Gin Blossoms Pre-Show Experience
• One premium reserved ticket in the first 20 rows
• VIP early entry into the venue, where allowed
• Exclusive pre-show Q&A w
Gin Blossoms Pre-Show Experience
• One premium reserved ticket in the first 20 rows
• VIP early entry into the venue, where allowed
• Exclusive pre-show Q&A with members of Gin Blossoms
• Pre-show performance with members of Gin Blossoms
• Group photo with Gin Blossoms
• Exclusive VIP Gift
• Specially designed tote bag
• Official pre-show laminate
• Merchandise shopping before doors open to the general public
• Limited availability
ABOUT SUGAR RAY:
Everything continues to change. Leaders cycle in and out of office. Trends fall in and out of style. Vinyl dies and comes back to life. Television shows go off the air and end up somewhere on the internet.
However, Sugar Ray might just outlast them all.
After over three decades, a world without the group—co-founded by Mark McGrath [vocals] and Rodney Sheppard [lead guitar]—feels downright unfathomable. Beyond sales of 10 million records, four top 10 songs, streams in the hundreds of millions, and millions of tickets sold, the band embody the endless summer of popular music and culture.
How many artists still pack sheds a whole generation removed from their genesis? How many acts can claim sharing the stage with The Rolling Stones, KISS, and Sex Pistols, collaborating with Run-DMC, and being interpolated by Post Malone?
We need Sugar Ray now more than ever…
“You could say we’re still performing because the music means a lot to us,” observes Mark. “However, the real reason is it means a lot to so many other people. All the time, we hear fans say, ‘Boy, those songs were so important to me growing up’ or ‘I listened to you on my first date with my girlfriend, and now she’s my wife’. I’m the last guy to brag about this band and the first one to make fun of it, but we wrote some killer tunes,” he smiles.
As the story goes, Rodney and Mark first linked up in high school. Rodney played in what Mark calls “the hot shit band all the girls loved.” The future frontman and his buddy McG just wanted to be a part of it. One afternoon in an Orange County garage, Mark and Rodney “sipped 40oz cans of King Cobra, listened to Creedence, and became friends for life.” Eventually, Rodney asked Mark to take a shot at singing.
“Music threw us together,” recalls Rodney. “There was just a lot of excitement at the time. From that excitement, we ended up forming Sugar Ray in 1988.”
With a few gigs under their collective belt, they recorded a whopping two songs. Prior to becoming a blockbuster director, McG shot an infamous video for “Caboose”—which ended up in the hands of Atlantic Records.
With no internet to audit hype back in 1993, a little exaggeration went a long way.
“We totally lied to Atlantic,” chuckles Mark. “We told them we had a big following from San Diego to Los Angeles. That certainly wasn’t the case. There was no social media or way for them to check though. We told them we had 100 songs, and we only had two! ‘Caboose’ ended up on our first album, and the other one ‘Lick Me’ didn’t for obvious reasons.”
That first album, Lemonade & Brownies, took the guys around the world and earned cult classic status for its frenetic and unpredictable hybrid of metal, punk, alternative, funk, pop, and everything but the kitchen sink. It set the stage for FLOORED in 1997 though. The latter’s immortal and inescapable lead single “Fly” [feat. Super Cat] invaded airwaves and made the band a household name. 21 years down the road, Post Malone incorporated “Fly” in “Sugar Wraith” on the triple-platinum beerbongs & Bentleys as a testament to its impact. Helmed by GRAMMY® Award-winning producer David Kahane [Sublime, Paul McCartney, The Strokes], FLOORED earned the band’s first gold plaque (a vivid memory they still cherish) and eventually went double-platinum.
Two years later, Sugar Ray took over popular culture with a sincere shit-eating grin. The band’s third album, 14:59, shut down the pervasive warning of “15 minutes of fame.” Not only did the record bow in the Top 20 of the Billboard Top 200 and go triple-platinum, but it also gave us “Someday,” “Falls Apart,” and their second #1 “Every Morning.” In 2001, Sugar Ray crashed the Top 200 at #6 as “When It’s Over” staked out a spot on the charts. It added yet another platinum plaque to their walls.
Along the way, Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, Conan, Halftime of Game 5 2001 NBA Finals, Today Show, Rosie, Ellen, Billboard Music Awards, and dozens of other programs counted them among esteemed guests. Plus, they popped up in television series such as American Dad and The Drew Carey Show and on the big screen in Ivan Reitman’s Father’s Day (with the late Robin Williams) and in the live-action Scooby-Doo. Not to mention, they graced the covers of magazines, including Spin, Rolling Stone, and more.
Enjoying a renaissance, Sugar Ray headlined the summer shed Under the Sun Tour 2013-2015, inviting Smash Mouth and Gin Blossoms along for the ride. Meanwhile, they inked a deal with BMG in 2019 and dropped their seventh full-length, Lil Yachty. In addition to features from Rolling Stone and Billboard, NPR claimed, “The Newport Beach natives returned to their signature uplifting and airy rock sound.” However, it only set the stage for more touring and music.
No matter how much everything changes, we’ve thankfully got Sugar Ray forever.
“This band means everything to me,” Rodney leaves off. “It’s been my life for so long. We know each other’s strengths and can play to them. It just works out perfectly.”
“We’re friends who started a band to have fun,” concludes Mark. “When you come to see us live, I want you to have fun too. The idea is the same is it was in 1988. So many things have happened since then, but Sugar Ray is still my life. It’s what defines me. We’re the guys next door, yet we’ve made an impact. I know what the future’s going to be for Sugar Ray—and I love it. I also know if you’re having half as much fun as I am at a show, we’re doing something right.”
