Susi Raith & die Spießer

Sounds of home from the Upper Palatinate

“Sometimes I’m a philistine, sometimes I’m a bon vivant, sometimes I’m sunshine, and sometimes I’m like sour wine.” When Susi Raith & die Spießer sing this in harmony, accompanied by light and airy major chords on guitar and ukulele, it sounds as easy, joyful, and full of enthusiasm as life itself can be. We are all just the way we are. Everyone has their rough edges, and everyone is a bourgeois sometimes. How simple. How liberating. How likeably human and at the same time musically top-notch.

Humorous stories

That’s how they are, Susi Raith and her Spießer. For almost 20 years, she sang as one half of the Raith Sisters, effortlessly switching between several pitches, sometimes powerful and concise, sometimes delicate and soft. Since 2019, they have been accompanied by three well-traveled multi-instrumentalists with diverse inspirations from classical, folk, pop, and rock music. Musicians with a passion, like herself, who can also sing in harmony and play a variety of instruments. In addition to keyboards, guitars, and bass, they also pluck the ukulele, swing the accordion, and play the drums.

In between, the four musicians enjoy sharing humorous anecdotes. The sound of their homeland, the Upper Palatinate, is clearly audible, but with a timbre all its own: sometimes with gentle melodies, but never kitschy! Sometimes poppy, sometimes driving rock and louder, but never noisy! Sometimes soulful, but never melodramatic, and mostly in dialect.

From everyday life to heartbreak

Guitarist and bassist Jochen Goricnik, the band’s rock representative, whom many know from the Ringlstetter Band, brings just the right touch of rock ‘n’ roll to his arrangements. All this is layered over the grounding yet light and airy soundscape that Sebastian Stitzinger creates with keyboards and accordion, over which he also sings a third voice with ease—and in the highest notes. Max Seelos, whose name is also known from bands such as Keller Steff, is the son of jazz legend Ambros Seelos and always provides the right groove.

They all contribute musically and with creative songwriting, sometimes pouring their hearts out in their lyrics, mourning heartbreak or gushing about the joys of love, rejoicing in a child’s smile in Nepal, commenting with a wink on everyday situations that everyone knows and that are simply annoying. One topic that is not covered in the songs is the much-sung-about Bavarian beer. The four prefer to drink it and dig a little deeper thematically.