Experimental discord

Sex Rock Suitcase—the name says it all. This is quite the eccentric band, with a lot of variety to go around. Steve Foht on vocals and guitar, John Paul Masseyon drums, Mike O’Hare on lead guitar and Casey Wadman on bass have come together to form a group of loud rock musicians who aspire to leave the world wondering, “What the hell is going on here?”

Some might think this band is lost in translation, but they claim to know exactly what they’re doing, as it’s their precise intent to inflict confusion upon their listening audience.

“I like to be very vague with my music,” says Foht, who says he’s the sole creator of both the lyrics and the fanatical music Sex Rock Suitcase comes together to belt out. “I wrote all the music before I even formed the band,” he says with his hat turned sideways, a skirt draped loosely around his vintage plaid pants and blue nail polish coating his fingernails as he sits pensively atop a brown leather booth.

The group is a blend of soul, rock and hip-hop, with heavy lyrics and an array of random messages to portray to their underdeveloped fan base.

“No one really knows about us yet since we’ve only been a band since March. But we plan to start off slowly and, by the end of summer, have a product to take on the road,” says Foht. When Sex Rock Suitcase does start touring, they plan to hit Las Vegas first, which is where Foht started making rap albums when he was 13 years old.

As for the other members, Massey came to the group as a talented musician who’s played with Foht before in their old band, Phat Couch. The other two just kind of fell into place after Massey came along, following Foht’s struggle to find band mates who were eager to take part in his quirky and most recent project.

“We used to play shows two to three nights a week, but then we slowed down to about one a week at the Jazz Club. I’m not arrogant or anything, but the guys got too comfortable too quickly,” says Foht.

Taking things slowly is the driving concept for this band, and appealing to a large genre of people is the goal. “Some of our listeners are 22, others are 60,” Foht says, adding that a friend is preparing a DVD and Web site to offer those listeners.

Regarding the musical influences that have motivated the sound of Sex Rock Suitcase, there really aren’t any, but they sure do sound like an unusual and cluttered mix of Eminem versus Rage Against the Machine. Foht thinks his tunes have been swayed mostly by his long-term love for hip-hop, and without his 20 years of experience with rap, he wouldn’t have discovered his own sound.

The wild and ostensibly unclear lyrics of this band are said to be directed toward the “normal” things, such as “women and self-defeat, as well as self abuse,” says Foht. “You can be anyone you want at a bar,” he continues, explaining that it’s the same way in the world of music. “None of us really know anything, but in the end, we all agree with one another.” This is the type of statement that Sex Rock Suitcase attempts to convey through their music.