Note from Susan:
For all the listeners of RCB who read this interview, I would like to say that in answering Dan's questions regarding my spirituality, I pose no doctrine and force no opinions on anybody - I simply offer up the view I see on my particular path up the mountain we all climb.

Dan: Susan, I imagine that the people who purchase your records and see your shows have some awareness of the deep spirituality you speak of in your lyrics. What about those who might not understand what "glittering cities' (etheric?) are, or "galactic command"? Does your audience know of what you mean, or is it in the music itself?
Susan: The etheric body is the energy field matrix closest to the physical body and it contains the formative forces that implement our growth. Just as we all have an etheric body, so does the great living, concious being called planet Earth. Existing alongside the formative forces working into the Earth's surface, there are 'events' and 'places' held in the the Etheric field.   We are familiar with the great monuments of ancient civilization preserved here on the physical plane... in that finer substance called the Earth's Ether there exist magnificent places held in a high state of preservation. In many traditions of spiritual writing there are references to these scintillating, shimmering cities, and if you can "rise into their realm", your being will be truly transformed by the beauty beheld. To reach such a place, I know of only two ways. Either by prolonged prayer, meditation and abstinance, or on rare occasions when an extreme crisis occurs during the early days of meditative practice, you can find yourself pitched unexpectedly into this "radiating splendour". For me words are too limiting to describe my impressions of a Glittering City, so it was imperative that I put them to music to sonically protect and hold the experience in the physical.
In answer to your question "Does your audience know of what you mean?", yes, I believe everyone knows of what I mean, but whether they have mined that knowledge within themselves yet is a question only they can answer. Many people who have listened to songs like "Glittering Cities" and "Lake" on the CD have experienced memories that, up until then, had remained hidden for years, many too have felt the sting of tears prick their eyes....it took tears to write them. However, I wouldn't like anyone to run away with the idea that my musical career is one of unabated blubbing and carrying on! There was an exquisite sense of the ridiculous pervading the control room and much roaring of laughter throughout the recording of this album. Balance in all things is worth striving for!
With reference to "Galactic Command"... I receive with ease many of the theories  posed regarding higher intelligences existing in space and their ability to manifest in the physical to guide humanity. I find the many pieces written about our long history with the star Sirius particularly compelling, especially those  written by Robert Temple. Even if I were to look through the sceptic's lens I would say "To completely ignore the possibility of such matters is to miss out on a first-rate imaginative adventure!"

Dan: Steffe is heard on the glissandro guitar, on my favorite track, "Saturn". How did choosing that instrument for this recording come to pass, and how was it ultimately arranged? It sounds marvelous!
Susan: Steffe is a master of improvisation, having played with Gong and Here And Now for many years, his glissando guitar playing has always moved me. When he heard "Saturn" in its voice and 12-string form, he immediately connected with the lyric's spatial dynamic. He took a simple steel knife out of his guitar case and began to slide and vibrate it on the strings.... his sound sonically clothing the words with a depth and a sense of cosmic distance that amplified, with great empathy, the intent behind the lyric. The phsycological lesson for anyone approaching Saturn astrologically is 'to endure', Steffe understands endurance.

Dan: Another question re "Saturn": What is being referenced in these lyrics?: "And we all came tumbling down in time/Here we are on the bottom line/Hello hello where ever you are....."
Susan: The question being asked here is one that has been posed since the beginning of time and one that will continue to be until the end , I guess..When the ONE, the Ultimate Dynamic, decided to breathe out and observe Itself by exploding into a myriad of glittering fragments... you and I were born and we've been "tumbling down" through space and time taking on form and expression ever since. Existing as we do now in the dense form of the human body, we recognise the yearning to return to the ONE by searching (and fearing) the ONE in each other... "hello, hello wherever you are, I send you my love from near and far..."

Dan: Is the subject of spirituality the constant in your study of music, or is this something relatively different for you?
Susan: It is present in varying degrees throughout my songwriting.

Dan: What can we look forward to from you and your band in 2002-2003?
Susan: A new album in Spring 2003.

Dan: Tell our audience more about your live performances.
Susan: At present my performances are a mixture of singing to backing tracks and performing solo. Some of my most fulfilling and successful gigs have been as a solo artist with my Martin 12-string under a single spotlight starting from silence. To reproduce tracks like "Stack your Guns", "Glittering Cities" and "Saturn" live with a full band is a task that calls for substantial funding, as yet this is still to come.

Dan: How did you happen to link with David Rhodes for "Stack Your Guns"?
Susan: I worked with David Furguson, the British film music writer, on his Random Hold project. David Rhodes played guitar for Random Hold before joining Peter Gabriel. He is a highly intuitive and sensitive player and no wonder Peter Gabriel continues to work closely with him... he's the best!

Dan: Have you ever toured the US or do you plan to? In the light of what took place on 9/11/01, has that question ever come up for you?
Susan: The events of 9/11 have not and would not have any bearing on my decisions to travel. As yet I have't played in the US.. it's something I truly look forward to.