Band of Susans was an American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band formed in New York City in 1986 and active until 1996. It originally consisted of Robert Poss (guitar/vocals), Susan Stenger (bass/vocals), Ron Spitzer (drums), with Susan Lyall (guitar), Susan Tallman (guitar), and

Alva Rogers Alva Rogers (born 1959) is an American playwright, composer, actor, vocalist, and arts educator. She is known for the use of dolls and puppetry in interdisciplinary work. Rogers performed in the role of Eula Peazant in Julie Dash's 1991 film ''Da ...

(vocals). The band would undergo several permutations over the years, usually involving three guitarists. Poss, Stenger, and Spitzer were the band's core members throughout its duration. They originated in the New York

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extrem ...

scene, but due to their layered guitar sound were sometimes seen as the American counterparts to the UK

shoegazing Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with " dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming vol ...

bands and also drew influence from modern experimental composers

Rhys Chatham Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar or ...

and

Glenn Branca Glenn may refer to: Name or surname * Glenn (name) * John Glenn, U.S. astronaut Cultivars * Glenn (mango) * a 6-row barley variety Places In the United States: * Glenn, California * Glenn County, California * Glenn, Georgia, a settlement ...

History

In the early to mid-1980s, Poss studied under the tutelage of avant-garde guitar ensemble composer

, and played in the bands Tot Rocket and Western Eyes. The band was formed by avant-garde flautist Susan Stenger and guitarist Robert Poss, they took their name from the trio of Susans then in the lineup. Poss, Stenger, and Spitzer grew up together in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. Band of Susans released the 12" EP ''Blessing And Curse'' on Poss's own Trace Elements label. A record-release party (also said to be the band's first-ever live gig) was held at NYC's The Love Club on January 31, 1987; BoS were the opening act for a band called Das Furlines. They were soon signed to the avant-garde

Blast First Blast First is a sub label of one-time independent record label Mute Records, founded in approximately 1985. It was named after a phrase taken from the first number of the radical Vorticist journal '' Blast'', published by Wyndham Lewis in 191 ...

imprint of UK record label

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller (music producer), Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, ...

. After the release of début album ''Hope Against Hope'', Rogers, Lyall and Tallman quit, and were replaced by Karen Haglof (guitar) and

Page Hamilton Page Hamilton (born May 18, 1960) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer, mostly noted for his work with alternative metal band Helmet. Most of his work has been in the hard rock and alternative metal styles, though he ...

(guitar). This lineup recorded the album ''Love Agenda'' and a

Peel Sessions John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

EP, which featured a cover of

Gang Of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The ...

's "I Found That Essence Rare". The two new guitarists then quit, with Hamilton quickly forming the more metal-influenced

Helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without prote ...

. Anne Husick (guitar) and Mark Lonergan (guitar) then joined BoS, yielding the band's "classic lineup" which made three more albums and one EP, all on

Restless Records Restless Records is a record label that was started in El Segundo, California in 1986 by Enigma Records and primarily released alternative, metal, and punk records. Restless also licensed and released records from Bar/None Records, Metal Blad ...

. According to ''The Great Indie Discography'' compilation, "...unfortunately, success is the one thing that has eluded the Band of Susans and Co. throughout their decade-plus lifespan."

Sonic characteristics

Band of Susans was a "rock band without the rock clichés ... each instrument was given its own part, and they fitted together like building blocks to create droning, dense textures." As their history of having eight guitarists in all (and never less than three at any given time) attests, Band of Susans were a heavily guitar-centric outfit. They are generally included in New York City's abrasive post- No Wave scene which produced

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of th ...

Live Skull Live Skull is a post-punk/ experimental rock band from New York City, formed in 1982. In an overview of their abrasive no wave-influenced music, ''Trouser Press'' said, "As part of the same New York avant-noisy scene that spawned Sonic Youth, Ly ...

