Mississippi-based Indie duo Bark consists of Susan Bauer Lee (drums and vocals) and Tim Lee (Fender VI bass and vocals) who recently released their fourth album under that moniker, Loud, via a team up between their own label, Cool Dog Sound, and Dial Back Sound. Their musical history goes back even further, though, as both have toured with the Tim Lee 3 and Tim Lee has band histories with The Windbreakers, Mitch Easter’s Let’s Active and Swimming Pool Q’s. Tim Lee also published a memoir in 2021, I Saw a Dozen Faces…and I Rocked Them All: The Diary of a Never-Was.
For Susan and Tim, who are also a married couple, the period of creating the album Loud spanned a major move back to their home state of Mississippi, an uncertainty about songwriting following their hard-hitting 2019 album Terminal Everything, and also totally new recording circumstances, going in to work with Matt Patton at Dial Back Sound. All of those challenges led to a certain brisk new outlook that you might pick up on when you listen to the songs on Loud. I spoke with Susan Bauer Lee and Tim Lee about their voyage through those strange times and what they discovered along the way.
Does working on the album Loud span a long period of time for you?
Tim Lee: We made it about a year and a half ago, during the pandemic, which is a long time for us. Once it was done, and things settled down, we started making a plan to move. We’re originally from Mississippi, we were living in Knoxville, Tennessee, and now we’ve moved back to Mississippi. The move was a pretty big hassle.
Susan Bauer Lee: Yes, it was! [Laughs]
Tim: So we put everything on hold, and we finally got to it, but it’s aged well. We usually finish something and just put it right out, so it’s a little bit of a different process.
Susan: It’s unusual for us!
And a lot has happened in a year and a half, so it probably feels longer than it might.
Susan: It really does feel like that. Our last album came out before the pandemic, in 2019, and it’s unusual for us to go so long before putting out something. It’s been strange for everybody.
Speaking of which, I moved a couple years ago, and it was horrible, so I sympathize. I feel like being flexible and working with unpredictable circumstances is something we’ve all learned is key, but that doesn’t mean it’s all happy and fun. The person who’s still standing afterwards deserves a lot of credit, in music particularly.
Tim: That’s kind of been a running theme in our lives. I’ve been making records for 40 years, and there have been times I’ve stepped away from it, but after Susan got involved 20 years ago, it’s been pretty much non-stop. We’ve been through different permutations of bands, touring, and making records, but it was weird to have that big break in there without live music, even locally. It is a recurring theme, but we got something done in making this record.
When did you all start working with Dial Back Sound?
Tim: It’s a new collaboration between our label, Cool Dog Sound, and Matt Patton’s label, Dial Back Sound. We’ve gotten to know Matt, who produced the record, in the past few years, and Bronson [Tew], who engineered the record. They would come to our shows in Mississippi when we played and we got to know each other. They said, “We have a studio.”, so we came over and recorded.
Susan: We had actually recorded in that studio space before they bought it. We recorded as the Tim Lee 3 with Bruce Watson years ago.
Tim: We were familiar with it, and we liked Matt and had a rapport with him, so we decided to combine our efforts in putting this record out.
I’m familiar with other projects working through that studio, like Jerry Joseph’s, and damn, there are a lot of great artists there.
Tim: He’s being pretty prodigious over there. I’ve listened to pretty much all those artists, and they are all good!
Something that’s not always easy to come by is the freedom for an artist to reflect who they are in their work. Everyone there is really different in that way.
Susan: And they encourage that, too! They really foster that.
You all have played together for years, so is this record just the natural next step for you in terms of sound, or did you have particular ideas about how you wanted this collection to sound?
It’s probably more of a natural progression. The record previous to this one was called Terminal Everything, and it was very personal. It was written in the aftermath of losing parents, friends, pets, and fellow artists. It was kind of a heavy record. I don’t believe in making records that are reactions to your previous record, but I think when we finished that one, we said, “Well, damn! What would you possibly say after that?”
[Laughter]
I think I even told a friend, “I don’t know if I’ll write any other songs after that.” Because it just took so much from us to do that. But then the songs started coming along like they do. We had a handful before the pandemic that we were playing out. We were fortunate in that we have a rehearsal space in our house, so we could keep playing and working on material. We had time to work on the arrangements a little more, probably. The songs are all pretty simple Rock ‘n Roll songs, but we try to put a little more into the arrangement.
Listening to this collection, I got the feeling that there’s a freshness here that does feel like a next step, that feels like a different chapter. Maybe that has something to do with that mental break between the last album and this one. A new set of ideas arose naturally.
Susan: Yes, absolutely. I think when Tim admitted after the last album that he wasn’t sure that he would ever write another song, that sort of put a period or exclamation point on things. Going forward, unconsciously, it was like developing a new feeling or a new energy.
