Veruca Salt

At a New Year's Eve Party, Nina Gordon and Louis Post met through Chicago actress Lili Taylor. At the start of 1993, the two placed an ad in The Chicago Reader, a local free newspaper. They described themselves as 'a dreamy grunge band with distorted guitars and ethereal vocals.' Bassist Steve Lack answered the advertisement. Nina's brother Jim Shapiro soon joined the band as drummer. The band is named after a bratty young girl in the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

After a March 1994 appearance at South by Southwest Music Festival, Veruca Salt was signed by Minty Fresh, and joined Liz Phair in their stable of artists. Veruca Salt entered the studio with $5000 and Liz Phair producer and all-around sessionman Brad Wood. the single 'Seether' and b-side 'All Hail Me' were the results of that session. The Salts then signed a deal with DGC Records (Hole and Nirvana), released the full-length American Thighs and toured with Hole, Live and PJ Harvey. The band was propelled to stardom by MTv's heavy rotation of the 'Seether' video. [from the official band website.]

A product of the Chicago alternative scene, Veruca Salt's first cd was punk, post-punk, power-pop, and rock all at the same time. Co-lead singers and guitarists Gordon and Post played off each with harmonies and wrapped it all in a post-punk package. As a girl-led punk band from that period, they were unfairly compared to another pair of melodic rockers, the Deal Sisters of the Breeders and their predecessors, the Pixies.

Their best-known rockers 'Seether,' and the Seether-reprise 'Volcano Girls' are raw around the edges, but in construction are formulaic rock songs with verse verse bridge verse. 'I'm Taking Europe with Me' from 1995's Blow It out Your Ass, It's Veruca Salt evokes L7. Yet, beneath the tough girl songs, there are some beuatiful atmosheric tunes. Some of my favorites include their first b-side 'All Hail Me', 'Aurora' from the Tank Girl soundtrack and also on the Number One Blind EP, and their version of Depeche Mode's 'Somebody' from 1998 tribute disc For the Masses.

'A Piece of You' was one of the first songs that Gordon and Post ever wrote together. It has been played live by the Salts but never recorded. The way that Nina and Louise's harmonies wrap around each other is as close as they would ever sound vocally to the Breeder's Kim and Kelley Deal. If you can, get a copy of this. It is a wonderful piece of songwriting with a lovely vocal performance.

The band breakup is messy and well-documented. In 1998 Nina Gordon and Louise Post went their separate ways. Nina Gordon has released the 2000 recording Tonight and the Rest of My Life. Louise Post carries on with a totally revamped Veruca Salt and in 2000 released Resolver.

Tonight and the Rest of My Life contains the rockers 'Number One Camera ,' which everyone knows as (Poloroid) and 'Badway.' On the rest of the record, Gordon paves a new path as singer/songwriter in the mold of Aimee Mann, formerly of new wave band Til' Tuesday. On this record, Gordon collaborates with ex-Payolas' drummer and producer extraordinaire Bob Rock (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Cher, Metallica, Motley Crue, Veruca Salt) and Aimee Mann collaborator and Fiona Apple producer Jon Brion.

Resolver is the first release by the new Veruca Salt. Critically, the album did not garner a lot of positive press, and most the reviews concentrated on how the lyrics may pertain to well-publicized Veruca Salt split. However, my personal opinion is that this is a fine recording. 'Imperfectly' and 'Only You Know' are two of my favorite Veruca Salt songs. They start of quietly, and slowly build into an explosion of restrained violence. 'Born Entertainer' could be a bitter song, but also contains a well used reference to Cheap Trick's 'I Want You to Want Me.' 'Best You Can Get' continues the Salt's post-punk assault.

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