Suzanna Choffel Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Feb 17th 2010 5:00PM by Nick Reese
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Since the debut of Austin native Suzanna Choffel's 2006 album 'Shudders & Rings,' music critics have compared the singer/songwriter's poetic lyrics, smoky voice and funky urban rhythms to such artists as Feist, Nelly Furtado, Norah Jones and KT Tunstall. She was honored as 'Best Indie Band' at the Austin Music Awards 2009 and was a featured performer at the 2009 Voodoo Festival in New Orleans. In anticipation of her SXSW gig, Spinner recently spoke with Suzanna about her sound and influences.

Describe your sound.

It's really a blending of styles. It's kind of a soul and jazz-influenced pop. It essentially fits in the category of pop music -- it's got hooks, it's got guitar, keyboard, and this and that -- but it's got some instrumentation that's found a lot in jazz, such as vibraphone and saxophone. Plus I have a very jazz-influenced band, so that adds a lot to the sound of the music. It's very lush -- a lot of people describe it as smoky and sexy.

How has your sound evolved since you've started performing?

When I first started I used to play a little bit more folk-influenced music. When I first started playing guitar I got really into finger-picking -- I was listening to a lot of folk musicians, like Patty Griffin and Joan Baez. But before I started playing guitar I was always really into R&B, hip-hop, soul and jazz. And so that was kind of my first love, but because of the guitar I found my way into folk. When I started putting the band together I slowly started to morph into more of what I wanted to be.

How did your band form?

In Austin, every musician knows every other musician, so once you connect with one it's very easy to connect with a whole bunch of other people. My original drummer was responsible for connecting me to a lot of the people I ended up meeting along the way -- bass player, saxophone player, vibraphone player. I really wanted a vibraphonist in the group. That was like my goal instrument.

What are your musical influences?

Growing up, everything from Motown to folk, reggae, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, stuff like that, which comes through in my music. Recently, I would say Neko Case. I love her style. She's not really country, but she has that fierce country voice reminiscent of Patsy Cline. Her writing style is very sublime to me. You can't really describe how she does it.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Probably cheesy '80s music. I'm a sucker for Hall & Oates, Madonna, Huey Lewis. With some of that old stuff, even though the production could be really cheesy and over-the-top sometimes, the songs could be really juicy nuggets of hooks. Just all hooks and infectious dance beats.

What's in your festival survival kit?

I always have a bottle of water on me. As a singer, all week long you're talking a lot, singing quite a bit and drinking a little bit, so you have to stay hydrated and take care of yourself. So hydration, and vitamins, and sleep, which you don't get a lot of at SXSW.

Who are you looking forward to seeing at South by Southwest?

What I usually do is go over the list a week before SXSW hits and maybe highlight a few people, but I prefer incidentally stumbling along things. My favorite thing about SXSW is discovering some international band from Japan or Egypt or wherever that you never heard of. That is more fun to me than seeing someone who I have heard of who is so big that the line is around the block, and it's no fun getting in.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

We played election night in LA, which was an all-around crazy night. We found out Obama won right after we got offstage. The whole club exploded in a frenzy. When we got outside to go to our hotel it was like a parade everywhere. It was awesome. I know this sounds cheesy, but it was like you could feel a wind of change blow over the city compared to the day before.

Beatles or Stones?

I used to say Stones when I was younger, but now I have to say Beatles. What I like about the Stones is that they were grittier, and also because I discovered it on my own, whereas the Beatles were something I grew up listening to with my family. But now I've gone back to the Beatles, because I just like more of their songs than the Stones.

What's your biggest vice?

My biggest vice is probably biting my nails. It kind of comes in handy, because I'm a guitar player and you're not really supposed to have long nails, at least on your left hand. But that's a really lame excuse, because I bite them to the nth degree.

Nick Reese is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.