Kiss Me

Can't we all just get along?

 

1999

 

November 3

Veruca Salt Set Dates On A Mini Tour

Louise Post and company will showcase reminiscent songs and preview new material on this short mid-west tour. Hopefully more dates will be added. Don't forget Los Angeles!

12/02/99...High Dive ...Champaign, IL
12/03/99...Copper Dragon...Carbondale, IL
12/05/99...Gabe's Oasis...Iowa City, IA
12/08/99...Piere's...Fort Wayne, IN
12/09/99...Heartland...South Bend,IN
12/31/99...Easton Town Center ...Columbus, OH
Source: Pollstar

 

October 31

Onetime Indie Rocker, Nina Gordon, Take Chance On Lush, Heartfelt Pop

Ex-Veruca Salt Singer/Songwriter Makes Risky - and Revelatory - Musical Move.
One of the best albums I've heard this year won't even be released until sometime in 2000. I'm talking about the debut solo LP from former Veruca Salt guitarist and singer/songwriter Nina Gordon.

I've been listening to the disc, Tonight and the Rest of My Life, since July. It's a beautiful pop CD, and at first that really threw me for a loop.

I was expecting a rock album from Gordon.

Veruca Salt were an indie band out of Chicago whose awesome debut, American Thighs, was produced by Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Ben Lee). Their big hit was "Seether" which Gordon wrote.

When I hung out with the band back in '95, shortly after "Seether" had put them on the map, Gordon impressed me as a real rocker. She played a Gibson SG guitar and played Keith Richards to Louise Post's Mick Jagger.

I dug Gordon's and Post's vocals, but for some reason I never thought of Gordon as a real singer. She was a rocker who sang. But with Tonight and the Rest of My Life, she reveals herself to be a noteworthy vocalist, who can convincingly deliver big pop songs along with a few rockers ("Black and Blonde") that are reminiscent of her contributions to American Thighs.

The new record reminds me of the best work by the Bangles and the Go-Go's, "girl groups" that delivered a female take on mid-'60s Beatles-esque pop. But Gordon's album is more lush. Bob Rock, known for his work with Metallica and Aerosmith, produced the disc (he also produced Veruca Salt's second — and underrated — album, Eight Arms to Hold You.)

Songs such as "Hold On to Me" are intimate love ballads ("When we're apart I still feel together/ I still believe in a thing called forever/ But we're drifting apart it's true/ And it's breaking my heart in two") that are loaded with hooks.

On the page, those lyrics may look clichéd, but like a paramour delivering the words "I love you," Gordon makes them sound as if they're being voiced for the first time.

She wrote the songs shortly after breaking up with both a boyfriend of four years and her best friend, Louise Post, with whom she had formed Veruca Salt in 1991. "I was totally dealing with leaving the band when I was writing this album," Gordon told SonicNet Senior Writer Gil Kaufman earlier this year.

"I was feeling a lot at that time. I had a lot of feelings," she continued. "And I had to somehow deal with them. I know it's a cliché, but you take those feelings and do something productive with them, although you don't realize ... that you're doing something productive — you're just reaching for something that might console you."

Much of the album is about dealing with the end of a relationship. "It feels like a movie," she sings, " 'cause I've done something heavy and now I'm all alone and you know I like it ... / What's done is done/ I can't blame anyone but me."

Some may look at Gordon's pop move as a betrayal of her alternative credentials. I don't see it that way. The Beatles were, at one time, both the biggest band in the world and one of the most creative. They made music that both mattered and reached an audience. Gordon has grown up, and so has her music. The safe thing to do would have been to make a raw, indie album. With Tonight and the Rest of My Life she takes chances, and the result is something to behold.

The LP closes with the moody rocker "Hate Your Way," a kind of hate song to a former lover. It's also a highlight of the album. "I hate your way/ I don't care what you say/ I hate your way/ I don't care/ And I'm only half there/ So I don't care ... / They can cut me down 'til I'm the talk of the town/ I'm a fool for you/ Had to sell my soul/ But you were so rock 'n' roll/ I'm a fool for you ... / I hate your way/ A little more every day/ I hate your way/ A little more/ And I could leave but what for/ A little more."

Source: SonicNet

 

September 13

Veruca Salt Gets Help From Beyond

Louise Post, a.k.a. Veruca Salt, has signed to the Beyond label (home to the likes of Mötley Crüe, Blondie, Yes, and Sponge), which will be releasing the group's next album early next year.

According to a management spokesperson, Post and her new band are currently finishing up four new tracks and will be mixing the new album at the end of this month or early next month in Chicago, again with Post's beau, former Filter member Brian Liesegang, at the controls.

A single is expected out in December, although the song has yet to be determined. Also on the drawing board is a short November tour to debut the new members: drummer Tasty Jimmy Madla, guitarist Steve Fitzpatrick, and backup singer Suzanne Soke. The spokesperson told MTV News that these plans could change, however, as the group's priority is to wrap up recording.

Source: MTV Online

 

September 10

Veruca Salt Return with New Label, New Album, New Look

Sole original member Louise Post takes Veruca Salt to Beyond
Louise Post thought long and hard about dumping the name Veruca Salt and resuming her career with a new band. "I got good advice from my former lawyer and another manager, and they said you've got to be crazy not to use the name," she says. "I wanted a discography, multitude of records. I felt like I had to honor this name and the life of this band. I'd feel like it was aborted mid-flight if we were to end it."

Post is the only person left from the Veruca Salt that yielded alterna-hit "Seether" and its sequel of sorts, "Volcano Girls." The last original member, singer-guitarist Nina Gordon, left the band in March '98 to pursue a solo career.

The new band will soon sign a new record deal with Beyond Records that will make Post not only a client, but an executive with the opportunity to create her own label. "I feel like basically I've been given a whole new and wonderful life," Post says.

The new album, which Post says is not a big departure from previous Veruca Salt material, still has no title -- although The Bitch Is Back is rumored to be a strong contender. The band (guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick, bassist Suzanne Sokel and drummer Jimmy Madla) will finish up the record next month in a Chicago recording studio, head out on the road in November for four to six weeks, release a first single in December and come back with the album early next year. Boyfriend and former Filter member Brian Liesegang is co-producing the effort with Post. Post says the hardest adjustment with respect to the group's new alignment was learning to do all the songwriting. "It was awkward in that I was so used to referring to three others' strong opinions," she says.

Today, Post says she maintains a cordial relationship with former members of Veruca Salt and recently bumped into Gordon on the street. "I think about her and the development of the band every day," Post says, "and in certain ways I want to stay true to the vision of what she had, but there were reasons why we split up and I have to respect that too."

Source: Rolling Stone

 

August 5

Nina Gordon album delayed

As posted on the "Saltshaker" site, Anne has posted a modest review of Nina's first Lilith Fair show and the somewhat official announcement of the delay of her album. Nina herself told Anne that it will not be out until January 2000.

Source: Saltshaker

 

July 18

Pop Eye: Small Faces

Former Urge Overkill frontman Nash Kato is at work on his first solo album, Debutante, due in February. Josh Freese (part of the new Guns N' Roses lineup) is drumming and Veruca Salt's Louise Post has done some background vocals.

Source: Los Angeles Times

 

June 29

Veruca Salt: New Band, New Look, New Label

Veruca Salt's Louise Post will be returning this fall with a new band, a new label, and a new look: the dark-haired singer has gone platinum blonde. Post, the last remaining original member of the group, is continuing on under the Veruca Salt banner following the departure of co-star Nina Gordon in 1998. The singer told MTV News on Tuesday that the third Veruca Salt LP is now finished (with the exception of a few minor overdubs) and it should be out at the end of the year.

According to Post, the group's new songs include "Officially Dead," "Yeah Man," "Bombshells And Pin-Ups," "Pretty Boys," "Wet Suit," "Used To Know Her," "Imperfectly," "The Same Person," "Hellraiser," "Best You Can Get," "Disconnected," and "Born Entertainer." She declined to reveal the title of the upcoming album.

The bulk of the recording was done at Gravity Studios in Chicago with partner Brian Liesegang (Ashtar Command, ex-Filter), who also co-wrote several of the new tracks, at the controls. Other tracks were recorded in Liesegang's home studio. Musicians on the album include drummer Jimmy Madla (a.k.a. Tasty Jimmy or Tasty J) as well as guitarist Steve Fitzpatrick, who played with Post on a song cut for the soundtrack to "The Avengers." Matt Walker (ex-Filter, Smashing Pumpkins, currently in the Cupcakes) makes guest appearances on three songs, and Eric Remschneider (who has played with the Pumpkins and Hole) provides some cello. Former Triple Fast Action bassist Kevin Tihista also helped out, as did former Failure drummer Kelly Scott. Post is also currently putting together a new set of back-up musicians at home in Chicago. According to her co-manager, Pete Riedling, Post's live band will most likely include Madla, Fitzpatrick, and a female back-up vocalist.

