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Interview with Sue
Mansour of Soraia: How She Went From Studio Intern to Recording at the
Legendary Henson Studios.
Soraia, a band out of Philadelphia, has some musical heavy hitters helping
out on its CD, Shed the Skin. Lead singer Sue Mansour sits down
with MusicBizAdvice.com to talk music, growth (both artistic and personal)
and what it’s like to go from studio intern to working with Bon Jovi
recording engineer/producer
Obie O’Brien. Soraia's single "Not The
Woman" is getting airplay on
Sirius Radio's Alt Nation Channel 21, with the
video viewable on
Ourstage (where it was in the Top 10 Rock videos) and
MaxMouth. In June 2009, Soraia opened for Bon Jovi at Milwaukee's
Summerfest to a capacity crowd of 23,000.
Philadelphia based Soraia is
fronted by Sue Mansour. Their new single, "Not The Woman" is getting airplay
on Sirius Radio Alt Nation Channel 21.
RR: Let’s
start with the basics. How did you come up with the name Soraia?
SM: Soraia
is my first name. I’ve always gone by “Sue” as a nickname. I wanted to
associate the whole band as a unit--instead of just me as a solo artist--and
keep “Sue” as the lead singer. I want them to see us as a unit, because the
energy that we have is really as a unit, you know?
RR: What do you want people to know about your music?
SM: I think
it’s very powerful, and it’s new. It’s not like anyone that I’ve ever heard.
There were some women that I used to hear that I really respected and
admired, like Annie Lennox, Janis Joplin, those kinds of singers I don’t
hear a lot of today…That kind of innocent but raw rock and roll. I think
what we have is a really strong energy on stage and a very unique sound.
It’s familiar but it’s pretty unique at the same time. I think Obie’s
captured that really well on the record. He really gets that sound, and what
we’re about, and [he] wants to bring out that strength about our music.
RR: How long have you been together, and who are the current band members?
SM: There
are 3 of us that have been in the band since 2003. I started the band with
the rhythm guitarist [Joe Francia], who was
actually just going to be helping out until I found a band, but he ended up
writing songs with me and I really dug the songs we wrote.
Joe Francia and [bass player]
Travis Smith have been in the band the
longest. They’re the core songwriting members along with me. And then we
have Joe Armstrong on drums. He actually
joined less than a year ago. He’s just so amazing, and his personality is so
great. And our lead guitarist, Dave Justo,
has been with us for about a year or two.
RR: Where can people get the album?
SM: We
had it for pre-orders which did pretty well…We’re not going to put
it in stores yet. The record will be available through our
website. It should be available on
iTunes and CD
Baby,but right away it’ll be available on our
MySpace and
Soraia.com. [You can also
follow the band on Twitter @ SoraiaRocks --Ed]
RR: Now let’s get in the Wayback machine. Who are some of your musical
influences?
SM: I’ve
always loved commercial radio, but I also love the rebellious thing.
Soundgarden, Nirvana. Chris Cornell has an amazing voice, he was definitely
one of my influences growing up. I think Nirvana for their personality,
their rawness and their…(Pondering for a moment) rebelliousness.
Female singer-wise, definitely Janis Joplin. I’ve never heard anybody since
then like her. That raw, emotional, just let go. Like, really feeling every
word…I can feel it even when she sings something like “Summertime.” The way
she chooses to sing it in the beginning. Like, (Imitates Janis) all the way
up there, you know what I mean? And she wasn’t afraid of the boundaries of
her voice ‘cause her voice is jagged and rough. Grace Slick. I love Grace
Slick. She’s got that power & authority. If you mix those two women
together, that’s my ideal influence right there.
Musically…(thinking for a moment)…Currently
I’m a big Foo Fighters fan influence-wise… Everything from like Prince to
Chrissie Hynde, the Pretenders, all that stuff. But really, the ‘90s period
when I was growing up and those bands turned me on to be really involved in
music. Even Mudhoney and Sonic Youth. I’ve always been attracted to that
really raw sound. And I love Led Zeppelin. But I didn’t love Led Zeppelin
until I was an adult. I actually hated them. I thought they sucked.
