It’s safe to say that Terre, Suzzy, and Maggie Roche are one of the most talented trios of sisters to grace contemporary music. Professionally, they simply go by The Roches, and since the late 70s they have quietly exerted their influence on several generations of songwriters and musicians.
Raised in a small suburb in New Jersey, the three women soon moved to NYC in the 1970s after an encounter with Paul Simon, who enlisted them to sing backup vocals for his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. Although the Roches were originally conceived as just the two eldest sisters, Terre and Maggie, it was not until Suzzy joined the group in the late 70s that they emerged as a potent force in the Greenwich Village folk circuit.
Thanks to their choir upbringing, the Roches’ most distinctive feature is their beautiful, pitch-perfect vocal harmony. The eldest sister, Maggie, has a rich, unusual contralto voice — it’s nearly a baritone — that anchors Terre’s soprano and Suzzy’s middle range. When their voices combine for a three-part harmony, the effect can be chilling. Musically, the group combines a number of eclectic influences, including church choir music, childhood songs, traditional and modern folk, and a knack for pop melodies and hooks.
In the late 70s and early 80s, The Roches released a number of widely acclaimed records, including 1979’s self-titled debut and 1982’s Keep on Doing — both produced by legendary King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp — as well as the 1980 full-length, Nurds (Warner). Throughout that fertile period, The Roches befriended and collaborated with some of NYC’s finest experimental musicians, including Fripp, Laurie Anderson, Phillip Glass, Television, and the Patti Smith Group.
But in the last ten years, these three songwriters have been busily pursuing their own independent careers. Both Terry and Suzzy have successful solo releases (Suzzy also has made a name for herself in stage and film acting), and Suzzy and Maggie have also released a pair of records together. Earlier this month, The Roches released Moonswept, their first proper album since 1995’s somber Can We Go Home Now.
This Saturday night, The Roches will perform at the State Theatre in celebration of Moonswept. The IT recently spoke with Suzzy, who divulged her secret wish to move to Ithaca one day, her love of Eminem, and the contested beginning of their working relationship with Robert Fripp.
Ithaca Times: What were some of your goals for Moonswept?
Suzzy Roche: We wanted to make a record that sounded like the way we play live, and with just a couple of little touches on it. We really wanted to feature our three voices. We wrote so many things, and they whittled it down to the ones that winded up being on the record. You keep writing, and you hope that something happens!
What is the songwriting process like between the three of you?
For this particular record, we really wanted to get a collaborative feel. Since we’ve each done our own solo projects, we wanted to really have a group feeling. I would write the lyrics and send them to Terre, and then she would write the tune, or I’d do the same thing to Maggie and vice versa.
And how did you choose which songs to cover?
Well, let’s see. On this record, we did “The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane,” a song from our childhood. It’s one of the first songs we ever heard, and we used to sing it. Paranoid Larry has a couple of songs on this record, and he’s a friend of ours and a songwriter in NYC. I particularly liked both of those songs, and I like that they’re different from our songs. Because we’re older, one of the things about doing a record now, is that I’ve written so many songs and “expressed myself,” so it’s nice to have other people’s points of view. We tried to look at the thing as a whole and make it balanced.
You’ve also had a successful career as a solo artist. How is that different from your role in the Roches?
For me, it’s extremely different. I made two solo records and that was in a period when I really wanted to go inside. It was a really great time for me, and I really concentrated on what I had to say. I’m a very good person in a group, but one of the things that happens when you work with other people is you can lose track of who you are. The past 10 years have been great. We were very busy doing other stuff, and to come back together now, well, we’ve all got a lot under our belts as individual people. And being sisters, we spent 20 years on the road together - we were attached at the hip - so it was good to get some space. (Laughs)
You have a very diverse repertoire.
We’ve done so many kinds of different records. We have so many records by now, that a lot of people are just familiar with one of them. I think the fans all expect something different, so it’s interesting. But that’s why we like to keep the show very versatile.