Meanwhile, Post is temporarily without a label, but she told MTV News she is being courted by several and expects to sign a new deal in the very near future. She takes exception to reports that say she had been dropped by her old label, Outpost, and sets the record straight in a message on a Veruca Salt fan site called "The Saltshaker." "The fact is, my management advised me to request departure from this new corporate conglomerate with my most recent masters in hand -- a request that was, thankfully, granted," Post explained in her message. She added that none of the Geffen personnel who previously represented her had survived the label's merger with Interscope. "They all either jumped ship before it hit the iceberg, or were unceremoniously canned via video," wrote Post, adding that she is now a free agent and the owner of "the best music I have ever made."

In her message to "The Saltshaker," Post also revealed that the new album will include "a collection of songs coming straight from my life and my heart, undiluted by the unavoidable clutter and complications of collaboration." She added that she is "carrying the V.S. torch in the spirit for which it was originally intended." The departed Gordon, meanwhile, is set to release her solo album, "Tonight And The Rest Of My Life," on Outpost in August.

Source: MTV Online

 

June 16

Louise Post Explains It All

Ms. Post wrote to The Saltshaker, a Veruca Salt fan site where she discussed her defunct contract and the future of her band. Visit the link for exclusive news.

Source: Saltshaker

 

May 3

Ex-Veruca Salt Leader Finds Consolation On New Album

From the ashes of failed relationships and the breakup of her band, Nina Gordon builds a record all her own.
Just when everything seemed to be falling apart in Veruca Salt co-founder Nina Gordon's life, it all came together. Within a two-week period last year, Gordon said she broke up both with her boyfriend of four years and with her best friend and bandmate of six years,Veruca Salt singer/guitarist Louise Post. But from the dissolution of her group sprang a new era in her musical career.

"I was totally dealing with leaving the band when I began writing this album," Gordon, 31, said of her upcoming solo debut, Tonight and the Rest of My Life, due in August. "I was feeling a lot at that time. I had a lot of feelings, and I had to somehow deal with them. I know it's a cliché, but you take those feelings and do something productive with them, although you don't realize ... that you're doing something productive -- you're just reaching for something that might console you."

Gordon said she did what came naturally when she had to deal with the sudden March 1998 breakup of the popular rock band: She holed up in her Chicago apartment with a guitar, a practice amp and a notebook, and she began writing songs. "The first couple of months the songs I wrote were really intense and really heavy," Gordon said. "Then I started to loosen up a bit and started feeling good and I wrote some pop songs."The result is an album produced by Bob Rock (Metallica, Mötley Crüe) that is a mix of the kind of hard-rocking songs Veruca Salt mined on their final album, 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You, also helmed by Rock, and some of the more downbeat hard-pop songs written in the post-Veruca Salt period.

In addition to the title track, Gordon said the album features her pick for the first single, "Horses in the City," as well as "2003" and "Hate Your Way," which she described as "just a slow and driving and heavy ... not-very-up song about hate. I guess hate songs do pretty well, but I don't want to tread on [Marilyn] Manson's territory."

Tonight and the Rest of My Life was recorded at Rock's Maui, Hawaii, studio over a five-month period beginning late last year and features a number of ex-members of the Boston pop band Letters to Cleo. In addition to LTC drummer Stacy Jones (who was the drummer in Veruca Salt prior to the breakup), the album features LTC guitarist Michael Eisenstein, ex-Veruca Salt drummer and Gordon's brother Jim Shapiro on guitar, and L.A. producer and session musician Jon Brion on a variety of keyboards and guitar. The album also features keyboard assistance from John Webster, who Gordon was proud to say had played a solo on Aerosmith's hit "Janie's Got a Gun." "I love that song," Gordon said of the Aerosmith hit, "and I worked with Bob again because when you drive up to his house, his mailbox says 'Rock.' This is where they deliver the rock!"

More seriously, Gordon said she decided to work with Rock a second time because of the bond they formed during the making of Eight Arms to Hold You. "When I realized I'd be doing a solo record it was a dream to work with him and have him play the role he wanted to play in Veruca but because there was four strong personalities he couldn't." Gordon first joined forces with guitarist/singer Post in 1991. Veruca Salt (named for a character in the children's classic "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") first climbed onto the national stage in late 1994, after word-of-mouth adulation for their hard-pop, Brad Wood-produced (Liz Phair) debut, American Thighs, prompted DGC to sign the band and re-release the album.

