WEBVTT - Susanna Hoffs 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:22.276 Pushkin. As a founding member of the iconic all girl 0:00:22.316 --> 0:00:26.236 band The Bengals, Susannah Hoffs is perhaps most closely associated 0:00:26.276 --> 0:00:29.636 with hits like Manic Monday, Eternal Flame, and Walk Like 0:00:29.676 --> 0:00:33.756 an Egyptian. After releasing three platinum selling albums, the Bengals 0:00:33.796 --> 0:00:37.116 broke up in eighty nine. Two years later, Susannah started 0:00:37.156 --> 0:00:40.236 to put out interesting solo material before reuniting with the 0:00:40.236 --> 0:00:43.636 Bengals at the end of the nineties. Over the years, 0:00:43.636 --> 0:00:46.996 Susanna's continued to release music and even act in movies, 0:00:47.196 --> 0:00:50.716 including appearances in all three Austin Powers films as part 0:00:50.756 --> 0:00:54.996 of a fictional mod band. This year, Susanna's added another 0:00:55.156 --> 0:00:58.996 creative pursuit to her repertoire. She's now a published novelist. 0:00:59.796 --> 0:01:02.836 Her first book, This Bird Has Flown, was released in April. 0:01:03.076 --> 0:01:04.676 The same month, she put out a new collection of 0:01:04.716 --> 0:01:07.756 cover songs called The Deep End, produced by the Great 0:01:07.836 --> 0:01:11.636 Peter Asher. On today's episode, I talked to Susannah Hoffs 0:01:11.636 --> 0:01:14.596 about how Bruce Springsteen helps the Bengals secure a record 0:01:14.676 --> 0:01:17.156 deal after seeing them play at an amusement park just 0:01:17.196 --> 0:01:20.636 outside of la She also tells the story of first 0:01:20.676 --> 0:01:27.516 listening to Princess demo of Manic Monday. This is broken 0:01:27.556 --> 0:01:30.916 record liner notes for the digital Age. I'm justin Mitchman. 0:01:31.676 --> 0:01:34.876 Here's my interview with Susannah Hoffs from her home in La. 0:01:35.956 --> 0:01:37.076 How long you've been living here? 0:01:37.956 --> 0:01:38.316 About? 0:01:38.476 --> 0:01:40.396 Oh my god, this is really going to age me. 0:01:40.436 --> 0:01:43.156 But I'm all into being honest about my age. 0:01:43.196 --> 0:01:44.036 I'm sixty four. 0:01:44.276 --> 0:01:48.756 Don't even look close to your age? Really, I look 0:01:48.796 --> 0:01:49.436 older than you can. 0:01:49.596 --> 0:01:50.236 No, you don't. 0:01:50.276 --> 0:01:51.796 I look much older than you. No. 0:01:52.436 --> 0:01:56.196 For some reason, sixty four really like has a special like. 0:01:56.236 --> 0:02:00.356 I even got weird al who I love Yankovic made 0:02:00.356 --> 0:02:04.436 me a special birthday message that it was more than 0:02:04.476 --> 0:02:07.556 the usual one, that he's such a kind and wonderful 0:02:07.636 --> 0:02:09.236 and talented guy. 0:02:09.476 --> 0:02:11.556 But this year I got the one. 0:02:11.596 --> 0:02:17.716 I'm sixty four, full monty, full glorious birthday message. 0:02:17.756 --> 0:02:21.636 Anyway. How long have I been living here? About? Twenty years? 0:02:21.756 --> 0:02:22.316 Twenty years? 0:02:22.396 --> 0:02:26.196 Yeah, And the acoustics in this room have been very 0:02:26.236 --> 0:02:30.316 friendly to music making and having little music parties. 0:02:30.356 --> 0:02:32.796 And how often are you playing music in here? 0:02:32.996 --> 0:02:38.116 Pretty frequently, but we have had a few iconic music parties. 0:02:38.156 --> 0:02:43.396 We had members of Crowded House and Colin Hay was 0:02:43.436 --> 0:02:46.276 here playing. We had a big we celebrated one of 0:02:46.276 --> 0:02:49.476 my birthdays and it turned into this crazy music night. 0:02:49.756 --> 0:02:55.076 Lindsay Buckingham has played in here, yep, taking requests. 