mtv.com
by Joe D'Angelo, with additional reporting by Steve Schlueter
Nepotism is hardly a foreign concept in music. Kelly Osbourne, Solange Knowles and Enrique Iglesias are likely to be the first to admit that following in a family member's footsteps is a shortcut to success.
Not all those born into pop music royalty welcome their inheritance, however.
Fiction Plane frontman Joe Sumner would rather you not know who his famous father was, but when Sting's real surname ranks with those such as McManus (Elvis Costello), Lydon (Johnny Rotten) and Dwight (Elton John) in the commonly known rock trivia category, it's kind of hard to keep the fact that you're the spawn of the Police frontman under wraps.
"I don't like to talk about it," the younger Sumner said when pressed about his Tantric-loving old man.
So resistant is he to riding Sting's coattails, that before he signed his recording contract, Sumner insisted on a stipulation that prohibited any mention of his famous father in any advertising or marketing of the U.K.-based Fiction Plane. But no matter what legal provisions are in place, some folks just can't help but bite on such a shiny hook.
"Part of our mission is not to be sold on that criteria, and every time I talk about it, it ends up being that I'm actually selling it on that criteria," Sumner said, a hopeless shrug evident in his voice. "So I try not to talk about it."
Sumner has no qualms over singing about it, however. On "Cigarette," off Fiction Plane's debut album, Everything Will Never Be OK, which was released in March, he pouts "Touch me 'cause my daddy's rich/ Marry into bigger fish/ Tell me I'm your dearest honey/ Think that I'm just easy money" to a prospective lover with ulterior motives, before coming right to the point: "I don't care if sex is casual ... I won't be a stepping stone to any kind of bullshit throne."
Perhaps not unsurprisingly, Sumner grew up around music, learning classical piano and guitar at age 10. A rebellious bug bit him soon after and he began listening to ska and detesting most of the then-current crop of pop music. The bandmembers — Sumner, bassist Dan Brown and guitarist Seton Daunt — give credit to Nirvana for pushing them to start a band.
"When we heard 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' it just rocked," Sumner said. "I hated all music before that."
Harmonic plucking and classical arpeggios were quickly replaced by power chords.
"So I got a distortion pedal and a guitar and an amp and that was it," he said.
"It's really simple music to learn," Daunt added, "so it made you think, 'Yeah, I could do this,' and 'I can write a song.' "
The trio wrote 12 of them for Everything Will Never Be OK, in fact. They recorded the album with producer David Kahne (Sugar Ray, Sublime), and used Abe Laboriell, whom they plucked off the Paul McCartney tour, behind the kit.
The band spent the months leading up to the LP's release touring with Something Corporate, the Juliana Theory and most recently, former Jam frontman Paul Weller. Drummer Peter Wilhoit rounds out the touring lineup. Fiction Plane will continue to support Everything Will Never Be OK on the road until May 17, opening for Lifehouse through May 3.
The pessimistic title of the band's LP provides an indication of the band's worldview and songs like "I Wish I Would Die" and the single "Hate" make their perspective perfectly clear. As chiming guitars crisscross the single's bass-driven melody, Sumner sings, "We're cool and we're different and we hate things ... We hate people." Distrust abounds on "Everybody Lies" and the despair-drenched "Fallow" is a rolling bit of somber groove.
Unless Sumner succumbs to an uncharacteristic wave of happiness, he doesn't see his mood changing anytime soon.
"One day maybe I'll be all positive and happy and make an album called Stars Are Beautiful, he said. "And we'll just sing lullabies and that would be it."
