Newspaper Page Text
Page 20
Flagpole Magazine
November 13, 1991
Desperately speaking with Susan (and Bob)
What happens when music and noise
collide? In this case it's a "psycho-trip
mind fuck' known as Band of Susans. Two
of the band's members, Robert Poss and
Susan Stenger, took time off from their
current tour of the Midwest and South and
gave us a call from Buffalo, NY.
Flagpole: So, have ever graced our little
city?
Robert Poss: Actually, we have never
played in Athens. We did play in Atlanta,
though.
FP: Well, you're in for a treat.
RP: Yeah, we’re looking forward to it. We've
heard a lot about the 40 Watt, and of course
Athens itself.
FP: But of course. Doyou have any precon
ceived notions about the South? We're kind
of paranoid about that around here
RP: Well, I'rn sure you don't all wear over
alls.
Susan Stenger: I don’t really even consider
you guys to be part of the "real South" like
Mississippi or something. What a scary
place.
FP: No doubt. Well, most of us have the
right number of chromosomes. So tell me
about the name. "Band of Susans.’
SS: Well, that was just pure laziness on our
part. The band started with Robert and I, the
two founding members, and two other gui
tarists were also named Susan, so there
were three of us in the band at the time, and
our friends started calling us Band of Susans.
It just kind of stuck.
RP: I shou'd tell you before I forget that
every tour we do has a name and this is the
“Loss of Pollution Tour."
FP: Sounds the product of a MTV " name
that tour’ contest.
SS: Well, the Butthole Surfers are touring
with us.
FP: Really?
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“Where it's
always springtime”
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oo
H
RP: Well, not really. Gibby likes to get up
and do a couple of numbers with us, but
probably not until we get to Texas.
SS: Yeah, Gibby’s a friend of ours, and we
were just in New York doing a show for the
CMJ conference and the lead singer of The
Mekons, Sally, was ill, so Gibby got up and
sang one of her really torchy numbers...
RP: And wore her
clothes too.
SS: Yeah, he was a
real hit.
FP: I can imagine.
I've heard you guys
lumped up with Wire
and Dinosaur, Jr...
RP: Well, there are
acouple of reasons.
We toured with Wire
— I think our first
record did have
some likenesses,
although this was
pretty much inad
vertent on our on our
part—wedidn’tfind
out'til later. We were
more like some of
the early Wire stuff,
like “Pink Flash."
Also, we were on the same label in England
[Blast First] as Sonic Youth and Dinosaur
Jr., and a lot of the press just grouped us
with those bands. We toured with Dinosaur
Jr., too, as well as Steve Albim’s band
Rapeman, and we tend to get a lot of cross
overs in our audiences. It’s pretty safe to
say that someone who likes Dinosaur Jr.
would also like Band of Susans.
FP: Do you find that to be a good or bad
thing?
RP: Oh, it's good. There are a lot of people
out there who like loud guitars and have a
certain interest in that stuff. That's fine.
FP: Back to the whole label issue. It seems
that you guys put up with a lot of shit getting
moved around and all—are you happy with
Restless?
RP: We have a “wait and see" attitude
about Restless, [laughs]
FP: Are you shopping for the majors?
RP: Well, that goes on. People sometimes
contact us or they
come to our shows.
We're not really
sure...Basically, we
want to keep doing
the kind of music that
we’re doing without
anyone telling us
what to do.
SS: It seems that in
order to be able to
do that, finding a
really strong indie is
the thing to do.
FP: So, an inde
pendent label is
probably a good
thing right now.
SS: Yeah. Restless
is trying to re-estab
lish themselves.
We've seen bands
like us get signed to a major label and do
really well, so it’s certainly a possibility, but
we've also seen bands get signed and then
dropped really fast. Basically, the majors
have one way of dealing with “alternative"
music — throwit up against the wall and see
if it sticks.
FP: The of spaghetti test.
SS: Right. So if you don't sell huge amounts
your first record, that's pretty much it.
FP: There was a pretty big gap between
Love Agenda and The Word and the Flesh.
Have you found any new trends that you
have to adapt to?
THE
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Where can you get those
ancient, used, trendy hikes?
156 l /i College Sq. • 354 v 0988
RP: Well, we don’t rally adapt to trends.
Basically we were waiting for record labels
to get their act together — we had this
record recorded a year before it came out.
I think the biggest change I've noticed is
that the bigger labels are just starting to
figure out how to market this type of music.
Before, it was really obscure, and now
everyone knows who Nirvana is and has
seen Sonic Youth on MTV. There’s a lot
more money now, and it’s much more
competitive in a certain sense. It's hard to.
be on a minor label when the majors can
throw out so much money...
SS: Some people’s video budget is more
than our recording budget.
FP: You mentioned Nirvana...! saw them
the other night on Head-banger's Ball, that
seems to be a really strange culture-clash.
How do you feel about the music industry's
confusion on how to classify these?
RP: Well, I think the major cause is that
metal can be marketed without a whole lot
of radio play and companies like bands that
they can pitch both to the so called “alterna
tive" crowd as well as the metal scene.
FP: It's still weird.
RP: Yeah. Well, you’ll never see us on MTV
Unplugged, that's for sure. VJe're not really
an acoustic band, [laughs]
FP: Anything else you want to touch on?
RP: We hope to have a new record out in
the fall, even though we just started to tour
on The Word and the Flesh. Also, we hope
that everyone can find our records at their
local record store. If not, you should defi
nitely consider acts of physical violence.
FP: Definitely.
Band of Susans will be at the 40 Watt on
November 19. Also, look for their latest
release, The Word and the Flesh, on Rest
less Records.
Dottie Alexander
Barnett's
147 COLLEGE AVENUE
ATHENS. GA 30601
(404) 353 0530
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