Notes from the Pop Underground: Sugar High's History

Adrian Evans and Sean Gens — who attended Paradise Valley High together in Phoenix — teamed up with Cleveland transplants Patrick Singleton and Rusty Marlboro to form Autumn Teen Sound in the fall of 1994. The band became a quirky favorite among local power pop aficionados with their Rubinoos/Raspberries-influenced rock anthems like “School on Saturday” and “Turbo-Teen.”

In 1997, Arizona filmmaker Karl Hirsch used four of Autumn Teen Sound’s songs in his award-winning independent film Green (look for a band cameo onscreen). The movie went on to become a cult classic and the first of many movies that would play a part in the group’s future.

A name change to Sugar High — inspired by a Stephen Duffy album track — couldn’t stop the band’s internal problems, and on New Year’s Eve 1997, they went their separate ways.   

1999 saw the band’s reconciliation and reformation, sans Marlboro, with local guitarist Jason Garcia. 20^th Century Fox licensed “Turbo-Teen” — a song from the Green soundtrack — for the opening credits of the 1999 film Drive Me Crazy.

Sugar High used the movie royalties to form Thousandaire Records and finance their 2000 EP Ice Cream Anti-Social.  The group’s material was also featured in the independent film, The Last Big Attraction, and a new song “She’s Cool, Yeah!” was released on a 2000 charity album called Clear the Air.

Tempe’s college radio station KASC awarded Ice Cream Anti-Social “Best Recording” in spring 2001, and shortly afterward, Phoenix New Times named Sugar High “Best Pop Band” in their annual awards issue.  That summer saw Garcia’s first removal, and the arrival of Amir Neubach on guitar. 

On November 20, 2001, Sugar High released their first full-length album Saccharin & Trust — produced by Bob Hoag and Kevin Scanlon and distributed by Not Lame Records.

Events in 2002 included the departure of original member Patrick Singleton, the addition of Mick Williams on bass, another song in a movie — “Wreck Myself” in Killer Bud — and another “Best Pop Band” award from New Times.

In 2003, “Scare Me” from Saccharin & Trust featured in the movie Scarecrow Slayer. 

Neubach returned to his home in Israel in mid-2004, and Sugar High finished out the year as a three-piece. During this period, they recorded the version of Cheap Trick’s “Oh, Candy” that would eventually surface on the band’s second album Let the Sunshine Out.

Bassist Matt Carlson came aboard in 2005, and the band placed a song in a TV movie called The Third Wish.  Discussions about recording a new album began to take place, and the group sequestered themselves in a desert guest house to work on new material, emerging only briefly to perform at the summer wedding of their longtime friend and road manager, Luke D.

2006 saw the inclusion of “Dirty Ballerina” on the Carbon 14 compilation Encyclopedia Arizonica, as well as Saccharin & Trust in Get Out magazine’s “25 Best Albums” issue. The departure of Carlson and Mick Williams that year led to the return of Patrick Singleton and Jason Garcia during the recording sessions for Sugar High’s second full-length album.

In 2007, the band finished recording and mixing songs for Let the Sunshine Out with producer Bob Hoag at Flying Blanket Studios.

Let the Sunshine Out was released on July 1, 2008 to positive reviews from writers at Detroit Metro Times, Phoenix New Times, Powerpopaholic, Absolute Powerpop, Daggerzine, and antimusic.com.

Sugar High’s studio headquarters, Flying Blanket Recording, released a compilation entitled This Is Flying Blanket in September 2008, featuring “Tainted” from Let the Sunshine Out.

Original member Sean Gens left the band in late 2008, and Nick Pasco — drummer on the LTSO track “Around You” — joined full time.

In early 2009, Mick Williams was welcomed back to the band to replace Garcia on guitar. The new lineup played its first show at the Phoenix International Pop Overthrow in March.

Let the Sunshine Out and Saccharin & Trust were both released on iTunes in July, 2009.