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“All
my life I wanted to be somebody - and here I am!
Dig it!
SUZI Q Suzi Quatro
The Lady Miz Diva: Ms. Quatro, I feel like I’ve been waiting for the SUZI Q documentary for a very long time. I know that seeing that wee lady in the black leather jumpsuit and enormous bass, on HAPPY DAYS, who was cooler than The Fonz, helped make a bass player out of me. Suzi Quatro: Just cos you started off that way, I’m going to jump straight in there. It’s so strange; the film has, for me, highlighted stuff that I never really thought about or realised. Seeing your life on the big screen, the mouth hangs open. You go, “What?” to the bad stuff and the good stuff. Sometimes you want to crawl out, sometimes you sit and watch; but what I realised -- including you, you made me think of it -- I knew, obviously, that I was the first one out there, so I didn’t have the blueprint. I had to make it up myself. It was very much me sticking to my guns, letting nobody change me; being out there with the bass guitar and leather jumpsuit. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was doing it. I was simply being stubborn and sticking to me, okay? That’s all. And then, later on, like six or seven years later, as other girls started to come through and I started to hear the compliments, then I started to think, ‘Oh, oh, I guess I did that?’ Now, though, now at the age of the 70 watching this movie; it’s really made me reevaluate it. First of all, it’s humbling. It makes me teary-eyed, because when you don’t set out to do that, and you do that, it’s just something. But what I realised talking to all the girls, for instance, Cherie {Currie of The Runaways} -- she’s a good friend -- she gave me an award at She Rocks in January, and she went up to give this speech and she started to cry. Then the other day, with Cherie and {The Go-Go’s bassist} Kathy Valentine, we three did an interview on Zoom, and Kathy Valentine starts to cry. Then I had my friend over, I don’t know if you remember a band called The Baby Animals? Their lead singer, Suze DeMarchi, she’s been a big fan all her life. We made friends in Australia, we did lots of tours together, and she ended up coming here not that long ago. I took her up into my “Ego Room,” because it’s one of the things that everybody likes to see, and she started crying. So, what I’ve now assimilated in my little brain -- and then it makes me cry, it really does -- is that without meaning to, just by sticking religiously to who I am, and not compromising for anybody any fucking day of the week -- I do not compromise, okay? You can walk away, go ahead, I am me. Anyway, what I realised is, that by sticking to me, my path; my journey was supposed to be exactly what I did. I was supposed to give women who didn’t know where they belonged, permission; that that’s okay, cos they belong here. Because I didn’t fit anywhere; you see me in the film, ‘Where do I belong?’ And then by me going through the pain and everything I had to go through, I had opened the door, and then I said to other women, “It’s okay. You’re okay.” This seems to be what’s happening with this documentary, and it’s running away like a train, and I can’t stop it.
LMD: It’s cathartic if you are female bass player or rock musician. It’s cathartic if you’ve ever been the odd one out. It’s cathartic if you’ve never been a girl who’s “girly,” or followed the accepted “girls rules.” And all of that is encapsulated in one petite powerhouse from Detroit. I have to know where that tunnel vision comes from? That clear laser beam focus that allowed you to know exactly what you were supposed to do and run toward it like a freight train? SQ: And it still is! Nothing’s stopping me. I will not let anybody stop me. This is my advice for people -- not just women -- people -- if you have a vision, go there! Go! One of my sisters says -- and everything’s fine, I give them their platform, I didn’t edit them out, I let everybody speak how they wanted to speak, I wanted this to be honest, and it is. I didn’t mind the ups and the downs, I didn’t mind the cringes; everything’s fine -- but one of my sisters said one thing that bugged me, because I didn’t understand it. She said, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, she’s just gonna keep going. She’s not gonna let anybody stop her, not her kids, not her husband, not her family.” And I went, ‘Wait a minute. Why would you stop me?’ I’m sorry, it doesn’t compute, why would you stop another human being from doing what they’re doing? I’m not hurting anybody. I’m following my path, you know? So, what gave this to me was probably, I guess, growing up in a big family. It was a loving family, don’t get me wrong; I love everybody very, very much. Everybody has said they can see through the film, that family is hugely important to me. Huge! But unfortunately, I’ve always felt like -- whether I was or not is incidental -- because this is how I felt, and it’s always your perception that counts. I felt like a square peg in a round hole. I wasn’t a makeup girl. I played with the boys. I played soldiers. I just wasn’t like everybody else. And I needed to find my voice, and I knew what my voice was real young. I knew I was an entertainer. I knew I was Elvis from age 6. That’s who I had my lightbulb moment with; I looked at him on TV and watched him with all my sisters screaming, and I’m a little girl, and I’m going “Why are you screaming?” And then I looked into the TV -- every time I tell the story it amazes me that it happened to me at that age -- but I don’t bullshit, I’m not a bullshitter -- it was during “Don’t Be Cruel,” I went into the screen, just drawn in, and a lightbulb went “bing!” and I went, “I’m going to do that.” And other people have had that with me. And you know, even not to think about the fact that he was a guy and I was a girl; it didn’t even compute. So, I don’t do gender, I don’t do it very easily, as I think Donita Sparks {L7} uttered in the film. I don’t do gender. In fact, the only time I will pull my female card -- and I will -- I keep it in my back pocket, you know, like a penalty card? When one of the guys or somebody steps just a bit over the line of my sensibilities. There are words, there are a few words I will not hear. You probably know what some of them are; one of them starts with a C.
