Live & Listen's 'Bands You Should Know': SUSTO February 14, 2017 11:33

 

Photo by Paul Chelmis

Live & Listen is pleased to revive our regular series of artist interviews known as 'Bands You Should Know'.  This concept highlights a wide variety of various artists with an interview, general background information, current happenings, as well as interactive content from each band.  After a brief hiatus from what was originally a weekly interview series, we are excited to bring this feature back to the table in an effort to shed light on artists that we simply can't get enough of.  

Charleston-based SUSTO has been making giant strides since releasing its self-titled debut album in 2014. The five-piece band has made a name for themselves in recent years playing high profile festivals including Austin City Limits, Stagecoach and AmericanaFest along with opening slots with Shovels and Rope, Band of Horses, Iron & Wine, Shakey Graves, Langhorne SlimFuturebirds and Heartless Bastards.  The band recently made its network television debut on 'CBS: This Morning', following the release of their critically acclaimed album & I'm Fine Today.  

While the band is in the midst of a 38-city headlining tour, coupled with a 17-show North American stretch in support of The Lumineers, frontman Justin Osborne was kind enough to sit down and give us the inside scoop.  SUSTO delivers a diverse blend sounds which can be best described as alternative folk rock, accompanied by some of the most pure and honest lyrics you can find.  With this band's raw energy and constantly growing momentum, SUSTO could be a household name before you know it.

Interview by Jordan Kirkland: Live & Listen

Let's start off by laying out a little general background info.  You grew up in rural South Carolina and ultimately ended up at The Citadel in Charleston.  At what point in your life did you begin playing guitar and writing music?  
-
Justin: I started playing music and starting bands during high school.  I moved to the town of Florence (SC) when I was 10, which is still a small town, but it was bigger than I was used to.  From there, I started playing with people from school, and I was really kind of influenced by punk rock. I was also really into 90's alternative rock; Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind, Sublime, and bands like that.  I think that was when I first started playing, and by the time I graduated high school, I was in this band that I ended up staying in until I was 26.  We were playing shows, and people were showing up to see them.  
-
That's when I sort of dipped my feet in with song-writing, so to speak. I knew by then that I really liked it.  I went to college, but I knew that I really didn't want to be there.  I wanted to tour, play music, and write songs.  So, I kind of did both for a while.  Eventually, I dropped out and started touring full time with my old band.  I started to get burnt out, once again, and thought that I was crazy for thinking that this was gonna go anywhere.  I went back to school.  That's how I got down to Cuba, through studying abroad.  While I was down in Cuba, my friends down there really pushed me to come back here and give it another shot.  
 -
So during your time in Cuba, was that where a fair amount of material for the first album was written?
-
Justin:  I wouldn't say a fair amount.  Most of that album was inspired by living in Charleston and feeling somewhat lost.  Some of the main songs from that album, like "Acid Boys," "Dream Girl," "Friends, Lovers" had already been written before I even went to Cuba.  A couple of weeks before I went to Cuba, I started a BandCamp page and put up a few of those songs as demos.  When I was down there, I had a lot of inspiration to finish the record.  Some of the songs like "Vampiro 66" and "La Mia" were written down there with my Cuban co-writer.  Honestly though, Cuba probably had more of an influence on the new album (& I'm Fine Today) than the first album.  
-

Watch SUSTO perform "Far Out Feeling" on 'CBS This Morning: Saturday' here:

