1. The Underground
Your Alternative Christian Voice
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Interview: Superchick’s DJ Max Hsu talks about new
album,'Recollection,' group break up
On October 29, seminal Christian alternative band, Superchick released Recollection, a
CD/DVD that combined 11 of the band's best-loved hits with five brand-new songs including
“This Is The Time” which is set to be featured in the upcoming film “God’s Not Dead.”
The album closes out a chapter for the band, who recently announced that they were calling it
quits primarily due to the cancer-related death of the band’s drummer, Chase Lovelace.
Recently, I got a chance to speak with Superchick’s founder and DJ Max Hsu about the new
album, Chase, breaking up and what the future holds.
Thinking back on your greatest hits, which songs were the most fun to record? Which
songs got the biggest response from fans?
There's the initial excitement when you realize you've got something worth working on and
there's the moment when you have the final puzzle piece and it all comes together. Those are
the two best moments. Everything in between is a roller coaster ride of trying to add to what
you liked. The more you liked your first bit, the harder it can be to meet your own bar.
Sometimes someone will add something to the song that takes it in a different better direction or
they just knock it out of the park. Those moments are very exciting; you can get goosebumps.
But for me personally there is a lot of trying things that don't work. I've usually got at least four
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2. The Underground
Your Alternative Christian Voice
http://theundergroundsite.com
versions of a song, sometimes more. Some of them have completely different melodies and
lyrics. I thought I was the only one who did this till Steve Lillywhite played me a U2 song with
completely different lyrics than what made it to the radio. When it's your job to write a song that
will feed the people who depend on you it can be a lot of pressure. Typically you're also trying
to meet a deadline so you make up for the lack to time by skipping sleep which doesn't add to
the creativity. On top of that you're trying not to repeat yourself or accidentally rip off someone
else's song. It can be incredibly satisfying however, when you finish a song and you want to
turn it up and listen to it loud and you marvel; "Hey I did that! I made this out of nothing." I
imagine it's as close as I am going to get to understanding childbirth as a man.
"Stand in the Rain" was probably the fastest we'd ever recorded a song. Steve (Lillywhite)
asked me to add a song to the Beauty from Pain release for Columbia and he told me we'd
have a week to do it. I'd sketched out the chorus the week before and so I dragged the band
into the studio and played it for them on a baby Taylor guitar and said "well, we've got a week to
make that into a proper song." We rented out a place called the Castle and basically lived there
till it was done. Somehow we pulled it off, although I went back and redid some of the things
we got wrong the first time when I made the radio mix.
I am always surprised when people respond to songs. I usually feel like whatever I was trying to
say came out so clumsily that people miss the underlying point. There was an accident in
Illinois where a school bus got hit by a train. A lot of kids died and the school released a book
of poetry and art created by the survivors and the people who lost kids/friends. It was incredibly
raw and honest. I remember one piece said "If I had known that was the last time I was going to
see you, I wouldn't have yelled at you about your room, I would have held you and told you I
loved you." That impacted me profoundly. I tried for years to turn that feeling into a song and
the closest I got was "We Live," but to me the song fell short of capturing my emotions. I was
surprised when people were impacted by it. I remember a radio DJ told me that one woman
called in to say "please don't play that song because it makes me so uncomfortable, I can't
listen to it, because I have kids." I thought that was actually a good thing. What I was trying to
say is uncomfortable. Sometimes we start to sleepwalk through life and we don't live as
intentionally as we would if we knew it was the last week of summer vacation. If this was your
last year, do the things that matter to you now actually matter?
How did you choose the songs to go on your greatest hits? Did you choose based on
album sales or something else?
Time has a way of showing you which songs are good and which songs seemed awesome at
the time but are actually bad. We didn't have to debate about which songs to choose.
Everyone has a favorite that didn't make the cut but we all agreed on the songs that did. I
personally pushed the label to get as many songs on there as possible. It's tempting to put the
songs on there that you loved but no one else seemed to, but sometimes you just have to
realize that your favorite song is the walnut of the mixed nuts.
Do you explore any new musical territory on the new songs on this "recollection?"
