Featuring Soraia...

ZouZou Mansour has seen a lot in her time, some of it good, some of it not so good. One thing she may be seeing very soon is the pay-off from a lot of hard work.

Mansour is the lead singer of the rock group Soraia, a Philadelphia-based outfit who, truth be told, ain’t doin’ too band right now but whose best days seem certain to lie ahead. At the heart of the band are and singer/lyricist Mansour and bassist/songwriter Travis Smith.

 

It has become almost routine for Soraia – not to be confused with the Columbian folk-rocker Soraya -- to have a “Coolest Song in the World” on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. 

  

The latest is “Electrocutioner,” a torrid blues-rocker that has Mansour belting out one of her best performances over similarly sizzling guitar work from Smith.

Garagerocktopia was lucky enough to chat with Mansour in a phone interview, and also hear from Smith via e-mail.

While we have to try, however lamely, to maintain something of a detached, professional journalism demeanor, it’s tough not to pump your fist as Mansour recounts how she and the band, in that great hardscrabble rock and roll tradition, has fought for every bit of recognition it has gotten. That notice is a direct result of a lot of hard work from songwriting to show, and by all appearances,  that toil looks to be paying off.

Raw power, but tempered with artistry, seem to be the thread that ties the musical instincts  of both Mansour and Smith.

“I loved Led Zeppelin and I loved grunge.” Mansour recalled, talking by telephone from Philly. “I loved anything with melody but had heavy chords. I also like any kind of raw, visceral music. I never looked to do a particular style – whatever influences I had affected what I wrote.”

Likewise, Smith cites punk, garage and especially the ‘60s British Invasion  -- genres known for powerful, hook-driven music -- as big influences.

“I'm just a caveman on guitar,” said Smith.  “I've always valued primal gut feeling over technicality when it comes to guitar and music in general.  I know what I like and what hits me right.

Good rock and roll can’t be blueprinted, though bless their hearts, the suits keep trying. But rock and roll is an art, and art means taking a stand, and if you think it’s right, standing by it. Smith knows this all too well.

“I've always rejected the notion of how things "should" be," Smith explained. “I'm steadfast in my conviction on that, which I think sometimes creates a little friction within the band.  But that's OK, in fact I think it's good.  When you don't pander to each other and you're sometimes forced to defend your position and your ideas or else acquiesce, it makes for better music.  We all have pretty varied backgrounds, both in music and just in life, but we come together and put the music above our individual selves.  We temper each other and ultimately work to serve the song.”

But the band also has sides far from Neanderthal. On the flipside of “Electrocutioner” is “Is It True?,” which harkens back to doo wop and girl groups like the Crystals, albeit in more muscular form

Being a rock and roll singer has been a lifetime ambition for Mansour, who recounted how, as a child, she was already ready to belt out some kick-ass rock and roll.

 

 

“I always wanted to be a singer,” Mansour revealed. “I have a video from when I was in second grade, dressed in a gown and singing. At 10, 11, or so I decided I really wanted to pursue it. I sent a tape to Columbia.”

If the label replied, Mansour reasoned, then she would be well on her way to watching herself on MTV. Alas, it turned out to be one of many lessons she would learn as a star student at the school of hard knocks.

“I really had no idea what I was doing,” Mansour admitted, “but I decided if they replied then I had what it takes. I picked up the drums and by the time I was a sophomore, I was in an all-girl band. But I still wanted to be a singer.”

Like so many would-be rockers around the world, Mansour found that certain bands and certain artists simply stirred something deep in her soul.

“I also loved Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, any singer whose music would be outlasting them,” said Mansour. “That was what affected me musically. I also loved artists like Joan Jett, Tina Turner, Pat Benatar, Suzi Quatro – they were the ones who made me want to be a singer.”

Like many rockers, Mansour admits to some personal challenges along the way. We won’t recount them here – that’s not really our focus here at Garagerocktopia, and if it means that much to you, you can find it elsewhere – Mansour is pretty open about that part of her life. But suffice to say, some of these walls that a lot of other rockers smacked into, well, Mansour smacked hard into them, too. 

