Super Geek League to Bring Circus Sideshow to Sasquatch
NadaMucho.com Interview – Super Geek League
Q&A with Floyd McFeely
Self-described as a “Super Epic Action Adventure Rock Circus Extravaganza from the Sirius 9 Star System programming directly to your brain for total mind-blowing immersive entertainment that engages and triggers all tactile senses bending time and space with a head full of confetti and skip to your step,” Seattle’s metal circus sideshow Super Geek League have been steadily expanding their following over the last decade while remaining a relative unknown here in town.
Having helped the ‘Geeks (led by my old kickball buddy Floyd McFeely) get some local gigs between about 2004 and 2007, I was delighted to see that the folks at Sasquatch finally took note of the group’s grand spectacle and gave them their own stage.
I caught up with Floyd about his recent adventures and got a preview of the massive spectacle they plan to bring to the Gorge this weekend.
NadaMucho.com: Floyd my man, what’s the latest?
Floyd McFeely: We’ve been building our Buskerdoozie traveling stage show for this year’s Sasquatch Festival and Vans Warped Tour, which is occupying a lot of our grey matter. We are rehearsing our entire music catalog including all of our unreleased material so we can basically hold down the programming and content on our own stage at both of these festivals.
NM: In true ‘Geek style, will you guys be spreading your unique brand of merry madness across the festival grounds as well as holding down your own stage?
FM: We will be EVERYWHERE.
NM: How many active geeks in the league right now?
FM: We have a very large and beautiful family of incredibly talented and even better human beings that spans the United States. That family includes circus performers, fabricators, costume designers, electrical and mechanical engineers, audio engineers, lighting and special effects technicians, hackers, inventors and of course the musicians themselves, all working together to produce the most awe-inspiring and mind blowing live music shows possible. The number involved in any given performance ranges from as few as 12 for events like NXNE in Toronto and as many as 120 for festivals like Sasquatch.
NM: For the un-initiated, give them three SGL songs to check out first.
FM: Do “Fight” and “Fishing Man” from Soul Metal and “Space Husband Robot Boy” from Magic Castle Land.
NM: Remember when you guys were first starting out and you used to kind of wreck everything? That night in Neumos’ basement was pretty great.
FM: Ha! We have always had the attitude of “Why the fuck not?” when it comes to live entertainment. Whether it’s putting a 17 foot trampoline in front of your stage or having a horse dressed as a unicorn on stage or shooting dwarves out of canons, we always want to create something that goes above and beyond the pedestrian. We never went out with the intention of wrecking things, but when you put a bunch of crazy artists into a blender and turn it on frappe’ sometimes shit’s gonna get fucked up.
NM: Not too long after that Neumos show I heard you guys were invited to play the Warped Tour and then got kicked off after the first night. Is that right?
FM: Yeah our first romp on Warped Tour was both an epic failure and huge success. Completely unaware of what we were getting into, we went out with an arsenal of projectiles from hundreds of water balloons to Twinkies and hostess cupcakes to a 2 lb fish that had been basking all day in the 100 degree heat. We learned one very valuable lesson that day: Whatever you throw out into the audience, you better be ready for it to come back at you. This was perhaps one of the most surreal moments I can remember on stage (and that’s saying something). I remember standing there singing and watching all of these objects flying back nailing each and everyone one of us on stage as we powered through the debris. Then amidst the flying debris, I saw a giant fish flying past my head in slow motion only to explode on Gil’s drum set, spewing guts and fish parts all over the stage. About 10 minutes into the set they killed the power and security escorted us off. I had to report to the head of security as if I were sent to the principal’s office. “This isn’t a Seattle night club, this is the fucking Warped Tour,” he screamed. “This is a family event.” I don’t have to point out the obvious irony, but I guess we were too “Warped” for Warped Tour.
Super Geek Floyd McFeely
NM: That’s awesome. Didn’t you guys do a stint in Vegas since we last talked too?
FM: No but we will FINALLY be there this summer in the Luxor parking lot for Warped Tour and believe me, we have PLANS for that show. I want a Vegas residency so we can physically build a hovering space station venue to host our show and have all of our musicians perform in jet packs while gigantic robot arms physically abduct drunk patrons and place them into “interrogation chambers” full of mirrors where real aliens smoke cigars and strange creatures provide lap dances. You know, something for the whole family.
Read Matt’s interview with the Super Geek League from 2005.