Superet: Teaching Fans to Work a Room

Hosted by McKenzie Moore

Graphic: Emily Lantzy

Tour has been crazy, but in a good way, for the indie/alternative band Superet. Having only released EPs and singles for two years, it was finally time for a full length album. At the second-to-last stop in Madison, WI on the Night Heat Tour with iDKHOW, I had a chance to sit down with Matt Blitzer, the lead singer of Superet, and talk with him about their debut album on the very day of its release. During this interview we spoke of not only the band and its new release, but also of the fans on tour and their strange Internet language.

Starting off, the band name is quite unique. Is there a fun reason or a story behind the name ‘Superet,’ or was it just something that you happened upon?

There's a good story behind the band name. It's a Latin moniker that means “may he overflow.” And the way that I found that out was that we're from Los Angeles, and one night I was driving around; just me and my friend. He had this little Italian sports car. We were having a late night out and we're driving around on Third Street, which goes all the way across Los Angeles. It's really long. But on the east side as you're going into downtown, there's this weird old church called the Superet Church of Neon Light, and it's like a hippie church. They have a giant neon Jesus sign outside and it's been there since the 60’s. It's really strange, and I just thought that it was a nice sounding word; kind of rolled off the tongue nicely. I looked it up at the time I was writing all of this music. I was kind of getting out of another project that I was in with our bass player Pat, and I was transitioning into doing this other thing which was more on my own. And “may he overflow” just seemed to work really well with what was happening, just in the context of our lives.

When you’re playing shows in LA, is there any confusion between you and the Superet Church of Neon Light?

Like people showing up thinking it's going to be a church or a cult? No, it hasn't happened at all. We have had one of the people from the church just at the very beginning try to reach out to us on Facebook and tell us not to use it. Fortunately we were like, “Let's talk to the lawyer about it,” and we figured out that there's no issue of similarity between a church and a band. You know what I mean? So we're not messing with their markets and they're not messing with ours. So no, nothing weird has happened. Yet.

As a band, you have a very distinct music style. How would you describe your style that you have been cultivating to someone who has never listened to you before?

Somebody told me once that it sounded like a dance party at the end of the world. And I like that. So I’ll borrow that from whoever said that!

Speaking of music, you released your debut album today, How to Work a Room! How does it feel having it officially released?

It's an incredible feeling. I've never worked so hard on anything in my life, and neither have any of the other guys. At least that I'm aware of. I mean, it was such a spectrum of emotions from beginning to end to try and sum it up. It’s so hard, but you know, it's a similar feeling to when you're a little kid and you’re like, “I can't imagine being in college.” You know what I mean? Iit seems so far away. Imagining being 21 and being able to get a beer, and the next thing you know you're there. That's kind of how I feel today. You know? It seemed like it was so far away and we're finally here now.

Since we’re talking about the album, is there a favorite song or one that sticks out to you more than the others?

We were just talking about this today. It changes all the time for me. I think today my favorite song was “Some Bright Lights.” It's my favorite song on the record today!

Is there a reason why?

Well, like I said, it changes every time. I love all the songs on the record. But today when I listened to it, it was the first time in a while. I think that song makes me think of it being kind of a tribute to my family. Mother's Day was just a few days ago, and it was a nice night. It was set into my emotions the right way today. It changes every day! I also love that song, “Comes as a Relief.” I mean, if I start going, I'll just name all of them. It’s hard to have a favorite. It's like, you can't have a favorite child, you know? You just have to treat them all with love and respect.

Well in that case, I’m still going to ask you to name another favorite. When it comes to songs you’re playing on stage every night, is there one that's more fun to play live?

“Comes as a Relief” is really fun because I get in the crowd for that song, which is really great. That's always a highlight of the show for me! Getting into the crowd and dancing with everyone and freaking out. It's a thrill. I've been walking the line on whether or not I was going to crowd surf. But, iDKHOW’s audience are young girls for the most part, and I'm afraid I'm going to hurt somebody. But maybe tonight it’ll happen!

When you're traveling between your shows, what songs or artists are generally on the playlist? Is there anybody who just hits home any time you’re in the car?

Let me think… so, some stuff that we’ve been playing on this tour. I was listening to Dear Hunter today. When we were in Atlantic City, we were listening in to Bruce Springsteen, always Bowie, and Talking Heads. Alex has been listening to a lot of really heavy stuff, like a lot of Pantera has been in the van on late nights. Anything to keep us keep us cruising. Yeah, it's a real menagerie of stuff!

