Sugartooth

In the wake of Soundgarden's breakthrough success in the '90s, several groups decided to follow in the famed Seattle quartet's footsteps with a similar heavy Sabbath-esque sound. One such band was the trio Sugartooth -- Mark Hutner (vocals, guitar) and Josh Blum (bass) were the group's mainstays, joined by a pair of different drummers (Joey Castillo and Dusty Watson) during their short career. The seeds of the band were planted in the early '90s when Hutner and Blum met each other while fronting separate rock bands in the Southern California area. With grunge sound-alikes getting signed left and right (Candlebox, Paw, Seven Mary Three, etc.), Sugartooth had no problem landing a deal with DGC, who issued the band's self-titled debut in 1994. The album spawned a modest MTV hit with the track "Sold My Fortune," as the group opened shows for such big name acts as Slayer, Supersuckers, Stone Temple Pilots, and their heroes, Soundgarden. When sessions began for their sophomore disc, Castillo had left the band, and instead of replacing him straight away, Hutner and Blum opted to experiment with a drum machine. Admirably, Sugartooth decided to expand on their already established grunge-like sound, bringing in the eccentric production duo the Dust Brothers to oversee the proceedings. While recording the album, Hutner and Blum contributed the music to a song that the Dust Brothers were putting together at the time, "Tortured Man," which would later feature vocals by none other than the "King of All Media" himself, Howard Stern, for the best-selling soundtrack to his motion picture Private Parts. Sugartooth's resulting album however, 1997's The Sounds of Solid, failed to break through commercially, resulting in their split shortly thereafter.
© Greg Prato /TiVo