Interview with Evan Foster of the Boss Martians
2008 was a busy year for the Boss Martians. Their highly favorable album Pressure in the S.O.D.O. was finally released two years after the lead off track "Power of Doubt" appeared on the SXSW '06 media web page. The album's second single, "Hey Hey Yeah Yeah", was used in both the Super Bowl XLII regular broadcast and the e-Trade talking baby commercials. During the following NFL season, the song was picked up by the Carolina Panthers as their official entrance theme. The third single, "Mars Is For Martians", features guest vocals by punk godfather Iggy Pop. Between endorsements with some of the coolest companies around (Lucky 13 Clothing, Hagstrom Guitars) and more song placements in television and video games, The Boss Martians toured like a band that had not a home to call their own. We are talking SXSW, The Wild Weekend Pop Festival, a European tour, and practically every American city with a rock'n'roll pulse - many of those twice or more due to popular demand.
The 13 songs from Pressure in the S.O.D.O. help prove that the Boss Martians are more than a garage rock novelty lucky to survive the 21st century revival. In fact, the 'Martians are ready to show the world that they have the chops to be among the masters of power pop today and quite possibly hit-makers for tomorrow.
The Boss Martians headlined Hollywood Alley three times in 2008. Between my bar/promoter duties and the band's commitment to talk with their fans for hours after the show, I never had the chance to do a sitdown interview with the band. Now that the year is over and The Boss Martians have a few days of downtime, I was able to throw a few questions out to founder/singer/guitarist/songwriter Evan Foster in hopes to gain intimate knowledge of one of my favorite live acts in 2008.
Vil: I keep hearing from folks around here that they have been hearing the Boss Martians a lot on Sirius Satellite radio. How has this exposure helped?
Evan: That’s great to hear, we’ve really come to appreciate Sirius and all the support we’ve gotten - especially from Little Steven and his organization. The Sirius airplay has helped bring more people out to the shows - especially on tour in the States - helped our download and CD sales some, and in general seems to have helped increase awareness of the band.
Vil: You have played SXSW a handful of times and you just finished playing the Wild Weekend Power Pop Festival, also in Austin. In the days of high gas prices, hot weather, and short attention spans, are The Boss Martians finding benefits in traveling all the way to these festivals and touring in general?
Evan: Generally we do pretty well on the road, and the festivals have helped us connect with fans and supporters we otherwise might not have reached, so that’s a great benefit of touring for us. But yeah, the price of gas on the last US Tour (Aug-Oct 2008) was brutal and really kicked our asses. We saw gas prices nearing $5.00 in places like Chicago and some of the larger metro areas. As I answer these questions now (from Seattle, Dec ‘08), the price of gas on average here is $1.89. It sure would have been nicer to be on tour right now! Touring is touring, it has ups and downs, but I’m always generally pleased with the results we get and the number one payoff for me is the connection with the fans and super cool people we’ve met that have helped us so much -- playing live is what we all love to do more than anything else and we’re grateful for the killer fans we’ve got.
Vil: Speaking of the festival, how great was it to see bands like 20/20 and The Boys?
Evan: It was beyond killer! To see The Boys was complete and total inspiration - they fucking ruled it and brought the house down completely. And a really good friend of ours was playing drums for them which made it even more mind-blowing (cheers Vom we love you!). Many many kudos out to our booking agent Mike Hooker from Rock-A-Round Entertainment who booked and produced the entire event. It took some gorilla-sized balls to pull that one off and he did it -- we’re honored to have been a part of it.
Vil: Have you noticed an increased of bands that are transforming their sound from garage rock to power pop? I know that the Boss Martians sound has shaped over the last few years, and I have seen other artists like Jay Reatard make a similar transformation.
Vil: Have you noticed an increased of bands that are transforming their sound from garage rock to power pop? I know that the Boss Martians sound has shaped over the last few years, and I have seen other artists like Jay Reatard make a similar transformation.
