Spotlight On... Susan Bear

Ahead of releasing new record Alter, we shine a spotlight on Susan Bear (aka Good Dog) to find out more

Feature by Tallah Brash | 09 Jun 2022
  • Susan Bear

Susan Bear is somewhat of a musical chameleon, and chances are you’ll have already come across their work at some point. Maybe you’ve seen Bear behind the keyboards of Pictish Trail’s live band, or as a member of fuzz pop band Tuff Love, or perhaps it was from behind the drum kit of Cora Bisset’s play, What Girls Are Made Of.

She’s been keeping busy of late with lots of production work for Hen Hoose, and when we last caught up with Bear in 2021 it was about their soundtrack for Journey to the End of the Jelly World, an 8-bit computer game she worked on with Faith Eliott; before that, in 2020 she released Creature, their debut solo record as Good Dog.

Now, Bear is stepping out from behind the guise of their Good Dog moniker, and on 10 June, via Lost Map Records, they release Alter, their debut record as Susan Bear. To find out more about the new record, and the name change, we shine a spotlight on Susan Bear.

This is your first official record as Susan Bear – what was the reason for shedding the Good Dog moniker? And how has the process of the name change been for you?

Mm yes, I decided to change it within the week of the new record needing to be sent to the vinyl manufacturing plant in order to come out in time for June 10th, so I had 5 days to think of a new name. I really liked the name Good Dog but there’s already another Good Dog so it made sense to change it, but also I’m trying to be more forthcoming with the things I do so just releasing music now under my own name kind of made sense. One of the reasons I chose Good Dog many years ago is because it was semi un-googleable… now I would like to be found.  Part of the fun for me with bands in the past has been having a silly band name and hiding behind that - but I’m trying to not hide with this record, come out of my shell and own what I am. I am Susan Bear - hello.

Some other names I was going to use: Good Dog 2, Lizard Person (I’ve reserved this please don’t take it). But really, I think merging everything I do just under my own name makes sense. It took a bit of getting used to but now I’m fine with it - there’s nowhere to hide if using your own name for a project and it’s harder to compartmentalise it in my thoughts than if it was under a band name. I’ve been trying to motivate myself over the past few years with the slightly grim thought of, “how will you feel about that on your deathbed, Suse?”, to try and not let fear drive my route through life. I would regret not doing things just because they scared me a bit at the time - I think using my own name is for the best, even if it's scary initially. It’s a ridiculous name anyway. No-one calls me Susan, people call me Suse.

Alter is due for release on 10 June. You describe the album as a journal of sorts, can you tell us about some of the themes found across the record?

Yes, Alter is my life from around 2016/7-2020. I’ve used writing and recording for this project over the past ehhhh 12 years as a therapeutic task - things to get my thoughts and feelings out, put something out and see how it reacts with the world outside my head and how I feel about that. Making music in this way is helping me come into my final form as a person.

For a long time I wrote music for myself while I worked on other projects and it just stayed inside my hard-drive - now I think it’s important to release music into the world and tend to think something isn’t finished until it has been heard by other people. Theme wise - the album is about loss, grief, shedding your old dead skin and moving forward even if it’s really hard at the time. And not all change is bad, you have to choose it sometimes to grow etc. I think I’ve actively not chosen change in my adult life, and now I’m trying to (see above re: name change scary).

The best times in my life have been because something has changed, what if I was to choose that, and not wait for it to come to me. I had this feeling when I was making the album, I still get it now sometimes, a kind of decision paralysis, an over-awareness that every micro-decision you make has tiny consequences that all add up. That thought can be paralysing. What if I go down the wrong route? I can’t go back. What if when I’m old, I regret the things I said no to? In the past I’ve combatted that by trying to say yes to everything (apart from social occasions), and have become overwhelmed, overworked, stressed and sad. I’m trying to choose my path and make decisions rather than let decisions make me. Why did I choose to put a picture of myself on the front of the album? I don’t know, but at the time it felt right and now I have to forever live with the consequences...