Assuming Susto came together after returning from Cuba.  How did you guys get hooked up?  How quickly did the touring and recording begin?
- 
Justin:  Well, the band kind of formed gradually.  When I got back from Cuba, I had made up my mind that I was going to finish the record and put it out there.  You know, eventually a band would form together around it.  I made the record with Johnny Delaware and with Wolfgang, who co-produced the new record as well.  I really started touring solo.  I did an extensive solo tour in 2014, right after the record came out.  Eventually, people started coming together to play.  
=
Different people came and went, but the lineup we have now, like Corey and Marshall, Corey is out guitar player and keyboard player and Marshall is our drummer.  I've been playing with Corey for about three years, and Marshall for about two years.  About a year ago, Chad came on board, and Jenna's been in the band for about 15 months.  Our newest member, Dries, has been in the band for about 5 months.  We didn't just form the band all at once.  There were different people coming and going, but now we have a really solid lineup installed, but it wasn't necessarily formed that way. 
-
That makes sense.  So the current lineup is pretty well represented on the new album?
-
Justin:  Dries came into the picture after the record was already finished. Jenna came in a little late as well.  We had already done a lot of work on it.  She sang some background vocals on the final recordings though.  Corey and Marshall were definitely involved the whole time.  It was really myself, Corey, Marshall, and our two producers making the record. 
=
Tell me about your history with Band of Horses.  You guys went on tour together and have continued to collaborate in other ways, right?
-
Justin:  When the first SUSTO record came out, I was working at a bar in Charleston called The Royal American, and I was just a short order cook.  Ben (Bridwell), from Band of Horses...his dad and one of his good friends would come in there all of the time for brunch.  They were always playing the album in the bar, because I was their employee, and they were proud of me and all that.  So Ben's dad heard the music and wanted to get it back in his hands.  
-
So, he showed the album to Ben, and one day I got an email from him.  He said that he would love to meet and since then, he's been kind of like a mentor and a big brother.  Not just to me, but kind of our whole little recording crew.  Myself, Johnny Delaware, and Wolfgang, we're all kind of working together.  They're our two producers.  They took an interest in what we were doing, recording in this storage unit.  They decided to take us on the road and give someone else from Charleston a similar opportunity.  
Ben's really one of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life.  It's nice to have someone like him who's been through a lot in this industry.  Just someone to offer advice as to what we're doing and decisions being made.  He does everything to help us when he can. 
-
-
That's got to be nice to have someone who's been through it, who can share experiences and help guide you as you're coming up in the scene.
-
Justin:  Yeah and for me personally, Band of Horses is one of my favorite bands of all time.  It's kind of surreal.  He's a wonderful guy though.  He has a wonderful family, and I'm really glad we've become friends over the years.
- 
Was he involved in any way with the new album?
_
Justin:  I would be hesitant to say that he was involved with it.  He would come to the studio sometimes, pop in, and we would play what we were working on for him.  He would offer a little advice.  There were a couple of songs that we did where we had him sing some background vocals, but we didn't put those songs on the album.  They may be released sometime later.  He was always around, just like a friend would be, but he didn't have any direct production direction or writing direction.  Not to say that he won't do that in the future, but it wasn't really the case this time.  
 -
Right on.  There's a time and a place for everything.  So, talking a little more about the new album. I've essentially had it on repeat for the last week.  It's one of the better albums, from start to finish, that I've heard in a long time.  You said some of the inspiration came from Cuba.  Can you tell me a little more about the writing and recording process?
-
Justin: Well, thanks so much.  I'm glad that you like it.  I always tell people that we don't have one set process. We have one song on the album, "Havana Mia," that is obviously very directly about Cuba.  I was married there briefly.  It's about my wedding day and very much about being in Havana...the old Russian cars, the National Hotel, the way that city can be. 
-
Besides that, that's the only real direct lyrical influence on the album, but I think the idea that you can address social issues, and you can do it very bluntly, or whatever way you feel like doing it, is something that I learned there from songwriters I met there.  It's more a philosophical influence than anything.  And also, we wanted to hit on more a worldly-type genre with the record.  Corey, our guitarist/piano player, was able to incorporate some cool, Caribbean-type feels.  That was something that I wanted to hear come out of it that Corey was able to help streamline.  
-
As far as the recording process as a whole, it's very different from song to song.  There were some songs where I would have it basically written, and we would just figure out how we wanted to record it.  There were other songs that simply started with an idea, and we would work it out together.  Then with one of my favorite songs on the record, it's a song that our drummer, Marshall, had written and played for me one day while we were sitting around at his house.  I was just like, "Wow. That's great. Would you mind if we put that on the record?"  That song came out that way.  We took it to the studio and put our own funky, groovy kind of edge on it.  It's different for every song. 
-
That's one of the things that I really love about recording with this band.  I've been in bands before where we work everything out and just go in the studio and record them the way we practice them.  That might seem like how it should be done, but when you kind of let the writing happen in the recording process, for me that's fun.  I feel like it keeps the songs on their toes, which in turn keeps the performers on their toes...if that makes any sense at all.     
-

