Sugarcult are somewhat of a favourite here at Rock Pulse. We've seen them play live many, many times and this is the fourth Sugarcult interview we've featured on the site! This time I got the chance to talk to guitarist Marko 72 who is currently on the road with the band while they play the Warped Tour in the States. Read on to find out about Bowling for Soup, the American government and being a beautiful stalker!

How are you and how was your recent UK tour? Were there any particular highlights you can think of?

You Brits use these great terms for saying something is great; brilliant, smashing, bloody brilliant, shit-on!, right chuffed, etc . All we have in California is "totally awesome", "rad" and "bitchin!"; I'd have to say the UK tour was bloody bitchin! Sold out shows in almost every city we played. Fans bringing us souvenirs and food from their hometowns. Sharing our bus with (support band) Division of Laura Lee and learning about the scene in their country (Sweden) and lots of hot gossip about the Refused.

How do you decide which support bands to take with you? What were Cardia, Division of Laura Lee and The Fight like to tour with?

We were fans of Division since their last album, so we were excited to hear they were available to tour with us. Cardia and the Fight were both suggested by our friends who promote us in the UK; we were happy to get to know them; Cardia are not like most bands we play with so it was an interesting mix. We like a wide variety of musical sounds, so when it comes to touring we like to mix it up a bit; not have Sugarcult with special guests Sugarcult Jr. and Sugarcult Light, you know? Come to our show and get turned on to new sounds, new scenes, etc.

How was Japan? Did you get on well with Bowling For Soup?

We had a blast getting drunk with them and watching them win over people in a country they had never been to before. As fun and off the cuff as they come off being, they are very serious and professional about what they do. Jaret and I are the same age and had an almost identical musical coming of age; going from 80s metal and punk rock to bands like the Pixies, Nirvana, etc. He also loves Nerf Herder (you can read my interview from last year with them here!), a great band from my hometown (Santa Barbara, CA) that I used to help out a lot before Sugarcult mania started. Good people and hard workers.

Did you have fun at the MTV Music Awards in Tokyo? Did you get to go to any after show parties?

We got, how do you say in the UK - bloody pissed! Slaughtered! Then we went out there and had a blast. You can't take things like that too seriously or they become really stiff and stressful. A bunch of people we know were there (Story of the Year, Kelly Osbourne, Good Charlotte) so it was fun to share the strange experience with them. I got to meet Pharrell Williams from the Neptunes/NERD, Big Boi from Outkast, and hip hop queen Missy Elliott; Janet Jackson and her entourage of bodyguards walked by me to fast for me to storm in and snap a photo. I have this huge collection of photos of me w/ various celebrities that I'm always trying to add to, I scored a few more shots that night (note: go to www.sugarcult.com and find the "beautiful stalker" section on our photo page to see some of these pictures)

This year you've played festivals, been to Japan, and had another album received well; what has been the main highlight for you so far this year?

It's hard to say. A big high point would have to be April 13, 2004; the day 'Palm Trees and Power Lines' finally saw the light of day and was released; we were on a headlining US tour and that day we were in New York City taping 'Late Night with Conan O'Brian' a huge nightly show that everyone in America watches before they go to bed; it was also the first time we played full-electric after our singer Tim had gone through a crisis with his ear condition (he suffers from Tinnitus, a constant ringing in one of his ears); we had been doing a few weeks of acoustic shows until his confidence recovered. So yeah, big day April 13; it's all been a steady flow of great things ever since.

How long did it take you to record Palm Trees and Powerlines? How do you find the recording process compared with playing live?

We wrote the songs pretty fast; in less than 2 months; then it took about the same amount of time to record them. We jumped overseas a few times during the recording process to support our last album 'Start Static' which was still pretty fresh to people in Europe and Japan, so that broke it up a bit and allowed us to test the songs out live at things like Reading and Leeds; as good as any place to test our a new song! Playing live is in-your-face heat of the moment delivery of instant rock n roll; whereas in the studio it's a much more controlled environment, you can go back and erase stuff you don't like or start over again. They are totally different animals.

