For me, graduating from primary school meant growing away from Poison, Motley Crue and Cinderella and latching onto the – œ90s – œI am woman’ ethos. I was years off discovering Bjork and Polly Jean. Kylie and Madonna were too pop. Chrissie Amphlett was too…well, I was an innocent. Suze DeMarchi was for me. She was just rocking the fuck out. She was attainable. I got the Baby Animals press release and saw that the upcoming tour’s called Wish U Were Her. It made me laugh.
“That’s one of Dave Leslie’s,” tells Suze, referring to her longtime Baby Animals guitarist and writing partner. “He said that years ago and I thought that’s a great title, I’m keeping that. Maybe we’ll call the album that.”
“Do it,” says I, hastening to assure Suze that I am no Single White Female. It was a time and a place. (I lied straight to her, I still wanna be her.)
So, where’s she been? Short story for the ignorant: Married Extreme guitarist (and very pretty man) Nuno Bettencourt, moved to the U.S. and had a couple of kids. Kept one toe in the music pond with Satellites (her solo jaunt) and an acoustically arranged Baby Animals project.
I’ve got this image of Suze: – œ50s housewife on the doorstep as Nuno slings the guitar over his shoulder and gives a little wave from the letterbox. I’m way off. “My kids started school and it was like, – œOh fuck, I’m stuck now,’” she laughs. “The only reason I didn’t commit to [Baby Animals] was I knew I’d have to be away. I never stopped creating and writing, but if you want to make a record, you want to tour and I just couldn’t do that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just pack them up and take them with me. It was too expensive, and the logistics…”
She must have been amazed when the internet started opening up new avenues for collaboration. “It really did. In fact, we did a video where Dave and the drummer were in Sydney. They sent their pieces to us, we filmed ours in LA and spliced it together,” she says with delight, “Whatever works!”
New material from a much-loved band is sometimes scrutinised. But new single Got It Bad is, simply, classic Baby Animals. Suze agrees. “That’s the music that I love. There’s no denying it: I love guitars. I love hard rock. Dave sent me this piece of music and I thought it was so exciting and raw. I loved it straight away. We got Kevin Figueiredo – who plays with my husband’s band – a really great Bonham-y kind of drummer, he whacked some drums on. We ended up using a lot that Dave originally recorded in his living room.”
It must feel so right, when a track is presented to you in the first instance and you all say, “Oh, that’s it.”
“It does, you’re right. You get that knowing feeling, you know, this is what we do. I don’t know if it’s good or bad – it is what it is.”
New album then? “We haven’t finished it. We’ve recorded four songs [but] we’ve demoed a bunch of songs over the past year. But you know, all the usual time constraints…Dave couldn’t stay any longer [in the U.S.] so we got a bunch of work done and hopefully after the tour’s finished we’ll get cracking.”
How much input do you have into the material?
“It’s mostly Dave and I. It’s pretty much always been that way. He’ll pretty well throw some music at me and I’ll put some lyrics and melody to it. Generally, that’s how it works.”
And how is it different from the band’s older work?
“Well, the subject matters different, of course. I’m not writing about religion anymore. I don’t know that we’re taking a new direction but the thing I hate the most is when people try to pigeonhole you. I don’t feel like we were ever stuck in one box, other than the fact that it’s rock. It’s either sweet or it’s heavy, there’s not much middle ground. But sonically, the new stuff sounds pretty current. I think a lot of that comes from working with Justin Stanley [produced The Vines, ex-Noiseworks, tours with Beck]. He’s got his ear to the ground all the time. We just don’t fret about it. We just get in there, play it and fucking do it.”
2008 saw Baby Animals back on stage in Australia, for the first time in yonks. Was there trepidation? “Yeah, totally. I was nervous, but then I thought, what are you gonna do? That’s just what we do. I love doing it. If you do it with integrity and you’re honest about it, it doesn’t matter if one person’s there. And believe me, I’ve played to one person before and I’ll do it again. I think the main thing is to not limit yourself. Once you start, it’s over. You might as well say goodbye. I felt I was really ready to start working again. It was something that was really missing in my life, my kids were old enough,” and then it occurred to her, “We’ve actually got really loyal fans. It’s heartwarming in a way, to hear the responses from people.”
This time around, her kids will finally see what we’ve all been missing.
“Nuno’s bringing – œem down. It’ll be great. They’ll get to see Mama rocking out,” she cackles. “The Monster. They’re gonna see The Monster.”
Ooh, an alter ego. You’ll be like, “Okay, do you want your crusts cut off? Now go stand over there and put your earplugs in.”
“It’s a bit like that. My son’s going to be frightened I think.”
“Finally, you might be cool in your children’s eyes.”
Suze laughs, “I dunno about that.”
Well, Bebe and Lorenzo, we still reckon your mum’s cool and Suze reckons she can’t wait to be back on stage, to get up close and personal with Aussie Baby Animal fans. “There’s nothing like being right in their faces and seeing people’s reactions. It’s quite an experience; I’m really looking forward to it.”
Baby Animals’ Wish You Were Her tour touches down at the following venues in April, presented by FasterLouder.
Sun 5 – The Gov, Adelaide
Tue 7 – Prince Of Wales, Melbourne
Wed 8 – Prince Of Wales, Melbourne
Thu 9 – Doncaster Shoppingtown Htl, Melbourne
Sat 11 – Chelsea Heights Hotel, Melbourne
Sun 12 – Hallam Hotel, Melbourne
Wed 15 – Waves, Wollongong
Fri 17 – Revesby Workers, Sydney
Sat 18 – Doyalson RSL, Sydney
Sun 19 – Rooty Hill RSL, Sydney
Tue 21 – The Metro Theatre, Sydney
Thu 23 – Caloundra RSL, Sunshine Coast
Fri 24 – Mansfield Tavern, Brisbane
Sat 25 – Coolongatta Hotel, Gold Coast
to listen to their music now on 