You’ve worked with some very experimental musicians. Have you felt that their approach was similar to yours in any way?
I feel like that I am totally in that world. I have worked with the experimental theater group The Wooster Group for many years. I consider myself definitely to be in that area. And I think the Roches’ music is very unusual, and part of that is because of the structure - three voices almost as a choir, people don’t really do that. It’s usually just one lead singer.
How did Robert Fripp end up producing records for The Roches?
(Laughs) Well, he claims that he came to see us play, and when he came up to us and approached us, we said that we had no time for him, and walked right by him and ignored him! (Laughs) I don’t remember that! John Rockwell was doing music reviews for the NY Times at that point, and he insisted that [Robert] go see us, and that’s how he happened to come see us. We worked together very well, we had a lot of fun with Robert. He was very, very strict and very, very crazy too. We had some wild, wild things going on with him, and also a very intense musical experience with him as well. (Laughs)
How significant was being a part of the folk community in Greenwich Village in the 70s?
We were, like, in the dregs of the folk thing, after bob Dylan left. And so it was kind of a wild wasteland at that time - a lot of weird things were happening down there. But I think, honestly, our real thing that happened to us happened to us when we were really little. We grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey in a very little town that was very conservative, but also very beautiful with a lot of woods.
Which did you learn first, how to sing or how to play an instrument?
Well, we were singing in choirs and then there were guitars brought into the house. There was a person on a public TV station who taught guitar, and we all learned how to play the guitar from that person. And in those days, no one had a guitar that we knew. I don’t even know why we got one! So we started learning little songs, and Maggie started writing songs and there was always the harmony singing going on.
How have you seen the NYC music scene change over the years?
Well, there are so many more people doing things now. It’s really amazing how many people are in bands. To me, it also seems a lot tamer. When we were younger it was just wild. There were hardly any women, and now there are millions of them! We love that. It’s so, so different now. Now with my daughter [Lucy Wainwright Roche], when I go to see her play, oh, it’s very civilized and I think it’s great! (Laughs) It’s a very nice turn of events. It’s a different generation. A lot of people can make their own music and make their own records because of technology, and they can get the word out about themselves and they don’t have to be picked up by a record company.
Back then, did you ever feel marginalized because you were female?
Absolutely. There’s no question about it. Time and time and time again, because we weren’t the “regular” four guys with a lead chick kind of thing. We were very unusual and people were always trying to get us to sound like a traditional male-based band.
Who are your musical heroes?
Well, Bob Dylan. Paul Simon. The Temptations. Smoky Robinson. And many, many women. Joni Mitchell, I suppose, is the queen. But there are so many people whom I hear and see. The beauty of somebody actually singing and playing their songs, I think it’s a beautiful thing and I really admire people who do it, because it’s very difficult. I still think that playing and singing a song by yourself is one of the hardest things that you can do.
Who are some younger musicians whom you think carry on in the tradition that The Roches participate in?
Maybe something like the Indigo Girls, I know they were fans of ours. And I think there are a lot of people who were influenced by us. But one person that I listen to a lot these days is Eminem. I find that I listen to him more than anybody. It’s probably surprising, but I think it’s so incredibly moving.
Reflecting back upon your career, is this where you thought you were going to be, or was all of this a surprise?
One of my biggest flaws was that I never look ahead. (Laughs) But I certainly never thought that I would be doing it for this long. I don’t know what I thought! But when we first started, I was so young. I was 19 years old when our first record came out, and I was on fire, and there was nothing stopping us. And once you get some quote unquote “success,” that just takes you on a ride and you wake up 10 years later, and you’re like, “What happened to me?” It’s a phenomenon that I’ve seen happen to many people, and it can really screw you up if you’re not careful.
Well, I hope you have a nice return to Ithaca!
You know, I always wanted to move to Ithaca. Quite seriously! I remember when I was in my twenties when we played there , I was thinking I would love to move here.