LMD: I have a feeling I know what you’re talking about, but you live in England, where that word is pretty much a greeting. SQ: A lot of people use it, but if it’s said in my vicinity, out comes the female card. They won’t say it in front of me. And if they do, they only do it one time. Because I pull the card out, and I say, “Excuse me,” and they stop. I call time, off the field, give me your balls. {Laughs} I’ve got all the balls, anyway.
LMD: Oftentimes, artists’ documentaries show us art born out of tragedy, or some sort of struggle or dysfunction. As we just said, you come from a very loving, “normal” upbringing. So, was it that Elvis “lightbulb” moment, or the fact that your father was a musician that brought you up to love music, that made it possible for you to have that forward vision doing what you knew you were meant to do, without losing your mind? SQ: I didn’t lose my mind, ever. No I didn’t. I have unassailable instincts that I trust. I’m like one of those cavemen, you know? That somebody walks in the cave and I know if it’s bad or good. I keep that instinct in me, and I trust it so much, I don’t even need words. I just know what I want. That’s a good question. It was a loving family. I knew my path very early on, as I said. I knew that I had entertained very early on. When I went to do my bit in the family shows, everything got quiet and everybody watched, and in my little heart I went, ‘I can do this.’ I knew I could do it anyway, I used to walk around in school when I was like 10 -- this memory just came to me -- I remember the lunch lady at recess -- I don’t know why I’m remembering this. It’s to do with what you just said. And she used to take my arm, and walk around with me during recess and say, “Sing for me. Entertain me.” And I did. So, it’s always been this magic thing for me that I can make people feel good, and I’ve always believed this is why God put me on this earth. I come alive when I’m on that stage, I just go up there and I’m in my natural habitat. It’s just natural. Everybody, we’re all in one thing, and I don’t stop until every single person is in my hands. And I didn’t care about an all-girl band, I didn’t, I wanted to be in a band: I didn’t care for it was guys or girls; it didn’t bother me. Even when I formed my band in England, I put out the call for musicians and no girls showed up, but I would’ve hired one if I liked one.
But I think the
attitude -- first of all, knowing, and there’s no other way to say it, I
knew I had the X factor from a very young age, and I’m sorry, it’s not
ego. It’s just I felt it in me, and it’s what spurred me on. Because I
had that and I knew it, and I believed in myself. Self-belief.
LMD: My sense was it’s clear that while your father loved you very much, he was very angry, and sent you that tape to say, ‘This is how we will go on without you.’ I’m sure he probably didn’t realize how badly it affected you, but I thought it was almost monstrous. There you were, a young woman, alone in a foreign country, where you knew all of two people, and he sends you this? SQ: What did you think you did to me? I was 21, I had left home with no money and no friends. All I had was my contract and my dreams. I could’ve failed. I was scared and lonely, crying myself to sleep. I had to leave half of my money home, because my dad said I owed money. So, I was stealing food from the kitchens. Then I finally get this tape and I was all excited, and I went upstairs to hear the family, and I put it on, and this is how they feel about me? It was orchestrated, my dad orchestrated it. A lot of people have given me their opinions, it’s also going in the movie, because it’s a pivotal moment in my life. That was sink or swim. That tape could’ve killed me. It could’ve killed me. But at the end of the crying and all, I went, ‘Right… Right! Watch me.’