Mostly due to my desire to not repeat myself, I feel like we've explored new musical territory on
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3. The Underground
Your Alternative Christian Voice
http://theundergroundsite.com
every album we've done. When I started music I was fascinated by synthesizers, drum
machines and electronic music and then I went through a phase some musicians go through
where you discount what you can do and wish you could do something else. I spent quite
awhile making guitar oriented records or "real music" and finally on this record I decided it was
ok to go back to my roots. I got on Ebay and bought a roomful of vintage synths and went back
to where I first learned to love music. If you listen to "Mister Dj", it's practically the programmers
version of a guitar solo. I love adding tiny details of ear candy that you'd have to listen to 10
times to catch. We've always been a mashup of genres though and that mix and match
approach runs through all the music.
Why should fans (and people just discovering you guys) go out and get this album?
Because Superchick is about the ridiculous things that can happen if you keep putting yourself
out there and trying. We're not particularly talented people but we had this idea we wanted to
spread and it took us all over the world and we had the most amazing time. We believe life can
be amazing if you live intentionally with courage and faith and we tried to write a soundtrack for
that. The lyrics are essentially the things we found that worked. If you don't feel like reading
the lyrics, I will summarize it here:
1. Learn to dream.
2. Turn the dreams into plans and get started.
3. Learn from failure
4. Repeat
The end goal of all this is not some "success" destination but to turn yourself into the kind of
person that keeps walking forward no matter how many times you get knocked down. Like I tell
people when I coach volleyball - Either you hit the ball or the ball hits you. Become the person
who hits the ball. You were made to hit the ball.
You guys are still on top of your game, so why are you guys breaking up?Why not try to
go on without Chase? The Who, Queen, AC/DC.I can think of a number of bands who
tried to go on when one of their members died with varying degrees of success.
It can be hard to understand if you've never had someone close to you die, but you don't simply
move on and replace them. Grief is complex and it affects everyone in different ways. I'm not
saying it won't ever happen, but to me personally, it feels like it would be disrespectful to
audition new drummers.
How are the new songs on this album different from some of the other stuff you've
recorded in the past?
As a songwriter I find that many times I write words that I need to hear. All of our records have
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4. The Underground
Your Alternative Christian Voice
http://theundergroundsite.com
reflected where we've been at personally at the time. The new songs are about the discipline of
joy. It's a learned and practiced skill to focus on what you are blessed with rather than letting
the negative things drag you down. Some of the lyrics may seem trite, but we've spent quite a
lot of time in hospitals while we were making these songs and the what seems trite can be
revealed as truth when in the light of tragedy.
It was a rough time for all of us with miscarriages and premie babies and cancer and the
economic crash. But when you go through those things, you realize that a lot of things we let
get us down are things that we let get us down and it's a choice we make. A huge wake up call
is just to walk through the children's surgery wing of any major hospital. I realized then that
most of the time I have logistical problems, not actual problems and I was shamed to see
children being wheeled into chemo and facing it with more grace and courage than I can bring
to my life.
Did Chase help write any of the new songs on the album? Which songs on the album do
you think Chase would be particularly proud of?
While we didn't get any of his drum playing on the record, Chase did help me with some of the
rhythm programming, most notably on Sunshine. I'm sure his drummer friends will recognize
his drum fills. I'm not a drummer so when I program drums I always check with a drummer and
sometimes, as was the case with "Hope" I program things that no drummer would or should
play. We spent a long time trying to figure out exactly what the drums were supposed to do,
that song has this odd urban 6/8 feel that I've never heard anywhere else. It was tricky, it felt
like we were inventing the wheel again. I know Chase was particularly fond of "Sunshine,"
"Mister Dj" and "Hope."
Will you guys be touring in support of this album?
No
What's next for you guys? Is there the possibility of the band formerly known as
Superchick morphing into some new entity?
I believe we will all continue to create in some way. Tricia has a solo project, Dave has a jazz
project, I've got a long backlog of projects I need to get back to. Everyone in the band has hung
up their capes but it's possible that if the world calls, Superchick will return.
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