Fortunately, through the turmoil Mansour was able to stand back up, dust herself off, and start chasing

what she really wanted to in life.

“Around mid-2004 I finally decided I wanted to be a in a band full time,” Mansour said. “I quit my day job and I decided I was really going to put my heart into it.”

As with most artists just starting, getting a stable lineup and a consistent sound took some time. Then, Mansour would connect with guitarist Joe Francia, and later, Smith, and the core of the band was finally set. Francia has since departed from the band.

 

 

“Joe and I formed the band,” recalled Mansour, “and Travis joined shortly thereafter. He’s the only person I’ve written with besides Joe. He has amazing riffs on which he bases whole songs. "Love Like Voodoo,” for example, started as a riff and we just built on to it. I love what he comes up with and I just respond. Something about his riffs and playing affects my ability to create lyrics.”

With the music finally taking shape, Soraia would bow in to the world at perhaps the mecca for cool music, CBGB in New York City. 

The band would be invited back many times, and along the way finally become something of a known quantity. Perhaps the band’s biggest break, though, would be in catching the ear of Little Steven.

“He heard a song we did called ‘Runaround,’ and later came to one of our shows, and he was impressed.” Mansour said.

It’s one thing to impress someone, but it’s another thing entirely if that someone is a respected musician and producer who not only offers to help you, but also has the expertise, the resume, a syndicated radio show and even a radio station. 

“I went to his studio in 2010 and he asked me to write some more songs, most of which became our album “In the Valley of Love and Guns” (which includes another one of the band’s Coolest Songs, “Love Like Voodoo”). He told us we have good songs, that he could make our live shows better. He also helped us rearrange and reproduce some of them, and later we put them on ‘Soraia Lives.’”

Mansour is not the first person we’ve interviewed here with Little Steven stories. The cool thing is, the others who’ve talked to him seem to think as highly of him as Mansour does, a stark contrast to the frequently reptilian characters that populate too much of the rock and roll biz.

“We spent time talking to him, and I didn’t expect anything to come of it,” Mansour admitted. “But he loves music and doesn’t have a weird hidden agenda like some people in the business, which is what I love about him.”

In late 2015, the band had yet another Coolest Song, a cover of the Kinks’ “(I’m Not) Like Everybody Else.” While most of the band’s shows have been on the East Coast, Soraia also seems to be branching out, having recently performed in Los Angeles with the great L.A. band the Muffs.

The syndicated version of LSUG airs world-wide, opening a lot of terrestrial stations to Soraia’s music. Other stations on Sirius/XM are picking up their music, further helping build an international following. But maintaining that level creates its pressures, too.

“Some stations in Canada and the UK have picked us up,” Mansour reports “We’ve gotten airplay in Peru plus we’ve had the “Coolest Song in the World” four times. All of that has made us realize that we have to keep putting good stuff out.”

While Mansour, at no point in the interview whines or complains, she acknowledges that being a female in front of a rock and roll band, even in this day and age, still brings with it a lot of nonsense that should have died a long time ago. For Mansour, though, it’s just another barrier to steamroll over.

 

“If Pat Benatar or Darlene Love hadn’t done this, I don’t know if I would have had the nerve to do it. But I don’t feel sorry for myself or entitled just because I’m a girl,” declared Manour “I just try to be more developed as an artist.”

“I’ve experienced a lot of the things Genya Ravan and others have experienced. I’m still growing as a human being, as an artist, as a singer and as a woman. I’ve been through some bad stuff personally, too, but I’ve learned from it all. You have to be sensitive to be a songwriter, but that sensitivity can be a handicap if it’s not tempered with some self-confidence.”

We have another great feature next week -- Eddie and the Hot Rods. Some say they were pub rock, others say they were the first real British punk band. In a way, we already had a feature on this band, as Headline Maniac are all current members.

We just say the Hot Rods were a great rock and roll band and the pigeonholing is unnecessary. Find out more about them next week as we talk to lead singer Barrie Masters.