Becoming Something Else - Sugarcoma

...gun onto yourself
we're becoming something else
Feels like I'm falling apart
slow down, you're pushing me too far"


LOST MORNING is a song I tend to skip because it seems a bit metal-lite and also is a bit 'content with love and life' and is something I cannot at all identify with (ooh sense the bitterness). I say the track is metal-lite since the guitars and drums aren't 'soft-rock' the whole way ...
...odd bellows from Jess. Yes you're happy, oh you have an "angel beside you" but I know he's going to fuck you over, love.

"I lay in my own arms
Hung over
I know i'll feel so much better tonight
It's good
To be here
With
You"


Same formula with some of the other tracks... distortion distortion then gentle picking then more distortion, some singing ... more

I first heard of SugarComa through the first boyfriend, a bastard ex. Even though he is a bastard ex, I had grown very fond of some of the people I had 'met' through the band's message board, and the band themselves seemed a lovely bunch, and so I did what the loyal fan would do and bought the album when it was released.

+ THE BAND +

Named after a song by Hole, they formed while still in high school after vocalist Jess saw guitarist Claire playing with her band and spoke of her wish to form a band. With 2 positions filled, Claire enlisted her childhood friend James to be drummer and new mate Heidi to be bassist.

With encouragement after rough jamming sessions and performances at school, they played gigs in local pubs and clubs, and even played The Ruskin Arms where Iron Maiden had their first gig.

Then, at the tender age of 16 they released the Blisters EP containing 4 tracks which would become classics amongst their fanbase and was rated single of the week in Kerrang!, and were invitied to support My Ruin on their UK tour. With publicity like that, record companies took notice and they joined the Music For Nations label and released the 'What Goes Round' EP. Following the success of that, 'Becoming Something Else' was released before the band parted ways with the label (i.e. the label right royally screwed them over).

SugarComa are:

James Cuthbert - Drummer
Heidi McEwan- Bassist
Claire Simson- Guitarist
Jess Mayers - Vocalist / Bellower

+ THE ALBUM +

WINDINGS begins in a frenzy of guitar, drums, and bass that practically grabs you by the hair and drags your ears to the speaker, with Jess alternately singing and 'roaring' each line - which I think makes the song more pleasing to the ears than if it was nothing but the 'roaring' - can all death and black metal bands please take note.
Taking the title from the Welsh recording studio where the album was made, it promises that you're in for an aural assault as the band step back from things and briefly contemplate the world as a shithole.

"Nothing to feel
Destroy everything thats real
We get so blind
Too much shit pushed in our eyes"

A dirty, strangely sexy riff leads us into COME UP as Jess begins singing and only roars towards the end to emphasise a few words and the enormity and urgency of certain 'feelings' as Jess informs us she's "about to come up". Bit worrying since I was unaware female anatomy 'down there' could do that. You could pole dance to this song. I want a pole in my room.

"All my emotions tangle
and it feels just like heaven
I'll pay to feel this way
but I feel free today"

LAST ORDERS delivers a 70s funk feeling guitar licks before descending into a headbang-worthy tune - the ferocity of headbanging all depending on your level of inebriation and the volume on your stereo.
A typical teenage rebellion is how one could describe this song, (hopefully without sounding like a patronising cow who still IS a teenager) with Jess' softcore 'roar' throughout declaring to all and sundry that she "won't take your orders"

"I'll go down, down with grace
won't let you discriminate
Shoot me down, blood like rain
watch me rise, up again"

SHOTS brings a gentle but fairly quick bassline and drumbeat is soon accompanied by Claire's dreamy guitar before, yep, dirty riffs all around. Once Jess begins singing about the slight disillusionment with that crazy little thing called love, the guitar reverts back to 'dreamy state' briefly and before you know it, Jess is bellowing repeatedly "nothing but what you want" to whoever is currently accompanying her to bed.
No anger, no fury, no disappointment. It seems like this could actually be a positive song! Except for a line about bleeding all over... I imagine it's a metaphor. You know what kids are like. Still, a brilliant song.

"Now our hands are on fire
we can't get much higher
our skin is so tired
Dive in me again
let me take you"

With a bassline that gives the impression it's meant to be sinister, or that the end is nigh, STITCH IT UP is another angst-y song which lacks in the speed required for a moshpit - if you're bouncing about like a lunatic how are you supposed to take a step back with Jess and reflect on this half apathetic / half rebellious track where nothing is making her feel better and it's gotten to the extent she's hating herself more as she bellows to an unknown person/s "want to be special like you".
What's interesting about this track is that the chorus is hard to make out, and Jess herself can't quite remember what it was she wrote lol

"I'm sick and tired of feeling
pills never numb the pain
I know that I'll be wanted when I'm gone
I'm so wasted and everything feels wrong"

JUST LIKE YOU has that ominous sound... it's not a cheery start and it's apparent that this is yet another song with which you may identify certain teenage rebellions / arguments / fights with your parents.
Like Windings, Jess alternates between 'roar'-ing and singing sweetly, and it works really quite well (to my surprise anyways) as if to reinforce or back up the previous line / statement.

