The Boss Martians

“One day in 2005 I checked my email and there was an email from Iggy Pop, with lyrics written specifically for The Boss Martians. I basically fell out of my chair. I was fucking floored.”
Evan Foster of The Boss Martians

THE SEATTLE ROCK BAND The Boss Martians have had a series of incredibly lucky breaks recently. When 97.5 millions Americans tuned in to watch this years Super Bowl, they heard the Boss Martians song, Hey Hey Yea Yea, play twice during the game as the soundtrack to the new E Trade commercial. This was the highest rated Super Bowl of all time, and probably the single largest ever listening party for a Seattle rock bands new music in American history.

This comes on the heals of another major coupe by The Boss Martians. The Martians have just released an album with a song recorded with lead vocals by Iggy Pop. This recording was produced by acclaimed Seattle producer Jack Endino. That mind boggling stroke of luck stunned even the Boss Martians themselves, who came across the collaboration through a string of events that started when they met Iggy Pop backstage at a show they were playing in New York City .

The Boss Martians is a band that has been around for a long time, and is now making huge headway into the national spotlight. The band is known for extremely well rehearsed and totally professional shows, that impress not only fans but fellow rock musicians every time. It’s not uncommon to see Evan Foster jumping from the top of an amp during a solo, or jumping into the audience and never missing a note as he blazes away through super tight, fast, and clean solos on his Gibson Les Paul.

The Boss Martians is an example of everything a Seattle rock band can do right, and the years of hard work are finally paying off as the band heads out on tour to promote the American release of the new album. Pressure in the S.O.D.O.

The Boss Martians is Evan Foster, Nick C, Scott Myrene, and Thomas Caviezel. This interview was conducted with Evan Foster of The Boss Martians, the first week of March 2008, as the band was packing for tour, and tying up loose ends prior to hitting the road.

Interview with Evan from the band The Boss Martians

Tell me about your recording with Iggy Pop
It was amazing, a very intense experience. I really enjoyed every minute of it. I was a little nervous to begin with, but within minutes, it was just like recording an old friend. Iggy was completely pro, and totally cool to work with. He is very focused, and his voice is fucking excellent.

Where did you and Iggy Pop record?
I flew to Miami and met up with him at his house. I brought along a mobile Pro Tools rig, and tracked him in one of the rooms where he feels the most creative. I then returned to Seattle, right after the session, and went right into Soundhouse to mix the track with Jack Endino. Jack and I were both like, “Holy Shit, that’s the Ig!!” It was cool, and I think Endino did a great job on the mix. I know he was stoked to mix Iggy.

How did you meet Iggy Pop and get involved with him musically?
Iggy and I first met in 2004 in New York City when the Boss Martians and The Stooges played Little Steven’s International Underground Garage Rock Festival, along with The Strokes, The Raveonettes, and about 20 other bands. I was introduced to Iggy after the show and we hung out and talked for a while. It was pretty mind-blowing for me, since I’m a big Stooges fan. Hell, I love a lot of Iggy’s solo work just as much as his Stooges stuff. Iggy and I are also with the same Publishing Administration Company called Bug Music. Our manager at the time, and Iggy’s manager at the time, Art Collins (R.I.P.), suggested the idea of a collaboration.

How did it go from idea, to actually working with Iggy Pop on the music?
One day in 2005, I checked my email, and there was an email from Iggy with lyrics that he wrote specifically for the Boss Martians. I basically fell out of my chair -- I was floored! So, knowing the Boss Martians were going to start a new album in 2006, I knew I’d have to bust my ass to come up with some killer music to back the lyrics, so I started cranking on it right away.

Not too long after that we started production on the album and tracked the song. I cut the original lead vocal myself, sang the lyrics as Iggy wrote them, and it came out great, we were pretty stoked. I sent the track to Iggy and he was really happy with it also. Knowing that, I thought it would be killer if he’d cut some vocals on it, and share the lead vocal with me. So I asked Iggy to sing on the track and he agreed!! And that’s the story of Iggy & the Martians, thus far.

HEY HEY YEAH YEAH was being played during the Superbowl this year. How the heck did you pull that one off?
We wanted “Hey Hey Yeah Yeah” to be kind of like a 70’s style Rock anthem, ala Slade! You know, something that could be played at like Soccer stadiums in Europe or something! (For the record, “Hey Hey Yeah Yeah” is a track on our upcoming new album Pressure in the S.O.D.O, scheduled for release on May 27th 2008 on MuSick Recordings.) Basically, our publishing company pitched our track Hey Hey Yeah Yeah, and several other bands’ tracks to E-Trade as they were looking for a rock song to use as the music track in a series of brand new commercials they planned to air through 2008 and into 2009. To make a long story short, we got the ad! So right now, Hey Hey Yeah Yeah is all over TV and Cable in the United States and Canada, on these E-Trade commercials. On the Thursday before the Superbowl, we found out that E-Trade bought not one, but two commercial spots and both were going to feature Hey Hey Yeah Yeah, and this time we ALL fell off our chairs. Nice!

What went through your mind, when you were told millions of people around the globe would hear The Boss Martians during the game?
It was big news for us lowly rock & roll guys! And sure enough, E-Trade ran the ads during the 3rd and 4th quarters. It was killer; we were all totally out of our heads. Some really cool news lately, is that the ads that E-Trade ran during the game, the “talking baby” ads, have turned out to be in the top 5 ads of the entire Superbowl, according to New York Times, CNN, and Wall Street Journal.

That’s a bunch of Lucky breaks right before your tour. What’s on the agenda for the next leg of the tour?
The Boss Martians will be on tour starting March 8th until June 10th. First we go to Austin TX for a week at SXSW 2008 and we’ll tour for about 2 weeks around that. After SX, we return to Seattle for a couple days, then we head out to Europe for five weeks for shows in Germany , France , Spain, and Holland to continue supporting the European release of Pressure in the S.O.D.O, which came out over there about 2 months ago. We were in Europe from late Oct through the second week of December 2007 supporting the release. The tour went really well so we agreed to come back for a spring follow-up tour.

What’s this I hear about The Boss Martians performing a major Rock TV show in Europe soon?
We were just invited to perform live on this cool TV show in Germany called Rockpalast on WDR TV. It’s a national German music TV show that’s been on the air since the mid 1970’s. Some of our favorite bands ever like Thin Lizzy, Slade, Elvis Costello and The Attractions, Joe Jackson Band, and many more have been on the show. We’re excited -- we’re actually sharing that night’s bill with Blue Cheer!

Are The Boss Martians playing any US Tour dates?
After we complete the Euro tour, we’ll be home for 3 days and then we head out on a 5 week US tour to support the release of “S.O.D.O.” here in the States. That’s pretty much the latest on the tour stuff for this next round. We’ll be at home for the rest of June and July, and then we head back out for more US dates in August. We can’t wait to get back on the road!

Anything you would like to say to your fans that have followed The Boss Martians all these years?
Yeah, THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT, we hope to see you all out at the March 7th show @ The Comet!.