Suze DeMarchi: Baby Animals, Early Warning and One Word | Ultimate Aussie Pub Rock Reunion

Why fans still care

The debut album Baby Animals went to number 1 in Australia and was ARIA’s number 2 album of 1992. More than 35 years after the band formed, she is still on the road with Baby Animals, and One Word is still the song the crowd waits for.

Early life

She grew up in Perth and cut her teeth in the city’s pubs with her first band, Photoplay.

Career chapters

1. Early 1980sPhotoplay in Perth
2. Mid 1980sa record deal takes her to London
3. 1989forms Baby Animals back in Australia
4. 1990Baby Animals support The Angels on tour
5. 1991debut album Baby Animals reaches number 1
6. 1992ARIA Album of the Year and Breakthrough Artist – Album
7. 1993Shaved and Dangerous debuts at number 2; US tour with Robert Plant
8. 1999solo album Telelove
9. 2008acoustic album Il Grande Silenzio
10. 2013This Is Not the End
11. 2015solo covers album Home
12. 2025Ace of Spades cover

London mid 1980s

A record deal took her to London. By her own account she worked with Steve Lillywhite and Simon Climie and recorded at studios including Abbey Road. She has said she pushed back when the label wanted pure pop.

Forming Baby Animals 1989 to 1990

Back in Australia in 1989, she formed Baby Animals with guitarist Dave Leslie, bassist Eddie Parise and drummer Frank Celenza. John Woodruff, manager of The Angels, took them on and signed them to Terry Ellis’s Imago label. In 1990 they supported The Angels, fronted by Doc Neeson, Who’s Who number 4, on tour, and Leslie called it the band’s big break.

The debut and the big tours 1991 to 1992

They recorded the debut in New York with producer Mike Chapman. Baby Animals came out in 1991 and went to number 1 in Australia. The band toured with Van Halen and Bryan Adams, and in 1992 the album won ARIA Album of the Year and Breakthrough Artist – Album. ARIA’s year-end chart put it at number 2 for 1992.

Shaved and Dangerous 1993

The second album, Shaved and Dangerous, came out in August 1993 with producer Ed Stasium. It debuted at number 2, and the band toured the US with Robert Plant.

Solo work 1999 to 2015

Her solo album Telelove earned a 1999 ARIA nomination for Best Female Artist. In 2015 she released Home, an album of covers with guests including Jimmy Barnes, Who’s Who number 14, Diesel, Tex Perkins and Russell Morris.

Back with Baby Animals 2008 onwards

Baby Animals released This Is Not the End in 2013. In 2019 the band toured with The Angels again on the They Who Rock tour, and in 2025 they released a cover of Motörhead’s Ace of Spades.

Craft, sound and style

The writer

She is the band’s main lyricist and trades song ideas with Leslie. “I love heavy guitar based music but I’m really a pop writer,” she has said.

The sound

She liked dirty guitars and the odd mistake, while the rest of the band chased precision. Looking back, she said: “When grunge happened, we were too polished.”

Stories people still tell

1. The Angels crowds.

   She has described the 1990 support tour as a trial by fire, with chicken wire across the front of the stage at Revesby Workers.

2. One Word.

   She first thought the demo sounded like a country song. Now she calls it “such a crowd pleaser”.

Legacy

Baby Animals is a female-fronted hard rock album that went to number 1 and won ARIA Album of the Year. She is in the WAM Hall of Fame, alongside fellow West Australians including Bon Scott and the Farriss brothers. Baby Animals are still touring and working on a new album.