Band of Susans - Sonic Characteristics

Sonic Characteristics

As their history of having eight guitarists in all (and never less than three at any given time) attests, Band of Susans were a heavily guitar-centric outfit. They are generally included in New York City's abrasive post-No Wave scene which produced Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Live Skull, and Swans. They generally used G&L brand guitars (which appear on several of the band's album covers), Fender Jazzmasters, and Park (a budget brand made by Marshall) amplifiers. G&L owner Leo Fender was an avowed fan of the band and later befriended Poss. Musically, BoS organised their three guitarists into providing an overwhelming wall of feedback and guitar noise layered atop more conventional song structures. Due to their love of atmospheric textures, the band is often considered a peripheral member of the shoegaze movement, though they had a more abrasive sound closer to that of their New York contemporaries than most of the primarily-British bands of the shoegaze genre. Like shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Band of Susans were notorious for playing live at extremely high volumes in order to recreate the visceral impact of their studio albums. In an interview, guitarist Robert Poss noted the similarity between shoegaze and Band of Susan's hypnotic soundscape, saying "My Bloody Valentine have been contemporaries of ours, and we played shows with them in Europe and in the U.S. in 1989." Despite BoS's experimental leanings, Poss was a big fan of The Rolling Stones, which was later manifest in covers of the Stones' songs "Child Of The Moon" and "Paint It Black."