, and Swans. They generally used G&L brand guitars (which appear on several of the band's album covers),

Fender Jazzmaster The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in th ...

s, and Park (a budget brand made by Marshall) amplifiers. G&L owner

Leo Fender Clarence Leonidas Fender (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991) was an American inventor known for designing the Fender Stratocaster. He also founded the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In January 1965, he sold Fender to CBS, and later foun ...

was a fan of the band and later befriended Poss. Musically, the band organised their three guitarists into providing an overwhelming wall of

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

and guitar noise layered atop more conventional song structures. Due to their focus on atmospheric textures, the band is often considered a peripheral member of the

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

movement, though they had a more abrasive sound closer to that of their New York contemporaries than most of the primarily-British bands of the shoegaze genre. Like shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Band of Susans were notorious for playing live at extremely high volumes in order to recreate the visceral impact of their studio albums. In an interview, guitarist Robert Poss noted the similarity between shoegaze and Band of Susan's hypnotic soundscape, saying " My Bloody Valentine have been contemporaries of ours, and we played shows with them in Europe and in the U.S. in 1989." Despite the band's experimental leanings, Poss was a big fan of

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

, which would later manifest in covers of the Stones' songs "Child of the Moon" and "

Paint It, Black "Paint It Black" is a song recorded in 1966 by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of the songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it is a raga rock song with Indian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European in ...

Live performances

Band of Susans toured the U.S. and Europe sporadically. They played with bands such as Live Skull, My Bloody Valentine,

Butthole Surfers Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has ...

, Wire, Rollins Band, Smegma, Das Furlines, and Lovely. During the band's final U.S. and European tours, Jay Braun (who formed

the Negatones The Negatones is a Brooklyn, New York based band, founded by siblings Jay Braun (vocals, guitar, synthesizers) and Justin Braun (vocals, bass, synthesizers) with Jun Takeshta (guitar, synthesizers, vocals, mallet instruments) and Jesse Wallace (dr ...

shortly thereafter) filled in for Lonergan and Kelly Burns filled in for Ron Spitzer. Band of Susans also performed, with Rhys Chatham as a warmup "group", at "

The Kitchen The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was foun ...

" on 19th Street, in the early 1980s as part of a "performance art" piece. Afterward, they performed at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

, although not with their original lineup, with the exception of Susan Stenger, Robert Poss, and possibly Karen Hagloff. Forgotten drummer during the 1991 European and American support tour for the band's release, "Word and the Flesh" was New Jersey based drummer, Joseph Kochan, who performed as "Joey Kaye".

Post-breakup

After the dissolution of the band in late 1996, Poss and Stenger performed with

Bruce Gilbert Bruce Clifford Gilbert (born 18 May 1946) is an English musician. One of the founding members of the influential and experimental art punk band Wire,Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 180-182 he branched ...

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is co ...

as gilbertpossstenger; one album was released under this moniker. Stenger and Poss have also worked extensively with composer

Phill Niblock Phill Niblock (born October 2, 1933 in Anderson, Indiana) is an American composer, filmmaker, videographer, and director of Experimental Intermedia,Alan Licht, ''Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995-2020'', Blank Forms ...

. Poss has concentrated on production and solo work, whilst Stenger played live with

The Creatures The Creatures were an English band formed in 1981 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and drummer Budgie of the group Siouxsie and the Banshees. The Creatures released their first EP '' Wild Things'' in 1981. They recorded four studio albums: '' Feas ...

for a period, and worked with

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, C ...

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various sty ...

and

Alan Vega Boruch Alan Bermowitz (June 23, 1938 – July 16, 2016), known professionally as Alan Vega, was an American vocalist and visual artist, primarily known for his work with the electronic protopunk duo Suicide. Life and career Boruch Alan Ber ...

