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Switchblade Symphony Breaks Industrial Rock's Gender Barrier

© Marianne Moro

It's been a long and fruitful road for Susan Wallace and Tina Root, collectively known as Switchblade Symphony. In nearly ten years together, they have paved the way for female industrial artists, and toured with big-name acts such as Sisters of Mercy, Type O Negative, Gary Numan and Front Line Assembly. They take the combination of cartoon innocence and somber imagery to a more refined level, than, say the over the top renegade wilderness of Marilyn Manson. Experimentation with trip-hop on "Bread and Jam for Francis" gave way to the slick, landscape of their newest CD "The Three Calamities". Taking their formal musical training, love of bands like Nina Hagen, Skinny Puppy and Tom Waites, and love of Gothic imagery, Tina and Susan have created a CD that should propel them on their way to a larger and more eclectic audience.

Like the wide-eyed subjects of a Keane painting dressed in blue PVC leather, Tina Root and Susan Wallace, the vocalist and keyboard player, respectively, of Switchblade Symphony create music that is a study in contrast, a combination of disparate elements that work so well together, the effect is totally natural.

The San Francisco based band recently released their third full length CD "Three Calamities" (Cleopatra Records) and just completed a club tour of the U.S. and Canada. I spoke with Tina & Susan before their show at Downtime in Manhattan this summer. Tina Root, the bubbly vocalist, performed in school and got her first taste of rock 'n roll playing bass in a boyfriend's band. Eventually, she gave up the bass and became the group's singer. Susan began her performing career in plays, did some modeling, and turned to music by singing in the school choir in junior high. Her first band experience was less than amiable, as the members of the electronic-dance group she joined told her that she'd never get anywhere. And where are these blundering psychics now? "I'm sure they're very happy working at Tower," Tina interjects. The first well-known female fronted band in the industrial realm, Tina and Susan met in 1989 when a mutual friend introduced them. "I was looking for a band, and she had just left a band," says Tina, "They knew us, and were like, "You guys really need to get together, you really need to talk on the phone!", so our first initial meeting was on the phone and we spoke to each other for eight hours straight."