You're playing the Warped Tour this summer. How many times have you played it? How would you describe the atmosphere at a Warped Tour show? What are the best things about playing shows with such huge line-ups?

We're a week into the Warped Tour as I write this, we're actually late today because our bus got a flat tire on the way to Kentucky! This is our 3rd time on Warped; the 2001 tour was our first US touring experience; we had no record out yet, so we just used it as an opportunity to promote our band, play our hearts out everyday on this tiny stage, and learn as much as we could from the bigger bands. In 2002 we did about 2 weeks on a medium sized stage; this time we are one of the big bands on the main stage right alongside NOFX, Bad Religion, New Found Glory, etc so it's a real honor to feel like our hard work over the past few years has been recognized. It's a huge traveling circus of people who have at least one thing in common: the spirit of punk rock. There are over 600 people on this tour when you factor in all the bandmembers, crew, athletes, drivers, caterers, production staffers, etc so you're always meeting new interesting friends. There's the young hungry upstart bands killing themselves everyday on little to no sleep to keep up with the tour; I have a lot of respect for them, because we went through the same thing a couple years ago. I cruise around all day before and after we play and watch other bands do their thing. It never ceases to amaze me that this tour has been going strong for 10 years; a big part of this whole subculture started in my hometown region in Southern California skating, melodic punk, etc; I watched it happen as I grew up in the 80's, so it's cool to see it go big!

What are the main differences between festivals in America and festivals over here, like Reading and Leeds?

There aren't a lot of annual festivals in America that go on year after year; I really like the tradition of the European rock festival; I suspect it can be traced back culturally to the medieval times, with big decadent gatherings being a huge part of social interaction. We got a big thrill out of doing Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds, etc. you grow up hearing about these things and to actually be there playing them is like a dream come true.

You've got quite a few photos in the 'Beautiful Stalker' section of the photo gallery on your site. Who did you most enjoy meeting and who would you most like to meet?

I eluded to this in one of the earlier questions; I am like a hunter except that I don't like to kill so I hunt for pop culture figures and shoot them with my camera instead! It started out as an innocent enough pursuit, but now it's become a passion; besides it gives me a chance to make art out of these experiences in my life; it's kind of a joke in our band now, like how huge of a star can Marko manage to get his photo taken with. Most people are super nice; Dido was really pretty in person and nice, but James Hetfield from Metalllica was a grouchy old bastard, but I kind of respected him more for it, after all Metallica's music is angry, wouldn't it be a dissapointment if you met them and they were happy go lucky. I want the big ones now; Madonna, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan; I would love to get my photo taken with President Bush and secretly hold up a sign that said 'idiot' or 'liar' or something, that would be a total score!

Now some random questions! If you could go back in time to any point in history, where would you go and why?

I'd like to be in Paris in the 1920s' when all the artists were at their most decadent; or England in the late 70's when punk was at it's most primal and important stage; or back to Rome a few centuries ago, find some of my ancestors and see how they were living; maybe get my picture painted with Leonardo Da Vinci or something!

If you were a Superhero, what would be your name and what powers would you have?

I am already a fucking Superhero! My name is Marko 72 and I am powerless!

What has the band got planned for the rest of the year?

After Warped, we go home and do a few California shows, then we fly out to New York (on September 11!!!) play a show, then fly straight across the Atlantic Ocean to do another Europe/UK tour that is being worked out right now; then we come home and (this is hot off the presses) we do a month long US tour opening for Green Day! After that we'll do some Christmas shopping and keep on touring.

Finally, is there anything else you'd like to add or promote?

Yes. There is a great website that Fat Mike from NOFX has started to educate punks about getting involved politically; www.punkvoter.com go there and check it out. Americans are pretty apathetic about the government, as a result we've ended up with some fucked up leaders; hopefully that will change as more and more people wake up and get active. You don't have to be an American for that site to be relevant to your life; it's a small world and we're ultimately all in this together. Take care of each other!! Cheers.

Thanks so much to Marko for answering my questions! As he mentioned, you can check out their site, www.sugarcult.com to find out all the latest info on the band. Sugarcult put on a great live show, so make sure you check them out when they come to the UK in October!