JUST A GIRL IN THE CITY
She now lives in Toronto, but on her new album, Oh Susanna (a.k.a. Suzie Ungerleider) chronicles her life as a Westside kid exploring Vancouver’s music scene in the 1980s. Her seventh record, A Girl in Teen City, may also be her best, which is saying something for the acclaimed, Juno-nominated artist. We talked to Ungerleider about life as a self-proclaimed Westside brat “in a sleepy seaside town” (as she puts it), learning to love the Downtown Eastside, and the special show she’s bringing to Vancouver.
Q Was there someone who inspired you to explore Vancouver’s music scene? A
My older sister, definitely. She’s two-and-a-half years older than I am, and she was the one who adventured out into the Eastside and saw all kinds of shows. I remember her talking about gigs. She was like: “I’m going to a gig.” (laughs) She had a boyfriend who lived in a warehouse and played in a lot of joke bands. And we lived out near the university (UBC), so we would go to the Sub Ballroom all the time for all-ages punk rock shows there.
Q A boyfriend who lived in a warehouse. That must have sounded exotic. A
It was pretty scrappy. They put on shows there, too. It was a really creative environment. It was this interesting time when people were doing stuff. The mainstream wasn’t satisfying what people wanted to see or do.
Q What was the attitude of Westside girls like yourselves toward the Eastside? Was it the dark, dangerous Eastside? A
Oh yeah, totally. Also, when the Eastside girls softball team came to our school it was scary, we were like, “Oh my God, they’re so tough. They’re going to windmill-pitch us to oblivion.” We knew the Eastside was more working-class, and dodgy, that there were drugs down there, and strip clubs, all that kind of stuff. We knew it was rough-andtumble.
Q A How did this album evolve?
It was my friend Jim Bryson, who worked with me on the last record (2014’s Namedropper). I had been talking to him a lot about what I wanted to write about. He said, “Why don’t you write about your punk rock youth?” He comes from the school of “Write what you know,” and I come from the school of, “Make up stories and make people believe that it really happened, even if it didn’t.” I had written a couple of songs about it. So I said, “OK, sure.” And it kind of worked. I wanted to get into more upbeat and funny, tongue-in-cheek material. Some of the songs that I’ve written in the past were very serious and severe. I also felt that that time in Vancouver is disappearing, and I wanted to put it into song, and immortalize it in some way. I kind of wrote these songs for friends who I grew up with. And it’s resonating with a lot more people, even people who didn’t live in Vancouver.
Q The show you’re playing in Vancouver is a little different from the others on the tour. What can you tell us about it? A
I wanted it to be more communal, and have it be a celebration of Vancouver and have other people talk about their inspirations and stories. So the first half is going to be my friends. Grant Lawrence is going to read from his memoir (Dirty Windshields) about being in The Smugglers in the ’90s. Veda Hille, whom I went to high school with, is going to sing a song. My sister might even come up and tell a story of her forays into the punk rock scene.