“It was a spin that it put on things that was kind of negative,” she continues. “So I’m really glad that that’s not the way it is now.”
So what’s changed? “I think it’s partly that you get to be a certain age and you’ve been doing this for a long time, it seems logical that as an artist you’d want to do other things and have a chance and explore other relationships,” Hoffs reasons. “The Bangles are something really, really special to me … but we all do different things, and it’s nice to have the opportunity to do that and to know that we can be Bangles too.”
In fact over the past decade Hoffs has enjoyed a healthy balance between making music with the Bangles—the band’s 2011 LP, Sweetheart of the Sun, is as vital as anything they’ve done—and singer/songwriter Mathew Sweet, with whom she’s partnered on two volumes of classic pop revival, Under the Covers, with another yet to come.
“I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to do these other explorations,” she explains. “As an artist, as a writer, as a singer, it’s just really a blast. It’s exciting. It’s fun. You really test yourself when you’re working with other people. Much as I love the Bangles it’s a familiar environment. I love it, but sometimes I need that challenge.”
Someday is available on Baroque Folk Records. For more information on Susanna Hoffs, please visit the artist's official site.
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