BOILER
Beyond sales of 10 million records, four top 10 songs, hundreds of millions of streams, and millions of tickets sold, Sugar Ray—co-founded by Mark McGrath [vocals] and Rodney Sheppard [lead guitar]—embody the endless summer of popular music and culture. How many artists still pack sheds a whole generation removed from their genesis? How many acts can claim sharing the stage with The Rolling Stones, KISS, and Sex Pistols, collaborating with Run-DMC, and being interpolated by Post Malone? Just Sugar Ray…
1994’s Lemonade & Brownies took the guys around the world and earned cult classic status for its frenetic and unpredictable hybrid. It set the stage for FLOORED in 1997. The latter’s immortal lead single “Fly” [feat. Super Cat] made them a household name. 21 years down the road, Post Malone incorporated “Fly” in “Sugar Wraith” on the triple-platinum beerbongs & Bentleys. Helmed by GRAMMY® Award-winning producer David Kahane [Sublime, Paul McCartney, The Strokes], FLOORED earned the band’s first gold plaque and eventually went double-platinum. Two years later, 14:59 bowed in the Top 20 of the Billboard Top 200, went triple-platinum, and gave us “Someday,” “Falls Apart,” and their second #1 “Every Morning.” In 2001, Sugar Ray crashed the Top 200 at #6 as “When It’s Over” staked out a spot on the charts. It added another platinum plaque to their walls. Enjoying a renaissance, Sugar Ray headlined the Under the Sun Tour 2013-2015. They inked a deal with BMG in 2019 and dropped their seventh full-length, Lil Yachty. In addition to features from Rolling Stone and Billboard, NPR claimed, “The Newport Beach natives returned to their signature uplifting and airy rock sound.” It only set the stage for more touring and music. No matter how much everything changes, we’ve got Sugar Ray forever.
ABOUT GIN BLOSSOMS:
In the late 80’s, Gin Blossoms started to grow a huge following as the #1 local music draw in Phoenix and certainly were the hometown heroes of their favorite hang, Tempe, Arizona.
Gin Blossoms indelible jangle-pop sound was evolving during radio’s diverse mix of hair bands and grunge music superstars. They qualified to perform at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin Texas in 1989. That same year College Music Journal dubbed them “The Best Unsigned Band In America” and added an invitation to perform on MTV’s New Music Awards in New York City. Their breakout record New Miserable Experience was where their rise to fame began. This album kept the band on the chart for almost 3 years with singles “Hey Jealousy,” “Allison Road,” Until I Fall Away,” “Mrs. Rita,” and “Found Out About You.” The crossover hits on New Miserable Experience played on 4 radio formats and, to date, have sold over 5 million records.
Those hits were followed up by “Til I Hear It From You” which rocketed to #1 and moved the Empire Records smash soundtrack to platinum status. The track also became Canada's longest-running #1 hit of 1995, its #1 tenure lasting six weeks. This song was co-written with the great Marshall Crenshaw and Billboard described it as “the closest thing to a perfect pop song to hit radio in recent memory.” Their next gem “Follow You Down” spent ten weeks in the top 10, and “As Long As It Matters” earned the band a Grammy nomination for “Best Performance by a Duo or Group” making their Congratulations I’m Sorry record another multi radio format favorite and multi-platinum success.
Having dominated radio and MTV playlists for most of the 90s, Gin Blossoms took a brief turn of the century hiatus, a provisional parting of the ways that singer Robin Wilson chalks up to “personal dissatisfaction and the mistaken impression that we could perform at that same level with another group.” The brief break allowed guitarist Jesse Valenzuela and Wilson to re-energize via solo recordings, new combos, and production credits for an array of local Arizona acts. However, Gin Blossoms’ idiosyncratic magic proved impossible to ignore for long, and on New Years Eve 2001 in their hometown of Tempe, the band reconvened and never looked back.
“There’s a certain civility among us now,” Valenzuela says. “None of us are as brusque as we once were. We’re too old to have shouting matches.”
The revivified band hit the road hard, earning a well-deserved reputation as one of the busiest touring acts in the world, playing close to 150 shows a year. Those chops were readily apparent on 2006’s Major Lodge Victory – Gin Blossoms’ long awaited fourth album and first new recording in almost a decade. Rave reviews followed, as did a top 10 Triple A smash in the album’s lead single, “Learning The Hard Way.” The album’s second single, “Long Time Gone,” quickly became another favorite among both fans and the critics and Major Lodge Victory made Billboards Top 10 Independent Albums. Next, Gin Blossoms recorded “No Chocolate Cake” and released the single “Miss Disarray” which is now one of the most requested songs in the band’s live set and the album reached #1 on Amazon’s sales chart.
These talented tunesmiths promise the inevitable arrival of new material and as they approach their third decade, Gin Blossoms remain a rare breed – rock ‘n’ roll lifers, destined to continue creating, crafting, and performing for audiences ever rapt by their glorious catalog of material. “We’re entertaining and we have chops,” says Wilson, “but it really comes down to the songs. The reason we’re still here is that we have good songs. When young musicians ask me for advice, what’s the best thing to do to further my career, I always say, ‘Write good songs.’ It always comes down to that.”
The band’s fusion of Pop, Melodic Rock, Folk and Country elements took the airwaves by siege, making the band an MTV playlist hostage for almost a decade and the group a natural 90’s mainstay. From their breakout album through today, Robin, Jesse, Bill and Scotty have sold over 10 million records and are one of the most in demand 90’s live artists who began at the end of the grunge era. In 2017 the band went back in the studio recording a new album. Fans will get a taste of the new album as it works its way into their live set.
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