0:02:55.476 --> 0:02:56.956 No one else is playing right, because how do you 0:02:56.996 --> 0:02:58.716 play well along with Lindsay. 0:02:58.756 --> 0:03:01.636 Lindsay was playing and he was just and I was 0:03:01.676 --> 0:03:03.436 sitting in that little child's. 0:03:03.116 --> 0:03:06.876 Chair right there by the piano and looking up. 0:03:06.836 --> 0:03:10.956 At him as he played. Anything I asked for he did. 0:03:11.196 --> 0:03:14.716 It was incredible. Wow, yeah, he was so what did 0:03:14.756 --> 0:03:18.356 you ask for? I asked for secondhand news? I asked 0:03:18.436 --> 0:03:21.756 for go your own way, I think. And then he 0:03:21.796 --> 0:03:25.596 and Ben Harper started singing on together on a song 0:03:25.636 --> 0:03:28.396 that I'm now forgetting, one of the great songs that 0:03:28.436 --> 0:03:31.796 he'd written. Ben Harper was here too, and it was amazing. 0:03:31.956 --> 0:03:35.956 Wow. Yeah, we were talking just before the mic started 0:03:36.036 --> 0:03:38.476 rolling about your book that you put out. Yes, spurt 0:03:38.516 --> 0:03:40.036 his phone, Yes, really. 0:03:39.836 --> 0:03:40.716 Good, thank you. 0:03:41.556 --> 0:03:44.156 I guess it goes back to being a kid and 0:03:44.196 --> 0:03:48.516 a teenager, and I think it's a coping strategy to 0:03:48.876 --> 0:03:49.276 want to. 0:03:49.196 --> 0:03:51.676 Disappear into a fiction of some form. 0:03:51.756 --> 0:03:55.436 I've always loved going to movies, watching movies, reading books, 0:03:55.996 --> 0:03:59.916 and I think, you know, there's stories inside of songs too, 0:04:00.116 --> 0:04:01.916 And I don't know why, but I just like to 0:04:01.996 --> 0:04:06.756 kind of fill my days finding inspiration through those stories. 0:04:06.836 --> 0:04:09.476 And again there is a bit of an escape bist 0:04:09.756 --> 0:04:12.996 coping mechanism aspect to it, of not wanting to kind 0:04:13.036 --> 0:04:18.156 of sit with my own my own worries or fears, and. 0:04:18.036 --> 0:04:20.956 I like to just drift away into a story. 0:04:21.196 --> 0:04:23.356 This is your first book, thought me, So would you 0:04:23.676 --> 0:04:26.396 write for fun before? Like, have you ever written anything? 0:04:26.676 --> 0:04:30.196 I started, I started a novel and I just double 0:04:30.316 --> 0:04:33.236 checked in a drawer. It was written in like sort 0:04:33.236 --> 0:04:37.036 of small spiral notebooks back and the date on it 0:04:37.116 --> 0:04:38.156 is nineteen eighty nine. 0:04:38.236 --> 0:04:39.356 So it was right when the. 0:04:39.276 --> 0:04:44.116 Bengals journey, which was most of the eighties from me 0:04:44.436 --> 0:04:48.356 going around of trying to find bandmates and advertising myself 0:04:48.356 --> 0:04:52.196 in throwaway papers and the eventually meeting Vicky and Debbie 0:04:52.596 --> 0:04:55.836 and then the band formed from there. But I had 0:04:55.876 --> 0:04:59.516 always had a dream of writing a novel, and I 0:04:59.676 --> 0:05:02.356 just kept putting it aside. But towards the end of 0:05:02.396 --> 0:05:06.156 the eighties, when I felt the Bengals sort of decade 0:05:06.276 --> 0:05:08.076 was kind of winding down and we were all kind 0:05:08.076 --> 0:05:10.716 of antsy to do other things, I started a novel. 0:05:10.996 --> 0:05:13.436 Now I just it's up there, but I don't. 0:05:13.276 --> 0:05:14.156 Know if is it good. 0:05:14.436 --> 0:05:17.876 I don't know because I'd been so immersed in the 0:05:17.996 --> 0:05:21.316 journey of writing this bird has flown, which took several years. 0:05:21.356 --> 0:05:22.676 It takes years to write a novel. 