Taking their name from a spoiled female character from the 1960’s book charlie and the chocolate
factory, Veruca Salt would be synonymous with 90’s rock. If you guys didn’t know veruca
salt also has other meanings, which the band didn’t know.
Apparently it’s a plantar wart found on the bottom of one’s foot. The band would
once be profiled by the british publication new musical express with the headline wart
this way. Veruca salt were at one point one of most hyped bands to emerge of the mid 90’s
so much so that they suffered an enormous amount of backlash. Today let’s talk about
the history of veruca salt and whatever happened to the band.
Veruca Salt’s history would begin in january of 1992 at two separate new years eve parties.One
new years eve party took place at Louise Post house where she was singing and playing guitar
for her attendees or playing a recording of some songs she just demoed at a recording
studio. The stories seem to change based on what you read.. Her guests were impressed
with her musical work and one of those guests was actress Lilly Taylor who happened to be
friends with another women Nina Gordan. She would call Gordan from Posts’ place and
hold the phone up so Gordan could hear Posts’s singing and playing. Gordon loved what she
heard and the pair met shortly afterwards, with one publication claiming once attended
the same wendy and lisa concert. By 1993 the seeds of Veruca Salt were planted. Post and
Gordan bonded over their love of prince, the beatles, donovan, my bloody valentine, the
velvet underground and joni mitchell to name a few.
Both Post and Gordan coming from families whose parents played music and eventually
divroced. Post took solace in pot smoking by the age of 9 to deal with her parents divorce,
while Gordan made up an alter ego who had told people she was born with jaundice and
had pet spider monkey because she didn’t wanted to be anybody but herself.
Gordon seemed interested, but almost reluctant at the same time of pursuing music. Overwhelmed
by music theory she tried to take up guitar and piano but was unable to grasp the instruments
early on in her life. She soon wanted to become a singer and leave the instrument playing
up to others. She’d end up going to college and majoring in arts history and literature
at Tuffts, despite initially thinking about majoring in music. It was in college she finally
learned guitar thanks to her brother Jim Shapiro who would teach her over the phone. Teaching
her chords by teling her where to put her fingers on the fretboard
If you’re wondering why her brother and her have different last names, it’s because
Nina took her mom’s maiden name. Unable to find a band and do gigs, Louise Post would
be instrumental in bringing Nina Gordan out of her shel, she was almost the missing piece
to her life. .
. Post could already play guitar, she was a singer and had been in bands seemed more
like an extrovert. She would major in english literature in college attending barnard college
and the plan following school was to either become a full time musician or actress and
well she chose music.
At Louise’s insistence, the pair soon started practicing five times a week and playing chicago
area coffee houses doing folk music and they did this for about nine months. Once an MC
mistakenly introduced the pair to the audience and Louise and Naomi. During those nine months
the pair showed each other songs they had written and started figuring out harmonies.
But there came a point where they wanted to expand to a four piece, initially envisioning
enlisting an all-female rhythm section. They put an ad in a local paper. One of the only
people to respond would be male base player jim lack who eventually joined the band. He
shared similar musical influences. Needing a drummer and having no luck for months, they
looked to Nina Gordan’s brother Jim Shapiro. He had never played drums before, but he was
a songwriter and had played in bands before, but being a huge john bonham fan he agreed
to give it a try. He would learn drums by listening to led zeppelin’s physical graffiti
and tried to emulate what heard. Shapiro for his part had recently gotten a degree at yale
studying english and contemplated giving up music but he kept tabs on how his sister’s
band over the years and wanted to pursue music again.
Contrary to what people may think Nina and Louise are not huge fans of charlie and teh
chocolate factory, they were sitting around Nina’s apartment one day and she had the
book and they scrolled through the pages and liked the name Veruca Salt. But they also
identified with teh character’s attitude of going after what they want and making no
apologies. Post would tell the Missoula Independent ‘we’re boldly going where few women have
gone before and we are punished for it. People punish women for being in the spotlight. We
haven’t been stalked but we have been leered and jeered at.”
Just as Veruca Salt solidified their lineup, Chicago’s music scene was getting a lot
of national press and record label attention groups like Urge Overkill, The Smashing Pumpkins
and Liz Phair Side note guys i’ve done a whole video on the career of urge overkill.
Link is down below.
Post would tell the LA Times about the band’s early sound “We considered our sound dreamy
and ethereal until Jim started playing drums, He took it to a new level. He’s very hard-hitting.”
Gordon would contribute her songs while as she put it “being lost in a relationship,
struggling to find myself.”
The band played their first gig In the neighborhood of Wicker Park around july of 1993. ground
zero for chicago’s independent music scene. The band’s early shows saw them open for
a fleetwood mac cover band who played rumors in it’s entirety. They soon started building
a following playing popular chicago night spots including lounge ax, Elbow room and
the empty bottle. but by new years eve 1994 a date that holds a lot of significance for
the band history, they were opening for liz phair a local club. The band from the start
were jonesing for an indie label with post telling an interviewer “we were kind of
scared of a major label. We wanted to relax when we made our first album. Less pressure.”
