The Sumpthings – Interview – Thanks for Asking!
Written by Staff on January 25, 2025
The Sumpthings – Interview – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.
RRX: Music genres are difficult for some artists. Some strictly adhere; others not so much. What is your perspective on the genre you play, or the genres you hover around?
TS: Our recipe is a rock stew with some sprinkles of blues, indie, alternative, classic, and psychedelic tossed in just to spice things up. You never know what we might find in the creative cupboard. We take advice from Thug Kitchen and try not to overthink it. Every spice has it’s place on the table.
RRX: A band is a business. A business of love, but you got to work for it. Let’s pretend, instead of a band, you all owned a business. What would it be, and why would it be good?
TS: Our band would own a bar because, well…. one of us owned a bar, and another one of us worked at a bar. Plus, at night we play gigs in bars. The SumpThings is a bar band… we would never play someplace like a coffee shop, we would scare the kids. The SumpThings Bar would prevail because of good drinks, music and chicken wire.
RRX: In the universe of music, anything can happen. Bizarro doppelgangers can walk down the street in feather boas. Who would be your musical opposite and why? What do you think the “anti-you” band would sound like?
TS: I was eating in Village Inn a while back and Maroon 5 came on their restaurant playlist along with Jack Johnson. If the SumpThings ever became breakfast music or appealed to Tweeny-Boppers, not only would we have creatively failed the music Gods, but we would be forced to fall on our samurai swords to preserve our honor. In summary, we’re probably the opposite of Maroon 5 because we’re not serving up sappy plates of generic flap jacks intended for children. Didn’t Jack Johnson sing a song about pancakes? I feel woozy.
RRX: With services like Spotify, streaming revenue can be pretty dismal. Without spilling secrets, do you have a promotional mindset or philosophy?
TS: Our musical ancestors had no streaming services, yet, passed down their heartfelt legacies. Music will endure long after money has outgrown it’s purpose, like in some futuristic Star Trek utopia. The Sumpthings will make music with money and The SumpThings will make music without money. As Pink Floyd once said… the show must go on. Maybe the Jetsons will get to hear us some day?
RRX: What do you think is the most dangerous song to cover from the perspective of criticism? Who do you think is too hard to cover, and why?
TS: I don’t see anyone covering Sweet Child of Mine… who wants to wrestle with Godzilla? Plus, even people who hate Guns and Roses love that song, so nobody dares mess with it. We’ve all secretly agreed it’s sacred, whether we’re aware of it or not.
RRX: Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Or so they say. Whether you’re off the wagon, on it, or never been, there’s something you got a thirst for. What are some of your basically harmless vices?
TS: In general, music by itself is a pretty harmless vice, but Crosseyed, Moonshine Farm, Rip Another and Worthless are all Sumpthings songs that pertain to drug use. Artists are “fringe” by nature, hellbent on manifesting their spiritual vision into a material hellscape infested by NPCs who enamored only by the mechanisms of some silly Matrix video game. It’s a tough place to be, trying to constantly have deep, meaningful interactions with other non-player-characters day in and day out — it can leave and artist feeling empty and drive them to drink, for sure. Have you ever heard of the 27 Club?
The Sumpthings (Greatest Hits) – Compilation by The Sumpthings | Spotify