Last Tuesday, to celebrate the release of Under the Covers, Vol. 2, the latest collaboration between Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, we offered up the Popdose Interview with Mr. Sweet, wherein he responded to the questions of you, the Popdose readership. We also promised you that, come the following Tuesday, you’d get the chance to find out what his partner in crime had to say to your queries.
Well, my friends, the time has come.
Say hello to the doe-eyed mistress of the Rickenbacker, Ms. Susanna Hoffs:
Popdose: Well, I talked to Matthew the other day, and I don’t know if he told you or if you heard from the folks at Shout! Factory, but these will be exclusively reader questions.
Susanna Hoffs: Oh, that’s always fun!
Well, let’s get rolling, then! I’ll go ahead and start with the Sid ‘n’ Susie questions, and after that, we’ll head into the questions about your solo stuff and the Bangles.
Great!
* Was there a nugget that you both loved and wanted to record for the new album but didn’t because the song was just too obscure?
Let me think about that. (Hesitates) No, because I would have to say that we recorded things that we were just sort of intrigued with or loved in a certain way. Like, we recorded “Marquee Moon”! (Laughs) There are some bonus tracks that you’ll start to see materializing, but I’m not sure how they’re planning to release them. But we just sort of went with our hearts. We didn’t really question whether something was known or unknown.
I’ve heard “Marquee Moon,” thanks to Shout! Factory. Matthew had talked about it and really played it up, but it lives up to his claims.
Okay, great! So did Matthew answer the same questions, or are they all different questions?
Well, the ones that were addressed to both of you, I asked him and I’ll ask you as well, but you each have your own individual questions about your respective careers, too.
Oh, okay!
* Has there been a song that you really wanted to cover but that you couldn’t make work and therefore had to abandon?
Well, we recorded, like, close to 40 songs, and we recorded more than ended up on the first record as well. Sometimes we would take on something that was difficult, and we would surprise ourselves and go, “Wow, that worked!” Like, say, “I’ve Seen Good All People / Your Move,” by Yes. (Laughs) It’s a pretty difficult song to take on! And there were others that were good but, at the end of the day, it was just so difficult picking which songs should go on the record. It was kind of, in some ways, more about trying to find some kind of continuity, even though there isn’t any specific thread or theme to the songs. Somehow they just kind of went together. We recorded “More Than A Feeling,” which is a pretty daunting song to take on, and we recorded “Venus and Mars.” We recorded some pretty epic songs! (Laughs) But it was just a question of…I don’t know, it was just tough picking the songs. We were both dreading that moment. And at first, we thought we could put 20 songs on, but then we were told that that wasn’t going to work. We wanted to make a double record, but we ended up with 16 tracks. But it was fun. Everything we recorded, we enjoyed the process. It’s really been fun doing these cover records.
Here are some fun facts about singer-songwriter Jules Shear:
It’s amazing, the things a guy can learn even at my advanced age. The real treat for me, in slapping together this (too)-long-running series – which already has examined hits from the 
It’s your third album. You’ve written and performed songs that recall the best tunes from simpler, more fun times, yet they reveal true songwriting talent and a desire to do more than flog the studio gimmick of the moment. You’ve also somehow found yourself working with pop-music gurus Mike Viola and Adam Schlesinger. If all of this strikes you as oddly familiar, you might just be Kelly Jones, and at this moment Popdose is catching up with you.