"Home is where the hate is -
it's somewhere uncomfortable
I will always love you -
always be a part of you
Something to be proud of -
something I will never be
Don't think that I blame you -
I did what you asked me to"

BECAUSE SEPTEMBER ENDED starts with a refreshingly non-generic opening guitar lick (sometimes I notice certain influences with songs, and I can't determine any from this one). It is not positive. It is not quite negative. It is the truth, and it is told in a minimal amount of lyrics which comment on the present state of things as seen from someone who's eyes were opened long ago from personal painful experiences.

"Turn the gun onto yourself
we're becoming something else
Feels like I'm falling apart
slow down, you're pushing me too far"

LOST MORNING is a song I tend to skip because it seems a bit metal-lite and also is a bit 'content with love and life' and is something I cannot at all identify with (ooh sense the bitterness). I say the track is metal-lite since the guitars and drums aren't 'soft-rock' the whole way through as there are instances of heavy-ish distortions and the odd bellows from Jess. Yes you're happy, oh you have an "angel beside you" but I know he's going to fuck you over, love.

"I lay in my own arms
Hung over
I know i'll feel so much better tonight
It's good
To be here
With
You"

Same formula with some of the other tracks... distortion distortion then gentle picking then more distortion, some singing then bellowing... WHAT GOES ROUND is, as the title suggests, is about someone who had no qualms about using people and is being told that it's going to come back and kick her up the arse. However, I think this could have been a good angry song, but I don't sense any real feeling or fury in the 'roars'.

"Don't come running back this time
when you think its all over
Just take someone elses hand
cry on someone else's shoulder"

After a couple of disappointing tracks, GUN brings back that 'metal' and rebellious feel that threatens to be an anthem for anyone disillusioned with a country's habit of lashing out with bombs for revenge and having the audacity to say they're acting in the name of God.
Crashing cymbals, loud and dirty guitar and bass - it isn't quite fast enough to start a moshpit but there may be a few headbanging injuries.

"I'll always refuse to be controlled by you
the right to be free will always be with me
I can't believe it has come to this
someone has to pay, someone has to..."

The breakup song, it seems - especially since it begins with the words "now it's over". START OF THE END, musically, has some great parts (chorus, mainly) which I think may have been put to better use with different lyrics... or perhaps used more frequently for a song that would get the crowd (or lone listener) going. Although this does seem to be a breakup song, it seems a bit devoid of feelings but not so much that Jess is numb to it... just seems a bit strange to me in that aspect I suppose, regardless of who did the dumping.

"Don't leave me this time, I think I'll cry
I don't know if this will ever feel right"

Ahhh most people know SugarComa for this song... CRAZY. Yep, the Britney Spears cover. Hardly a metal cover, though in all honestly this is hardly a metal band in the true aspect, though a hearty and admirable attempt nonetheless.
Travis had did their own cover of Crazy, which was in a minor key and a bit more heartfelt / agonising, but although many sneer at the fact this was covered by a 'metal / rock' band, it doesn't make this any less enjoyable!
Britney won't be spinning in her grave anyways. Or Max Martin, really, since he wrote it.

"You drive me crazy
I just can't sleep
I'm so excited
I'm in too deep
You drive me crazy
but it feels alright
Baby thinking of you keeps me up all night"

I just realised that last line could sound a bit dodgy...

ZERO STAR is the last track, and is the best track to have been chosen to end on. Very moving, without losing any of that 'rock / metal' credibility (if you ignore the weaker tracks, that is). Bit of a lament, and not one to listen to in states of depression. Trust me on that one.
Jess sings throughout (ok, she does bellow a bit) and works really well, musically, between gentle, lamenting guitars in the intro and verses and slipping into those damn dirty riffs for the chorus and bridge.

"Walk out of the door you look so beautiful
the hole in the sky is where you belong
as empty as God
God"

+ SUMMARY +

So, the opening track promises some metal mayhem and instead the listener gets... instances of metal-lite and a roar that is actually an imitable bellow (if I can copy a roar, then it isn't a roar basically).
Still, this is a pretty good album - which I've deduced from the facts I've listened to it innumerable times and that I haven't sold or given away the thing.

+ EXTRA INFO +

While Kerrang! touted SugarComa as the hot new thing, and even got a performance on a Saturday morning TV program, because their label were more interested in hyping up Bowling For Soup (why they bothered I'll never know), SugarComa didn't make it as big as promised and were left with debts to pay off. (A record label fucking a band over? Never!)

Sadly, the band - while still firm friends - are not active at the moment. However, Jess has mentioned another project / band she is presently working with, so fans will have that to look forward to.

+ WEBSITES +

http://www.sugarcomaonline.co.uk - Official Site

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=1043773&Mytoken=20050627045849 - SugarComa profile

http://www.myspace.com/jeskypesky - Jess' profile

http://www.myspace.com/rawknrollbaby - Claire's profile

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=967688&Mytoken=20050627045849 - Heidi's profile

*update - Travis did not cover Crazy, they in actual fact covered Hit Me Baby One More Time. Thanks to true-a-ben who pointed out my drunken error with the utmost kindness* 

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