LMD: Do you think he knew that might be your reaction? Why do you think he did it? Did you ever ask him? SQ: Oh God, now there’s the real dichotomy. My scriptwriter and I talked about it for ages. I have an inquiring mind; I like to know what makes people tick. Even my own things, I always try to work out where they came from. I had ample opportunity, because it was my father who put the tape on: I don’t think anybody knew they were being taped, but he orchestrated it and ran the conversation. Every time he came to see me here, I had ample opportunity to ask him. I kept the tape in the drawer. I didn’t one time ask him, and I think ‘Why?’ Maybe I was afraid of the answer? Maybe it was just best to leave it in the background, or maybe I needed that to keep pushing me. Who knows? I could’ve asked him, but I didn’t. My scriptwriter asked me, “Why didn’t you?” I said, “I don’t know.” I don’t know the answer… I remember one time sitting at the kitchen table, we were talking. I remember because that was the moment if I could’ve brought it up, I would’ve done, but I didn’t. And he said something or other to me that was a little bit hurtful, and I said, “Dad, what you just said hurt my feelings.” And he looked at me and he said, “Susie, godammit, you’re going to have to toughen up.” I looked at him, and I went, “How?” Nothing was said after that. Maybe that’s my answer. That has to go in the film; “How?” Anyway, that spurred me on, and it was very difficult hearing what my two sisters said. The older one, who I’m very close with, she’s a fan, and she’s not ashamed to be a fan. While my younger sister said, “I will never be her fan.” Why? If it were any of them, I’d be their biggest fan. It was so stupid. Anyway, I left all that, and because I said to my director when we started the project, “Even though I have editing scissors, I promise you, if it’s true and it’s important to the story, even if I’m cringing, hurting, or dying; it’s in the film.” So, I wasn’t involved in the interviews, obviously. It was done by the director, and so I heard this, and I went, “Okay. Okay.”
LMD: So, in some ways, it was like the Thanksgiving tape all over again? SQ: Yes! I kept that tape all these years, and I see the real thing, larger-than-life on the big screen. Nobody can hide when it’s on the screen. You see every nuance. You see every change of eye shape. You see everything. So, it’s been a real learning curve for me. It won’t change how I am, I feel that I mustn’t lose that sensitivity that I have. I mustn’t lose that hurt that I have, because it’s what keeps me real.
LMD: So, you had the right to edit and you didn’t use it. As someone who’s been a professional performer since age 14, what was it like for you to be seen through this very different lens, under the microscope of a documentary? SQ: Luckily, I am very real, and I am very open and I am very feet on the ground. Liam {Firmager}, the director said to me, when we got near the end of the film, “Suzi, I just want to tell you something. I’ve done lots of different things with lots of different people; different documentaries with lots of famous people. Nobody that I’ve ever talked to has given me what you’ve given me.” I guess he meant a piece of myself. I did open up totally. I was naked in that film, and it really does it to you. At my first premiere in London, I was nervous because I hadn’t seen it on the big screen, and I hadn’t seen it with an audience; and that’s when you really gauge the effect. You feel what they’re feeling. You hear the noises, the gasps, the applause, and I’m going, “Oh, Jesus Christ.” I was nervous. So, I snuck in right at the end, crouched down. I’m hearing the gasps; they came right when I thought they would. I’m hearing the sobs that came right when I thought they would. I’m watching the screen the whole time in tears, because it’s touching. I was humbled by what people said. I was surprised by what some people said. I kept thinking, ‘My God, I did all that?’ There was one funny moment, and I think you would’ve loved it, but he said, “No, you’re not doing that.” Debbie Harry is a friend of mine, I love her. When she says {Affects airy voice} “And Suzi’s so beautiful…’ I wanted to put a voiceover that said “Fuck off, Debbie.” {Laughs} I mean, but how could Debbie Harry tell me that? I mean she was an iconic beauty. So, the documentary taught me a lot.
LMD: One of the things you mention in the documentary is being surprised that there hasn’t been another you on the music scene. SQ: No. Because can there be? I don’t think so. I know myself, how strange it all is. I know I don’t fit in any area, exactly, and I had to define my own, and I did. I asked a lot of people for this, and I want this from you. For the film, I’ve got this word cloud: friends, famous, not famous, various family -- family has not responded…. In fact, my two sisters have not been in touch with me since the film has come out. They just have not contacted me -- but anyway, I have this word cloud, and I’ve asked everybody that I know to have three words to describe me. As it works in the word cloud, the word that’s said the most is the biggest in the middle -- and it’s a big word cloud -- and the biggest one in the center for about five months, and it hasn’t changed, is “determined.” Everybody says that word. I hope that when people watch this film, that they go away knowing me, understanding me. It’s been a big thing all my life; ‘Don’t you get me? Don’t you understand me?’ And that’s the one thing that hurts: If somebody doesn’t understand, I go, I will stand on my head and spin wooden nickels until you understand. Then make up your mind, but at least get what I’m saying, and take it away and do what you like with it. I won’t be misunderstood and I won’t be ignored, either. I will not be ignored. I asked my husband for the three words and he said, “You’re a one of a kind. There are no words.”