Watch SUSTO perform "Jah Werx" on 'CBS This Morning: Saturtday' here:

Definitely.  So you guys have a lot of major milestones on the horizon. You just made your national TV debut last week. You're now preparing for a big national tour with Lumineers.  How did this all come together?
-
Justin:  Yeah...a lot of really cool things have been happening, some of which are still off the horizon. It's all really good timing, with us just putting a new record out.  There seems to be a real buzz about the band.  We're really looking forward to this Lumineers tour.  Being on a headlining tour is fun, because you get to play long sets every night.  It's always great for it to be your show, but it's going to be nice to go back to being the opener, especially on a tour of this scale.  It's our first arena tour, and it's with one of the biggest bands in the world.  This should be really big for helping us build our audience.  Not everyone is going to like us, but hopefully, a lot of people will.  The odds are kind of in our favor in terms of growing the band.  It's definitely an honor, and we're excited about it.  We don't really know what to expect, because we've never been on a tour of that scale.  We're definitely looking forward to it. 
-
I can only imagine.  That's the opportunity of a lifetime, and I'm sure you guys will make the most of it.  Before we wrap this up, I've heard a little bit about a documentary that you guys have been working on.  Tell me a little bit about what this will entail and what you guys are focusing on.
-
Justin:  Yeah...so Hank Wharton had the idea to do this documentary really before we had anything going.  Last year, we ended up getting several cool support spots on tours for some bigger bands.  Before that stuff even started coming in, Hank was like, "I'd really like to do a documentary on your band."  So, we kind of got in and got started on it during a really cool time.  We were kind of in the middle of recording & I'm Fine Today, and we were just finding out that we were going on a big tour with Futurebirds.  We were finding out about some cool festivals we were going to play.  So they were basically capturing all of that.  
-
Then they (Hank and Zach Hellmuth) came out on the road with us, while we were on the road with Futurebirds out west.  So they captured our beginning phases of touring. That was really our first national tour.  We're all crammed in a shitty van and sleeping in the same hotel room and sharing beds.  It was a really cool time to capture, and we're still in the process of filming.  Now, all this stuff is starting to line up.  Different things are happening.  The record is out now.  We have the Lumineers tour coming up.  There is a lot about Charleston, too.  It should be an interesting story about a band coming out of a shitty neighborhood in Charleston, recording in a storage unit, and trying to make it happen.  Hopefully, people will be interested in it.  
-- 
It seems like the timing of it couldn't have been more perfect.  This bands progression over the last few years has been amazing, and I'm sure the documentary will capture that beautifully.  
-
Justin:  It all feels really good man.  I have to give Hank all of the credit for having the foresight to do it.  So much has happened so quickly.  It has all felt really slow in the moment, but looking back on it, we've done a lot in the past year or so, and I'm just really glad that we had someone there to capture it.  
-
That will be a major piece of SUSTO history in the big picture.  Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview.
-
Justin:  Thank you for your time as well, and thanks for listening to the record.  I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for giving us some coverage. 
 -
Absolutely.  You guys keep doing what you're doing, because you're creating some amazing music, and we're here to help out in any way. 
-
Check out a preview of the SUSTO documentary here:
-
-
-