|
Sisters' sledge Veruca Salt + Bob Rock = sheer Heart attack by CHRIS YURKIW The story of Veruca Salt is a pretty typical one. A coupla gals from Guyville get introduced by mutual friend/actress Lili Taylor and start a rock band. Their first indie single is an instant radio hit, their first indie album suddenly becomes a major-label album and then they go off to Hawaii to make an arena-sized record with a producer whose real name is Bob Rock. Happens all the time.
"We were not an indie band," says Gordon, one half of the singing/songwriting/guitaring team she makes up with now-best bud Louise Post. "The only reason we were on an independent label was because that was the first record deal that was offered to us. We didn't align ourselves with other indie bands, we didn't feel any identification with other so-called indie bands. That was not our label at all--that was a label that was put on us by the media. We weren't indie." Oh alright. But you'll forgive us jumping to conclusions based on the actual independence of the label (Minty Fresh), the groovy indie-rock producer of American Thighs (Brad Wood), the snapshots of both a dog and a little girl on the cover (double your fun!), the angsty little single ("Seether"), the production values, the rudimentary playing, the squealy girl-rock voices--I could go on. But in the end, or at least today, Veruca Salt are proving themselves to be right by releasing a monster of a top-heavy and gleaming rock album called Eight Arms To Hold You (Outpost/Universal). Suddenly the AC/DC reference of American Thighs seems less like ironic posturing, and Veruca Salt seem more like the new Heart than the next Breeders. "We loved the way the Metallica record sounded, and the Mötley Crüe record," says Gordon of their quest to work with producer Bob Rock. "I mean, those aren't bands that we necessarily identify with in terms of songs, but in terms of the big rock sound we just thought, 'Wow, our voices and our pop mentality would probably work really well with this kind of heavy sound." And they do, with Gordon's pop bent balancing Post's "rock for rock's sake." Think Aimee Mann with muscle, Helmet in a dress and American Thighs as a demo to the fat, slick production of Eight Arms. "[American Thighs] sounded timid or tentative, to me," says Gordon. "And that's because we were. I mean, we'd only played 10 shows at that point--we didn't know who we were." Veruca Salt, Local H & Fig Dish are at the Spectrum next Thursday, July 24 |
But then again, Veruca Salt is (here it comes) not your typical indie rock band. And if you believe Nina Gordon, the group never bought into indie's comical code of sell out/yadda yadda yadda.