0:05:22.716 --> 0:05:25.596 And because I never it was always either too lazy 0:05:25.756 --> 0:05:30.196 or too impatient to ever take classes. In fact, I 0:05:30.236 --> 0:05:33.236 don't even know how to read a musical chart. I 0:05:33.316 --> 0:05:36.516 can be handed one and be doing like a choral 0:05:36.596 --> 0:05:40.236 part with friends at like Largo, for example, I performed 0:05:40.236 --> 0:05:42.676 with Amy Mann a lot of times, and sometimes we 0:05:42.676 --> 0:05:45.316 would do like holiday shows, and I'd have to I'd 0:05:45.356 --> 0:05:49.036 be handed a chart and I'd pretend to pretend to 0:05:49.076 --> 0:05:49.436 read it. 0:05:49.516 --> 0:05:51.676 I just kind of look at the shapes. Oh the 0:05:51.716 --> 0:05:52.596 note went up there. 0:05:53.116 --> 0:05:53.516 But no. 0:05:53.716 --> 0:05:57.316 I same with pretty much everything I've done in the arts. 0:05:57.316 --> 0:05:58.916 I kind of just threw myself in. 0:05:59.156 --> 0:06:01.676 Which is interesting because you like you come from I mean, 0:06:01.756 --> 0:06:04.196 both your parents are college educated. Yeah, we went to 0:06:04.196 --> 0:06:05.316 the same school. We went to Berkeley. 0:06:05.396 --> 0:06:07.996 Yeah, we both went to Berkeley. My parents met at Yale. 0:06:08.236 --> 0:06:10.716 My dad had gone to Yeah. I know, I came 0:06:10.796 --> 0:06:15.236 from a very intellectual family, and yet I just I 0:06:15.276 --> 0:06:19.836 think it's my impatience and my like a strong urge 0:06:19.876 --> 0:06:21.516 to just dive in. 0:06:22.036 --> 0:06:25.716 On average, how long will a writing session last for you? 0:06:26.156 --> 0:06:28.436 Short spurts or long long. 0:06:28.396 --> 0:06:31.436 Spurts like I'll have to set aside because I've been 0:06:31.476 --> 0:06:33.756 doing a lot of promotion for the novel and also 0:06:33.796 --> 0:06:37.276 for the new album. You know, in my days have 0:06:37.436 --> 0:06:40.596 not sort of you know, opened up for me to 0:06:40.676 --> 0:06:43.156 sort of go, okay, I just did you know, spent 0:06:43.476 --> 0:06:45.916 four hours doing this other stuff, And it's kind of 0:06:45.956 --> 0:06:49.156 a different kind of use of your brain. I think 0:06:49.196 --> 0:06:52.716 with the the flow state is where you want to be, 0:06:53.076 --> 0:06:56.996 like when your just fingers are going and you're seeing 0:06:57.036 --> 0:07:00.436 it somehow in your mind's eye, I guess, and you 0:07:00.596 --> 0:07:05.276 just go and you and the characters delight me. They 0:07:05.476 --> 0:07:08.796 they I don't know where their voices come from, obviously 0:07:08.836 --> 0:07:12.716 in my head and obviously I'm generating them. But sometimes 0:07:12.796 --> 0:07:15.236 it actually doesn't feel like that, I guess. 0:07:14.956 --> 0:07:17.476 Like the way some songwriters say it feels like, you know, 0:07:17.596 --> 0:07:20.276 like Paul McCartney and Yesterday, it's like, oh, the song 0:07:20.396 --> 0:07:23.556 must have the song must exist somewhere else. You know, 0:07:23.596 --> 0:07:24.796 it seems like he still can't. 0:07:24.556 --> 0:07:27.396 Believe, so he doesn't even know how it just came 0:07:27.436 --> 0:07:27.756 to him. 0:07:28.596 --> 0:07:31.076 The story of yesterday, as I understand it is he 0:07:31.156 --> 0:07:34.596 woke up from a dream with that song, with that 0:07:34.716 --> 0:07:38.516 melody in his head, and he was he wrote to it, 0:07:38.556 --> 0:07:41.476 but he was positive it was like scrambled eggs. 0:07:41.476 --> 0:07:43.356 Did he have another name for it. 0:07:43.196 --> 0:07:46.156 Which was yeah, one of those was maybe it was maybe. 0:07:45.916 --> 0:07:48.436 That was I think it was scrambled eggs until he 0:07:48.516 --> 0:07:50.396 did did hone hone the lyrics? 0:07:50.796 --> 0:07:52.756 The lyrics. I think he didn't believe it was actually 0:07:52.756 --> 0:07:54.916 like his melody. Like he he was like, there must 0:07:54.956 --> 0:07:57.476 be an old something I remember from something someone. 0:07:57.516 --> 0:08:01.316 Oh my god, that's fascinating. Yeah, you don't know where 0:08:01.356 --> 0:08:04.636 these creative sparks. 0:08:04.196 --> 0:08:07.316 Come from or how. Yeah, it's a mystery to me too. 0:08:08.036 --> 0:08:10.996 It's weird. It's like hearing voices though in your head. 0:08:11.076 --> 0:08:12.036 It's a little bit. 0:08:11.956 --> 0:08:15.716 Strange, which I mean, I imagine the main character Jane came 0:08:15.796 --> 0:08:16.436 to you first. 0:08:17.076 --> 0:08:20.836 Yeah, I mean I kind of grappled initially we should 0:08:20.836 --> 0:08:23.996 she be an actress? Should she be someone in Hollywood? 0:08:24.516 --> 0:08:27.236 A sense that she should be a creative person and 0:08:27.276 --> 0:08:31.556 a performer of some sort. But then I thought, you know, oh, 0:08:31.716 --> 0:08:34.236 but I know what it's like. 0:08:34.236 --> 0:08:38.836 To be a musician. I know all the different aspects 0:08:38.876 --> 0:08:41.476 of that. You know what it. 0:08:41.396 --> 0:08:44.836 Feels like to step out onto a stage and have 0:08:44.956 --> 0:08:49.036 horrible stage fright and to feel like your heart is 0:08:49.076 --> 0:08:51.636 being so loudly. You know the audience can hear it too, 0:08:51.756 --> 0:08:52.836 Because that happens to me. 0:08:52.916 --> 0:08:53.756 I have to kind of. 0:08:54.676 --> 0:08:56.916 I have different ways that I cope with stage fright, 0:08:56.996 --> 0:08:59.196 and one of them is which I didn't give to 0:08:59.276 --> 0:09:01.276 Jane because there wasn't. 0:09:01.036 --> 0:09:01.676 Time in this. 0:09:02.156 --> 0:09:04.756 You know, you need predicament in a story. Yeah, so 0:09:04.876 --> 0:09:07.396 she didn't have time to do the ritual that I do, 0:09:07.916 --> 0:09:12.076 which is to listen to something like soul Finger by 0:09:12.076 --> 0:09:13.796 the Barcas or something like that. 0:09:13.796 --> 0:09:16.036 Something I can dance dance to. 0:09:16.156 --> 0:09:19.156 I used to listen to Let's Let's Go Crazy Press, 0:09:19.916 --> 0:09:23.396 but before walking onto a stage, Like, there is no 0:09:23.556 --> 0:09:31.276 way I could be like me, neurotic human worrying about this, 0:09:31.436 --> 0:09:34.396 that and the other. Will the monitors work, will my 0:09:34.516 --> 0:09:38.156 guitar work? Will I be able to hear myself? All 0:09:38.196 --> 0:09:42.236 the different things that go into performing live. 0:09:42.956 --> 0:09:45.836 So I just have to like dance it out, man. 0:09:46.396 --> 0:09:48.316 I mean is that the Bengals days when you would 0:09:48.316 --> 0:09:49.716 listen to let's go crazy, I. 0:09:49.636 --> 0:09:52.116 Would listen to When did I start doing it? 0:09:52.636 --> 0:09:55.396 I think it was probably after that because I used 0:09:55.396 --> 0:09:58.996 to use white wine as my let's go crazy. I 0:09:58.996 --> 0:10:01.276 would always have a little bit of a few SIPs 0:10:01.316 --> 0:10:04.916 at least or maybe maybe half of a one of 0:10:04.956 --> 0:10:07.476 those like plastic cups that you get backstage. 0:10:07.476 --> 0:10:09.916 Oh like just like the solo cup. 0:10:10.476 --> 0:10:11.836 I have a solo cup. 0:10:12.356 --> 0:10:15.956 The memories are resurfacing now and I'd be like, someone 0:10:15.996 --> 0:10:18.756 would try to talk to me, and I'd like, I 0:10:18.796 --> 0:10:22.036 can't talk to you now. I'm working on down in 0:10:22.076 --> 0:10:25.316 like a quarter of this so that I can have 0:10:25.436 --> 0:10:29.596 some liquid courage to step out onto a stage. And 0:10:29.676 --> 0:10:33.236 I write about this in the book and become her 0:10:33.396 --> 0:10:36.076 or someone who could walk out onto a stage and 0:10:36.476 --> 0:10:39.876 strap on her guitar and I don't know, bring it, 0:10:40.476 --> 0:10:44.676 bring it and hope that the voice is working and 0:10:44.756 --> 0:10:45.396 everything else. 0:10:45.476 --> 0:10:46.036 I don't know. 0:10:47.036 --> 0:10:51.876 The writing the book actually made me think about what 0:10:52.396 --> 0:10:55.356 that experience was in a deeper way than I kind 0:10:55.356 --> 0:10:56.076 of ever had. 0:10:56.516 --> 0:10:58.716 One of the cool things about the character I think 0:10:58.836 --> 0:11:01.476 is it's not like a character. It's not an artist 0:11:01.516 --> 0:11:06.276 who's at there, you know, creative and commercial peak. It's 0:11:06.276 --> 0:11:11.076 like someone who sort of has had that is, you know, 0:11:11.276 --> 0:11:13.236 kind of lost their way a bit totally. 0:11:13.436 --> 0:11:15.996 I mean more than that, like everything in her life 0:11:16.036 --> 0:11:19.076 that could go wrong has gone wrong. Yeah, dumped and 0:11:19.436 --> 0:11:23.196 cheated on by the boyfriend, the long term boyfriend, the producer. 0:11:23.876 --> 0:11:27.196 Yeah, you know, being thirty three, that. 0:11:27.276 --> 0:11:30.836 Alone, Like I remember, it seemed like right now, is 0:11:30.876 --> 0:11:31.436 that what you are? 0:11:31.596 --> 0:11:33.036 Yes, it's going to be okay. 0:11:33.396 --> 0:11:34.316 What you said, it's. 0:11:34.156 --> 0:11:36.796 Going to be okay. I can attest to it. At 0:11:36.876 --> 0:11:41.116 sixty four, things are really good. So it's all a mindset. 0:11:41.876 --> 0:11:44.716 But for I don't know, it seemed to be a 0:11:44.756 --> 0:11:49.556 thing that there's kind of a peak time for I 0:11:49.596 --> 0:11:52.276 don't know people in the music business certainly and maybe 0:11:52.316 --> 0:11:57.236 even in the movie business that they're being young and 0:11:57.316 --> 0:12:01.996 in your twenties even or even like it is a 0:12:02.036 --> 0:12:06.756 prime real estate or chance to be you know, if 0:12:06.796 --> 0:12:10.036 all goes well, you know, you're you're, people will know 0:12:10.076 --> 0:12:12.636 about you, you'll be able to do good work, whether 0:12:12.676 --> 0:12:16.276 it's in a movie or in recording industry. 0:12:16.716 --> 0:12:18.916 It was the book in a way, a way to 0:12:18.996 --> 0:12:23.356 sort of offset some level of yeah, you know, just 0:12:23.556 --> 0:12:26.356 malaise in your own Yeah, it wasn't malaise. 0:12:26.396 --> 0:12:29.996 It was like, how do I stay creative because all 0:12:30.036 --> 0:12:32.596 I want to do the juices are flowing, but like 0:12:32.716 --> 0:12:33.916 where to put them? 0:12:34.196 --> 0:12:37.156 Another screenplay? Try again? You know? 0:12:37.276 --> 0:12:39.956 In that and it was it was how I fell 0:12:40.116 --> 0:12:42.996 so deeply in love with the process that like Jay 0:12:43.036 --> 0:12:45.516 would come home and go, wait, you're still sitting there 0:12:45.596 --> 0:12:47.436 at the kitchen table when I used to write at 0:12:47.436 --> 0:12:50.156 the kitchen table, and I'd be like, yeah, and I'm 0:12:50.236 --> 0:12:55.076 right in it, like ensconced in this moment, and I 0:12:55.196 --> 0:12:59.116 found it just blissful, yea, even though it's hard. 0:12:59.836 --> 0:13:02.476 Did you write the album your new album at the same. 0:13:02.236 --> 0:13:05.676 Time, Well, I didn't write it, mostly because I was 0:13:05.756 --> 0:13:09.116 still very much engaged with the writing of the book 0:13:09.116 --> 0:13:12.676 book and when Little Brown bought the book, and then 0:13:12.716 --> 0:13:15.916 you go through a period of revisions. I met up 0:13:15.956 --> 0:13:19.396 with Peter Asher during right in the mix of Peter. 