RR (laughs) So did I!
SM: People
would talk about how great Led Zeppelin was: “Why? The songs suck!”
(Laughs.) Now I have such a respect for their riffs.
RR: Now I love it…That guttural howling.
SM: (joins
in with raucous laughter) Yeah! And we’re so trained to hear that set place
where the chorus is, that set place where the verse is. (Laughs.) And that
doesn’t happen in their songs at all…You can tune in to that emotional part,
and that’s the part that you have to get. And if you don’t get that, you’re
not gonna dig them.
Obie’s always loved the Beatles, and for whatever reason, just lately I’ve
really started listening to them. Right now it’s “And Your Bird Can Sing”
and “Blackbird”… It’s funny how music is. You really dig some band, then you
don’t. It’s so weird if you really think about like, who are your favorite
bands, and who they were, and why do some last forever--like you’re a fan
forever-- and other times you go through phases.
RR: Music’s an energy.
SM: Yeah, and I think that time in your life, and whatever your
experience, and all that stuff together makes you attracted to a certain
type of energy at a certain time. There might be a singer or type of band
that’s always a part of whatever your energy is all the time. Gotta do a
paper on that! (Laughs)
RR: A while back you were an intern at Obie O’Brien’s studio in Philly.
Describe Obie O’Brien as a boss in the studio, and as your
engineer/producer in the studio.
SM: As a
boss he was really cool. I remember calling him up and [saying], “I want to
work there. I will work there for free. Tell me what to do.” Finally he says
“Come down.” And I went down there, and he’s like “Sue you’re going to be
cleaning toilets…But in between, I’ll show you some engineering stuff.” I
thought that was cool because I did want to learn engineering at the time. I
just wanted to be around music, I wanted to be around that energy, because I
knew I wanted to do music. From the time I was 8 years old I remember I was
writing songs.
So I was cleaning stuff up, I was helping out, but after a few weeks he
didn’t make me do that as much. He kinda just let me watch sessions all the
time and showed me stuff here and there. But he probably perceived that I
wasn’t picking up on it. (Laughs.) The first thing he did was take me next
door to this place and bought me this book that was huge. It had
[highly technical stuff] and I was just like “Wow, maybe I don’t really want
to know this. I’m not that good at math!” (Laughs.) He was pretty easy
going…He always looked out for me.
And then working with him as a producer--Mostly I have to look at it from a
producer standpoint, because even as the engineer he’d throw in ideas, and
we’d come up with stuff. He’d usually deal with me after the initial
pre-production part of it was done.
And I think because I always wanted to do this--this is my dream, this is
what I want and nothing can stop me from having this--when I went in the
studio, I thought, ”Wait until he hears my voice, how great it is.” Working
with him, I don’t think he felt that way right away…But I think what he
loved was the raw emotion and-- “reckless abandonment” is how he puts it.
RR: What about your process as an artist? What was that like?
SM: Working
with Obie has been such a growth--like a leap--in every way. That’s why we
call this record Shed the Skin. It’s all about letting go of what I
think I know, what I think I believe, what I think is the right answer. Like
I told you, I’m a really rebellious person. So any time he would tell me
things it was just in my nature to be like, ”Why is he trying to change me?”
And he wasn’t trying to change me. And when I finally realized that
and that lightbulb went off, I just grew as a songwriter and a singer so
immensely. A great process…
It’s been a weird kind of emotional growing process since January since we
started the project…Because there was so much of me letting go of some of
the thoughts that I had. I think when he was realizing that I was doing
that, he was putting more and more of his energy into it. You know? I think
working with him as a producer has been one of the greatest experiences I’ve
ever had. He’s always been a friend, but at the same time he didn’t let that
stand in the way. He knew what I wanted, and he was gonna give it to me
whether I wanted it or not, whether my emotions could handle it or not. He’s
like, this is the way it is and either you can handle it or you can’t. And I
appreciate that. I don’t want to be treated with kid gloves; I don’t want to
be treated like a girl. I want tough love kind of stuff. I need that, and
that’s definitely been the case. It’s good. He’s not a yes-man. I don’t want
that.
