As was my usual routine on the Sabbath, I'd drift off to sleep watching 120 Minutes on MTV for my weekly dose of what we used to call alternative rock. Probably into the second hour of Matt Pinfield's overly-enthusiasicic VJ schtick, I hit that lovely point of dazed half-sleep and was ready to drift off and dream. Since I've never been able to sleep well with a TV on, I gathered enough energy to shake a leg out of bed to switch it off. Thankfully, something on screen kept me from calling it a night: my first glimpse of the Sucked Out video.

There was something quite startling about what played out before me on that 19-inch screen. I mean, I was used to all the Cobain wanna-be's, angsty rock chicks, slacker weirdos and bespectacled nerds with guitars I'd seen time after time. Such was the cutting-edge, status quo of the day and most of it I liked just fine. But this? Well this was different. For me, this was better; this made sense. Somehow, this seemed to be made just for me. Taking it all in jarred my half-asleep brain into wild action...

"Who are these four hip fellas? All mod and rockin' out in some kitschy retro diner? God, just look at 'em. So... so cool. I wanna look like that. Could I make that work? Oh yeah. I could pull that off. I could get some clothes like that... maybe let my hair grow a bit. Oh and this song!? Oh man... this is so good. So catchy. This is great! It's like something off Revolver, but all loud and... wait. Huh? That's nuts. Who writes a song where the chorus is just bass and vocals? Brilliant! I want a bass like that. This rules. This is it. I wanna look like these guys. I wanna make music that sounds like this. Hmmm... Superdrag, huh? Good name. Well there ya' go. Guess I wanna be like Superdrag."

Being a kinda goofy, but good-natured kid in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, I obviously never came close to being as hip as that video made Superdrag seem at the time. But it certainly never mattered. There was much, much more than just a desire to get hip born out of my new love for Superdrag. That maddening process that is self-awareness had been amped up like never before. Not sure how, but I knew what I wanted in my future: Cool Bands with Great Songs. I had a clear target and I fired round after round at it. In the thirteen years since, I've more or less been firing at that same target, from pretty much every angle available.

And Superdrag's music has been right along side me through all of it. For me, their records are both timeless and nostalgic. There's something cosmic hidden in John's melodies that casts a light on my past, present, and future. And all of it... well it's absolutely beautiful.

Obviously, the opportunity to work with Superdrag has been an absolute thrill for me. Actually, I've said to myself that I could walk away from all of this - Lake Fever, We Own This Town, WRVU, Nashville, Cool Bands, Great Songs - having worked with a band that is as important to me as they are. For me, I'm not sure it could ever get any better than that. Of course, I'm not leaving any of this behind. If anything, it makes more sense now than it ever has. Besides, if Superdrag isn't going away anytime soon (and it seems they are not), then neither am I.

And with that, it is my upmost honor and privilege to share a special five-song installment of Lake Fever Sessions: Superdrag. Enjoy!

-Joe Baine Colvert