In the record’s press release, you say you’re “observing the past from a safe place in the present” – can you explain this a bit more please?

Ah yes. It’s hard to get perspective from a situation when you’re right in it sometimes, especially when your brain is in panic mode. I spent a lot of my 20s in panic mode, feeling unsafe, uncomfortable. I did have some very nice times also, but in my mind I wasn’t very happy a lot of the time. Now I’m in a happier and safer place personally, I can look back at the past and reassemble the puzzle, find the missing pieces and see how my life fitted together. Understand how I came to be the person I am today. I am observing memories from a little ledge on the top of the hill, able to see all the way around it, analyse it and make sense of it more than when I was in it.

You played, recorded, produced and mixed the entirety of Alter yourself. I was surprised to read in the album’s press release that in the past you weren’t comfortable owning that. Why do you think that was, and how have things changed? 

It wasn’t that I wasn’t comfortable owning it, I just never thought credits were that important, or that it didn’t matter. I’ve always done all the technical stuff on tracks I work on, for myself, with other people, for theatre shows, visual media or whatever, as well as the creative side. I love seeing music through from start to finish - collaboration can be super fun, and I enjoy that in other areas of my musical life- but for this project it’s a chance for me to express myself exactly how I feel and make the final track feel as similar to how it sounds in my head. 

I now realise that credits are important, particularly in the (albeit slowly) changing landscape of music. In the past I’ve felt underestimated, not trusted with specific tasks, or had my ability minimised because I’m a young-looking queer woman. But I’ve also met some really lovely people who’ve trusted me to work on their projects and helped with opportunities over the years to get me where I am today (Johnny Lynch). I’ve 10 years professional experience working in audio, and 15 producing bands and music for myself and my own projects. In order to be taken seriously you sometimes just have to shout about the things you do - I don’t love boasting or taking myself too seriously, but I’m very proud to be able to start and finish a track entirely by myself, and to be able to be self-contained if need be. I’m sure listeners or audiences couldn’t really give a heck about process - it’s all about the finished article and whether it sounds good or not but I’m trying to hold myself up these days, be more confident and shout about the things I do rather than be a squeaky wee voice at the back of the room struggling to be heard. Part of that is just owning what I am, my skills and abilities I’ve developed over a lifetime of working in audio, and being confident about it. 

I also now realise it’s important for women/non binary people in music to shout about doing the technical aspects of music, as technical things in audio are still seen as mEnS wOrK by a large bulk of society (despite there being plenty of neurosurgeons, astronauts etc that are women...). Little things like making sure correct credits are on a track (women, if you contributed to production of a track make sure you are credited as a producer) can help with visibility of women/nb producer/mixers and help change attitudes towards women in the music industry. 

Attitudes seem a little better than when I was at college/university 10 years ago, but stats for not-men in technical areas of music production are still very low. If anyone is wondering why that is, maybe google the history of women’s rights over the last 50-100 years, rather than assuming that “women just don’t want to produce records” or “I guess just not enough women are picking up guitars” etc. If all the people before you who did a job were one type of person, people will look at you if you aren’t that and assume you’re not up to the task. We all have unconscious biases we’re unaware of, from a lifetime of inputting what society gives us. 

Visibility is very important to help change that, and to shift social norms so that more women are trusted to be employed to work on bigger projects. Anyway, I could talk about this for about a month so I’ll stop now and move on to the next question…

Beyond the release of Alter, what does the rest of 2022 hold for Susan Bear?

I’m working on other bits and bobs of music I’d like to have out at some point in the future, also I’d like to work with some more singers, as a producer this year. I’m playing Jupiter Artland festival - I don’t do lots of gigs as myself, but it’s nice to do the odd one-off show that I know I can make special, and get the arrangements to pop as I’d like with enough time for rehearsal.  Also I’m doing a few Edinburgh Fringe shows as a sound designer, which I really enjoy.


Alter is released on 10 Jun via Lost Map Records

susanbear.bandcamp.com