I really want to be growing as an artist always. I don’t want to stagnate.
Say I reach the hugest level that I want to reach, like success [at] the
market level. That’s great, but I always want to grow as an artist. It’s
like a high but in a good way…like falling in love over and over and over
again. Learning new things that you want to learn. Know what I’m saying?
I’ve always learned the most things from people in the arts. Like my singing
teacher. I learned a lot from her you know? Life changing things. I remember
one of the first things she told me to do was read The Ugly Duckling.
I read it and I wondered why she had me read that. Not the brightest I was.
But she was like, “Because as an artist that’s what you are. You don’t know
you’re a swan.” I remember that day I talked to her about feeling like an
odd person my whole life. I’m like, “How about that? I’m normal! How
refreshing.” I learn from people. And I grow so much around those types of
people.
RR: Later, you had an addiction problem. How did you turn it around?
SM: I knew
I could live…I’d thought of suicide so many times, and I tried it and it
never worked! (Laughs.) So I realized I was gonna live that way, in that
hell, for the rest of my life, which would probably be a really long time.
And the things and the people I was involved with were, let’s say, below
dirt. They were bad people.
What had happened was…I tried all the things that most addicts try when you
have a moment of sanity. You move away, you go back to school, or you start
dating that guy that was safe and normal. You know what I mean? I had gone
back to college and I had a brief period where I hadn’t used anything. I
started using again, and that’s when I realized, “Well, I’m doing all these
things to get better, and inside I still want to be dead. So, do I live life
like this?” Or do I try it maybe in a way I’ve never tried before, ‘cause I
don’t know what it’s like to be a sober adult. I had no idea. I’d never been
one.
[Editor’s note: During our interview, Sue was incredibly open
and shared powerful insight about what it was like to descend into drug
addiction, as well as how she got out of it. With Sue’s permission, we’ve
posted that portion of the interview, unedited, in our
Body and Soul section.]
RR: Later you were a teacher. Tell us about that.
SM: Yeah
for a short time. It was a very good experience. You know what’s funny is, I
realized my very first few months student teaching…I watched the other
teachers, and then when I got up in front of the Sophomore class of high
school, I looked at them and inside my stomach was flipping out. And I said,
”Open your books and read—“It was a poem by Robert Frost. I said, ”Go ahead
and read that, and I’ll be right back.” I went up to the other teacher that
was my mentor and said, ”I’m going to cry!” You go into the bathroom and
don’t let the kids see, right? And I cried my eyes out. I looked in the
mirror and said, “Why are you doing this? You can’t stand being in front of
people.”
And it’s so funny because now I realize--I’m a big believer in energy, and
that you are put in situations to make you grow. When I finally embraced
singing and stopped hiding behind other things, that was part of my process,
you know? I loved working with high school students. But it wasn’t my heart.
I enjoyed what I did there, and I loved the students. I loved the kids and
loved that some of them could trust me and talk to me. You forget that 13,
14, 15 year olds have a lot going on emotionally. You forget until you’re in
that situation. And you’re like wow, I don’t remember being 13. I remember a
lot about it but I don’t remember being in that skin. So, yeah, I loved it.
It definitely was a great experience. But I wouldn’t trade it for what I
have now.
RR: Teachers see a lot of things about kids that sometimes even their own
parents don’t see. What should parents—or anyone, for that matter—know about
kids?
SM: Well,
that they’re human beings and just because they’re young doesn’t mean that
they don’t have as much, if not more, emotional stuff going on as adults.
There are periods in life, and I think adults settle into that idea of like,
they’ve been through stuff and they’ve survived it. Kids haven’t.
