LOUD Magazine
Funkify Yo' Life: The Sugar Free Allstars
July 23, 2003

In the late 60s, Frank Zappa casually mentioned to Mother of Invention Lowell George that his wild vision might be better served if he formed his own band. So, George took bassist Roy Estrada with him, rounded up some buddies he’d played with in other bands and formed Little Feat. Because of this shift, the world became a much better place.You could kind of look at the Sugar Free All-Stars as the Little Feat of OKC. Not only did front All Star Chris Wiser splinter off of the impossibly great Hosty Trio, their sound is an eclectic, funky and rocking gumbo that insists on you shaking yo’ ass. Recently, the guys from the Sugar Free All-Stars (Chris Wiser: vocals, sax, keyboards; Mike Satawake, guitar, vocals and Rob “Dr. Rock” Martin, drums) sat down with Loud to discuss everything and anything about their history, sound and future endeavors.

LOUD: What is the history of the band?
CHRIS: We got this going two and a half, three years ago, but the history goes back even further. Rob and I went to college together in Weatherford with Kevin Webb of the Burtschi Brothers. Kevin, Rob and I were in a band in college and then I moved back to teach. Rob was playing in a band called Mandala that was playing around, so he and I played in that band for a while. Then, I played in various bands and then started playing with the Hosty Trio and played with that band for about five years. When that band broke up, Mike and I had started hanging out. He’d been coming to shows and when that band broke up probably six months later, we decided to put something else together and looked around for a drummer. Originally, we had a guy named Andy who wrote two songs on the CD, “Africa” and “Cardboard Box,” and after about a year, he decided it wasn’t for him so we played about as month with substitute drummers. And then someone said, “Why don’t you call Rob?” And I didn’t even know he was looking to play because he had a day job at the time. So, I called Rob and he was willing to play. And we’ve been playing for over a year.
LOUD: So this particular lineup has been around for a year?
CHRIS: Yeah and it’s cool because Rob and I used to play together. He’s always been one of my favorite drummers. But you don’t need to tell him that because I don’t want him getting an ego.
MIKE: Chris had mentioned to me a long time ago about Rob being one of his favorite drummers so when it came to find someone, he was like, “Well, we should ask my friend Rob.” And I was like, “That’s cool with me, man. We need to find somebody now.” And Rob came down to Chris’ house and we got in there and jammed out. And I was like, “If you want to play, come on.” And he’s been here ever since.
LOUD: I noticed that the CD was done in 2001.
CHRIS: Yeah, that’s actually our original drummer Andy playing on that. Andy had a bunch of recording gear and he was really good at it so that was a home job. But the next one though…we’re actually working on a CD right now at Trent (Bell)’s place. And we’re almost done.
MIKE: Almost done.
CHRIS: Man, why don’t you tell him some of your history?
MIKE: I just played in various blues bands around. I first started playing about six years ago with a guy named Ray Davis down in Ada and just played around southeast Oklahoma a lot. I ended up bumping around from band to band. I played with a guy named Chebon Tiger from Oklahoma City and did that for a while then I kind of got burnt out of playing strictly blues. I wanted to try and branch out and do something else. Because I didn’t want to become just a blues guitar player. So a friend of mine is from Seminole and that’s where Chris and me met and we just hung out a lot and then he was out of the Trio. And I was like, “Man, were not doing anything. We should go play some music instead of sitting on our ass.” Instead of spending money all the time we should try to make some. So here we are.
LOUD: I first heard of you when I went to see the Hosty Duo at Galileo’s and I met (drummer) Mike Byars during the break and he spoke very highly of your band.
CHRIS: When we started this band, I really wanted to make it a deal where it wasn’t “Chris Wiser’s New Band.” So, it’s taken longer to build a crowd. In some ways, it was like starting al over.
LOUD: How would you describe your sound?
ROB: Rock and roll!
MIKE: Every time we play, I think it comes out being different. I don’t know. I think our core sound is rock and roll with a lot of other things splashed on top from time to time. Chris is influenced by a lot of New Orleans type styling and I’ve been influenced by a lot of blues players and things like that. It’s just from A to Z.
CHRIS: Sometimes we just tell them just groove rock.
MIKE: Funky organ rock.
CHRIS: Funky, kinda jammy. Because when we play, we kind of extend songs out a bit.
MIKE: Maybe it’s just an unspoken thing but we want to be as groovy as we can.
CHRIS: The thing is that people always kind of want a label. And that’s one thing that’s kind of tough with what we do because it really just sounds like us. But we’ve been asked this before and, like, some of my favorite bands are bands that like…for a while I was into Morphine, Ben Folds Five, Medeski, Martin and Wood and Cake and any of those bands you ask somebody to describe their sound and each of those bands have a distinct sound. Maybe that’s why we don’t fit into any one category. Especially growing up here.
MIKE: Yeah. You can’t live in Oklahoma, being a musician, and not hear country and all this roots-type music and it not filter in and be part of the way you play.