The band spent a good amount of time rehearsing and writing together before a local funk band
named Uptighty took Veruca Salt’s demo tape to local label Minty Fresh. Minty fresh had
previously signed Liz Phair and the company was run by one guy - a man named jim powers.
Powers was 30 years old and ran the company out of his apartment and got the logo from
a 1950’s era railroad cocktail napkin. Powers had previously been an A&R guy for tool’s
label zoo entertainment and prior to that he worked as an A&R guy for Sony where he
signed cowboy junkies.. Powers wanted the band to do a local showcase for him at a local
festival he was booking in wicker park. Thankfully one of the planned acts dropped out and Veruca
Salt would take their spot. Veruca Salt signed with minty fresh and the band got a buyout
clause from Powers. They would record a single Seether/All Hail Me which would be released
in March of 1994.
Seether would be born out of a violent urge Nina gordan had mid conversation with someone.
She would tell the calgary herald “i was sort of shocked by that impulse And i actually
had these cinematic flashes in my head of what i would do to that person.And i was terrified
by that. And i went home and wrote the song.
There were only 2,000 copies of the single released i but it blew up almost immediately
n local chicago radio and college radio. It would be a local radio DJ on local station
WXRT Chicago who started playing the song and before the band knew it local college
station northwestern university’s WNUR-FM added the song to their playlist.Soon enough
a ton of other college stations added the song and it ended up on KROQ in los angeles
and the band got a spot at south by southwest. The band only played about 9 shows up until
this point. The appearance at South by Southwest garnered mentions in billboard magazine and
other national press outlets and MTV in a very rare occurrence actually solicited a
video form teh band where Seether soon landed on the network’s buzz bin program.
The star tribune would write about the band “major label talent scouts and music journalists
swarmed the band’s showcase. Suddenly, veruca salt a group with no album & almost no stage
appearance - was the countries hottest unsigned band.”
The band’s exponential rise saw Veruca Salt get some positive press, but they were met
with a ton of sniping from the media, and jealousy and suspicion from their own hometown
of Chicago. Veruca Salt overnight it seemed would be one of the most hyped bands in the
music industry at the time and there’s tons of articles to back this up.
Getting back to Minty Fresh records. Label owner jim Powers knew people in the local
music scene, including producer brad wood who owned his own studio. Producer Brad Wood
had previously recorded Liz Phair and Sunny Day Real Estate, Wood was short on cash, and
Powers cut a deal where he would pay the producer $5,000 upfront allowing the label owner to
come back and record 14 songs at his studio. Rather than record multiple acts on the $5,000,
given the reaction to the Seether single, Powers would use the $5K to record Veruca
Salt’s debut record American Thighs. The album would be recorded in just 10 days and
took it’s name from a line from the AC/DC song You Shook Me All Night Long. The title
would deal with the objectification of women’s bodies. American Thighs would be released
by Minty Fresh in September of 1994 and the major record labels were salivating at signing
the band. Geffen would reissue the album and put a lot of marketing muscle behind it. From
the time Veruca Salt formed to when they signed with Geffen was estimated to be about 13 months.
Geffen reportedly signed Veruca Salt to a $500,000 five album deal and the label reissued
American Thighs. Seether would go on to peak at number 8 on the modern rock chart. A lot
of people thought the song was actually about a women’s privates and maybe all the cats
in the video, didn’t help
Some in the press showered the band with praise. Entertainment weekly profiled the band under
the headline “America’s Most Wanted’ while the british weekly melody maker paid
the band a visit in their hometown of chicago. Spin magazine meanwhile proclaimed American
Thighs as being one of the top 10 best albums of the year.
But the band hated the flood or criticism that came with the news they signed with Geffen.
Post would tell ‘we hated all the record signing mess. It took focus away from the
music to the business. It was awkward and uncomfortable. The band were branded as sell
outs, record industry plants and accused of riding the coattails of nirvana, liz phair,
pj harvey and the breeders.
Rolling Stone would publish a story in 1995 that claimed that Nina Gordan apologized to
the band when she presented Seether to the band. Shapiro would tell The baltimore sun
“because we were this little alternative band in the burgeoning alternative scene i
think nina was a little sheepish about it. .i think there was a question of whether of
feeling like steve or louise might disapprove.” BUT GORDAN WOULD admit she didn’t intend
to write a pop song, instead looking deeper at her feelings of anger, isolation, frustration
and desperation for inspiration.
