Susie Soho - Interview

Jason Maher - Bass,
Niall Campion - Guitar,
Mia Fitzgerald - Drums,
Tony Fitz – Vocals, Guitar

Having played Ireland's biggest festival, Oxygen, and being nominated for a Meteor Award, Susie Soho are tipped for big things. The band were formed by singer and guitarist Tony Fitz in 2009 and if you were wondering where the band name came from, that came courtesy of the title of the 2000 jazz album "Good Morning Susie Soho" by the Esbjorn Svensson Trio. Comparisons have been made between Tony's vocals and those of Simon Neill (Biffy Clyro), and that has to be good right? Right!

We speak to Tony to find out more.

Ok, at risk of asking a really daft question, the album is called Twelve Twenty Seven, can I ask what he significance is of that date / number?

12 minutes 27 seconds was the total running time of the original demos of the EP songs that I recorded.

You recorded at Abbey Road, how did you feel about that, what was it like, and did you do the whole "pose" on Abbey Road?

We've really enjoyed where we worked on this EP... Recording in Windmill Lane is always a great process, it's such a creative environment, and mastering the album in Abbey Road with the brilliant Geoff Pesche was great. Geoff's a great guy to work with, and there's a real sense of history in the building. I was at the mastering session on my own, so we couldn't pull off "the pose" unfortunately!

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What for you have been the highlights on your tours so far, and are there any laugh out loud moments you'd care to share with us (and not get into trouble for doing so)?

Mia jumping out of a van to get away from a huge bumblebee while shouting "It's a mouse with wings!" was one of the funniest backstage moments I've ever had.

Twelve Twenty Seven has the track "Stand Up". You were unhappy with the previous Irish Government, so what are your hopes with Enda Kenny leading the way?

That the government will do what's right for the country and its people. Easier said than done!

There was a time a lot of bands were making political statements (Billy Bragg, Levellers, Rage Against The Machine), but that seems less the case. Do you think people have maybe given up hope in actually trying to make politicians for once actually listen to those who elected them?

Things like the Occupy Movement show that people may have stopped being so politically apathetic, and I think the protest song will make a bit of a comeback in the next year or two. Dorian Lynskey's "33 Revolutions Per Minute" is a great book about protest songs, and I think the circumstances that inspired some of the protest songs he writes about are coming back around again.

The video for Your Way Or Not At All, was directed/edited/made fancy looking by Niall (which does indeed look fancy!), was it a bit odd working with Niall in a different capacity like that, or does that make it far easier to get the visual representation that you want?

Niall is very easy to work with, because once it gets to shooting the video he knows exactly what he wants, and what we need to do to achieve it. We'll bounce ideas around to get the concept for the video, but after that, we just let Niall do his thing.

How did you find Paul Killeen, Mossy Seoighe, Glenn McMahon and Jack English for that video?

We wanted to use free-runners in the video, so we put up a post on an Irish Parkour community site, and the guys generously volunteered. They're really talented, and their aerial gymnastics are incredible to watch, particularly when you get the reactions of people passing by on the street.

And what's the next step for "Susie Soho"?

We'll be doing some shows to promote the EP, then some more recording early in the new year. We have some fun ideas for another EP before maybe getting started on recording an album later next year. We hope to hit the Summer festival circuit next year too, so keep an eye on www.susiesoho.com for more details.

Normally at this point we have a "if you want to find out more, you can visit their website here:" but Tony's beaten me to it there!