Evan: I did notice a transformation that some bands went through about 3-4 years ago to a more Power Pop-centric sound, some good, some bad. And a lot more Power Pop and Rock & Roll bands have been showing up on the radar lately it seems as well. It’s weird, it seems some bands have amazing focus and do one sound better than many others when they start out, and when they want to change or evolve, they just call it quits and splinter off and start like 2 or 3 new bands. Yet other bands follow their inspirations and embrace an attempt to grow & evolve - sometimes to the delight, sometimes to the disillusionment of their fans - and just stick it out. Man, sometimes I feel like we are the weirdest fucking band out there for all the changes we’ve gone through.
Vil: I have booked The Boss Martians and Thee Emergency several times here in AZ at Hollywood Alley. We also had Black Eyes and Neckties here a few weeks ago and The Cute Lepers did two shows last Thursday at Modified and Yucca Tap Room. Tell me about some Seattle bands that I haven’t see come through AZ yet? Who should I keep my eye out for?
Evan: Have you booked The Girls?
Vil: Yes. Blanche Davidian did a few shows with them in 2003. Mike from Blanche Davidian actually toured with them on guitar before. The original drummer for The Girls, Mario, now lives back in Scottsdale and plays drums for Mike's new band The Beijing Tangs.
Evan: I really like their new record from The Girls. I just did a few fill-in shows with them in October for some of their tour w/ Flogging Molly. Their guitar player wasn’t able to make some dates and I filled in for 2 shows, great time and a great band to work with.
Vil: Let’s talk more about Seattle as far as community and support of the arts. One thing I have heard from a friend who moved up there and started her own magazine is that, although the scene and people are great, it takes a long time to really prove yourself in Seattle. There seems to be a lot of pride and stubbornness among the natives with a great deal of filtering when it comes to the artists who have relocated there.
Vil: Let’s talk more about Seattle as far as community and support of the arts. One thing I have heard from a friend who moved up there and started her own magazine is that, although the scene and people are great, it takes a long time to really prove yourself in Seattle. There seems to be a lot of pride and stubbornness among the natives with a great deal of filtering when it comes to the artists who have relocated there.
Evan: Great question. Seattle has lost some great local talent because it’s generally quite hard here. For example, Neko Case left Seattle because she felt it wasn’t hospitable to its artists. I’ve seen some amazing bands just say ‘fuck it’ because its generally so hard to get something going here sometimes. Seattle is a weird mistress. I think a lot of bands from here - if they’re really serious about trying to find and cultivate an audience - just 1) move and relocate to another city, or 2) start touring! There are some wonderful people out here involved with Seattle’s music community, and some pretty shitty people as well -- though that could be said about any place, really. But yeah, for “rock” bands, it can be pretty damned hard here.
Vil: The Boss Martians have had an aggressive tour schedule in 2008 and the latest album Pressure in the S.O.D.O. had been recorded quite awhile ago. Is it time to record the next album, or are you looking to hit the road again in 2009?
Evan: Well, what became ...SODO was done off and on throughout ’07 and released in Europe first in late ’07. We toured Oct - Dec 2007 in Western Europe, then as SODO was released here in the States in ’08 we toured early March - late June ’08, and then again August - October ’08 so we really put some time in on the road which was great for the band and for the new record. All in all it was roughly 7 months of touring the States and Europe in support of that record. But now we’re home and getting ready to work on songs for a new album which feels great. It will be the first for our new label. We’ve just signed to Little Steven’s Wicked Cool label and we’re really excited to be working with Steven and his organization, they’re amazing people and have been a great support.
Vil: On tour, are there any surprises as far as which cities have responded to the Boss Martians? L.A., SF, Austin, and of course Seattle should be no surprise. What other city has a great scene for garage rock and power pop?
Evan: Oh yeah, there have been some incredible surprises out there - St. Petersberg and Miami,Florida, Wichita, KS, Lincoln, NE -- they’ve all be great places to play.