0:13:19.876 --> 0:13:20.636 I did it with the. 0:13:20.676 --> 0:13:24.556 Great Peter Asher, who you know was the first president 0:13:24.596 --> 0:13:28.676 of Apple Records and produced James Taylor and Linda Ronstett 0:13:28.716 --> 0:13:32.796 records that literally changed my life. And I taught myself 0:13:32.836 --> 0:13:36.276 to sing. Just like with the book writing, I didn't study. 0:13:36.396 --> 0:13:40.156 I just studied by mimicking albums. So whether it was 0:13:40.156 --> 0:13:44.036 a Joni Jony albums or Linda albums, you know, and 0:13:44.076 --> 0:13:46.436 the Peter Asher were so great. 0:13:47.076 --> 0:13:47.276 Yeah. 0:13:47.396 --> 0:13:50.916 So Peter randomly reached out at a very dark place 0:13:50.996 --> 0:13:53.916 during the pandemic when we were all really stuck at home, 0:13:54.236 --> 0:13:55.796 but we were starting to be able. 0:13:55.596 --> 0:13:56.116 To go out. 0:13:56.196 --> 0:14:01.116 We'd been vaccinated, you know, things were looking brighter. And 0:14:01.476 --> 0:14:04.076 I started to go to Malibu twice a week and 0:14:04.116 --> 0:14:06.596 we would just sit around with guitars and just sing 0:14:07.076 --> 0:14:11.316 like campfire style. Yeah, and then we realized there was 0:14:11.356 --> 0:14:15.156 a handful of songs that because I was so engrossed 0:14:15.196 --> 0:14:17.796 in doing revisions still on the book, it was fun 0:14:17.836 --> 0:14:22.876 to just cover songs. And then it went from sitting 0:14:22.916 --> 0:14:26.116 in his living room with guitars and singing to the 0:14:26.236 --> 0:14:29.796 idea to call Elvis Costello and on the EP that's 0:14:29.836 --> 0:14:32.916 not out yet, Wed, we recorded so much music that 0:14:32.996 --> 0:14:36.396 we made an album. It was like we could have 0:14:36.396 --> 0:14:38.716 been a double album we were considering, which would be 0:14:38.796 --> 0:14:42.516 very old school, like very seventies, but we ended up 0:14:42.516 --> 0:14:44.316 putting out the album and then we have sort of 0:14:44.356 --> 0:14:48.276 an EP. But Elvis Costello I wanted to I always 0:14:48.316 --> 0:14:51.436 wanted to do the Keith Richards high harmony on Connection 0:14:51.636 --> 0:14:54.916 there the rolling Stone song, so we sing that together 0:14:55.036 --> 0:14:59.436 and I'm Keith and Elvis's mixed. So yeah, that album 0:14:59.476 --> 0:15:03.476 has a ever so slightly leaning towards country and western 0:15:03.596 --> 0:15:07.196 sort of material. But again, I was still working with 0:15:07.236 --> 0:15:12.356 my publishers and doing final revisions during that time and 0:15:11.636 --> 0:15:14.836 h and at the same time driving out to Malibu 0:15:15.276 --> 0:15:19.476 to this beautiful studio and hanging out with Russ Kunkle 0:15:19.636 --> 0:15:24.356 and Leland Sklarr and Waddi walk Tell and Danny Korchmar 0:15:25.116 --> 0:15:26.596 during the pandemic incredible. 0:15:26.876 --> 0:15:29.076 I mean those are like that, I know, those are 0:15:29.116 --> 0:15:29.556 the guys. 0:15:29.636 --> 0:15:33.356 They're amazing and they're wonderful human beings, and I just 0:15:33.756 --> 0:15:36.796 I was really kind of like pinching myself the whole time, 0:15:37.436 --> 0:15:39.316 like feeling such gratitude. 