They rose to stardom after the Gordon-penned "Seether" gained wide exposure on MTV. The band announced its split in March 1998, following a tour in support of Eight Arms to Hold You. With both Gordon and Post in virtual seclusion since the break up of VS, fans said they were excited for anything new from the band's members. Brianna Jenkins, 17, of New York said she's been waiting forever to hear what Gordon, her favorite of the two, will do on her own.

"I am not even going to try to underestimate her versatility, but I'm thinking of some pretty and melodic buttery ballad type things, mixed in with some loud and dauntless headache rock songs," Jenkins wrote in an e-mail. "All of them catchy of course, but that goes without saying." Although the singer said fans of Veruca Salt's mix of AC/DC-style rock and hard-edge power pop will recognize that style in such new songs as "Like It Happens Every Day," "Now I Can Die," "Got Me Down" and especially the full-on rocker "Black and Blonde," Gordon said recording a solo album allowed her to stretch her sound in ways Veruca Salt didn't.

"In a band you have to make compromises," Gordon said, alluding to some of the tensions that broke up Veruca Salt. "And on this album we've been able to experiment with a bunch of different things I don't think either one of us has ever been able to do because there's been so many strict rules of a rock band.

"When you're in a band where there has to be guitar on every song because there are two guitar players in the band that want to play guitar. And there has to be backing vocals because there are two singers who want to be singing. It's kind of nice to just be like, 'Maybe this song doesn't need guitar.'"

Source: SonicNet

 

Nina Gordon Joins The Lilith Fair Tour

April 27

Lilith Fair founder Sarah McLachlan, accompanied by Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks, and Beth Orton held a press conference at Irving Plaza in New York City to announce the lineup and tourdates for the upcoming and possibly the last Lilith tour. Surprisingly, Nina Gordon is scheduled to perform at the side stage on five east coast dates. It is rumoured that she'll play solo with an acoustic guitar.

August 1...Finger Lakes P.A.C....Canandaigua, NY
August 3...Tweeter Center for the Perf. Arts...Mansfield, MA
August 4...Meadows Music Amphitheatre...Hartford, CT
August 6...Jones Beach Amphitheatre...Wantagh, NY
August 7... P.N.C. Banks Arts Center...Holmdel, NJ

Source: Lilith Fair

 

February 19

Louise Post Puts Final Touches On New Veruca Salt LP

Pop-rock act's co-founder is wrapping first LP since departure of partner Nina Gordon.

Veruca Salt co-founder Louise Post is expected to wrap sessions this week for the band's first album since the departure of co-founder Nina Gordon last March. Post's manager, Ted Gardner, said the new, still-untitled album is a return to the type of guitar-crunching indie pop of the group's first LP, 1994's American Thighs, and its radio-friendly tracks "Seether" and "Victrola."

Retaining the Veruca Salt name, Post has been recording the new material in Chicago, according to Gardner. "It's very much a return to what Veruca Salt was on their first album," Gardner said of the sound of such new tracks as "Hellraiser," "Wet Suit" and "Imperfectly." Among the additional musicians Post has worked with on the album are former Triple Fast Action bassist Kevin Tihista and a new drummer known only as "Tasty Jimmy," according to IGA (Interscope/Geffen/A&M Records) publicist Dennis Dennehy.

Ex-Filter member Brian Liesegang is assisting with the album's production. Gardner said that in the wake of the recent $10 billion merger of music-industry giants Universal and Polygram, it is not yet known on what label the album will be released. "We're waiting to hear it, and then we'll submit it to Interscope and see which label they decide to put it out on," Gardner said. As a result, the album is not yet scheduled for release.

Veruca Salt -- along with such fellow pop-rockers as Loud Lucy and Triplefastaction -- were discovered in the early '90s in the wake of the success of Chicago superstars the Smashing Pumpkins and singer/songwriter Liz Phair. Gordon and Post, both singers and guitarists, first joined forces in 1993.

For six months, the pair forged a pop-rock sound in Post's living room, teaching one another songs each had been working on separately for years. They came to describe themselves as "musical soul mates." Soon, they were joined by Gordon's brother Jim Shapiro on drums and bassist Steve Lack.

Veruca Salt (named for a character in the classic children's book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") first came to national prominence in late 1994, after word-of-mouth adulation for Thighs -- produced for indie label Minty Fresh by Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins) -- prompted DGC Records to sign the band and re-release the album.

They took full flight after the Gordon-penned "Seether" gained wide exposure on MTV.

Gordon is working on her solo debut in Hawaii with producer Bob Rock (Metallica), who also produced Veruca Salt's final album, 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You.

Source: SonicNet