Suzie Stapleton

Before she packed her bags to move to Melbourne to pursue her musical fortunes, Suzie Stapleton spent time in Sydney ‘s dance scene. Looking back on it, Stapleton is sanguine. "I spent my late teens totally into the dance scene in Sydney," she says. "I left school and started writing for street press about the dance scene." Stapleton had played a bit of guitar at school but once immersed in dance, the guitar was put away in the cupboard.

Eventually, however, Stapleton emerged looking for a change. "I think the drugs must have worn off, and I realised ‘this music is shit!’," she laughs.

Having picked up "basic guitar", Stapleton admits to writing the odd lyric here and there in her high school years, but without any particular song writing direction. After her dalliance with dance music and DJ’ing concluded, Stapleton grabbed her guitar again and took her first steps toward a career performing music. After gigs in Sydney proved difficult to find on a regular basis, she decided to move to Melbourne. "I moved from Sydney about six years ago because I’d heard the music scene here was pretty good. I knew about three people here, two of whom moved back pretty soon after," she laughs.

Stapleton got a job at Cherry Bar in the city, providing the opportunity to mix and meet with various members of the local music scene. Eventually Stapleton summoned up the (Dutch) courage to perform live. "I went to an open mike night, downed a couple of shots of tequila and was offered my first gig that very same night," she remembers. The venue booker was sufficiently impressed to offer Stapleton her own set a week later; her only concern was whether she had enough material. "At the time I only had about five songs I could play from start to finish, so I went away and found some more, so I had about ten songs, including a few covers that I could play."

Stapleton says her songs are a mixture of blind inspiration and hard work. "If I knew exactly what inspired me to write a song, then I’d probably write a whole lot!" she laughs. "Sometimes songs just come out of nowhere, and other times I sit down and just slog it out for a while. I tend to write mainly about personal stuff – I’m definitely not a political songwriter. And, it’s usually stuff that comes out of nowhere that is the best," she says.

Writing lyrics with an obvious personal element has its challenges. "Sometimes it can get you in trouble when people think you’re singing about them, even when the lyrics are about something completely different," Stapleton says. "I suppose I write about stuff that I’m going through – you get people thinking it’s about them, when it’s not," she says.

Stapleton is currently playing a Wednesday night residency at the Old Bar, promoting her new single, Bring Back the Night. She recently ventured up to Andrew McGee’s Empty Room studio in Nagambie to record some songs that will eventually form the basis of an album to be released later this year. "It was amazing up there – the place is in a vineyard on a river, and they’re beautiful people," Stapleton says. "The first night we were there it was flooded, and there was a black-out, so we sat around drinking wine in the candle light."

As for career aspirations, Stapleton is content to just enjoy the journey. "I just want to keep doing it," she says. "I love the band I’ve got at the moment, and that’s just the journey you’re on. I just want to keep going."

SUZIE STAPLETON is enjoying a Wednesday night residency at the Old Bar this month. She is joined by The Stu Thomas Paradox and Chev Rise this Wednesday March 23 and James McCann next Wednesday March 30. For more information check myspace.com/suziestapleton.

BY PATRICK EMERY