0:15:39.636 --> 0:15:41.996 You mentioned in the session players your minded me believe 0:15:41.996 --> 0:15:44.836 it's on your first record. You had John Entwhistle, I know, 0:15:44.996 --> 0:15:46.156 play bass. 0:15:46.076 --> 0:15:49.276 I know my first solo record. Yeah, and Mick Fleetwood 0:15:49.316 --> 0:15:51.236 I think played on something too. 0:15:51.676 --> 0:15:55.356 John hem Whistle's bass plane is that's amazing. Guy's incredible, 0:15:55.556 --> 0:16:00.476 I know. Back to the new record, Yeah, a surprise 0:16:00.556 --> 0:16:03.596 under my film was there to lead things off. Yeah, 0:16:03.756 --> 0:16:05.316 what are your feelings on the original. 0:16:05.716 --> 0:16:06.916 Okay, well I love it. 0:16:07.076 --> 0:16:10.676 I love it, and I love the Stone And because 0:16:10.716 --> 0:16:13.596 I was in the Bengals, and because the Bengals Beatles 0:16:13.596 --> 0:16:16.956 there was always like a connection for us, because it 0:16:16.996 --> 0:16:19.596 was the glue that cemented us. Was like being little 0:16:19.676 --> 0:16:22.756 girls growing up and when the British invasion happened and 0:16:23.276 --> 0:16:24.236 the Beatles were everything. 0:16:24.236 --> 0:16:27.516 You know, the song about Liverpool on the first d Yeah. 0:16:27.356 --> 0:16:31.276 So it was so part of like the bengalsgeist. But 0:16:31.316 --> 0:16:33.956 I love the Stones, and in the Stones I came 0:16:34.076 --> 0:16:39.716 to know and love more like in college and during 0:16:39.716 --> 0:16:42.836 the eighties when because I had been so engrossed with 0:16:42.876 --> 0:16:46.396 the Beatles music and they were so supreme to me. 0:16:46.556 --> 0:16:49.276 As you know, they just they affected. 0:16:48.836 --> 0:16:52.036 My life so deeply and it kind of got the 0:16:52.076 --> 0:16:55.396 ball rolling on my career and or I call it 0:16:55.396 --> 0:16:58.036 a career, my journey as a musician and lover of 0:16:58.156 --> 0:17:02.156 music above and beyond anything. But yeah, I was just 0:17:02.276 --> 0:17:05.436 one day listening to the Stones on my morning walk. 0:17:06.316 --> 0:17:09.076 And I'm one of those people who, you know how 0:17:09.276 --> 0:17:11.676 some people say I always listened to the lyrics first, 0:17:11.756 --> 0:17:15.036 or I always dial in on the music first. I 0:17:15.276 --> 0:17:19.276 always considered myself someone who was like more more sort 0:17:19.316 --> 0:17:22.676 of entranced by the music, and sometimes I would tune out, 0:17:22.956 --> 0:17:25.636 like really focusing in on what are they saying here? 0:17:26.356 --> 0:17:27.596 And that was the case for me. 0:17:28.076 --> 0:17:29.916 Weird that I went on to write a novel, but 0:17:30.836 --> 0:17:33.836 given that, so I just was listening to it. 0:17:33.796 --> 0:17:36.156 And I went, wait a minute, Wait a. 0:17:36.316 --> 0:17:42.076 Minute, this is very retro and I thought, wow, like, 0:17:42.236 --> 0:17:44.316 how fun it would be to turn the tables. 0:17:44.756 --> 0:17:46.836 My thin defense of it has always been it's thin. 0:17:46.956 --> 0:17:48.916 I recognize it, but I've always told they need defend 0:17:48.956 --> 0:17:50.556 because I just love the song. It's one of the 0:17:50.636 --> 0:17:53.556 great songs. Is it's It's under my thumb the girl 0:17:53.596 --> 0:17:56.236 who who once had me down? Yeah, And so it's 0:17:56.316 --> 0:17:58.876 like it was it was role reversed. It was it 0:17:58.916 --> 0:18:00.996 wasn't that like men need to put their thumb on 0:18:01.076 --> 0:18:04.076 women or that make even necessarily in every relationshipiel he's making. 0:18:04.236 --> 0:18:05.276 It's his personal story. 0:18:05.436 --> 0:18:09.676 Yet men thumb And so now I got Now. 0:18:09.596 --> 0:18:12.196 So he's just saying his truth there, like he's just 0:18:12.476 --> 0:18:14.476 expressing his emotion. 