriting and song structure. You have to understand that what makes something heavier is not always playing it faster or tuning it down lower or adding more distortion. It’s gotta be tasteful and even in heavy metal, it’s gotta have melody.

JC: Yeah we are all good musicians but we don’t have to play double bass beats the whole song or have sweeping guitar solos on every solo… you get where I’m going with this. We just want to make rock n’ roll that really grooves and can be enjoyed by all kinds of people—not just metal heads or whatever.

EP: You guys are definitely a bright spot in the Phoenix music scene, as far as original bands go. What do you make of the Phoenix rock scene and do you see it changing?

MG: What Phoenix rock scene? (laughter) Thanks for the compliment, though.

KL: I think that the scene out here is ripe for the taking, and we plan on taking it, period.

MG: I don’t know that we’ve been involved in it long enough to really notice it changing, but I hope we help make it a little more interesting.

JC: What Kolton said.

EP: This question is for Mike. Who are your biggest vocalist influences?

MG: Hmm… I steal ideas from all kinds of singers of all genres. From Country to old Soul and Blues to even Pop music, great singing is great singing. As far as my favorite, Steven Tyler would have to be number one, but I mean I can’t really replicate much of what he does because I just don’t have that range. My voice has been compared to Jeff Keith’s, but I really don’t try to sound like anybody in particular. As I’ve matured a bit as a singer and gotten more comfortable singing, I feel like—I hope I’m moving more and more toward my own distinct style.

EP: And, for Kolton, who are your biggest guitar god influences?

KL: Well for me it’s all of the greats: Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Mark Tremonti, and I am not ashamed to say it: John Mayer. Say what you will about his music but the guy can play the shit out of the guitar. But my biggest influence has to be Stevie Ray Vaughan. I love everything that he’s done.

EP: For Vick, who are your biggest bass player influences?

VB: John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Geddy Lee (Rush), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Les Claypool (Primus), Flea (R.H.C.P.), Doug Pinnick (King’s X), and Jeff Pilson (Dokken).

EP: And, for Jesse, who are your biggest drummer influences?

JC: Well number one is Tommy Lee. He has such good rhythm and groove on the drums, he never over-does a song and his drum solos aren’t just banging the drums; he’s the most creative drummer in my opinion. I also really like Lars Ulrich’s playing on the black album; it’s very tasteful and so well-written. And Tommy Aldridge as well—that guy is a monster!

EP: If you could choose any band to tour with, who would it be?

KL: I think that touring with Buckcherry would be pretty awesome, I feel like their fan base would accept us pretty openly.

MG: Yeah, I’m with Kolt on this one. We’ve even talked about it a few times before as a band, and Buckcherry always gets brought up first. I think they would be best for us to tour with because they’re real rock n’ roll but still have a young audience that we could connect with.

VB: I’m feeling a little spicy with this one I’m gonna have to say Motley Crue and/or Buckcherry. Kolton and Mike pretty much summed up the reasons why.

JC: Buckcherry would be awesome! I agree with Kolt and Mike. The Crue would be kickass too!

EP: Rate each of the following bands on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best), and make any comments you’d like to about each one:

a) Buckcherry
b) Faster Pussycat
c) RATT
d) L.A. Guns
e) Vains Of Jenna
f) Poison
g) Whitesnake
h) The Last Vegas

JC: Buckcherry – 8, Faster Pussycat – 6, RATT – 7, L.A. Guns – 6, Vains Of Jenna – 7, Poison – 7, Whitesnake – 8, The Last Vegas – 5

KL: Buckcherry – 9, Faster Pussycat – 4.5, RATT – 8, L.A. Guns – 5, Vains Of Jenna – 8 (and on their way up too), Poison – 3 (Rock of Love bus, need I say more?), Whitesnake – 8, The Last Vegas – Who???

MG: Buckcherry – 9, Faster Pussycat – 4, RATT – 7, L.A. Guns – 5, Vains Of Jenna – 7, Poison – 6, Whitesnake – 7, The Last Vegas – not sure yet

VB: Buckcherry – 7, Faster Pussycat – 6, RATT – 9, L.A. Guns – 6, Vains Of Jenna – 12, Poison – 2.5, Whitesnake – 7, The Last Vegas – 7

EP: What are Suite 88′s plans for the future?

MG: Well, obviously we all just wanna be big rock stars and live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars… (laughter) But seriously, I think that in the near future we need to get on the road and tour our asses off; play to as many audiences as possible and win ‘em over.

KL: To take over the world and change the current state of homogenized bullshit music that’s plastered all over the radio. Also it’s a personal goal of mine to see that the Jonas Brothers are crushed.

VB: World tours, world tours, see the Jonas Wimps be crushed… Oh, oh, and world tours.

JC: Well DUH we wanna be rock stars! But as of now we want to top our last album, and you know, keep moving forward and I feel like we’re doing that. More shows, more fans, bigger venues!

EP: Is there anything else you’d like to add, spicy stories, spilled secrets, etc.?

JC: I’m from Canada!

KL: No comment. (laughter)

VB: Are there enough pages in the magazine for those?

MG: Well the band name comes from the fact that we’re all born in 1988!

Oh, the stories I could tell about what I was doing back in 1988! (laughing) I want to thank Suite 88′s members once again for this interview. We here at Electric Pussycat magazine are behind these guys 100% and wish them all the best.

If you haven’t done so already, make sure you read my review of Suite 88′s debut album, and my review of their recent show with Vains Of Jenna. To check out their music go to their MySpace page, where you can also buy a copy of their CD.

Published in: Electric Pussycat Magazine
Link to article: http://site.electricpussycat.com/Interviews_archive_-_S.html