The summer of ’96 I traded ten dollars for my first skateboard, which was one of those blue plastic banana boards, about an inch and a half thick, and I’m pretty sure I got away with it because my folks didn’t even think I’d ride it. I had to get the right kicks for ankle support of course, so I hit up Moms for the obligatory Vans. Included with purchase, and hidden safely in the bottom of the box, sat the discus that would change it all for me. Vans had started giving out compilation CD’s with their shoes that year that featured artists that were playing on the newly established Warped Tour, and I was a recipient. So yea, I didn’t actually purchase my first record, but it was that one that led to the purchase of my first and many others.
Pops wouldn’t let me use the CD player yet, except for locking me in that room with treats like Zevon’s ‘Excitable Boy’ and Steely Dan’s ‘Aja’ and telling me not to come out until I listened to the whole thing. I’m still quite fond of these memories, which made for an extra eclectic musical taste in the long run, but the songs lacked that which a teenage miscreant could sufficiently vent to. I’m pretty sure the CD players of the time still cost several grand, and Pops was just itchin’ to bust me listening on his prized Sony (especially to a CD with the newly legislated ‘parental advisory’ notice), so I had to use my leveled sneak skill to learn all I needed to know about real rock.
The opening track was Goldfinger’s ‘Anxiety,’ exactly what the coming-of-age, marginally disturbed ne’er-do-weller needed to find meaning behind their ‘useless’ existence and at the same time learn how to let go. From there it continued in most righteous fashion, with Red 5’s ‘Space’ and Dancehall Crashers’ ‘Queen For a Day,’ both ditties rocked by more than capable female-fronted pop-punk groups; however, the most exquisite morsel featured on the compilation, in my opinion, was the combo breaker ‘Paddle Out/Wrong Way’ by Sublime.
When I heard ‘Paddle Out,’ I recognized the existence of a most pure freedom of song. This 1:16 of tube-driven excellence about how “I never though that when I grew up I would be in a band…” was directly influential in my writing and led to tidbits like FML from our first EP. My first official purchases of albums were Sublime’s Self-Titled, which I kept in my player (I got for Christmas that year) like all of my friends at the time, for the next year and a half at least, and Cake’s ‘Fashion Nugget,’ also quite prime. Though the Self-Titled Sublime had offerings of a more ska and hip-hop degree, I never stopped searching for the tones that I first heard on that 1996 Vans Warped Tour Sampler. Look for Super Prime’s new LP to exhibit evidence of this search, it’s due out this spring!
Boston’s three piece Powerpop outfit, Super Prime, fiercely took to the Boston rock scene in the spring of 2011. In under a year, Super Prime has shared the stage with Patent Pending, Hawthorne Heights, The Dollyrots and Stereo Skyline, released two self produced EP’s, established their own music publishing companies and hooked up with renowned Boston producer Brian Charles to record their first full length LP due out in the first half of 2012. Super Prime’s plans for 2012 include releasing a music video (or two!), releasing their first LP, playing more shows all over the U.S. and writing more material for a 3rd EP and 2nd LP. Stay tuned for more awesomeness from Super Prime!
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