Mark Sultan Discusses New Album '$', Disses Breakfast

It might be nothing compared to Freddie Mercury's habit of chowing down on mashed potatoes smothered in caviar and sour cream, but Mark Sultan, aka BBQ, professes to have a strange habit of his own when it comes to his diet.

"I'm not a fan of breakfast," the Montreal-based musician, who just released his second solo album entitled '$,' tells Spinner. "That old axiom, 'bacon makes everything taste better,' makes me vomit in my mouth."

"As for eggs," he continues, "I saw a bird's-eye view video of a chicken birthing an egg -- it was sick."

"I prefer a dinner at breakfast."

Despite his aversion to sausages and omelettes, Sultan admits that if he had to get behind the most important meal of the day, he would probably opt for pancakes.

"I love half-cooked pancakes," Sultan says. "Not so much runny, but, like, wet. It's good."

King Khan's right hand man clearly doesn't care how unappetizing his gooey treat might sound. Whether he's talking soppy pancakes or his classic throwback tunes, it's pretty apparent the guy isn't worried about approval ratings.

"People are always going to rag on me and my music, but I believe in it and don't give a f---," he says. "Take my [recent] Pitchfork review for example, aside from an incredible lack of research and knowledge, it's all a big joke. Had I made an album full of shorter tracks, the same reviewer would have asked for something else."

Sultan might be unfazed by criticism, but he wishes music journalists weren't so eager to tack the garage rock tag onto his latest batch of songs.

"I still love rock 'n' roll and garage and all of that, for sure, but I think this is easily something else," he says. "People are lazy; I hardly think they actually listen [to my music]. The average knowledge of one of these f--king music dudes is like 1981 and up."

"I am influenced by a million things -- I would hope every musician is," Sultan continues. "A really big influence on me was my cousin Steven and my Dad, I guess. Through them, I got into Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, respectively. I was like six, or whatever, and from there I went bananas."

While it wouldn't hurt to have more than Music History 101 under your belt when listening to '$,' you don't need to decipher all of Sultan's touchstones in order to embrace the disc. It doesn't take a music nerd to know that the Last Gang Records artist -- who also plays in the Almighty Defenders with Black Lips and King Khan, as well as the Ding Dongs with fellow Montrealer Bloodshot Bill -- writes some of the catchiest tunes of today.