Musician Susan Hwang is… interesting. — Photo courtesy of the artist

Seated among excessive waterfalls, unnecessary brick, and authentic fake plants, I had the pleasure of talking to Susan Hwang, a talented singer/songwriter whom you may find hosting or singing at Goodbye Blue Monday or Northeast Kingdom on many an evening. Susan is involved with a few collaborative projects, including the ever-quirky Debutante Hour and her own solo career. Last week, we chatted a bit about the recession; her accordion; her running series, the Bushwick Book Club, at GBM; and zombies. And then we got up and left.

In your songs, you seem to have this fixation on zombies.

Oh no, I hate zombies. I’m horrified of them…I hate horror movies, and avoided them for most of my life. I wrote those songs because my friend was doing this sort of horror show, and she asked me to write a few songs about zombies, and I’m like…yeah, sure I’ll write three songs about zombies, knowing absolutely nothing about zombies. So I watched the movies and learned all about them. But I could always relate to the sense of doom that they brought. That’s when I first started writing about narrative…It’s only a matter of time before they get you.

So some of your songs are not about zombies, some of them are about feelings and love and are very good.

It was always a mixture. I started writing songs of my own when I got out of my first band, and one song was basically telling a story about one of my roommates who, when she was a kid, she dropped her ice cream, and her father saw her get on her hands and knees and licked it off the sidewalk. That kind of love of food was something to write about. And that might have been funny, but there’s always something serious in them, you know?

I know.

I like to give people the option to take a song seriously or not.

And so you do this thing called The Bushwick Book Club, which is sort of a quintessential nerd event. Tell me about how it started.

I lost my job last year, was living off unemployment, and I started doing some PR stuff on the side for Goodbye Blue Monday, and was trying to figure out something that would draw a good crowd in there. First we thought about having people perform original songs based on movies, but movies already have their own songs. So then there were books.

Books could definitely use a soundtrack.

Right. So I ran it by Pete and he was like, “sure.” There are still a few people like that. People were immediately enthusiastic about it. Sometimes writing a song is the most terrifying thing you can do, so committing to writing a song for the end of the month is a great sort of thing. You wanna do it?

Sure.

Cool.

So you perform in a lot of places, but you perform a whole lot in Bushwick. Why Bushwick?

I think there are so many musicians in the neighborhood that will really come out when you perform. I love playing at Northeast Kingdom, you don’t have to worry about technical anything there, and it’s always a great crowd.

Anyone you like to perform with here?

Tribal Town Center. I just really like their music. [Teta] is a really good performer. And Toby Goodshank. They’re both playing Jan. 12 with my piano teacher. He’s in a band called 101 Crustaceans. They are also amazing. You’ll be there, right?

Of course. Oh wait…I have a thing on Tuesday. Oh wait, no I don’t.

Oh great! I also play accordion with Ching Chong Song. Their music is so beautiful…I have to overlook their [politically incorrect] name.

So back to the Bushwick Book Club.

Yes. We are putting together a compilation of last year’s stuff. From the Bible, to The Unbearable Lightness of Being…it was an incredible year worth of stuff. Like 50 songs worth. Which is insane.

That is pretty insane.

Seriously.

Have you ever used your accordion as a weapon?

I was in Italy touring with a friend, and some teenage boys came up to us and made a loud noise in my ear, and I hate loud noises, so I chased him with my accordion, playing louder and louder, and I pretty much scared him away. It wasn’t one of my prouder moments.

That’s the thing about instruments, they hurt.

Nobody plays pillows.

I noticed there’s a Hip Hop Book Club coming up. What’s the deal?

There’s an awesome dude named Kid Lucky…he does storytelling and beatboxing, all at the same time. He did the book club in August and I thought it would be an awesome idea to do an all-hip hop version of the show. We haven’t decided on a book, but it will definitely be all hip hop. I don’t really rap, but there’s no time like next month.

So how are you spending your days now?

I’m recording an album, mastering the compilation for BBC, planning out the next few shows, performing. Things are busy.

That’s good. The recession is giving everyone more free time.

I guess so. If there was no recession, there would probably be no Bushwick Book Club.

Susan Hwang (for Bushwick Book Club), “A Yarn (Potato)”

You can see Susan this January 12 in the NEK Den. Bushwick Book Club is on the first Tuesday of every month at Goodbye Blue Monday. And yes, I will be performing.