Post would tell a paper “i like the breeders, but I’m getting to the point where i can’t
even listen to their music.” There’s tons of articles about the band from 94-95 talking
about the hype surrounding the band and the critical backlash. One paper would write ‘it’s
hip to bash veruca salt.” The critical backlash especially in their
own hometown resulted in Veruca Salt’s members admitting their early live shows were not
good since they lacked confidence as a band. It wasn’t until a year and a half on the
road for their first record that they finally started to feel comfortable.
American Thighs ended up going platinum moving a million copies.. The band would tour with
Courtney Love’s outfit Hole and the band live.
The alternative rock comparisons weren’t helped when in 1996 the band put out an EP
with the help of producer Steve Albini. The EP titled Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca
Salt. The album’s title and cover was an answer to the critics who slagged them over
the past two years.
Veruca salt would return in 1997 with their second full length album eight arms to hold
you, which was inspired by the alternative title for the beatle’s film Help!. Metallica’s
go to producer for the 90’s bob rock would produce the album. The band wanted Rock after
being on tour with the band Live in 1995. Side note guys I’ve done a whole video on
the band live, link is down below. During soundchecks, the sound guy who would test
out the PA for that night’s show would play Metallica’s enter sandman and the band loved
how the production on the song and decided they wanted to work with bob rock and make
a big polished rock record. Veruca Salt also claimed they were sick of the alternative
label and wanted to avoid the more obvious choices like brendan o brien or butch vig.
It also helped that veruca salt shared the same management team as metallica so getting
bob rock on board wasn’t very difficult. Veruca Salt’s second LP saw them change
the way they approached songwriting. They tinkered with percussion and other sound effects
and by the band’s own admission nina and louise came up with different guitar parts
rather than doubling what each other was playing.
The album produced another big hit for the band in volcano girls that would be inspired
by the band’s gruelling touring life and they had another gold record. The album would
contain references to past failed relationships with the song Straight being a plea to a boyfriend
to stop smoking so much pot, while The morning sad deals with the constant state of feeling
depressed. The record also contains an obvious tribute to david bowie with the song with
david bowie. but cracks were starting to form within the group. Years later Gordan would
recall We understand that people want to know the gory details. Just watch the Fleetwood
Mac Behind the Music. It was drugs and cheating and all that junk, and the two of us not talking
about what was really going on.
Post would recall . “I just think we were so overwhelmed,” “We couldn’t appreciate
everything that was happening to us. We weren’t grounded. We had been writing and singing
together for some time before we even played a show, but we didn’t know what was happening
to us. ”However, the band was warned by The Bangles member Vicki Peterson who warned
the members that management and the label and producers would try to divide the group,
and she would admit they were naive.Soon enough one by one members left and by 1998 Louise
post was the only remaining member. Gordon left to pursue a solo career, while Shapiro
who was originally a songwriter wanted a bigger role in the creative process.
“”Adding to things boiling over was Louise Post’s relationship with Dave Grohl of Foo
Fighters being in turmoil. Post would announce to a crowd during an australian show that
Grohl had chaetaed on her with actress wynonna ryder. you guys may not know is that the Foo’s
song everlong is written about post and she even appears on the track singing harmonies.
Veruca Salt for their second record even toured with Dave Grohl’s one time enemy Bush. Post
has since admitted that her and grohl are now friends. Pos
Post was left to pick up the pieces following her bandmates leaving and being dropped by
her label following the disappointing performance of eight arms to hold you. She hired new band
members and found a new label returning with veruca salt’s third album 2000’s Resolver.
Post would release 2006’s Four and continue to tour until 2012 when the band went on hiatus.
Gordon meanwhile had some success in her solo career with one of her songs Tonight and the
Rest of My Life, being featured on the tv show charmed and the trailer for the movie
the Notebook.
Post and Gordan hadn’t talked since the pair went their separate ways in 1998, but
that would change around 2003. The pair started exchanging emails due to business dealings
and they slowly rekindled their friendship and by 2008 both women were now mothers and
bonded over that life changing experience. Soon the topic of playing music together came
up and In s a strange twist, it would be the band Mazzy Star (who i’vep previously covered
on my channel) who played coachella, that convinced the women to reunite.
It would culminate with all four original members meeting at a restaurant and offering
roundtable apologies to everyone. Eventually a reunion of the original lineup would be
announced in 2013. As if everything hadn’t come full circle already, the band would go
back to minty fresh records and work with producer brad wood and put out a new single.
They would release their first album together with 2015’s ghost notes, which was well
received. The band has been active politically championing causes close to their hearts,
but sadly in 2018 it was revealed that veruca salt was one of many artists who have lost
their master recording in that infamous 2008 universal studios fire.
In June 2022, Louise Post released But I Love You Without Mascara (Demos ’97-’98) which
featured several unreleased demos that were recorded between the release of their second
and third record.
Then just this year the and was in the news when it was reported that Louise Post’s
trailer, full of her guitars and amps was stolen during a stopover in Denver.
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 announced intentions to release a solo album in 2023.