For Evans, Sugar High's new start has also marked the maturation of his vision for the band, a coalescence of sound and style that's been the culmination of his personal odyssey through an ever-widening record collection.
"About the time we formed Autumn Teen Sound, my tastes started getting a lot better, and we started ripping off from better people. That band was really influenced by Odyssey and Oracle and Pet Sounds," says Evans, referring to the mid-'60s pop landmarks from the Zombies and the Beach Boys. "Obviously, we never scaled those kind of heights, but those two things had a real impact on what we were doing. We started trying to put three-part harmonies on every song."
Paolo Vescia
Reunited and it feels so good:Sugar High, from left, Sean Gens, Adrian Evans, Pat Singleton and Jason Garcia.
Lokey
Sundae, bloody sundae: Sugar High onstage during its Ice Cream AntiSocial release party.
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While Evans and Gens made their discoveries during the '90s reissue craze, for the elder Singleton, his first contact with the melancholy teen world of the Beach Boys came a couple decades earlier as a youth in Ohio.
"When I first got into Pet Sounds, I was so into it that I took down all my KISS posters so my walls would be as blank as Brian Wilson felt," recalls Singleton. "Then my friends who were tough guys into Aerosmith and KISS came over and were like, 'Dude, where are your posters at?' And I'm going, 'I'm into Pet Sounds -- that'swhere my posters are at.' They were like, 'What are you talking about? Put your fucking KISS posters back up.'"
Despite its collective Beach Boy jones, Sugar High's output isn't really reminiscent of that band's summery muse. Theirs is an amalgam of far more diverse and fully digested influences.
"Gradually, we started to discover the great tradition of music that wouldn't strictly be categorized as pop. It's become a kind of free-for-all that ranges from the Stooges to Sinatra," notes Evans, as Ol' Blue Eyes' Only the Lonely plays softly in the background.
As much as the band wears its influences on its sleeve, there is nothing retro about the tracks found on Anti-Social. Instead, they chart a steady course through a jangle of post-'60s pop songcraft -- starting with Badfinger and the Nazz, visiting the dB's and Tommy Keene and eventually winding up at the door of the Velvet Crush and the Posies. While the band clearly relies -- both musically and stylistically -- on all those elements as a touchstone, they never veer into the unbecoming trappings of nostalgia.
The group's engaging sense of melody -- especially prominent on the EP's two standouts, "100 Years to Love You" and "Scare Me" -- owes an equal debt to classic Brill Building hooks as to the Raspberries, Shoes and other purveyors of the criminally neglected subgenre of power pop.
Though less obvious on the album than in a live setting, Evans' vocals -- his reedy tone and Anglo-inspired phrasing -- are especially reminiscent of Bach's Bottom-era Alex Chilton, while Garcia's compulsive riffing and big-chord bluster come off as a convincing Y2K interpretation of founding Modfathers Townshend and Weller. At the opposite end, the rhythm section is a study in style. Singleton's very visage is a rock 'n' roll metaphor as he alternates, legs spread into a sunken Ramones posture, then straightens, bass vertical in a Bill Wyman nod. Behind everything, Gens -- his drums covered with Day-Glo stickers -- bashes away in a blur of "come on, get happy" abandon.
These days, more than anything, it seems the members of Sugar High are grateful for the gift of a second chance and the series of modest successes that have come with it.
"Every couple of weeks, there's something exciting happening for us. It started out with just getting the band back together and booking shows. Then the Nick Gilder thing happened, then Drive Me Crazy came through, and then the EP. So it's just been a bunch of good things after the other," says Evans.
Though the group plans to tread carefully in regard to its commercial future -- specifically a label deal and management -- it will begin to take some tentative first steps with a regional tour this spring. The band also plans to extend its reach overseas as it will release a European split single with U.K. popsters Medium 21 this summer.
For Singleton, the years of toil and tumult finally seem to be paying off. "I keep waiting for the real work to start," he muses. "Because with Autumn Teen Sound and all these other bands I was in, it was always like pulling teeth. I didn't realize that at the time. I just thought, 'Well, this is how you do it.' But this time around, it's been so easy, it feels right."
Sugar High is scheduled to perform on Thursday, February 24, at Patriots Square. Showtime is noon. The group will also perform on Friday, March 3, at Hollywood Alley in Mesa. Showtime is 9 p.m. Reunited and it feels so good: Sugar High, from left, Sean Gens, Adrian Evans, Pat Singleton and Jason Garcia.
