No Superunledded at Kick Gas Fest

“There seems to be a lot of folks around town who believe Superunloader is a Led Zeppelin tribute,” says band manager Jason “Yogi” Peretson. “Although they’ve been known to do a show or two of Zeppelin, this is certainly not the case.”

This story begins at the 710 Beach Club, where earlier this year “the [former] talent buyer booked Superunloader twice and promoted the band unilaterally as a Zep tribute. The first show, they reluctantly played a set of Zeppelin because it was listed in various ads two weeks prior to the show. However, they didn’t have time to promote it properly among their fans, and the turnout was about half the normal attendance, so it was largely a failure.

“The second time, [the talent buyer] was explicitly told not to mention Zeppelin, and it was listed the same anyway. So they didn’t play at all. Consequently, Superunloader have not booked 710 Beach Club since, which is unfortunate because they’d been playing there for over a decade.”

The band has done a handful of Zeppelin shows over the years, billing themselves as Superunledded. “That was an occasional special event,” says Peretson, “and now they’re reluctant to do those tribute shows or even play Led Zep covers anymore. Funny, they probably play more Frank Zappa songs, but folks don’t confuse them for [Zappa tribute] Project Object.”

Superunloader have a new album (all originals) due in January, and on October 24 they’re playing the Kick Gas Festival with headliner Matisyahu at Qualcomm Stadium. Peretson promises — or warns — that “there won’t be any Zeppelin songs.”