MacD on Music: Stop At Any Time

We’re now in the tail end of the summer and what we’ve not had weather-wise, we’ve more than made up for with new music coming from this fine town.

In the past few months, we’ve had new releases from the likes of Lord Jane (‘Harmonia’), Emma White (‘Hurts Too Much’) and TRAMP (‘The Birds (Lowered Suspension)’), with the autumn promising a lot more to come.

This week, I’m talking to a veteran of the local scene, the great Susie Blue, following the release of her new single ‘Stop At Any Time’.

The song, her first release in a few years, is from her upcoming EP ‘Venite Ad Me’, coming in November.

I caught up with Susie recently to talk about the song: “It’s my first release in three years. I wrote it about being addicted to substances, or women, or love, or situations in general, and just becoming obsessed with it. The song is to try and remind myself that I can stop at any time, even when I can’t.

“It was a longer process than I thought, but I worked with a great producer, Shane McMullan. He’s actually in ‘Ferals’ as well. He’s great. He helped me get where I wanted to go, and it came out really well in the end.

“I’ve had people messaging me saying that they really like it, and Hot Press made it the track of the day, so that’s not too bad!”

“It’s going to be part of an EP. I have another single coming out in September and then the full EP is going to come out in November so hopefully it all goes smoothly but it’s the music industry, so you never know.”

We spoke next about the recording of the song: “The vocals were done in my living room and the guitarist and synth players, Syeva Bondarenko and Thomas Browne, recorded their parts and Shane recorded the bass and drums. It was all sent to him and then it was mastered by Joel Harkin. The recording is very D.I.Y., very all over the place but we got there in the end.”

Next, we talked about upcoming gigs: “I’m trying to organise an EP launch in November, but I am playing a few more intimate gigs up until then. I’m playing Trans Pride in Belfast on 14th September, then there’s a new festival called Under the Drum. It’s a day festival in Ballyclare. It’s a bit out of the way but it’s really cool. Roe’s playing, Joshua Burnside and loads of other people as well, and I’m really excited to do it.”

Moving on, we spoke about what’s changed between Susie’s last release and now: “Three years ago, I was in a period of grief because my mother had passed away. I didn’t realise at the time, but the songs I wrote were heartbreaking, now that I listen back to them. I think these ones are a bit happier and a bit more joyous. I think, listening back to them now after I recorded them, I feel happy with them. They don’t feel as much of a grief-stricken song.”

Susie told me then about a few other artists she’s been listening to recently and what releases she’s looking forward to:

“There’s a band called Klyda. I’ve known them for a wee while now. I used to mentor a couple of them in the Oh Yeah Centre in Belfast for a while and they’re all sound kids and really talented.

“It’s shocking how talented they are. Definitely keep an eye out for Klyda I’d say.”

“Also, Roe’s just released a song called ‘Autopilot’ the same day as me. It’s a pure banger so looking forward to seeing if she has anything else coming this year.”

Finally, we spoke about the music video for ‘Stop At Any Time’: “There’s a music video that goes along with the track, and the next single will also have a video. Both are very gay. Both are love stories about women who love women, which is something I’m keen to show because there’s not a lot of it in mainstream media and the stuff in mainstream isn’t as good as you want it to be all the time, so I’m trying to produce something that I would want to see growing up, trying to come out.”

And that’s it from Susie Blue. Her new single ‘Stop At Any Time’ is out now on all good streaming platforms and her EP ‘Venite Ad Me’ will be coming in November.

She can be found on Instagram @susiesusieblue.