Introducing: Susan Bear

Glasgow-based Susan Bear has made music in various guises and groups over the years, most recently under the name Good Dog. Their new album, Alter, which is due out June 10^th via Lost Map, comes out under their own name. We spoke to Suse about the album, self-producing, and performing live.

First up, could you tell us a bit about Susan Bear?  

Hello! My name is Suse, I used to make music under the name Good Dog, but recently changed my band name to my actual name (Susan Bear). My new album Alter is out June 10th on Lost Map Records and is a collection of 10 songs I made in my studio in Glasgow that represent the last four-ish years of my life.

My last album Creature was released in May 2020 also on Lost Map, that was 15 songs from 2010-2018ish, some of them quick wee musical diary entries. I also play in other peoples’ bands and produce music for other people but really love doing the solo music making thing as it’s a creative outlet where I have total freedom of expression and can express myself however I feel at the time!

What inspires you to write music?

 I’ve just always done it since I was really small- it’s my favourite thing. Music existing in real life when it only existed in your head before. Hearing back a feeling you were trying to communicate in a finished track is so satisfying and comforting. Making music the way I do for this project acts as a wee time marker. I have a rubbish memory but can listen back to a song I made and remember a lot about my life from that time. For this project these songs are a little bit like journal entries I suppose, and wee thought/production experiments. Making music in this way for me is quite therapeutic. The songs are all made over a relatively long time period as opposed to recorded in one.

Does the name change from Good Dog to Susan Bear reflect other changes?

Mm yes probably, I have tended to hide behind other names, other projects, and am now consciously making an effort to be more forthcoming with the stuff I do myself, step outside my comfort zone a bit and choosing to use my own name instead of a band name is part of that. But ALSO there is (obviously) another Good Dog band who’s doing quite well so it kind of made sense to change it…

You recorded, produced, and mixed the album yourself. Was that by design?

 I’ve just always done that with my own music. I do it with other people’s music I work on also, so it makes sense I do it for my own. I studied music technology and audio engineering at college and university years ago so it’s really fun for me to get to make tracks and albums from start to finish solo as I really enjoy all the processes.

I’ve built up a nice wee studio that I work from over the last 12ish years. I like spending a lot of time there and doing it all by myself means I get as much time and reflection around a piece of music as I like.

I collaborate lots in other areas of my work life (my own music is more of a passion project at the moment) so being able to take my time over things and have the final piece of music sound as much like it does in my head is a real luxury.

When I was younger, playing in bands paying £400 a day to record in a big studio and at the end there was never enough time to make things sound exactly as you want them to in the mixing stage etc as we never had much of a budget for that. For my own music just now, it just makes sense for me to do it in my own studio solo at my own pace.

Do you feel being queer is an important facet of your musical identity?

It’s definitely a very important part of my identity, so probably a big part of my musical one. Being queer has been how I’ve identified from a young age, and it’s influenced many aspects of my life, how people see me and how I move through the world and so definitely is an important part of my music too.

Some of the songs I make are influenced by struggles of moving through society as a queer person. Also queer for me means doing things differently and not following the same path as always expected, trying to align myself with other music people who have values I admire rather than the most “successful” (what does that word even mean?).

What bands or musicians do you have on heavy rotation right now?

 Ohh ehmmm, I really like Soccer Mommy, Wet, King Princess, Alex G, Rival Consoles, always.

If you could support anyone, who would it be?

I’m not big on doing gigs as myself for this project, I play in a bunch of other bands usually bass or keys/synths so maybe I can pick a band I’d like to play IN…? ABBA please, but in the 70s, and if I could be playing bass that would be super. Not hologram ABBA thanks. My old band Tuff Love supported Grace Jones at Bellahouston Park. That was pretty cool, actually, not sure I can beat that support wise!

Do you have any advice for anyone starting out in the music industry?

 I suppose just really, really, love what you do and if you’re a musician or songwriter starting out, get as comfortable as you can with recording and producing your own music. It means you can get an idea further on yourself without the need for other people at an early stage. Getting good at communicating ideas solo like that can just help facilitate nice efficient collaboration if you are wanting to pass music onto someone else to work on it, I think.

Maybe also keep your head down and just enjoy what you’re doing rather than worrying about what other people are making, or how fast they’re making stuff. There are so many people making music and so many people that are incredible at it, and SO MUCH MUSIC that it can be overwhelming if you’re constantly comparing yourself to others.

Also say yes to different things and try out different areas of music if given the opportunity- collaborations can be super fun, making music for theatre, short film, or other narrative-based media is great, working in a variety of areas can help strengthen your cReAtiVe pRactice as an artist, I think.

What Glasgow bands or artists should we be keeping an eye on?

I really like the band Lemon Drink. Also, Poster Paints are amazing. Joesef, but everyone probably has their eye on him already because he’s great.

What’s up next for Susan Bear in terms of music, gigs, videos…?

I’m always recording new music and bits and bobs. I have a show at Jupiter Artland coming up in August – I don’t do many shows as myself, I prefer spending my energy producing and creating music.

You can pre-order the vinyl edition of Alter on Bandcamp and the Lost Map website. Keep up with news about the album and upcoming gigs by Susan Bear by checking out their Twitter and Instagram feeds.