LOUD: I was sold on your CD when I first heard the Hammond B-3. I’m a big Hammond B-3 fan.
MIKE: How can you not be, man? That’s a great sound.
CHRIS: That’s the thing that’s a big part of the sound and what makes the band sound distinct.
LOUD: Yeah, I think it’s a great sound.
CHRIS: Yeah, well, you’re signing up when you get one. (laughs)
MIKE: For a hernia!
LOUD: Yeah, when I read your bio I was like, “Do they actually cart that thing to shows?”
CHRIS: Oh, yeah.
ROB: The Ark of the Covenant!
LOUD: Is it kind of beat up?
CHRIS: Oh, yeah. It looks like a big roll top desk. Mike’s cousin does auto body painting and I really want to get a hot rod flame job on it.
LOUD: Name your musical influences.
CHRIS: That’s tough because it changes. I’ve always been a huge Ben Folds Five fan. Black Sabbath, Dr. John, Professor Longhair, the Meters, that whole genre. Maceo Parker, Cannonball Adderly, that new Starlight Mints album.
MIKE: I’ve been back on my Hendrix kick, which I haven’t been on in a long time. I’ve been listening to Derek Trucks.
LOUD: That’s (Allman Brother) Butch Trucks’ nephew, right?
MIKE: Yeah, exactly. I’ve been listening to Gov’t Mule and a guy named Jimmy Herring who plays with the Aquarium Rescue Unit.
ROB: I guess I’m old school. I love the Beatles, Zappa and Devo.
LOUD: So you’re working on a new CD and you’re about finished?
CHRIS: We’d started the process when Andy was in the band and then he quit so that obviously derailed it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: At this moment, Mike’s cell phone rang and he had to tell the person that he was doing an interview and he would have to call them back.
MIKE: I’ve always wanted to say that. That’s kick ass.
CHRIS: So then Mike’s friend worked down at Dallas Sound Labs and we were going down there and record and we had to start all over.
MIKE: We got down to Dallas and we didn’t have a lot of time and we had our trailer and van packed full of instruments we wanted to put on the record and we set everything up and I guess, feeling rushed, the performances weren’t as good and the vibe wasn’t cool and it wasn’t right so we decided to scrap it and start over.
LOUD: So how close are you to finishing?
ROB: Two days.
CHRIS: We have two days next week and hopefully we can get the recordings down and then we have to mix it and then we have to…we haven’t done the artwork or anything like that. Hopefully September.
MIKE: That’s very tentative. With our luck…
ROB: December.
LOUD: A Christmas record.
MIKE: A stocking stuffer.
CHRIS: Be the first kid on your block!
LOUD: Do you have a title?
CHRIS: Not really. We’re kicking around a couple.
LOUD: You play a lot of gigs. What do you do in the daytime?
MIKE: Sleep.
ROB: Mow the lawn.
CHRIS: I teach private lessons.
MIKE: I teach lessons on Tuesday. Other than that…
CHRIS: You don’t make a whole lot of money right now but with three guys in the band, you can do all right.
ROB: Easy to divvy up.
CHRIS: Right now, we’re trying to get out and to have a forty-hour a week job is impossible.
LOUD: You play around Oklahoma City and Norman. Where else do you play?
MIKE: Tulsa, Fayetteville, Little Rock, Memphis, Stillwater, Dallas. We’ll play anywhere.
CHRIS: For right now, pretty much anywhere in Oklahoma.
LOUD: What other local bands do you like?
CHRIS: I like the Rounders a lot. I like 2Bass3 a lot.
MIKE: Travis Linville and the Burtschi Brothers.
CHRIS: Starlight Mints, the Deviants.
MIKE: It’s kind of tough to go see bands when you’re working, though.
LOUD: What do you have coming up in the near future?
CHRIS: Just trying to get some new places to play. We’re starting to make some connections with other bands that do well out of tow that like us and we’re trying to get that network thing going.
ROB: Tour band support network.
LOUD: A lot of bands’ major goals are to “make it” and leave. How do you feel about Oklahoma City and the local scene?
MIKE: It’ll always be home to me.
CHRIS: I don’t see that if it ever got to the point where we “made it” moving away. It’s in the middle of the country, equal distances to both coats, cheap to live.
ROB: It’s a great place to live.
CHRIS: I mean, Wayne Coyne still lives here. These days, if you get to that pint, you can live almost anywhere.
ROB: No matter where you go, there you are. If you aren’t happy here, you’re not going to be happy there.
LOUD: That’s true.
CHRIS: The way I see it is the reason we sound the way we do is we’re from here. The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey probably wouldn’t sound the way they do if they weren’t from Tulsa. Bands from Oklahoma…it’s like you get exposed to just enough culture but not quite enough to where it totally takes over and dictates what your opinions and taste is going to be. So you get just enough but you kind of have to fill in the rest on your own.
LOUD: Where did you come up with the name of the band?
DAVE: The band Soul Coughing had a song called “Sugar Free Jazz” on one of their records and we had thought about all these different things and nothing really stuck and Andy was like “How about the Sugar Free All Stars?”
CHRIS: We looked on the Internet and nobody had it and we were like, “We’ll take it!” And that way we would be assured the domain name. If anyone does a search for the Sugar Free All Stars, they’re only going to find us.
LOUD: Very wise, Chris Wiser.
CHRIS: Thank you.
ROB: And it beats “Johnny Condom and the Sheiks.”

-Patrick Crain