In the late ’90s and early ’00s Cali party rockers Sugar Ray owned summer barbecues with a string of easy, breezy radio hits like “Fly,’’ “Every Morning,’’ and “When It’s Over.’’ The hits dried up in 2003, the quintet took an extended break to hang with their families, and frontman Mark McGrath took a job hosting the TV gossip and entertainment news show “Extra.’’ The band returned to the scene last week with a typically sunny album, “Music for Cougars,’’ which includes a tune written by Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. We caught up with McGrath by phone from the Hollywood Hills.
Q. What are you most glad that you will never have to do or say again since you no longer work for “Extra’’?
A. I didn’t have a bad time at “Extra.’’ I hated doing red carpets. Because I don’t mind talking to anybody, but when you have to have an agenda, like say Britney Spears is in the news and it’s a hot topic and then you see Al Pacino coming down the red carpet and they want you to ask him about Britney Spears. It just makes your insides twist and tangle, and I wasn’t good enough to do it, and I refused to do it.
Q. You’ve got the original lineup intact, and no one went off on any crazy benders. Why do you think Sugar Ray was able to keep it together?
A. What that speaks to is we started organically. We were five friends in Newport Beach, California, and all we wanted to do was hear our Marshalls loud on ten. We played a lot of keg parties; we played Judas Priest, Blondie, and Run-DMC songs. Now it’s 21 years later, it’s still the same guys, and except for playing covers we’re playing Sugar Ray songs. So we started for the right reason. The friendships still exist, and that’s the biggest reward of the band.
Q. You’ve been fairly candid over the years about where you thought Sugar Ray fell in the grand scheme of things. Where does that come from?
A. We knew we came in the back door and kind of fell into success. Like I say I’m not the best singer in the world, we’re not the best band in the world, but you can’t deny we can craft a pop song. I’m not a braggart - I never will be - but the people have spoken. When you have two number one songs and a number three and a number seven, you’re doing something right, and I’ll always be honored to be a part of that songwriting.
