Koufax frontman gives voice to American 'Strugglers'
By Kelly Vormelker, Staff Writer
October 17, 2008 | 4 p.m.
Sole constant and founder of indie-pop band Koufax, Rob Suchan, is a self-described nomad living the life of a roadie. He splits his time between two countries, meanwhile breaking the conventional modes of pop music by questioning the perils of society.
Suchan defines Koufax's sound as “the thinking man’s sleaze, because a band with four white guys playing indie-pop music just sounds kind of done.” It seems Suchan is not interested in doing anything that has already been done. Living and touring outside of America is one such example. This lifestyle gave Suchan the chance to question the capitalistic diatribe us Americans subscribe to, apparent in Koufax’s hits.
Considering the evolving nature of Koufax's line-up, Suchan’s erratic travels and unconventional lyrical prose, it no doubt adds up to something very much undone. Yet indie-pop is the label most often stamped on Koufax by the press (see above); however, the band is successful in bending and morphing this label.
“The conventions within pop songs, the lyrics, the typical love song -- there is a successful formula that has been done so well and so many times, maybe because it works,” Suchan said of a standard he is far from following.
He continues on to relay the workings of an inherited Czech dark sense of humor that he employs in writing. “I think it probably comes off a bit bitter or jaded at times,” Suchan said of this style. Suchan is able to find a middle ground in which he successfully questions social politics in a decidedly pop way.
Koufax’s previous album, Hard Times are in Fashion, echoed the shit-hit-the-fan feeling prevalent in American culture today. This view is fleshed out in “Why Bother Trying”: “Why bother voting when you know they’re cheating / I wanna know how we got here / How the hell have we got here / Someone just give us hope.” Suchan explains that the band had picked up on the everything-is-scum mindset leading inevitably to, as he only half-jokes, massive labor camps in which everyone works to better society.
Koufax’s latest album, The Strugglers, delivers a slightly more optimistic and refreshed feeling of cohesion. While it’s not exactly blue skies and rainbows ahead, The Strugglers is a mantra for all those -- yep, you guessed it -- struggling. The album encourages listeners to believe that their next-door neighbors, even the strangers they pass on the street, are probably feeling just as fucked as they are. “Its like, were all going to be screwed so why not give each other high fives when you see each other in the front lawn?” Suchan said.
A fitting track, “Roll the Dice," echoes a weathered attitude: “Troubled times they’re not hard to find / Well I wanna roll the dice / Leave my job and quit my wife tonight.” The track employs an energy that slowly builds over a palpable constant pulse heard in the background. “Roll the Dice” speaks to those endearing troubled times, but encourages the chance idea of flight rather than static and crushing despair.
Even the album cover is unexpected and multi-faceted. The photo, a group of African men watching a solar eclipse, echoes the album’s message. It is a group of individuals experiencing something together and looking forward to something else greater. “It alludes to something more, the fact that they are looking up at something with excitement, that intrigues me,” Suchan said.
Like the album's cover, much of what Suchan does can be taken at face value, or it can be inspected further to reveal a complex and conflicted bottom layer. Koufax’s songs are catchy and infectious, yes, but they also break from the cutesy, daresay bubblegum, indie-pop mold and allow for true lyrical substance. Suchan, however, knows that most people wont take the time to analyze an album cover or to break down lyrics. “I think there has to be subtle things that people can pick up on. [If they do], to me that would be a success,” Suchan said.
Meanwhile, as Suchan jumps between Kansas and the Czech Republic, members jump in-and-out of the Koufax's line-up. “It allows a looser feel," Suchan said of the line-up changes. "It will look like we are having fun, rather than just going though the motions of something that we do every weekend."
When Koufax first formed ten years ago, its members had no illusions of grandeur. In fact, the idea of selling lots of records actually seemed silly to Suchan. Five records, several tours and a continual kaleidoscope of members later, silly has become quite real.
But he idea of aging gracefully on-stage does not appeal to Suchan. Admittedly turned off by the fact that some do this well and others (ahem, The Rolling Stones) look ridiculous. It was never Suchan’s ambition to be full-time artist, he said -- and he doesn’t much like it. One problem being, the actual band is expected to be satisfied with praise and attention as its currency.
Another tour right now is simply not attractive to Suchan, he said. He admitted, “Koufax might be winding down. We're not just going to throw in the towel, but were not exactly jumping right back in the van.” No firm future plans as of yet, as the current tour ends in October with nothing in the books.
It is not likely even Suchan himself knows how long Koufax will stick around, but Koufax in its random entirety will perform at the Union tonight, Oct. 17, 2008. Suchan promised to bring a party to Athens; students should probably hold him to that.
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Koufax plays the Union tonight, joined by local acts Kaslo and Spooktober. Doors open at 9 p.m., the show, which is sponsored by the All Campus Radio Network, starts at 10 p.m.