EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: No Substitute for This... Suzy and the Substitutes Speak Out

By: Tracy Heck

Suzy Wilson has been rocking out for most of her 68 years and with a motto like “Old as dirt,
metal as f*ck”, she can’t help but grab your attention.

The resilient singer has recently released her first new song in a long while “ 21st-Century”
under her Suzy and the Substitutes moniker.

Sound Fury recently got a chance to speak with Wilson.

Q: How are things going?
A: Busy, but good.

Q: Your new single recently dropped and you’ve been doing radio promos. How has that
been going?
A: It’s gone pretty well. It got added to eight radio stations already and we came in at #5 on the
most added to secondary music markets chart in between Evanescence and Sublime. That was
pretty cool!

Q: What do you want people to know about the “21st-Century” track?
A: It’s kind of about the world that we're in today, which is funny because I actually wrote the
song in 2017. We had recorded it and everything and I’m not sure why we decided not to release
it.  Last year I was going to a songwriters workshop and it was with some notable songwriters and
they’d give you critiques of your songs. I went back and looked around to see what I had and
was like, oh! That version was different from the one we recently released, but it still wasn’t bad
so I took it and they really liked it. They had a couple of comments so we took it in and tweaked
it because some of the things in the world have changed since then, but oddly enough we were
pretty much in the same place where it’s just kind of crazy. It’s like we’re going backwards
instead of moving forward.  The song is kind of based on back when I was growing up and it was the Civil Rights Movement,  the Women’s Movement and things like that. The movies and tv shows were depicting the future.  You’d see things like Star Trek where they had people of all races and sexes and even in some cases robots, all getting along and treating each other with respect. That’s where we thought we were headed towards, but instead it seems like we’re moving further and further away from that instead of getting closer. Just everybody being equal and having the same rights and amount of respect. I think it was a good time to release the song with everything that’s going on in the world right now. Part of the song asks, “When will we wake up see what’s going on and start trying to change things?” We can change things but we have to start trying first.

Q: I know you have a son that’s gay and you’ve seen that negativity first hand. What would
you want to say to people out there with those same kind of anxieties about the way the
world is going?
A: Just don’t let hate win. Practice love and don’t get dragged down into the hatred.

Q: You’ve dealt with a lot in your life. What does being able to get back out there and do
your music mean to you?
A: It means a lot. I hadn’t been working on music until around November of last year. As I’m
sure you know, but your readers may not, right before Christmas of 2024, my husband just out of
the blue decided to commit suicide. It wax a normal day and we had gone out to lunch and he’d
gone into a separate part of the house to watch golf and I was making some phone calls. I went
out to tell him something and he was gone. I still have no idea why and probably never will, but I
definitely was not prepared to deal with all of that.
Later on, I broke my foot, which kept me from being able to do much of anything. I couldn’t fly
and I was supposed to play Rocklahoma but that was too much walking. I also had to have
several eye surgeries so the whole year was a mess. I’m just starting to come out of it and focus
on our music and getting some songs out.

Q: There is still a stigma with talking about mental health so I think that people can really
connect with your openness. Music is definitely a great way to connect.
A: Right! I already have a song out called “Survivor” because I’ve probably had PTSD since I
was a child, but back in the sixties they didn’t know. So, I was finally diagnosed with PTSD and
I wanted to do the song because it ‘s hard living with it. People with it are often referred to as
victims, but I say no, they’re survivors! Music is a great way to deal with a lot and listening to
the right song can lift you out of depression.
​
Q: Any final words?
A: Thank you so much for your support. Thanks for sharing or even liking my stuff because it
gets out to more people.