CD title: Veruca Salt IV (Sympathy Records, September 2006)
Times change, people change, bands change. More than a decade ago (has it really been that long?!?), Louise Post and Nina Gordon, frontwomen of Veruca Salt, were showing the world just how hard chicks can rock. Songs like “Seether” and “Volcano Girls” shook up the charts and shot the women into rockstardom. Unfortunately, the vivacious writing team burned out quickly, and Gordon took leave in 1998 to try her hand at a solo career, leaving Post to do whatever she wanted to with the group. She ended up taking the well-known moniker and moving forward with new musicians, new songs and new tours. I was lucky enough to see the band perform last year, and to this day it is still one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Sadly though, I never saw the girl geniuses take the stage together so I can’t make a viable comparson between then and now, but Louise Post was nothing less than spectacular all by her lonesome.
Veruca, which currently consists of Ms. Post, guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick, drummer Kellii Scott and bassist/vocalist Nicole Fiorentino, rocks and rumbles on its new release, Veruca Salt IV. The album’s overall feel is parallel to what the original put forth on its albums in the ’90s, with heavy drums, distorted alternative guitar riffs and of course Post’s unmistakeable vocals, but the songs also have a very strong Pixies likeness.
“What I love about making albums is they are documents of times in a band’s life,” Post explained. “I instinctively stayed true to the aesthetic I established with this band while trying to write lyrics that reflect where I am now.”
Though Post has always had the band name, the writing talent and the gumption, Veruca is in no way a one-woman show. According to Post, the songs “So Weird” and “Centipede,” both rocking hits, began life as riffs written by Fitzpatrick, and he and Post have become creative partners. And she goes on to define Scott as her “dream drummer,” and says that Fiorentino “sings like a fucking angel.”
Hardcore Gordon/original Veruca fans will be hard-pressed to find fault with the tunes, especially the opening track, “So Weird” and the raunchy, bellowing “Innocent.” Post says that this Veruca Salt record is the strongest to date, big words coming from the co-writer of such breakthrough albums such as American Thighs and Eight Arms to Hold You. The new songs do much to show just how much Post contributed to the old V.S. sound, and though her writing style has changed slightly over the years, she’s still wild, and it was the unbridled aspect of the music that has always made Veruca Salt so damn entertaining.
“There was so much love that was put into the album,” Post said. Share the love at an upcoming Veruca Salt show in your town, and expect to hear the “oldies” as well as the “newies.” For more information, visit www.verucasalt.com or www.myspace.com/verucasalt.