Tim: I think so. I think also the fact that we recorded with new people in a different space for this band impacted things. We had never worked with Matt, or Bronson, or Schaefer [Llana], who’s also involved, prior to that. That brings a whole new energy and vibe to what you’re doing. The first three or four Bark albums were made in the same way, which was great, and we intended to do the next one in the same way, but due to the pandemic, the studio wasn’t available.
We wanted to work with Matt anyway, but logistically it worked out. Those different personalities meant we had to figure out new ways to communicate, and I find that really exciting. For me, the recording is all about the people and how they interact, really, not about the equipment and the space.
Susan: Before, we were really comfortable, and this was throwing ourselves out of our comfort zone.
Tim: I love that kind of stuff! I never get tired of that. Our basic thing is pretty weird compared to most bands because we have drums and a bass VI, and that’s our thing. Other than a few keyboard embellishments, we didn’t really add more instruments. We added more backing vocals than on previous records, since that’s something that Matt really enjoys.
I feel like the vocals are super-important on these songs. Because you have a more stripped-down instrumental sound, the vocals really come forward to be about 50% of the composition. love the fact that you use duets in your vocals because it opens up the narrative possibilities for each song.
Tim: Bands like X, The Divine Horsemen, and Richard & Linda Thompson have been a big influence on us. Early on I wanted that. When Susan found her voice as a singer, it gave me the sound that I’d always wanted. My favorite vocal sound is a male and female vocal working off each other.
It sounds so easy, but I don’t think it is. I’m sure it’s a challenge that not everyone can handle. “Radar Luv” is a sweet and funny song, but also one that preserves its cool, in a way. I like all the comparisons.
Tim: Songs like that are really weird because it’s a simple Pop song with three chords, but as a songwriter, when a song like that comes to you, you kind of have to embrace it. If you are too serious about it, you won’t, because it’s a little heart-on-the-sleeve. Our friend Harvey says, “You gotta know when to turn off your give-a-shitter.” With songwriting, you have to ignore the “give-a-shitter” all the time or you’ll never put a song out into the world. This song is three chords over and over, but you tend to know when you’ve written something you think is good, and you have to trust that.
Susan: It told you what it needed!
Tim: And that’s the thing, a song should tell you what it needs. I think that song, also, without Susan’s vocals, wouldn’t be nearly as good. That song really needs both of us interacting.
Susan: Otherwise, it wouldn’t mean as much.
It’s got the amazing a cappella bit, with just the two of you. I wondered if you’d go there, and that was the extra mile.
Tim: We’ve never done that before, either! That just kind of came out of nowhere.
“James Robertson Must Turn Right” is pretty fascinating, because there’s a possible narrative in there, but it could be about a lot of things. Then, when it turns around and starts talking about music, that’s really powerful. I have to know the history of this song!
Tim: It’s a song that was written by David Olney, who was a friend of ours. He died on stage right before the pandemic. Weirdly, that afternoon, I happened to watch a live web thing he did at a songwriter’s festival where he played that song, which was new. And he died later that day. That song kind of stuck with me. We actually played with him just before the pandemic. We worked up that song and played it afterwards, and ended up recording it.
He told the story of that song when he did that webcast. He lived in Nashville and there was a James Robertson Parkway, and they were working on it, so there was a flashing sign up that said, “James Robertson Must Turn Right”. He put that down. How did he go from a flashing highway sign to that?
Susan: Because he’s a genius!
Tim: He was a genius, it’s amazing. I can’t speak to his other intentions, but it’s a fun song to play and sing. We split it up with the two vocals. We’ve played it in Nashville with his wife and daughter there, and they’ve appreciated it.
I’m sorry to hear that he’s passed. This is a really cool song, for sure. It suggests so much without saying it!
Susan: Yes, it does.
Tim probably gets asked about “Gutters of Fame” a lot since he’s commented on taking time out from the music industry in the past. But I’m wondering why you all wrote about it in this way at this time.
Tim: At the same time as we were writing these songs, I was writing a book, a memoir, called I Saw a Dozen Faces…and I Rocked Them All: The Diary of a Never-Was. There’s a chapter in there called “The Gutters of Fame” which basically talks about the music scene of the 80s and how all of the sudden, the major labels started buying in and co-opting everything. I think the line in there was, “We were all down there in the gutters of fame, waiting for all the money to roll down from Van Halen and Styx…” But I don’t remember if the song came first, or the chapter of the book. I actually think that song is kind of hilarious and funny. I guess it can be taken otherwise, but it cracks me up.
Susan: It’s hilarious! And it’s fun to play.
Tim: It’s just one we started playing and that’s how it came out.
I saw it as funny. I also really admired the economy of the songwriting. There are so many great images that are presented briefly but they are memorable. It’s almost like watching a movie, listening to that song. It’s a great volley fired at the illusions of grandeur.
Tim: I got hung up on “the interesting view, and they all had good shoes” thing. [Laughs] By the end of the song, I’ve got my own good shoes.