Little things seem huge to them…When you’re like 13, 14, everything is a big
deal. That means if you get your heart broken, it’s not puppy love. They
have real emotions….I think parents should speak to their kids like human
beings and give them the respect that they’re not stupid, they are
intelligent.
I think the worst damage I’ve seen is people blowing off their kids or their
kids’ experiences. That stuff stays with them. They turn it into whatever
they think: they don’t feel love, they don’t feel appreciated, they don’t
feel respect. They act out on that. They act out more than anybody, because
they don’t think they’re going to die…I taught in an all-girls school and I
saw a lot of eating disorders. And a lot of alcohol, very young.
RR: What’s your pet peeve?
SM: Here’s
the thing about what music’s done for me: A lot of the beliefs I had about
what’s right and wrong are gone. It’s not a bad thing. It’s not like I’ve
become immoral or anything. It’s just I know that with everything, there are
no rules. I’ve become very free. And I love a lot more. We have these things
that keep us safe. If I don’t hang out with this person, and I don’t do
this…You realize it’s all you, man, it’s not everybody else doing it to you,
you’re not the victim. You’re not the victim of your life. You’re the power
holder, and whoever you choose to give that power to--whether it be somebody
who gets you angry, or somebody that takes something from you—it’s all
reflected back on you. All those things that make you angry, make you angry
because there’s something in you…
I had this horrible habit of needing to please people for a long time as a
teenager, and I don’t have that [now]. That’s gone. Half the time I don’t
think too much about if I should do it, or don’t do it, where before I’d go
back and forth. Music’s done that for me. The more I’ve let myself be the
artist I am, and not be afraid, the more I’ve been free.
RR: What the strangest thing in your music collection, that you actually
play? Mine is Desi Arnaz Greatest Hits, for example.
SM: Mine
is…I don’t know…I still listen a lot to “Moon River” by Andy Williams…I have
some weird things in there. I found Winger. (Laughs). Don’t know where that
came from…Somewhere along the way I was in a record store and thought,
Hmm…Winger. But uh, yeah, I’d still say “Moon River”. I’m not ashamed of
that, by the way. But, Winger? (Laughs.)
RR (laughs): It’s OK, I have Winger too. Now for the question we ask
everyone…God wants you to make the ultimate album, and guarantees it will be
successful. You can use any musicians, living or dead, and they’ll be at
their peak, but you can’t use any members of your own band (or anyone who
worked on the album). God wants all the publishing, so you’ll have to get
someone to write your songs--anyone living or dead, same rules. So: who’s in
the band, and who do you get to write the songs?
SM: Well,
I can tell you the person who gets to write the songs is Jack White of the
White Stripes, because he’s written such diverse stuff. And I know he’d
embrace anything because he’s open minded. I mean, to go from the Cold
Mountain soundtrack
to the White Stripes to The Raconteurs? So I definitely think he
would be the writer. Plus I like the way he writes. In my band…Now I’m
singing still, right? (Laughs) I’m not putting together a superband or
anything right?
RR: Yes. You’re singing.
SM: I would
want Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page to split. Wouldn’t want them together, I’d
want them with guitar duties on different songs. And on bass? Maybe Flea,
but I don’t know if he’d fit. But I just think he’s cool. (Laughs.)
Otherwise I’m not too sure about the bass player. Um, drummer? I would say
Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters, definitely. That energy he brings. And
then that’s everybody, right? I would probably throw some organ on there,
and some trumpet, things like that on some different songs. Maybe Prince
could write half the songs.
RR: Last question. What do you have to say to anyone who says girls can’t
rock?
SM:
They’re so wrong. They have no idea. No idea.
Update 10/24/09: In September 2009 Soraia's video for "Not The Woman"
made the Top Ten Rock Videos on Ourstage.com. Soraia is a featured artist
for October on
TuneCrypt and is also active on
MySpace and
Twitter.
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