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Veruca Salt is an American
alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band founded in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro, and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, " Seether", which was released on the 1994 album '' American Thighs''. That success was followed up with 1997's '' Eight Arms to Hold You''. By 1998, Post was the only original member still in the band and continued on with other musicians. Veruca Salt released the album '' Resolver'' in 2000 and the album '' IV'' in 2006. After a hiatus in 2012, the band reformed with its original lineup. Their fifth studio album, '' Ghost Notes'', was released in 2015.


History


1992–1998: Formation and mainstream success

Named after Veruca Salt, the spoiled rotten rich girl from the 1964 children's book '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' by
Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...
, Veruca Salt was formed in Chicago in 1992 by Louise Post (guitar and vocals) and Nina Gordon (guitar and vocals). Post and Gordon were introduced through mutual friend Lili Taylor, and began playing music together. They wrote songs for a year and a half before placing an ad in the
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
for an all-female rhythm section. Instead the band was joined by Gordon's brother Jim Shapiro on drums and Steve Lack on bass. Songwriting was shared between Gordon and Post, though the two seldom collaborated. Rather, each would typically submit a complete song to the group and sing the lead vocals on that song, while the other would record backing vocals. The band had performed a handful of shows when Jim Powers of Minty Fresh Records asked them to sign. The band's first release was the single " Seether"/"All Hail Me" on Minty Fresh Records, in 1994. The single was a success and Veruca Salt accompanied
Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid Body (physics), body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in m ...
on a tour, before releasing their first full-length album, '' American Thighs''. The album which included "Seether" and "All Hail Me", eventually reached Gold status. In a 2014 retrospective,
music magazine A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and culture in music cognition, music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with ...
'' Paste'' listed "Seether" as number 10 and "All Hail Me" as number 39 on their list of the 50 greatest grunge songs of all time. After signing to
Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...
, the band quickly gained in popularity as "Seether" became an MTV hit. A second single, " Number One Blind" was released along with a music video directed by Steve Hanft. The band was unsure about the video and pulled it from MTV in a panic. As a result, Geffen ceased any further marketing for ''American Thighs''. A stop-gap EP which was recorded by
Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...
, '' Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt'', was released in 1996. In 1996, Veruca Salt appeared as Pavement's replacement band in their video "Painted Soldiers". Veruca Salt's second album, '' Eight Arms to Hold You'', was produced by
Bob Rock Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, recording engineer and musician. In 1976, Rock joined Little Mountain Sound Studios, starting out as a recording engineer and sound mixer. During his time there, he coll ...
and released in 1997. Lead single " Volcano Girls" gained exposure as the opening theme to the teen comedy film '' Jawbreaker''. Veruca Salt performed another single, "Shutterbug", on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
''; instead of the featured musical group performing two songs as had been a tradition, the musical performances were split between Sting and Veruca Salt. This change was announced at the last minute between the dress rehearsal and the live show, at the behest of Sting to producer Lorne Michaels. Shapiro left the band soon after the release of ''Eight Arms'', due to unease with having to learn how to play drums – an instrument he had only started playing when asked to join the band – while under public scrutiny. Shapiro was replaced by Stacy Jones (of Letters to Cleo and American Hi-Fi). Jones toured with the band on the ''Eight Arms'' tour and appeared in the music videos for "Volcano Girls" and "Shutterbug". In 1997, Veruca Salt opened for the band Bush in a North American tour.


1998–2012: Gordon's departure and reformation

Gordon and Post started working together on Veruca Salt's third album. However, after an argument between the two, Gordon left the band to pursue a solo career in 1998. (Gordon's first album, '' Tonight and the Rest of My Life'', was released in 2000 and featured drumming by Stacy Jones, who had also left Veruca Salt and was in a relationship with Gordon). The dispute between Gordon and Post has been described as "one of the greatest rock soap operas since
Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
or Hüsker Dü." Post, as the only remaining band member, contributed the song " Somebody" to the
Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...
tribute album '' For the Masses'' before recruiting a new lineup. Guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick joined and went on to become one of Post's principal songwriting partners during the next decade. Jimmy Madla and Suzanne Sokol joined on drums and bass guitar, respectively. Most of the band's record label support had been fired during the Universal/ PolyGram merger, so Post left
Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...
, formed her own Velveteen Records label, and signed a distribution deal with Beyond Music. The reformed band released the album '' Resolver'', which spawned both a single and video for " Born Entertainer" in May 2000. Sokol left the band at the end of 2000 and was replaced by Post's friend Gina Crosley. The band continued to tour through the summer of 2001 in the UK. Post and Crosley also attempted to form a supergroup with Courtney Love of
Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid Body (physics), body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in m ...
and others but the project soon imploded. This allowed the pair to focus on new material for Veruca Salt which eventually yielded the '' Officially Dead'' EP that was primarily distributed during the band's 2003 tour of Australia. That tour was precipitated by the title track (which had been released on the Resolver LP three years prior) charting on the Triple J Top 100, peaking at #13. By 2005, Madla left to enter the restaurant business and Crosley was also dismissed. They were replaced in the studio by Solomon Snyder and Michael Miley, respectively. Veruca Salt began 2005 by touring Australia, undertaking both headline festival appearances and club shows. This session resulted in the '' Lords of Sounds and Lesser Things'' ''(LOSALT)''. The band went on tour with Post, Fitzpatrick, drummer Kellii Scott, and bassist Nicole Fiorentino. ''LOSALT'' was released independently by the band and included six new songs. The EP's title is an extract from Zora Neale Hurston's '' Their Eyes Were Watching God''. This lineup then recorded a full-length album, '' IV'', and released it in September 2006 (like ''Resolver'' before it, this album was released a month apart from a Nina Gordon solo album). The band then went on what would prove to be the last tour of Louise Post's solo incarnation of the band. A single, "So Weird", was released to radio at the end of October 2006, but despite being critically well-received, neither the song nor the album did well commercially. In 2007, the band recorded a cover of
Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
's song "Burned" for a 2007 breast cancer benefit album and then went almost entirely dormant. Post took time to have a child while Fiorentino went on to play bass with the Smashing Pumpkins and The Cold and Lovely. Kellii Scott returned to his original band,
Failure Failure is the social concept of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and is usually viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. On ...
. On March 14, 2012, the band announced on their official website that they were on an indefinite hiatus.


