Sick of Sarah soaks up fun on the road

By John Benson

Messed up yet having a blast, that’s the approach of indie rock act Sick of Sarah.

“Right now, our No. 1 priority is whose hot tub we’re going to be in when we stay in a certain town,” said Sick of Sarah singer-guitarist Abisha Uhl, calling from Minnesota. “Other than that, it’s just writing music. We’re on tour, obviously, and we’ve just been playing show after show. So it’s laundry, hot tub and writing. Lots of writing.”

Wait just one second there. It looks like laundry somehow snuck onto the priority list. Are they doing their laundry in the hot tub?

“If we’re in a hurry, we’ll do our laundry in the hot tub,” Uhl laughed. “We have little Tupperware with detergent. And we’ll throw [guitarist] Katie [Murphy] in there because she’s the dirtiest one. Yeah, we have been kicked out of a few places for doing laundry in the hot tub, but usually people are pretty nice. It’s only happened twice.”

Uhl said the band’s Myspace site (www.myspace.com/sickofsarah) is the perfect way to set up a pre- or post-show hot-tub soir e with the band. So fans looking for a good, and presumably wet, time may want to start e-mailing now regarding the five-piece’s upcoming show Oct. 1 at the Kent Stage.

So far, Sick of Sarah — named not after the former Alaska governor but a friend of the band who disliked her name, Sarah — has been garnering attention for its 2008 self-titled album that has drawn comparisons to The Breeders and Sleater-Kinney. The outfit is working on new material for its sophomore effort, which is tentatively due out in 2010.

“We have about half of a record done,” Uhl said. “What people can expect to hear on the new record is that we’re experimenting and we’re trying to branch out. So you’re going to hear half the record being the old Sick of Sarah style but amped up. And we’re trying to collaborate a lot more, so we’re trying to branch out and to mature and develop as musicians. It’ll be good for sure because we have that same vibe going.

“It’s indie rock with a bit of pop and punk. You’ll hear more punk on the second album for sure, a little bit darker. The first album was like our baby, our first baby. And we’re really excited to do a second album. It’s fun times.”

In addition to playing a cover of Concrete Blonde’s “Joey,” the Twin Cities quintet has been playing its own version of The Bangles’ forgotten hit “In Your Room.”

“We’re keeping it real, dude, because that song kicks butt,” Uhl laughed. “Man, I’d say everybody should come out. We always have a lot of fun. We like to think we put on a good performance and that we’re entertaining and sometimes a little unpredictable. So come on out. Be careful though, you might get pregnant. That’s just from standing too close to the stage. I know, it’s messed up.”