LMD: Perfect segue, because all through the doc, I had been wondering whether there was actually a balance between your public image and your private self? Toward the end of the film, you say to your husband, “Maybe I was a pin-up, but the pin-up was Suzi Quatro.” What did that mean? SQ: It means, quite easily, that my autobiography was written in two people; and both people are me. Don’t kid yourself; both people are me. There is little Susie from Detroit, and Suzi Quatro -- and both people have their say all the way through the book. So, I do separate Suzi Quatro, that’s that side, and little Susie is here watching everything. I keep myself sane that way. I’m not schizophrenic, and both people are me. Right now, you’re getting both of me; you get little Susie, and you getting Suzi Quatro, but I have that “Ego Room” in my house, which is kinda how I live my life, it’s very important. It’s this old 15th-century house, and there’s an “Ego Room” and the top floor, you have to go up this flight of stairs. It’s hard to get to the “Ego Room,” if you get my analogy: You could bang your head on the ceiling, you could bang yourself on the wall. You come to a huge wooden door, and I had a little plaque made, and it says, “Ego Room, mind your head.” And you go in, and the first thing you see is the red book, “This Is Your Life,” from the show they did. Clothes I’ve worn, bass guitars, posters everywhere, stage passes, videos, CDs, scrapbooks, pictures on every surface, you could look at everything, and it’s the quietest room in the house. My “Ego Room” is the quietest room in the house {Laughs}. You go in there if you want to do something, you sit there and you meditate, or whatever. The important thing is when you come out, you shut the fucking door. And that’s how I live my life. So, if I had taken the pinup. I don’t play the looks card, as you know; you’ve seen it in the film, it’s not what I do. It’s only now at 70, that I can look at some of the little pictures and think, ‘Hey, I didn’t look too bad,’ but I don’t play that card. And thank God, because if I had been looks identified, and I became a pinup, what a pain in the ass I would be. So, as it is, you don’t take it too hard. You say thank you, but it doesn’t go in where I live. It’s just a complement and thank you, fine.
LMD: There’s a moment in the film that I almost threw a shoe at the screen… SQ: {Laughs} That’s so funny. That’s the first time that I’ve heard that.
LMD: …It’s when TV host Russell Harty turns you around and smacks your backside. I’m guessing that wasn’t the first objectification or assault you endured. How did you cope with those moments? SQ: That pissed off a lot of people. I don’t know if you know, but I had just won “Rear of the Year.” It’s a big contest and they do it every year. I have always had a nice ass, to be fair; I try to back into a room when I can. That had just happened, so I was on the show, and of course he said, “Oh Susan, let’s have a look at this famous rear.” And he was gay, and he didn’t do it nasty. He did it kinda cute, but that was a moment that I’ve had to explain at my Q&As. I am a professional. That’s the main word with me; I am professional. This was a live television show, okay? He picked his moment: He didn’t do it backstage, he did it on camera. And in my head, really like lightning; my instinct was to put my knee in his balls. That’s my instinct, but real quick, my brain went, ‘Let it go, this is live television.’ Had he done that backstage, he would’ve been singing soprano for the rest of his life. But he must’ve known my reputation; he must’ve known I was a professional. So, he was clever and picked his moment and I did let it go, because then I would’ve been defined by that; and maybe some people would’ve applauded me, some people would’ve said, ‘You gotta be kidding, he didn’t mean it.’ So, you’re playing with all that, so I made a snap decision, I think it was the right one. He’s dead now. But things like this do happen. That wouldn’t happen now.
LMD: That’s what I thought. Was that sort of behaviour just part and parcel of what it was like for you at that time? SQ: Not me! I have kneed many men in the balls, and I’ve hit many men. The only reason he got away with that, was because it was on camera and we were live. You ask my husband, I have whacked many people, because for some reason, because of I am a little girl, you always get some asshole who thinks he can touch you, and I don’t allow it! I don’t allow it. I’ve done it many times. I actually hit a guy over the head with my bass one time.
LMD: That enormous Fender? SQ: Yep. He made a rude gesture at me on stage, so I danced close and I went, ‘Whack!’ and he was on the ground. So this guy, this TV guy, he doesn’t know how lucky he was. So, no, I didn’t like it.
