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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Club Clearview
By Ken Shimamoto
Fort Worth alternative pop-rockers Sugarbomb are a classic “local band almost makes good” story. Their 2001 c.d. Bully was released two weeks after Sept. 11 (doing well but not as well as hoped), and their irresistibly tuneful single “Hello” wound up in the soundtracks of both the silly college romp National Lampoon’s Van Wilder and the Colin Hanks-Jack Black vehicle Orange County. When last heard from a few months back, they were awaiting the results of a corporate shakeup at major label Atlantic, with whom they’d cut a demo deal.
Since then, they’ve been forced to scale down their performance schedule and work day jobs in order to pay off some of their major label debt. (Drummer Michael Harville has immersed himself in the business side of music, promoting Japanese bands through his Ronin Artists company.) In one of those colossal ironies of art vs. commerce, Sugarbomb lost opportunities to make some coin off additional movie and commercial placements because RCA still owns the rights to Bully. In one case, the Fort Worthians resorted to having another band cover “Hello” for a Hasbro toy commercial, so at least some writing royalties would fall into the Sugarbomb bank account.
Now, battered, bruised, but hopefully a little bit wiser, Sugarbomb is preparing to record a c.d. with ace producer Dave Castell (Pop Poppins, Deep Blue Something, Grand Street Cryers), which the band plans to release independently and shop around to various labels. And they’ll be playing a local gig or two each month. Harville promises fans “great new songs” as well as old favorites. Plus, they look more like rock stars than any other local contenders this side of Flickerstick or, uh, The Dose. So support the home team, people. See Sugarbomb.
Sat at Club Clearview, 2806 Elm St, Dallas. 214-939-0077.
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