Speaking of traveling, you’re at the very end your run on the Night Heat tour with iDKHOW. What has been the craziest thing to happen during a show or on the road so far? Or has there been anything crazy?

Honestly, there hasn't. I wish I had a story for you, but I don't, because I'll just be honest with you, this tour the routing of it has been so crazy and we're traveling in this van together just trying to keep up with iDKHOW. And like, it's really hard. I feel like there's no room for luxuries at all. Like, we're pretty much finishing the show, we're wrapping up merch, we're getting in the van, and we're driving to the next Motel 6 and we’re waking up in the morning and driving like 15 hours. So, that's honestly the craziest thing, you know? The craziest thing is that I haven't gotten sick after sleeping on the floor of the motels on a sleeping pad every night! The craziest thing has been how little we've been able to actually take care of ourselves, and we’re still doing good. And the second craziest thing is that the audience that iDKHOW has is unlike any audience that we've ever played before. I mean, they’re just so much younger and so much more energetic and excited to be engaging with us more than anything we’ve seen before. When we played the first show it was like, whoa. This is because we're used to playing in Los Angeles and it's a lot of grumpy kids who are very critical and it's a lot of arms folded and not a lot of excitement. Sometimes we can get it there if people were in the right mood, but every night without fail, the audiences that iDKHOW have— it’s just been incredible. So that's probably been the most exciting part of this whole tour. Another crazy thing is that they also have this whole Internet language that we're all familiarizing ourselves with. Like this whole ‘stan’ thing. Do you know about this?

I have heard about it, but I haven’t used it myself.

Do you know where it comes from?

I don't, actually.

It's from that Eminem song, “Stan!”

Yes, early Eminem was amazing.

Apparently he's a super fan and he kills himself in the end in the music video. But I thought that was so strange because like that song came out in like— do you know?

Yeah, it had to be like 2000-2001, right?

Yeah! So like 15 years, it is action free.

I had no idea that was origin.

It’s just so weird that it's having a comeback like that. It took us a while to figure it out, because I didn't think that it was a reference to an Eminem song. So, just watching all of them on the Internet talking about us and stuff has been so cool. We've got, like, fan clubs starting, street teams, and all those kinds of things; it's just a bit crazy. It’s really cool.

Looking at tours you’ve been a part of, you’ve shared a stage with names such as DREAMCAR and Caroline Rose. If you guys could choose to tour with anyone, past or present performers, who would you choose for the perfect tour and why?

I would love to go on tour with Dave Byrne. Especially on the tour that he's doing right now, this American Utopia tour. Have you seen any of the footage from it? It's the most incredible performance I've ever seen. And I'm just such an endless fan of his work. Yeah, that would be amazing.

You can tell when someone loves what they're doing when they're performing. You can see it, and you can see it every night.

And his show is just so elegant and perfectly constrained and simple. And he’s challenging all the cynics of the world, you know? He's so joyful, and that's something that I don't think I see enough of really with new music. That's something that he's always kind of carried the torch in that regard with, and I think I could learn a lot. I mean I have learned a lot from him. But, if I could go on tour with him, it would be like going to graduate school. You know, to study is his way of thinking about performing and all that. So I guess that would be a dream scenario.

Last question for you. For the people who read this interview and think, “Maybe I should check them out,” is there anything else about your music or your message that you want people to know?

Oh, sure! I guess I would say that I would like people to know that the title of the album is How to Work a Room, and that might seem to suggest that we know how to work a room, but the truth is that we don't. The only people who can work the room are the people who are listening on the record. We encourage people to step outside of their comfort zones and to remember that our bodies and minds were built to gain from disorder. So, remember to go out and take risks, and remember to go out and have as much fun as iDKHOW fans have when you go to a concert, because otherwise you're wasting your time. Because you're going there to experience your emotions and have fun and work the room. We're trying to do the same, and we encourage anyone who comes to see us play to have the best time they can possibly have.

May you overflow as Matt has into this new album, just as the bands’ namesake states. Remember to go out and take risks, because otherwise you’re wasting your time. Live life like it’s a dance party at the end of the world every day! And if you’re looking to learn How to Work a Room, the album is available now on all streaming platforms. Give it a try, you may just like the opening band.