New York’s rock and soul band Super 400 turned 15 this month.
The group guitarist vocalist Kenny Hohman, drummer Joe Daley and bassist Lori Friday celebrated with a gig in their hometown of Troy, N.Y. And they’re extending the party while opening up for Stockholm Syndrome on its current tour.
Friday said she is looking forward to playing Harry O’s on Feb. 21.
“We’re excited to come to Park City,” Friday told The Park Record during a phone interview on her way to rehearsal. “I’ve heard so many amazing things about that place. I want to see what its like. I want to breathe the air and I want to see what our music sounds like there.”
Friday’s positive vibe stems from being in Super 400 all these years.
“We’ve been lucky, she explained. “It’s always been the three of us and we have not once thought about quitting, nor have we had any intra-band struggles. We’re friends and we’re family. And every day is a great day emotionally for us.”
That doesn’t mean the band hasn’t experienced some hard times in its career.
In the 1997, the band signed to Island Records and released its self-titled, full-length debut in 1998.
A few months later, Island Records, like many of the big labels at the time, got caught in ownership changes and band-roster cuts.
Super 400, which was named after a vintage Gibson guitar, found new life as an independent band, which continued to perform and release CDs on its own terms.
Friday, who started playing music on piano and guitar before moving to bass, loves the lifestyle.
“I’m playing in a band where all of us are equal partners,” she said. “I can express myself musically any way I want to. “Seriously, if I came in with an idea where I wanted to play the xylophone as the melody with a tuba playing the bass line, or write on a toy piano, I would have that option if that were my inclination.
“I can also say what I want to say when I write my lyrics,” she said. “There is no disagreement because we realize each of us has something to say. I know the freedom of expression is not something every band has, but we have it and don’t take it for granted.”
A couple of weeks ago, when the band was rehearsing for its anniversary show, Friday remembered pulling out some older songs during the session.
“Some songs that we haven’t played in 10 years,” she said. “I had some deep emotions while we played them. Suddenly I was that person I was a decade ago. It was a pretty powerful moment for me.”
Friday then realized how much she has grown as a musician and person.
“When I first started playing music, I wanted to be very famous and be a rock star on the level of the heroes I worshipped at that time,” she said. “It was a different world then. There was no Internet. No cell phones. No instant access to everyone’s personal and private life at every moment of the day.
“Since then, my ideas have completely changed,” she said. “Now, I’m playing music for the satisfaction of playing music for people and trying to add something positive to music.”
Friday believes the band is in a better place thanks to those changes.
“When we were younger, and we had a bad gig in a new town, we would take it personally and get so upset about it. We had this chip on our shoulder and we’d say, ‘They don’t’ get it.’
“When were we 22, it was day-to-day, gig-to-gig,” she said. “Now we feel a little differently about playing a new town where no one knows us. We look at the room as if it were full of new possibilities and full of new friends. It’s not about satisfying me, but giving something positive to others.”
With that in mind, the band has its eyes on the future, Friday said.
“We still haven’t written the best songs we’re going to write,” she said. “I think the music is getting more aggressive, but the message is getting mellower.”
Super 400 will open for Stockholm Syndrome and Junior & the Transportation on Monday, Feb. 21, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $20 and available by visiting www.ticketcake.com.