Interview

Interview With Sons Of Poseidon's Hat

Fargo, North Dakota's SONS OF POSIEDON are one of my recent metal music discoveries that flatout continues to grow on the proverbial ears with each and every spin from their new self-released album entited 'North American Metal'. They have become hometown favorites over the last several years with one highly entertaining performance after the next and a bass player that is clearly unrivaled in the 'let it all hang out for the hell of it' department. Whether he's covering his nearly nude body in strawberry preserves on stage or sticking fireworks in his ass and lighting them off for the cheering crowd, Hat of Sons of Poseidon always seems to be doing a bit more than just his part of throwing down a rockin rhythm section to entertain his fans and that's what rock n roll is all about.

Rocket: Are you originally from Fargo, ND?

Hat: Born and raised. It became a lot more interesting to be from “Fargo” once the movie came out and there were some wood chopping murders from here… don’t ya know there then.

Rocket: Haha. Right on. When did you start playing bass guitar?

Hat: Junior high. I actually played stand up bass in the orchestra. Spent most of my time doing the jaws theme and annoying the director, but I picked up a couple things along the way.

Rocket: Who are some of your main playing influences?

Hat: I made the mistake of seeing Rush live twice in my life, once with Billy Sheehan’s Mr Big project and once with Primus. Between Geddy, Billy and Claypool I was pretty much ready to throw away my basses and start perfecting my burger flipping skills. But I stuck it out and just have tried to be myself. For me there is nothing better than a high energy, solid bass player. It’s my job to hold down the low end and put on a good show.

Rocket: It's funny you bring all that up cause when I was working at Guitar Center a few years back I had this conversation with some dude about how that during the Mr. Big/Rush tour Geddy's skills simply made Sheehan look like he was a hack player by comparison. Which is totally mind blowing cause Billy is really an incredible performer. I have seen him peform a live bass solo in person with Mr. Big around those times and I nearly shit myself! What kind of bass guitars are you playing live and in the studio?

Hat: My main basses are four and five-string Ibanez SR2000’s. That particular model was in production for a very short time so I have an SR1000 back up and a Peavey Cirrus back up. I did recently touch the tip of my tongue to one bass I have had for about ten years. For Halloween I dressed up as a Hot Fudge Sundae (10 or so cans of frosting and a jock strap in case you were wondering.) Several months later my basses still smell like a bakery on stage. So I decided to taste one. Bad idea. Ten years of blood, puke, sweat, and my occasional naked body doesn’t make for anything you want the essence of on your tongue. Who knew?

Rocket: What kind of amp rig?

Hat:: GK 800RB heads and SVT 4x10 cabs. I like the punchiness of the 4 versus the 8x10.
I like a bright, aggressive, grinding tone and the combination of neck through Ibanez’s and GK heads is perfect for that.

Rocket: That's a great rig. Let's talk about the new SOP album that you guys have just self-released to the market. What's the title and where can fans purchase a copy?

Hat: Our latest release is North American Metal. You can pick it up directly at our website, www.sopweb.com. In addition, Amazon.com and CDBaby have it. Please buy it, cleaning frosting off your bass is very expensive.

Rocket: Haha. Alright, man... last year was a great year for metal. What album was your personal favorite?

Hat: Hands down - Lamb of God’s “Sacrament”. I haven’t stopped listening to it since I got it months ago. We did a show with them and they are great!!!!!

Rocket: Who are some of the other local acts in your area that have impressed you?

Hat: Unfortunately we are so busy that I don’t have time to get out and see other bands very much. So let me just say this, I give major props to anyone who goes out there and does what they want, the way they want, and doesn’t give into the pressure to be what everyone else wants them to be.

Rocket: Very well said, brother. Now I like to have fun with this one. What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you while performing on the stage?

Hat: Well it’s hard to top doing an entire night dressed in frosting, but I’ll give it a try. Let me preface this with please don’t try any of this stuff at home or anyone else’s home for that matter. I have been known for shooting bottle rockets out of my ass (and no I didn’t steal the idea from Jackass, I have been doing it for ten years and with many painful videos and scars to prove it.) I hold the bottle rockets with my butt cheeks and let them scream and explode with me holding them the whole time. Letting them fly might lead to someone else getting hurt, but apparently my pain is OK. (The rockets have to be whistlers as it’s more dramatic with a long scream and a dramatic pause followed by the report.) So after working my way up to as many as a dozen or so rockets all at the same time, I was ready for something new. So we went to the fireworks store to see what we could come up with. The answer jumped right out when we came across cones that shoot sparks called Golden Showers. With that name, we had to find a way to make it work. So we decided I would get naked, scrunch up the end of the cone and hold it in my butt cheeks and have my own Golden Shower out of my butt. Being the responsible idiot that I am, I tried it outside at home first and it worked perfectly. (Yes our neighbors love us.) So the show came and I put on my red white and blue top hat, stripped myself naked and started the trick. But of course I had to get all cocky during the show and I started shakin my booty, not accounting for how slippery the duck butter is in my ass during shows. Suddenly the cone slipped down and shot very hot sparks all over my inner thighs and just missed my nutsack. I had very nasty burns way up into no man’s land and had to put burn ointment on the wounds. So I am back at the hotel on all fours on the bed with Carter behind me directing me on where to apply the stuff when he, unable to see just how far up I was burned, said “Hat, I can’t believe I am saying this but…. spread your cheeks.”

Rocket: I think I'm gonna be ill. Ha! I think you just out Spinal Tap'd Spinal Tap, bro! How does a fan go about becoming an SOP street team member?

Hat: Please go to the website and email us or check us out on myspace.

www.sopweb.com

www.myspace.com/sonsofposeidon

Rocket: So what are some of the upcoming shows for the band?

Hat: We are doing a few shows in western ND early in February:

Bismarck, ND - VFW on Thursday Feb 8.

Dickinson ND - The Broadway Fri and Sat Feb 9 and 10.

Rocket: Very cool. Well, thanks very much for dong this with me. Best of luck to SOP in 2007. Give a shoutout to your biggest supporters.

Hat: Shout out as always to you, Rocket, and all your help!!

Rocket: I am a bad ass muthafucker, ain't I, Hat? You tell em! Haha.

Hat: Of course to all of our supporters who are too numerous to single out. We would inevitably leave someone out. So let’s just say a huge thank you to everyone for coming out to the shows, buying the disc and letting us be who we are!

Visit Sons Of Poseidon on the web:

http://www.sopweb.com
http://www.myspace.com/sonsofposeidon