The Susan Marie Project are one of the must see rock acts to see in Northeast Ohio and have been continuing to deliver hot music to the area.  Formerly the Susan Minton Project, the band takes new shape and sound as the Susan Marie Project with a new addition to the lineup established in 2003.   They are stepping up their firepower with a new addition to the band that will not only allow front vocalist/lead guitarist Susan Kreese more freedom as front person but also allow for a fuller sound and flexibility in their music and new originals.

 

“We’re still rocking all around Ohio as much as we can, said Kreese.  We have been working on originals and recording rough demos of the original music. Original music can be found on our Reverbnation Page SMP and we are also now streaming our songs on sites like Spotify and ITunes.  Also new for 2018, we’ve added veteran guitar player Chris Edwards to the line up.”

 

Edwards joins Kresse, Adam Mercer (drums) and Fred Fister (bass) to bolster the lineup and add to the sound.  ”We all thought that it would be a great idea to help thicken our sound and Chris was the ideal candidate.  Also, it frees me up from a lot of the more intricate parts of the music to focus on vocals when needed. The music that I write, that pops into my head, always turns out to be 2 guitar songs. When recording them, I just tracked each guitar, which is easy to do until you realize that, for example, you just wrote a song with heavy mandolin and equally heavy guitar lines.  This means that one of the guitars parts would be missing as a 3 piece.”

The addition of Edwards to the lineup had been in the works for some time and finally was able to be fulfilled as schedules opened up for everyone.   “We had thought about adding Chris Edwards awhile back. We all got together to jam our set and get a feel for how we jelled.  However, back then, the timing wasn’t right. He had multiple projects and our dates didn’t line up. About a month ago, we ran into each other and got to talking and things opened up and our schedules worked out.  Everyone in the current lineup has the same core musical taste. It’s that bluesy funky soulful stuff.”

 

“We can perform the originals that require 2 guitars. We can also select songs that we may not have wanted to do as a 3 piece. We have a broad sense of musical taste and it shows.  We can go from Johnny Cash to Clutch to Etta James to the Stones in the same set. As a 4 piece, we could pretty much do anything. Also, Chris adds his lead vocals on a few songs. This helps to change things up a bit and we get to highlight his great vocals.  As mentioned, we all have a lot of the same influences and musical taste. His sound adds so much and it helps to thicken what we already had as a 3 piece. With the heavy rhythm section of Fred Fister on bass and Adam Mercer on drums, it just ices the cake.”

 

SMP are busy working on some of their originals and fine tuning their existing set of songs with a new spark added from Edwards.  “Currently, we have around 7 songs on Reverbnation, of which 2 of them we stream on Spotify.
They are all distinctly different from one another.  Each one is about something that has personally affected me or inspired me in the way to write about it.  For instance, All That Wanders is a story about my family fleeing Yugoslavia in the night, through the mountains, on a wagon during the war hoping not to get found by the Nazi’s /Russians. It’s based on stories that I grew up hearing about my mother and her side of the family. 
We have about 15-20 waiting to be finished. I actually write faster than we can record in most cases.  A funny fact, most of my lyrics and melodies pop into my head as I’m drying my hair in the morning…funny but very true. Then, I have to run for a pencil and a pen and attempt to write them down in between getting ready for work.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

”I’ve always been inspired by so much.  I would just say “good music” inspires me, but mostly people, things and my surroundings.  Also experiences, good and bad, inspire most people emotionally. It’s good to get things out of your head and on paper. It’s therapeutic.  I found that if you don’t try so hard, so that it doesn’t feel contrived, things work better.  For me, I almost have to clear my mind so that it can flow. I know quickly when I’m not in the frame of mind to write, I just try again the next day.”
 

You can find SMP online but if you want a real experience with their music and sound your best bet is to see a live show and feel the power behind it all.  You won’t go wrong and have a great reason to go out and see live music.

Susan Marie Project on  Facebook, SMP on Reverbnation, susanmintonproject@four.four.com and also live all around OH.  Best place to check our dates is on the Facebook

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Go to Facebook for live show updates and events and Reverbnation to hear SMP originals.  Once again, your best bet is finding a live show and experiencing the music live.  I think I said it once, but will say it again; this is one performance that will keep you coming back for more and with the new addition and dimension to the band you will get rocked squared!