0:18:15.676 --> 0:18:17.156 Yeah, So I just thought much. 0:18:17.596 --> 0:18:21.276 I just was thinking, like, you know, in feminist terms, 0:18:21.756 --> 0:18:24.596 that it would be fun to turn the tables on that. 0:18:24.716 --> 0:18:29.436 And and and actually there's there's a lot of sexuality 0:18:29.476 --> 0:18:31.956 in that song. I mean, there's sexuality in rock and roll. 0:18:32.036 --> 0:18:34.676 It is. It is why we love it. You know, 0:18:34.796 --> 0:18:37.396 it's intrinsic to the to the genre. 0:18:37.956 --> 0:18:38.156 You know. 0:18:38.356 --> 0:18:40.956 So I think it's so. I thought I just it was. 0:18:42.396 --> 0:18:48.196 It's all music, really, it's everything gospel, you know, in 0:18:48.196 --> 0:18:49.876 an unspoken sort of way. 0:18:49.916 --> 0:18:50.516 I agree. 0:18:50.756 --> 0:18:54.276 Yeah, God, we could go on a deep, deep dive 0:18:54.356 --> 0:18:55.796 on that we wanted to. 0:18:56.836 --> 0:18:58.316 We have to take a quick break and then we'll 0:18:58.316 --> 0:19:00.796 come back with more of my interview with Susannah Hoffs. 0:19:05.036 --> 0:19:08.396 We're back with more from Susannah Hafs. When you recorded 0:19:08.396 --> 0:19:10.316 the Bengals, what was that experience? 0:19:10.436 --> 0:19:13.356 Like the EP that was a little more that was 0:19:13.476 --> 0:19:16.516 pre getting signed to Sony. So that was with an 0:19:16.596 --> 0:19:20.796 amazing producer, Craig Leon. He was wonderful to work with. 0:19:21.756 --> 0:19:23.836 Yes, yes, he suicide. 0:19:24.316 --> 0:19:27.396 Yeah, he did the Ramones and also did he work 0:19:27.436 --> 0:19:29.236 with the Go Gos? I don't think so, but the 0:19:29.316 --> 0:19:30.276 Ramones for sure. 0:19:30.956 --> 0:19:33.276 Blondie, Yeah, Blondie so cool. 0:19:33.556 --> 0:19:37.236 Yeah, So Blondie and the Ramones were the notable bands 0:19:37.276 --> 0:19:41.916 that he had worked with that you know, we were like, okay, yes, 0:19:42.436 --> 0:19:44.676 please please produce EP. 0:19:44.796 --> 0:19:46.236 How did you How did you get connected with him? 0:19:46.236 --> 0:19:48.996 Then our managers maybe we were at that point with 0:19:49.076 --> 0:19:53.116 Miles Copeland, who managed the Police, and so it's possible 0:19:53.156 --> 0:19:57.836 that Miles it must have been somehow connected to through that. 0:19:58.156 --> 0:20:00.756 How did you get the Columbia contract? 0:20:01.316 --> 0:20:06.756 Well, it was the only record company who was interested 0:20:06.916 --> 0:20:09.476 in us, and Peter Philb in the A and our 0:20:09.516 --> 0:20:13.556 guy brought Bruce Springsteen to see us play at Magic Mountain. 0:20:14.236 --> 0:20:19.036 So Peter Philbin was the only music and our guy 0:20:19.916 --> 0:20:22.716 that seemed to have taken an interest in the Bengals, 0:20:22.756 --> 0:20:24.876 even though we had a kind of we were a 0:20:24.916 --> 0:20:28.796 popular local club band in Los Angeles and we're playing, 0:20:29.236 --> 0:20:31.876 you know, tons of gigs at the Whiskey of Go Go, 0:20:32.116 --> 0:20:33.516 and and at a. 0:20:33.556 --> 0:20:36.396 Time when the LA scene, the club scene was. 0:20:36.436 --> 0:20:40.236 It was happening, New wave was happening, punk rock was happening. 0:20:40.276 --> 0:20:42.516 There was kind of a we were somewhere in the 0:20:42.556 --> 0:20:45.396 middle between new wave and punk rock, and we were 0:20:45.436 --> 0:20:49.476 something that was more like now deemed Paisley Underground, which 0:20:49.516 --> 0:20:52.276 was we were a band in the eighties who were 0:20:52.316 --> 0:20:55.156 obsessed with music from the sixties and trying to drag 0:20:55.316 --> 0:20:59.356 those sounds and the twelve string guitar, electric guitar, like 0:20:59.396 --> 0:21:02.436