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"Get Your SUDs Out" (by A. R. Mann, Gonzo Secretary at Large) Just exactly who are the SUDs? To start, the name 'SUDs' is an acronymn of 'Suburban Utility Detonators', deriving from an old song by singer-guitarist KEITH DOVORIC about a yuppie-gone-berserk. As for the actual faces behind the letters of this Essex County, New Jersey-based outfit, they belong to Dovoric, William Paterson University co-alumni JASON MOHREN (Guitars and Vocals) and MAX FIGUEROA (Drums, Illicit References), and the newly-arrived (though longtime friend and Montclair transplant) PETER "Chauncey" REALMONTE on bass. (Note: They actually began life as a bass-less trio operating as The Quasi-Suicidals, that name itself taken from a Leonard Cohen review.) The words and music to the SUDs' original songs -- of which there is an ever-growing arsenal, thanks to its prolific songwriters -- are written primarily by Dovoric and Mohren, yet the entire band arranges each composition. The themes of these songs range from self-analysis and aging ("Curse the Sky Above", "Suicide Square Dance") to corruption in the workplace and voyeurism ("Corporate Murder", "Safety Blanket"); "Doin' the Goose Step", a rousing rocker, aims at political tyranny. Of the lyrics, Mohren says: "Four different bands can play a G-major chord, but a band's words are what set it apart and give it an identity. They are the flavor, if you will." Not content with the outpouring of pure confessionalism, he and Dovoric prefer to cast their views in the roles of unusual narrators. Take the band's signature "Suicide Square Dance": "The tale is told from the point of view of a country hick, a kind of trailer trash whose doesn't mean much," explains Dovoric, who is also an English teacher. "I think it's much more interesting when bands try to accomplish this sort of thing, rather than sing overcooked, hackneyed, 'I love you, She loves me'-type stuff." To that end, the SUDs cite (among others -- read "Influences") Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Mick Jagger, Roger Waters, Warren Zevon, and Neil Young as chief lyrical influences. (Speaking of Young, the band frequently manages a fairly searing cover of his anthemic "Rockin' in the Free World" in its live set.) Musically, roots-rock earthiness and gutsy tones belie the urgency of the band's often existential lyrics. Few others have had the cheek or inventiveness to score an homage to media sensationalism like "Safety Blanket" with a kitsch-Psychobilly soundtrack! The spirited 6/8 spunk of the folksy "Curse the Sky Above", propelled by Figueroa's deft quasi-African rhythms, is likewise undercut by its memorable opening lament: "My entrance was well timed / But my reputation preceded me." Or the deceptively energetic "Artificial Light", with its despairing refrain, "You pray and pray for rain / It never ever comes." Despite a heavyweight lyrical focus, the band is fluent enough to play in many different muscial idioms -- among them, country, as in the shuffling "Charity Case", which ends in a jail cell-harp outro, and even gospel, as in Mohren's wonderfully titled "The Devil Went Back to Heaven." In hopes to capture such moments for all posterity, plans are underway for a full-length independent release, ostensibly titled "THE SUDS TAKE NORMANDY" (see upcoming bulletins for dates and track-by-track availability). Look for The SUDs' raucous stage assault at such northern-NJ main-stays as Tierney's, Clash Bar, and Loop Lounge. For a music scene soiled by cookie-cutters and rip-offs, the SUDs may provide some cleansing originality. Repertoire/Originals: Malignancy Blues, Curse the Sky Above, Suicide Square Dance, Corporate Murder, In These Troubled Times, Safety Blanket, Charity Case, Identity Crisis, Artificial Light, First Man on the Sun, Cold and Nervous, Disabled Love, The Storm, I Miss Those Sunday Mornings, Doin' the Goose Step, Comatose Beach, Kill the Weak, Nightcap, Mr. Yesterday, White-Collar Crime, Shot in the Foot, One More Drink, The Devil Went Back to Heaven. (Updated, March '08)
