Susan SurfTone, a surf/rockabilly singer/songwriter living in Portland, Oregon gifted us with her seven-song EP, aptly titled “Making Waves Again,” in April 2017. We interviewed her about that album last spring, and she has since released new music. This month she released her brand new EP “2nd To One.”
The album, an homage to Elvis Presley (Surftone’s idol) is a take-off on Elvis’ collection of great B-sides called “2nd To None”. It features Darlene Koldenhoven, the nun with the tambourine from the “Sister Act” movies, who plays the piano on “One-Sided Love Affair”.
“If a woman can be a credible Elvis Presley a woman can be anything she wants to be,” says Susan Surftone.
SurfTone, a self-described news junkie and global private citizen, is a lifelong LGBT advocate and rebel. Jocelyn Macdonald’s original 2017 interview with this legend in the making is featured below.AfterEllen.com: Before becoming a rock star, you were an FBI agent. You’ve spoken about how the choice to leave that career path was influenced by the pressure to be in the closet and the low chance of advancing up the career ladder, not only because of your sexuality, but also because of being female. What did it feel like to take the first steps into rock music as a career? Did this happen at the same time as your coming out?
Susan SurfTone: It was a bit scary but it was what I wanted to do. The financial impact was great. I was only 28 years old with no savings at all and I had significant debt from school loans. My parents were not at all supportive about my decision to pursue music and even angrier about my being gay. I, of course, had ruined their lives. However, it is my life and I knew I would not be happy if I did not make the move into music. I had to try and that was it. I was out during my senior year at Smith College (1976). I had to conceal the fact to get the Special Agent position with the FBI and I could not be out at work or do anything in my private life that would inform the Bureau of my homosexuality. Believe me, there were rumors about me at the Bureau.
AE: When you were in the FBI, there were restrictions about you being in a band and performing on stage. Did you feel like you were in the closet about secretly being a musician? How did you express yourself in that time? How did you woo women without the help of a guitar?
SS: Music was fine with the Bureau if it was a hobby. It was playing in a rock and roll band at clubs like CBGB that was the problem. If it had been a classical string quartet the feeling might have been different. The problem was the consorting with the “bad elements” at the rock and roll clubs. I wasn’t expressing myself at that time. That was the problem. Women….it wasn’t a problem. Actually I think the guitar has made it more difficult. There are a lot of misconceptions about a relationship with a “rock star”….really.
©susansurftone.com
AE: Your sound is so classic. I immediately hear the influence of Blondie and rebellious, gender-defying rockers. And yet surf rock has an undercurrent of machismo (as does most popular music). I wonder if you could speak to the experience of being a visible lesbian in rock and roll. Have men in bands, venues, radio stations, the media tried to fence you out because you are an unapologetic lesbian?
SS: I have had the support of many men in bands, venues, radio stations and the media. I also have been shut out by many. Most of that coming from the “traditional” world of instrumental surf music. I mean the bands and fans who want the music and culture to remain in the early 1960s. The male surf musicians who are secure in their own abilities have treated me as a welcomed colleague. Not so much for the guys who doubt their own ability. I’ve learned to find my friends and surpass my detractors.
AE: Are there commonalities in the sort of sexism and homophobia you experienced in national defense and rock music? Has your exposure to lesbophobia in rock changed with the gay liberation/feminist movements throughout the years?
SS: It’s the same in national defense and rock music. Sexism and homophobia will block opportunities and make it more difficult to open doors. You just have to keep coming at them by getting better and more determined. A stiff upper lip is required. Never give up because you will get those doors opened. Lesbophobia is not as obvious now, but it can subtly show up. Again, step over it by getting better at what you do. People eventually respect hard work and determination no matter who it comes from.
©susansurftone.com
AE: Surf rock and pop are having a small revival, and groups like Best Coast, La Luz, Chastity Belt and others are jangling up the airwaves of indie radio stations. These girl-fronted groups are clever, ironic, sexy, but they often have hetero themes in their music. What do you think of the surf revival? Does it expand the possibilities for what sort of music women popularize? Does it skew too straight or cutesy?
SS: I am all for any surf revival. I am considered a “third wave” revival surf guitarist and I never played straight or cutesy. I don’t know how to and would not want to. There were a few cutesy girl groups in the third wave. They came and went. The guys liked them and had a good time. Did they advance the cause of women in music? Well, no.
AE: How would you describe your approach to making this kind of music in a digital age?
SS: Everything (guitar, bass and keys if needed) is played by me and a drummer without a lot of effects. Brian Foxworth, a great drummer here in Portland, is recording with me now and will play any upcoming live shows with me. The vocals are me, and if I can’t do it live, I don’t record it. Digital makes things in the studio easier, but my sound is me.
©susansurftone.com
AE: In quite a few of your live performances posted to YouTube, you have a befringed go-go dancer up there shimmying like lesbian Twiggy. Surf rock has that ’60s free-love, wild-side sexuality to it, and it seems like your band adds a butch-femme aesthetic to the mix. Is that just wishful thinking on my part, or is that a part of what you’re going for? Is butch a word that you feel describes you, or how would you describe your presentation of lesbian identity?
SS: Yes, I think you are right about the butch-femme aesthetic. The go-go dancer is a transgender woman, Seana Steele. She was dancing with us in 2012-2013. She has a modeling career in New York City now. The audience always enjoyed her dancing and saw her as a girl just having fun to the music. We never saw the need to mention the fact she was transgender at the time. She was the band’s go-go dancer and that was it.
AE: Is your audience predominantly lesbian? I wonder if you can speak to your fan base, and how it may have changed or grown over the years.
SS: I like to think it’s gotten bigger. No, my audience is a make-up of a lot of different types of people, men and women, with open-mindedness being the commonality.
