SUSS

Photo by, Orestes Gonzales

Meet SUSS

Let’s get spaced out with the otherworldly sounds of SUSS. This NYC based supergroup delivers some of the most beautiful ambient country this fool has ever heard. Bob Holmes the Mandolin, baritone guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, and violin player of the group stops by to chat with us about the project.

A Self-portrait by, Bob Holmes of SUSS

Would You Rather

have a magic lasso that would make people tell the truth or everyone believes every lie you ever told? Why

That’s an easy one: the former. There are too many lies floating out there already (though I’m happy to say very few of them are from me). Most importantly, who wouldn’t want their own lasso, no matter how magic it was.

Some questions with Bob Holmes of SUSS

Did you ever get detention in school? If so, why?

No, I was always the straight-arrow class valedictorian type. It’s amazing that I had any friends at all. I think I was given a lot of leeway because I was always seen as the “art & music” guy. And since I grew up in the cornfields of central Ohio, that was a pretty rare thing at the time (probably still is).

What was the creative drive behind your upcoming album ‘Promise’?

We always start out making music and then just listen to what the music is trying to tell us as we’re making it. It always says different things to each one of us and we try to be very sensitive to capturing what those messages are. It’s safe to say that making this music during the pandemic had a lot of effect on what we were feeling and trying to express. I think the fact that the general vibe drifted towards (rather than away) from hope and promise says a lot about who we are as people and how we wanted to offer something that could be a balm for tough times.

How has all of your background from various previous projects effected the work you are doing under SUSS?

Of course! Our various musical histories have informed us in many ways. Our backgrounds include new wave, no wave, country punk, bluegrass, country-western, surf music, classical, film and television. But I think the thing that informs our work more than anything else is that the fact that we’ve known each other (and in some cases, worked together) for decades – 40 years for Gary & I. We trust each other’s instincts and let each member take the music where he thinks it should go. We don’t get fussy with owning ideas, but enjoy hearing other’s ideas and reacting to that. We always enjoy seeing bits and pieces of our musical past pop up in our music, but for the most part SUSS stands on it’s own without the need for any of those musical reference points.

When composing new music is the process more organic, or structured?

Totally organic. No song ever ends up where it started. It’s always a surprise. And if the music turns out to not be surprising, and if it gets predictable, we usually let it go. We bore easily. We’ve worked very hard to make sure each new album builds on what we created before, without having to repeat ourselves.

If you could give one animal species (besides people) the ability to fly which would it be? Why?

I guess most people would say “pigs” because isn’t that the question that they’ve been asking since the beginning of time. But why pigs? Except for birds, any other animal is just as likely not to fly. I guess I would choose an animal that could be tamed to be ridden and still carry a human, so a horse seems to fit that bill. Can I have a magic lasso and a flying horse? This could get fun.

Do other forms of art inform your work? If so, who/what and how?

All four of us are visually oriented. Gary & I went to Rhode Island School of Design, so we always considered ourselves visual artists before being musical ones. Gary is an amazing cartoonist and animator. His videos and stage design of our live show is as an important a part of SUSS as anything else. And Pat’s film and television career revolve around his musical interpretation of moving images. From the beginning, we’ve never separated the visual from the audio when thinking about SUSS.

What about the combination genre of Ambient and Country appeals to all of you?

We knew very early on that there were common elements of both ambient and country that could be combined to create a new music genre “ambient country”. That’s not to say that there wasn’t music that fit in that genre before we came along, but few people actually recognized it as a “thing”. We’ve pointed to albums as diverse as Eno’s “Apollo Atmosphere’s” and Ry Cooder’s “Paris, Texas” as two great and very different examples. There now are newer band who are capturing that feel as well, including Chuck Johnson, North Americans and William Tyler, just to name a few. It takes a special mindset to understand and love both country music and ambient, but all of these artists have shown great ways to approach the blend. Because of that, the genre of “Ambient Country” seems to be wider and more inclusive than we ever imagined in the beginning. Great new artists are popping up all the time.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

We appreciate anyone spending the time with our music and we look forward to what everyone has to say about “Promise”. We hope it’s fulfilled its self-titled mission and brings a little hope into this crazy world!