Vil: Tell us about what record labels you have been on – both here and overseas – and what kind of support they have given the boss Martians?
Evan: Well, this past summer we released “SODO” on MuSick Recordings (the label that released The Martians’ last 2 albums, and my first solo effort), and SODO was the last release we were obligated to MuSick for. They’ve been cool to work with and have done a lot to help the band increase it’s profile. In Europe “SODO” was released on India Records (all of Europe except Spain) and Rock On Records (Spain only) and they were both also great to work with -- I mean there are little hang-ups and bumps here and there but in general with some of the horror stories we’ve heard from other bands and artists, all these guys have been generally cool to work with. As mentioned, we’ve recently signed to Little Steven’s new label Wicked Cool Records which we’re excited to move forward with.
Vil: How long has the current line-up been together? Also, will be writing more with this line-up, or do you see yourself the primary songwriter for future Boss Martians songs?
Evan: The current line-is has been together since spring 2005 and it’s worked out well. I’ve more or less been the creative driving force behind the band and I don’t think that would really ever change all that much but I’ve been strongly encouraging the other members to come in with more material for this record to see what we can create. I’m confident there will be some group collaborations on this new record.
Vil: The Boss Martians have had an aggressive tour schedule in 2008 and the latest album Pressure in the S.O.D.O. had been recorded quite awhile ago. Is it time to record the next album, or are you looking to hit the road again in 2009?
Evan: Well, what became ...SODO was done off and on throughout ’07 and released in Europe first in late ’07. We toured Oct - Dec 2007 in Western Europe, then as SODO was released here in the States in ’08 we toured early March - late June ’08, and then again August - October ’08 so we really put some time in on the road which was great for the band and for the new record. All in all it was roughly 7 months of touring the States and Europe in support of that record. But now we’re home and getting ready to work on songs for a new album which feels great. It will be the first for our new label. We’ve just signed to Little Steven’s Wicked Cool label and we’re really excited to be working with Steven and his organization, they’re amazing people and have been a great support.
Vil: On tour, are there any surprises as far as which cities have responded to the Boss Martians? L.A., SF, Austin, and of course Seattle should be no surprise. What other city has a great scene for garage rock and power pop?
Evan: Oh yeah, there have been some incredible surprises out there - St. Petersberg and Miami,Florida, Wichita, KS, Lincoln, NE -- they’ve all be great places to play.
Vil: Tell us about what record labels you have been on – both here and overseas – and what kind of support they have given the boss Martians?
Evan: Well, this past summer we released “SODO” on MuSick Recordings (the label that released The Martians’ last 2 albums, and my first solo effort), and SODO was the last release we were obligated to MuSick for. They’ve been cool to work with and have done a lot to help the band increase it’s profile. In Europe “SODO” was released on India Records (all of Europe except Spain) and Rock On Records (Spain only) and they were both also great to work with -- I mean there are little hang-ups and bumps here and there but in general with some of the horror stories we’ve heard from other bands and artists, all these guys have been generally cool to work with. As mentioned, we’ve recently signed to Little Steven’s new label Wicked Cool Records which we’re excited to move forward with.
Vil: How long has the current line-up been together? Also, will be writing more with this line-up, or do you see yourself the primary songwriter for future Boss Martians songs?
Evan: The current line-is has been together since spring 2005 and it’s worked out well. I’ve more or less been the creative driving force behind the band and I don’t think that would really ever change all that much but I’ve been strongly encouraging the other members to come in with more material for this record to see what we can create. I’m confident there will be some group collaborations on this new record.
Thanks to Evan for taking the time to answer these questions and The Boss Martians for rocking the Phoenix area three times in one year. The photos are courtesy of their myspace page, which is their official website now for current info on the band and their tour schedule. They have many songs from Pressure in the S.O.D.O. for your listening delight. Go Check out http://www.myspace.com/thebossmartians.
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