Taking their name from the number of Susans in the line up, Band of Susans released one EP - Blessing and Curse - on Poss's own Trace Elements label before being signed to Mute Records's Blast First imprint for their first album Hope Against Hope. After the release, Rogers, Lyall and Tallman quit to be replaced by Karen Haglof (guitar) and Page Hamilton (guitar). After a second album - Love Agenda - and a Peel Sessions EP the two new members quit (Hamilton to form Helmet) and were replaced by Anne Husick (guitar) and Mark Lonergan (guitar), forming the line up which made three more albums and one EP. On the band's final U.S. and European tours a young Jay Braun filled in for Mark Lonergan. The band's final production was a version of Wire's Ahead for a collection of Wire cover versions called Whore, released in 1996.
Musically, BoS organised their three guitarists into providing an overwhelming wail of feedback and guitar noise layered under more conventional song structures (Poss had worked with guitar enemble composer Rhys Chatham and was a big fan of The Rolling Stones - the latter resulting in covers of Child of the Moon and Paint it Black). Although pretty much unconnected with it, Band of Susans are generally included in the New York No Wave scene that produced Sonic Youth and Glenn Branca.
After the dissolution of the band, Poss and Stenger performed with Bruce Gilbert of Wire as GilbertPossStenger. Poss then concentrated on production and solo work whilst Stenger played live with The Creatures for a period. An open-ended promise to reform under a new name has yet to happen.
Trouble Follows
Band Of Susans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Crossing against the light
Loud as the sun
Churches burst into flames
Eye witness to God
Scratched in the dust line by line
Pass by the mirage
The dreams come and go
It's a tightrope walk
White crosses by the side of the road
A certain kind of luck
A silenced life
The lyrics to Band of Susans' "Trouble Follows" are cryptic and open to interpretation. The first few lines appear to describe someone who is ticking like a clock, but going against the norm by crossing the street when the light is red. They are also loud and potentially volatile, with the imagery of churches bursting into flames. The line "Eye witness to God" could imply that this person is seeing something profound or spiritual in their reckless behavior, or that they are on a collision course with a higher power.
The second verse introduces new ideas, but they are also enigmatic. The lines "Scratched in the dust line by line / Pass by the mirage" could suggest that the singer is leaving behind a trail of clues or messages, but they are not easily interpreted or understood by others. The next line, "Imitation of life written in the sky" could be seen as a reference to the fleeting and ephemeral nature of existence, as if life is just a cheap imitation of something greater, written in the clouds above.
The final lines of the song are equally enigmatic. "The dreams come and go / It's a tightrope walk / White crosses by the side of the road / A certain kind of luck / A silenced life" could imply that the singer is living a precarious and dangerous existence, where their dreams and desires are fleeting and fragile. They are walking a tightrope between life and death, with the "white crosses" by the side of the road suggesting that others have not been so lucky. The final line "A silenced life" could imply that the singer's reckless behavior will inevitably catch up with them and that their life will be cut short or that they will be forced to retreat into anonymity to avoid the consequences of their actions.
Line by Line Meaning
Wound like a clock
Time is ticking and I feel tense and restricted like a wound up clock.
Crossing against the light
I'm taking risks and disobeying rules by crossing the street on a red light.
Loud as the sun
The noise is overwhelming and deafening as if it were as loud as the sun.
Churches burst into flames
I witness destruction and chaos as if holy places like churches were burning down.
Eye witness to God
I see the world's beauty and brutality firsthand, like an observer witnessing the power of a higher being.
Scratched in the dust line by line
The story of my life is slowly being etched, one line at a time, into the dusty earth.
Pass by the mirage
I am deceived by false promises and illusions as they pass me by like mirages in the desert.
Imitation of life written in the sky
Our existence is nothing but a mere imitation of what life should be—a copy of something written in the sky.
The dreams come and go
My aspirations and goals are fleeting; they come and go like waves in the ocean.
It's a tightrope walk
Life is precarious and uncertain, like walking on a tightrope with no safety net.
White crosses by the side of the road
Death is ever-present, marked by roadside memorials adorned with white crosses.
A certain kind of luck
Surviving despite the odds is attributed to a certain type of luck that we cannot entirely control.
A silenced life
My life may be quiet and uneventful, riddled with secrets and unspoken truths that only I can hear.
Contributed by Hannah E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Shoe chedelic
I've always wondered if that album cover is a sort of tribute to My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
tequileros97
@Shoe chedelic maybe. this and Loveless came out the same year, but I don't know which one came out first