Veruca Salt

VERUCA SALT

Veruca Salt is back. The last eighteen months have found Louise Post with her ax to the grindstone. The record is Resolver. The songwriter, voice and driving force behind the vessel is Louise.

In the wake of the departure of former co-singer and co-bandleader Nina Gordon in February of 1998, Post dove headlong into the recording of Resolver (Beyond Music). Thirty songs later the prolific priestess has whittled down the material to the 14-song album which she considers to be her most emotionally cathartic, turbulent and honest body of work to date.

Needless to say, this is not Louise's first barbecue. Formed in 1992, Veruca Salt took the rock world by storm with their commercially and critically acclaimed 1994 album American Thighs (Minty Fresh/DGC), produced by Brad Wood. Their first single, "Seether" became and still is an alternative radio staple. In 1996 Veruca Salt released Blow It Out Your Ass, It's Veruca Salt, a 4-song EP recorded and mixed by Steve Albini. The band's 1997 second full length album, Eight Arms To Hold You (DGC/Outpost), was produced by Bob Rock and achieved similar success. Veruca Salt has toured the world a couple of times, and hundreds of shows later, are preparing to traverse the globe again.

Over the past 18 months, Post has been consumed with re-designing the world of Veruca Salt. She discovered Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine, began eating (red) red meat again, found her ideal producer in Brian Liesegang (formally of Filter and Nine Inch Nails), assembled a fabulous new band and ditched the corporate conglomerate that had absorbed her beloved Geffen Records, for a more appealing joint venture with Beyond Music. With this new record deal, Post has been granted her very own vanity label, dubbed affectionately, Velveteen Records.

On the heels of a six-year partnership, it was both startling and exhilarating for Louise to find herself suddenly in sole custody of her band and her future. A year and a half later, she has grown into her role as the exclusive leader of Veruca Salt. "We don't let up for anything. Everyone who has worked on this record has shed his or her own sweat and blood. It has been a labor or love and a collective commitment that has been astonishing and touching. I am now my sole proprietor, my own guide and my own nurse, and in my mind, that has made for a better music."

Veruca Salt is now comprised mainly of Louise, who shouldered most of the guitar, singing, and songwriting duties, along with Jimmy Madla on drums, Stephen Fitzpatrick on guitar, and Suzanne Sokol on bass and vocals.

Recorded in many different locations, over time (and at any time), Louise and producer Brian Liesegang, took Veruca Salt to new artistic heights. According to Post, "Many of the most inspired moments on this record emerged in the wee hours when the streets were quiet and the rest of the world was sleeping." For six months, the band lived in a virtual cocoon, entertaining, exhausting, fusing and debating the individual ideas, parts, moods and melodies that melded ultimately in Resolver. "I wouldn't trade our windowless hours for anything" she says, "That's where the magic happens."

The updated Veruca Salt is a virtual love fest. The band is anxious to break out their amazing new material on stage, and to bring to life the mutual vision, respect, passion, dedication and true friendship that have brought them together.

Veruca Salt reshaped the jagged, abrasive punk-pop of the Pixies and Breeders into a more accessible, riff-driven power pop formula that also borrowed from pop/hard rockers like Cheap Trick. It was a successful formula, both musically and commercially, yet it didn't ensure them indie rock credibility; in fact, they became one of the most harshly criticized bands of the post-Nirvana alternative rock era, despite being one of the first female-fronted outfits to achieve stardom in that genre.

Veruca Salt took shape in early 1992, when Chicago residents Louise Post and Nina Gordon began touring the local folk circuit. Both were competent singers and guitarists, and a year's worth of coffeehouse performances fueled their desire to recruit additional members for a full-fledged band. After adding bassist Steve Lack and drummer Jim Shapiro (Gordon's brother), Veruca Salt released their debut single, "Seether"/"All Hail Me," in 1994 on the local independent label Minty Fresh Records. Produced by Brad Wood (Liz Phair), the record became a word-of-mouth sensation, working its way to alternative and college radio stations. While supporting Hole on their fall tour, Veruca Salt released the debut album American Thighs on the Minty Fresh label, yet they soon cut a major-label deal with Geffen, which then re-released the album. "Seether" became an MTV hit as well, and soon the single was an across-the-board success. However, the group received scathing criticism from magazines and fanzines, claiming the band was nothing but rip-off artists who used Minty Fresh as a way to gain credibility. Nevertheless, the group's popularity didn't suffer, and American Thighs went gold, even though their next two singles -- "Number One Blind" and "All Hail Me" -- didn't attract half the attention that "Seether" commanded.

After releasing the stopgap, Steve Albini-produced EP Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt in 1996, the band returned in early 1997 with Eight Arms to Hold You, which found them moving toward hard rock and heavy metal. Although critical reaction was even more mixed, the album still reached gold sales status, propelled in part by the Top 10 rock single "Volcano Girls." Shortly after the album was completed, Shapiro left the lineup and was replaced by former Letters to Cleo drummer Stacy Jones. Meanwhile, in the wake of rumors that Gordon and Post had been fueding and/or considering solo projects, it was confirmed that Gordon had quit the band in early 1998 to pursue a separate solo career.

Undeterred, Post regrouped Veruca Salt as her own project. Now boasting a revised lineup including guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick, bassist Suzanne Sokol, and drummer Jimmy Madla, the band left Geffen Records (which had been swallowed by a corporate merger) and inked a new record deal with Beyond. They also entered the studio to record Resolver, a fiery album that dealt with Gordon's departure and Post's failed relationship with Dave Grohl. Released during the spring of 2000, Resolver didn't enjoy the same success as Veruca Salt's previous albums, although the band continued to tour as Post wrote new material. The Officially Dead EP was released in 2003 and charted well in Australia, where the band began to focus some of its touring efforts. With an ever-changing lineup (now featuring Post, Fitzpatrick, drummer Kelli Scott, and bassist Nicole Fiorentino), Veruca Salt then recorded another five-song EP, 2005's Lords of Sounds and Lesser Things. An additional full-length album, IV, was issued the following year. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide