Artist Spotlight is a segment that we started to introduce our listeners to some deserving up and coming artists/bands. They have made an impact on us for all of the right reasons. We think they kick ass and we hope you do too! Today we’d like to shine the spotlight on pop-rockers All Day Sucker.
All Day Sucker is the brainchild of lifelong friends and musical collaborators since high school producer and keyboardist Jordan Summers (Cat Power, FF5, and The F.O.C.K.R.s.) and singer Morty Coyle (DJMortyCoyle, FF5, and The F.O.C.K.R.s.).
Their new album Feel Better is out November 2023. They paved the way for the album with the release of the songs “I’m Not Tired,” “Fathers of Daughters,” and “Bitter.”
The new record is a dazzling piece of contemporary pop-rock, sparkling with sophisticated melodies and smart, tart wordplay, which deals with adult themes of parenthood, separation, divorce, and profound loss. The twelve new and original songs are the product of extreme personal changes experienced by co-founders and songwriters Coyle and Summers. It’s a work of emotional heft and great musical ambition.
Feel Better was recorded by four-time Grammy-winning producer, mixer, and audio engineer Dave Way (Foo Fighters, Beck, Pink!) live on the floor at the Way Station in Los Angeles with a group of band members who sport notable credits and long associations with Coyle and Summers. Bassist and arranger Dan Rothchild (Tonic, Heart, Shakira) drummer David “Goody” Goodstein (She Wants Revenge, Dolly Parton, Larkin Poe) guitarist Geoff Pearlman (Jakob Dylan, Dead Rock West, Joan Osborne). Also, guitarists Jay Gore and Fernando Perdomo and vocalist Jordan Zevon lend their talents on select songs. The bandmates are all veterans of the Wild Honey Orchestra, which mounts star-studded annual L.A. concerts benefiting autism research. Select bandmates were also part of the documentary film Echo in the Canyon featured in the film, and TV appearances, live performances, and on its accompanying soundtrack.
The culmination of All Day Sucker’s nearly two decades of playing, writing, and record-making, Feel Better spins what is very much an L.A. story, and at the album’s heart is the longtime creative partnership of vocalist Coyle and keyboardist-producer Summers. “The homage we pay is to our church, our temple of music, of what we grew up with,” says Coyle. Ultimately, we want to write songs that properly outlive us.”
We sat down with Jordan and Morty from All Day Sucker for a short but fun Q&A session.
Every superhero and villain have an origin and an artist is not different. Well, minus the radioactive spiders and secret government experiment. What’s the origin of All Day Sucker?
Jordan: Only our parents could tell you our origin story, but knowing them, it would be a short story. Morty and I met in English class at University High School in LA. Coincidentally, the teacher was my mother’s English teacher at Hamilton, so she probably contributed to my mother’s vowel sounds in my origin story. Anyway, I was making a set list for my band, which I had with drummer Jordan Zevon (son of Warren), and Morty got a peek and knew all the songs. We needed a lead singer, so that was that. The iMPOSTERS were born. We had our first club show at Madame Wong’s with all original material. Warren Zevon brought Peter Asher and his hotshot manager, Andy Slater to the show. No pressure.
Morty: Jordan and I were in a band called The iMPOSTERS that we started in high school. We were playing the Sunset Strip as underaged teens at night and then going to school the next morning. After high school we kept playing and with a few lineup changes got signed to a couple record companies and made a couple records which didn’t get released. Eventually, the band broke up and we moved on to some other pursuits for a couple years. After putting together a cover band with future-ADS bassist/vocalist Dan Rothchild (Men Without Sex) that became quite popular on the Hollywood scene I invited Jordan to join and that led to us starting All Day Sucker and playing our originals again.
Tell us about your new album Feel Better. What was the writing and recording processes like, where did the name of the LP come from?
Morty: We had several ideas for titles based on the album lyrics but we wanted something simple, succinct, and symbolic of the songs.
We obviously loved evocative two-word titles like “Rubber Soul”, “Pet Sounds”, “Moving Pictures”, and “Parallel Lines” amongst so many others.
Now, all through the recording process we had been dealing with the pandemic, various illnesses, my divorce, and the tragic losses of Jordan’s wife and my father.
It seemed like we and the world were constantly ending each conversation and text with “Feel Better” and during one of the exchanges Jordan and I both realized it was the perfect title in every sense.
Jordan: Generally, I will write a song and make a crappy demo. Then I will sing the melody with dummy lyrics, making fun of Morty, and send it to him. Sometimes the lyrics stick. Then he classes it up by rhyming big SAT words and an emotional agenda. Other times he will sing into my voicemail, and I will put it into the computer and literally write around it. We tend to agree right away on what’s good and wrestle mightily with what’s just okay until it’s better. The music and lyrics suggest themes, and that informs the direction we go in. Then we cut as much as possible because there is nothing sexier than a song that’s 3 minutes or under.
When were you bitten by the music bug and how has music, your own and from other artists impacted you?
Jordan: We both grew up reverent about movies, comedy, pop culture, music, and songwriting in particular. Everything impacts us. Musical theatre, every decade of popular a
Morty: We would be grateful to jam with any of our departed musical heroes but we would rather take that opportunity to ask about their various songwriting processes. Performing is ephemeral and dates but the creation of songs offer the self-delusional veneers of immortality and proof-of-purpose.
Jordan: I think jamming in the room with John Lennon and Harry Nilsson would be incredible for the ears and terrible for the liver.
You’re booking a tour that you’re on and you can bring along any 4 bands or artists (even if they are no longer with us). Who would you choose?
Morty: Today I’d say: The Shins, The Beatles, The Replacements, and Oingo Boingo.
Jordan: The Beatles, The Replacements, Otis Redding, David Bowie. I wouldn’t want to be the guy to clean the dressing rooms after the show.
Do you have a favorite tour or show story you can share?
Jordan: We were playing an outdoor show in Oklahoma to a large crowd. The clouds were gathering as we went on. When we got to our song called Heavy Weather (downloadable everywhere 🙂 ), the skies opened up on cue, and biblical amounts of rain poured down on everyone like a special effect. The crowd joined in en masse, singing on the refrain “heavy weather,” as we all got soaked together. The tarp overhead collapsed from the weight of the rain, and the show was over, and everyone ran for cover. Big finish!
If your music were a cocktail what would be in it?
Morty: Seltzer, vegan ham, and dry ice.
Jordan: Spirit of choice, seltzer, bitters and sugar. Served with a little umbrella in case it rains again.
Connect with All Day Sucker:
https://www.instagram.com/alldaysucker