2013–present: Original lineup reunion

On March 15, 2013, Veruca Salt announced the reunion of its original line-up ( Nina Gordon, Louise Post, Jim Shapiro, and Steve Lack) with a message on the band's official Facebook page which read, "for now let's just say this: hatchets buried, axes exhumed." The band also mentioned that they might be open to adding material from their time apart into their sets at some point. The reunion marked the first time Shapiro would play drums since leaving the band in 1997. It had also been years since Lack played bass, with his time out of the band spent on overcoming drug and alcohol abuse and pursuing surfing. On September 29, 2013, the band announced via social media that they were working on new material. Their first release since reforming came in the form of a release for Record Store Day 2014. The band released a 10-inch vinyl EP, MMXIV, which contained two new songs, "It's Holy" and "The Museum of Broken Relationships", on one side and a 20th-anniversary re-release of " Seether" on the other. The band then toured both the United States and a nine-date sold-out tour of Australia. On May 19, 2015, the band announced the release of their fifth album, '' Ghost Notes''. The album, released on July 10, 2015, was the first to feature the band's original lineup since 1997's ''Eight Arms to Hold You''. Post and Gordon appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast on August 7, 2015, and revealed that Veruca Salt were approached to host a Fox comedy variety show in the 1990s. In March 2017, the band reunited with Nicole Fiorentino for a one-off performance at a Planned Parenthood charity event; Patty Schemel, formerly of Hole, filled in on drums. The band returned to Australia in February 2018 for a series of headline shows, as well as being part of the mini-festival ''A Day on the Green'' alongside The Fauves, Tumbleweed,
The Lemonheads The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member. After their initial punk-influenced releases and tours as an indep ...
, Spiderbait and The Living End. Veruca Salt teamed up with
Rock the Vote Rock the Vote is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization in the United States. Through registering new young voters, the group aims to "channel the energy among young people around racial, economic, and health justice into one of the mo ...
for the 2018 American election, releasing a track titled "Low Grade Fever" from the '' Ghost Notes'' recording sessions. In June 2022, Louise Post released ''But I Love You Without Mascara (Demos ’97-’98)'' which featured several unreleased demos from the transitional period between ''Eight Arms to Hold You'' and ''Resolver''. She also released a solo album in June 2023 called Sleepwalker.


Band members

Current members * Louise Post – lead vocals, guitar (1992–2012, 2013–present), bass (1998–1999, 2001–2006, 2008–2012) * Nina Gordon – lead vocals, guitar (1992–1998, 2013–present) *Steve Lack – bass (1992–1998, 2013–present) *Jim Shapiro – drums, backing vocals (1992–1997, 2013–present) Former members * Stacy Jones – drums (1997–1998) *Stephen Fitzpatrick – guitar (1999–2012), bass (2002–2006, 2008–2012) *Jimmy Madla – drums (1999–2005) *Suzanne Sokol – bass, backing vocals (1999–2000) *Gina Crosley – bass, backing vocals (2000–2001) *Kellii Scott – drums (2005–2012) * Nicole Fiorentino – bass, backing vocals (2006–2008; one-off in 2017) Former touring musicians *Bill Brabec – bass (1997–1998) * Eva Gardner – bass (2005) *Toby Lang – drums (2005)


Timeline


Discography


Studio albums


Extended plays


Singles


Promo singles


Music videos


See also

* List of alternative rock artists


References


External links

* *
Veruca Salt
at ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Veruca Salt 1992 establishments in Illinois Alternative rock groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 Sympathy for the Record Industry artists Female-fronted musical groups Mixed-gender bands