(

Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

) among others. She has an electric bass ensemble, Big Bottom, and has collaborated with choreographer Michael Clark, author

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Biography Education Sinclair was born in Cardiff in 1943. From 1956 to 1961, he was educa ...

and visual artist Cerith Wyn Evans. Her 96-day musical installation, ''Soundtrack for an Exhibition'', opened at Le Musée d'Art Contemporain in Lyon, France on March 7, 2006, and includes contributions from Robert Poss, Alan Vega,

Alexander Hacke Alexander Hacke (also known as Alexander von Borsig, Alex Hacke, Hacke, born 11 October 1965) is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, musician, record producer, writer and filmmaker from Germany. He is primarily known as a longtime member of the ...

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

, Mika Vainio, Ulrich Krieger, and

Jenny Hoyston Jenny Hoyston is an American producer, vocalist, guitarist, and trumpeter based in Austin, Texas, United States. She composed, recorded, and toured as part of the San Francisco, California, political punk and no wave band Erase Errata from ...

among others. Poss released a pair of solo albums, ''Distortion Is Truth'' and ''Crossing Casco Bay'' in 2002, has created music for choreographers Alexandra Beller, Sally Gross and Gerald Casel, and has engineered CDs by Seth Josel and Phill Niblock; he has also worked in collaboration with

Ben Neill Ben Neill (b. November 14, 1957) is an American composer, trumpeter, producer, and educator. He is the inventor of the "Mutantrumpet", a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument. Early life, family and education Neill was born in Winston-Salem, North ...

and David Dramm. In April 2009 he performed as part of Rhys Chatham's ensemble at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

in conjunction with the exhibit "Downtown Comes Uptown: The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984".

Music videos

Music videos were released for: * "The Pursuit of Happiness" (1989) * "Now Is Now" (1991) * "Blind" (1993) * "The Last Temptation of Susan" (1993) (experimental video collage by Leah Singer)

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Hope Against Hope'' (1988) * ''

Love Agenda ''Love Agenda'' is the second album by Band of Susans, released on April 17, 1989 by Blast First and Restless Records. Page Hamilton, later frontman for Helmet, played guitar on the album and sang the lead vocals on the track "It's Locked Away ...

'' (1989) * ''

The Word and the Flesh ''The Word and the Flesh'' is the third studio album and fourth album overall by American noise rock band Band of Susans. For the first time in the band's history, they were able to find a settled lineup to back up the band's core-line up of ban ...

'' (1991) * ''

Veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...

'' (1993) * ''

Here Comes Success ''Here Comes Success'' is the fifth and final studio album by Band of Susans, released on February 28, 1995, by Blast First and Restless Records. Andrew Earles included the album in his book ''Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential Underground Rock ...

'' (1995) ;Extended plays * '' Blessing and Curse'' (1987) * '' The Peel Sessions'' (1992) * '' Now'' (1992) ;Compilation albums * '' Wired for Sound'' (1995)

References

External links

Watch Band of Susans' four music videos

''Trouser Press'' entry

Robert Poss' 2009 appearance at a Tribute/Benefit Concert

"Stosspeng" on Phill Niblock's Touch Strings

Susan Stenger's "Soundtrack For An Exhibition" at 8 Mar - 11 Jun 06, Musée Art Contemporain Lyon, France

Albert Maysles/Kisten Nutile's film ''The Pleasure Of Stillness''. Music by Robert Poss

Frieze Magazine review of Susan Stenger's ''Soundtrack''

Composer Phill Niblock

Pitchfork review of Phill Niblock's ''G2, 44/x2'', Robert Poss and Susan Stenger, guitar

Susan Stenger

Big Bottom (Susan Stenger's electric bass ensemble)

Phill Niblock CD ''Touch Works'', engineered by Robert Poss

Phill Niblock's ''Four Full Flutes'', which features Susan Stenger

Seth Josel discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Band of Susans Alternative rock groups from New York (state) Musical groups established in 1986 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups from New York City American noise rock music groups Blast First artists 1986 establishments in New York (state) Restless Records artists