LMD: One of the things that SUZI Q enlightens us on are your many other lives as an artist. Obviously, we know you as a singer and bassist. Many people will know you from HAPPY DAYS, where you pretty much played a G-rated version of yourself. Yet you didn’t really go on to do any more acting at that time, when that character was so popular. In later years, you embraced the theatre as composer and delved further into acting, most notably playing the great Hollywood star, Tallulah Bankhead. Was it your experience on HAPPY DAYS that stirred the desire to act and involve yourself in theatre? SQ: My main three words are creative, entertaining, and communicating. That was something I was always going to take every opportunity to do in this business. I’m an artiste, that’s what I am. As long as I think I can do it, I’ll do it. I love spreading my wings. I love a challenge. HAPPY DAYS was my first acting job. Then ANNIE GET YOUR GUN? Ethel Merman, are you kidding? I can play that role? Fantastic! And even my friend, KT Tunstall, when we watched the documentary, she said, “Suzi, there’s not one of your moves in there.” And I said, “No, because I’m Annie Oakley.” And then TALLULAH WHO? I sent my mother the press photo from the show, and she said, “Why didn’t they use you for the photo?’ I said, “That is me.” {Laughs} So, when I act, and Ron Howard said it, too, that don’t act; I become the part. I always wanted to do everything. I turned down the spinoff of HAPPY DAYS, because I wanted to do other roles. When my marriage was breaking up, creativity saved me. I just read a book on Tallulah, and I did find her fascinating, and I thought, ‘Let’s write a musical.’ I’ve played piano, I write piano, I’ve done classical, so it was wonderful to be able to do that and play her. I looked at the marquee and it said “Words and music, Suzi Quatro, Shirlie Roden. Tallulah played by…” And I went, ‘Wow, how satisfying. I wrote the words and music and I played the character.’ So, yes, I love it all. Poetry is something I’ve done since I was a little girl. I love writing. I love radio. I was one of the most popular DJs for 15 years on BBC Radio 2. I had my own talk shows. I played many different roles on many different TV things. I’ve just finished an illustrated lyric book, which is going to be similar to my poetry book, which comes out in July. It’s called “Through My Words” instead of “Through My Eyes.” I’ve written another book, and I’ve written 14 new songs for the next album with my son. So, this is me. This is what I’m here to do.
LMD: I’m a fan of a Japanese electro-pop group called Polysics that does an excellent version of “The Wild One.” Talking with them and other artists from Japan; they know your catalog extremely well. Watching the doc, and seeing how revered you are there, in Europe, in Australia, what did they get that the US didn’t? SQ: I think a lot of the famous people in the film address this really well. It seems to me now that I’m watching it back, because I did lots of tours in America. I sold a lot of albums, everybody knew who I was, but then I did HAPPY DAYS. In the early days, when I was there {In the US}, and having all this success over here {In the UK}, I think they were a little bit stuck on The Eagles, and almost this middle-of-the-road kind of thing, and they weren’t quite ready for me. And it wasn’t until I did HAPPY DAYS, playing a character like myself, Leather Tuscadero. So, either one, whether it’s Suzi, or Leather, who knocked down the door, they’re both me. I played Leather. So, I think it was Debbie that said it was a little bit too early, maybe it was. But whatever, it opened the door; once you saw that HAPPY DAYS, everybody accepted that as a reality.
LMD: We’re talking
on the occasion of another very famous bass player’s birthday, Sir Paul
McCartney...
LMD: Excellent!
He’s my favourite musician of all. Speaking of bass players, who are
your favourites?
LMD: Here’s a question I’ve always pondered; where did you get those glorious leather catsuits? SQ: I always had them made. And the glorious thing about that is, that at age 70, I’m still wearing them on stage and how cool is that?
LMD: Okay, so when is your fitness video coming out? SQ: Well, you know, I’ve always liked to look a certain way. When I go on stage, I always announce my age, because I’m proud of it. I just like to look a certain way. I’m not chasing 50. I’m not chasing 40: I’m 70. I’m happy to be 70. My secret is, I don’t give a shit. It’s really easy. I don’t give a shit. I rarely wear makeup. I’m on camera a bit tonight, so I’ve had to put little bit on, but I’m not a makeup girl as such.
LMD: Now that you’ve hit Platinum (birthday) at age 70, what are words you’d like to leave us with as you head into the next septuagennial? SQ: I would say I’m going to kick ass until I don’t have an ass to kick. {Laughs}
~ The Lady Miz Diva
SUZI Q is available on VOD and DVD from July 3rd, on https://www.altavod.com/movies/suzi-q
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