Suzie Golding

What is your background and experience in the music industry?

My background in the music industry is more as an enthusiastic lover of music rather than in any professional sense. Professionally, I have worked on PR campaigns for Evolution festival in the past and also with the Pet Shop Boys on their production of Battleship Potemkin which took place a couple of years ago on the banks of the Tyne. Working at NewcastleGateshead Initiative for three years made these fantastic experiences possible.

But my love of music extends further back than any professional experience – from the moment I bought my first single (Jilted John) and saw Blondie on Top of the Pops in 1981, I was hooked. My hero-worship of Debbie Harry was spurred on by my granny remarking that she looked like her hair had been chewed off at the ends but to me she was glamour personified and the music wasn’t half bad either. A slight wobble in the early eighties of walking round a Gateshead housing estate with an Adam Ant white stripe should be forgiven but going to see The Mission and Fields of the Nephilim in my goth years definitely shouldn’t!

In the mid-eighties, I spent my formative years following a local band called Stik the Pig around various watering holes in Newcastle, getting up the courage to go into the Broken Doll pub to watch local punk bands and then graduating on to adopting local band Hug who almost made it as the ‘next big thing’. Now that I’m a grown-up, my tastes in music are much more varied and not as driven by fashion or friends as some of my earlier choices of band worship certainly were. My love of Northern Soul knows no bounds but I am equally enthusiastic about recent discoveries such as Santogold and TV on the Radio. I no longer feel I need to keep my love of great pop (Girls Aloud, Britney Spears) and soft rock (Fleetwood Mac) a secret and feel proud of the fact that I can pass on my own musical gems to my younger sister who has to share an office with me and often looks worried at the tunes that come on the radio and I declare as ‘genius’!

What is your connection to the North East?

As well as being born and bred here, I have spent my entire working life in the North East and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

What are you listening to at this exact moment? What are your favourite records released in the last 5 years?

At the moment I am listening to Fleet Foxes, MGMT, MIA and Cool Kids. Favourite records of last five years: Both MIA albums White Stripes - Elephant Girls Aloud - Chemistry

What are your favourite records released in the last 20 years?

Beastie Boys - Ill Communication Annie – Anniemal The La’s The Futureheads Hole – Celebrity Skin Nirvana – Nevermind Pixies – all of their albums Guns n Roses – Appetite for Destruction Every Kanye West album

Which projects are you currently working on outside of Generator?

Lots of public consultation & PR work for companies including Tesco, the NHS and Newcastle City Centre Partnership

What is your favourite live music venue in the North East?

Depends on the type of music – for anything where you want to move around and dance, it has to be the Academy. Otherwise for excellent sound quality it’s The Sage Gateshead.

Favourite Live Music venue in the UK?

It would have to be the now defunct Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle – it holds so many great memories for me.

Best live music show that you’ve ever seen?

This is a tough one. For sheer drunken tomfoolery and brilliant atmosphere it would have to be Black Grape at Newcastle University Students Union many years ago

Best place to discover new artists?

BBC6 music is fantastic for hearing new stuff. I’m not a great Myspace user. I have lots of friends who are also really into their music who will often recommend an artist to me.