Susan Santos: ‘As a good rocker I’m not a saint or a cloistered nun’

Susan Santos has not been called Susana for many years, not even by her mother or any of her five brothers and sisters, all of whom are older. It is only a small, first indication of her unconventional condition: a rocker, a guitar virtuoso, an artist who is recognized throughout Europe but not so much in her own country, and left-handed in everything “since she was zero years old.” With a pencil, that was never an issue; with a guitar, in a family without a single artistic antecedent, initially it was. But Susan — brilliant, conscientious, tenacious — usually gets her way, even if it takes her time. Her sixth album, Sonora, which has been very well received in the music press on both sides of the Atlantic, is a good example of this.

Question: Are you conventional in any way?

Answer. I’d never thought about it in those terms, but maybe I’m a fan of being contrary. When you’re truly passionate about something, like the guitar and music, you don’t stop to think about the difficulties you’ll encounter.

Q. Is green your color, judging by the guitar?

A. I had it custom built by a craftsman in Santa Clarita, California, so I treated myself to the green surf style that was so characteristic of the 1950s. As there are few guitars for left-handed players, almost all of them are made of wood, and white or black are the most common colors. But no.

Q. Was it difficult for you to find female role models when you were starting out?

A. No, because I’ve always been inspired by American sounds and there have always been great women there; from the pioneers of jazz and blues to my great inspirations, like Bonnie Raitt or Patsy Cline. If you really love something, you give yourself over to it and there are no boundaries.

Q. And that impeccable English in your songs?

A. I always think that if you set out to do something, you should do it better than well. In many English-speaking reviews they admit that they are surprised by my nationality, because they don’t pick up any accent.

Q. Are you always that meticulous about everything?

A. I understand perfectionism as an evolution, a way of feeling proud of what I’m going to do. But during live performances I’m more of a fan of letting myself go, improvising, and throwing myself into the mud.

Q. Is Sonora the least blues album by a blues artist like you?

A. Labels aren’t really my thing. I just want to write songs and for each one of them to tell a story, almost like a short film, far from the clichés of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Q. No hell-raising then?

A. I was a very good student and now I like to take care of myself, I always carry sneakers in my suitcase and I’ve even taken part in fun runs. But, as a good rocker, I’m no saint: if I said I was a good girl, my friends would laugh at me. I’m no cloistered nun; I just advocate enjoying life without ending up crawling on the floor.

Q. It’s been 15 years since your first album. Have you had to deal with many setbacks along the way?

A. I’ve never thought about throwing in the towel. I’ve taken on more occasional jobs, such as my two years at [Spanish state broadcaster] TVE’s Las Mañanas, because the records and the bills don’t pay for themselves, but I was always clear that I was my own project. I alternated my early years in Madrid with teaching from Monday to Wednesday at an academy in Badajoz. I taught guitar until I died!

Q. Did you celebrate the release of Sonora with any new tattoos?

A. Just this summer I got a tattoo of a guitar pick with a cactus inside on my left arm. Experiences like visiting the Joshua Tree desert, where I took the opportunity to shoot the videoclip of Hot Rod Lady, represent a before and an after, the beginning of a different vital stage. There’s nothing like the magnetism of those sunsets or the spectacular wind, no matter how much you’re warned to watch out for tarantulas and rattlesnakes.

Q. And what does 2025 hold?

A. Hopefully just as good as this year, but multiplied by three. And with some free time to visit cliffs and hike trails.

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