Veruca Salt’s signature hit Seether remains one of the most-loved rock tunes of the ’90s. Not surprisingly, the band experienced a meteoric rise, doing everything a young band coming of age in the grunge era could hope for – selling more than a million records, touring with alt-rock royalty Hole and PJ Harvey, and winning critical acclaim for albums like American Thighs (named after an AC/DC lyric). After breaking up in 1998, the original line-up – Nina Gordon, Louise Post, Jim Shapiro and Steve Lack – re-formed in 2013 and were warmly welcomed back on stage. In 2015 they released their fifth studio album, Ghost Notes, the first to feature the band’s original line-up since 1997’s Eight Arms To Hold You. Now they return to Australia for a tour this February and March for A Day On The Green. We get a few words from guitarist/vocalist Louise Post ahead of the tour to discuss the upcoming shows, the reunited band and more.
Veruca Salt return to Australia as part of a monster rock tour that also includes The Lemonheads as well as some iconic Aussie bands like The Living End and Spiderbait. “We will be playing material from our 2015 release, Ghost Notes, as well as our older stuff“, says Louise on what to expect. “Excited to play our new stuff in OZ!”
You will be playing both festivals and headlining shows in Australia, how do you approach the different types of shows or is every show the same to you no matter where it is?
Louise: Festival sets tend to be shorter and more succinct–all the hits, no encore. You’re playing for people who may or may not have heard your albums. It’s your stage for the time you’re on it, but its not your show. You take the stage while its yours and power through a shorter set and leave an impression, but you are part of a building energy. When you’re headlining, it’s your time, your sacred space, and you get to play, have fun, dig in deeper with songs you know the audience will love because they are there to see you. It’s a private, intimate journey you take with people you feel you know because they know you. And the whole experience is quite different. It’s extraordinary. I love them both for different reasons, in different ways.
How do you pick out a setlist and is that a difficult process?
Louise: I like these questions! We pore over our set list, choosing a mixture of songs from different albums, different times. We want to make sure to play the songs our fans expect and look forward to, and also to play new songs, b-sides, special songs that may surprise and delight them. We strive for balance. It’s a fun but agonizing process sometimes, and it has been known to cause some minor fights in the band. I mean, since you asked!
How has your previous experiences in Australia been like? Any great stories to share?
Louise: Nothing G-rated enough for print, I’m afraid. I love Australia. So many memories. So excited to be coming back.
The reunion a couple of years ago brought back the original lineup, how did it feel to have the band back together again?
Louise: It felt fucking excellent.
What made the decision for the band to reunite again?
Louise: It had been long enough. We needed to kiss and make up for all of our sanity, I think. When it boiled down to it, Nina was reading the line-up of a big festival here in southern California called Coachella, and she saw Mazzy Star was playing it. Something about that bugged her. She realized that she wanted to be playing shows again with her band. She emailed me and said, “Mazzy Star are playing Coachella. Why aren’t we?” And I wrote back, “How about coffee first?” And that was that.
Ghost Notes was the last release 2 years ago, can we expect another album in the near future?
Louise: Absolutely. A beautiful album.
What does the future look like for Veruca Salt? Is there a sense of a new era in the band now?
Louise: Yes, it does feel that way. A new era, new chapter. We are eager to get back in the studio and record. It’s hard to tour with small kids, but that could change in the coming years. We mainly just want to keep making music.
What has been the biggest change in the band now since first forming all those years ago?
Louise: We collaborate far more, often writing songs together from the ground up–either me and Nina, or the four of us in a room. It used to be that Nina and I would bring fully formed songs to each other and to the band, at which point there may have been some structural changes made, and some minor tweaks in lyrics, and everyone would write their parts, but now we are much more open to collaboration from an early stage. Our egos have calmed down a little.
Who are some of your main influences?
Louise: Currently? Lucinda Williams, Joseph Arthur, Tame Impala, The Life and Times, Califone, Neil Young. As a band, we are influenced by The Pixies, Led Zeppelin, The Velvet Underground, ACDC, The Bangles, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Big Star, Game Theory, The Breeders, Sinead O’Connor, Heart, David Bowie, Red Cross, Prince, and, of course, The Beatles.
Who or what inspired you to be in a band and/or play music?
Louise: I wanted to be in a band ever since I got The Mamas and The Papas record, Monday Monday, when I was a kid. I would just stare at the picture on the cover as I listened to the album. The same thing happened with Fleetwood Mac, Rumours. It was as if I was destined to be in a band with two girls and two guys from the time I was seven.
How do you feel about the current music scene right now? Do you believe music can still change the world?
Louise: Of course I do. It’s changing it right now. My husband is obsessed with vinyl, and he curates his collection very carefully, so I hear every cool new artist that comes out, and I have to say, there is a TON of great music circulating out there right now. We listen to a lot of This is the Kit from Wales and Ty Segall, Metz, Eluvium, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, for starters.
If you could be a fly on the wall for the recording of any album in history, what album would it be?
Abbey Road
What is the meaning of life?
Louise: Ok, I will answer this absurd question honestly. I believe we’re here to revel in this human experience–to feel the depths of pain and to agonize and to feel ecstasy and pure joy, to find our passion and share it with the world, to love and be loved, to serve others and our planet, so that we can evolve as a species, and so that life can continue forevermore. My father told me at the end of his life that if he could impart one thing to all of his children, it would be, “dream your dreams, honor your loves, sing your song.”
A DAY ON THE GREEN
The Living End, Spiderbait, Veruca Salt, The Lemonheads, Tumbleweed and The Fauves
Saturday Feb 24 Bimbadgen, Hunter Valley NSW
Sunday Feb 25 Sirromet Wines, Mt Cotton QLD
Saturday Mar 3 Petersons Winery, Armidale NSW
Saturday Mar 10 Josef Chromy Wines, Launceston TAS
Sunday Mar 11 Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong VIC
Saturday Mar 17 Leconfield Wines, McLaren Vale SA * The Lemonheads not performing
Tickets on sale from www.ticketmaster.com.au | Ph: 136 100
VERUCA SALT will also perform two headline shows:
Thursday Mar 1 Metro Theatre, Sydney (18+)
Tickets on sale from Ticketek.com.au | 132 849
Friday Mar 9 170 Russell, Melbourne (18+)
Tickets on sale from www.moshtix.com.au| 1300 438 849
All event information www.frontiertouring.com
also appearing
THE LIVING END | SPIDERBAIT | VERUCA SALT | THE LEMONHEADS
Saturday 3 March, 2018
Red Hill Auditorium
Tickets from redhillauditorium.com.au / 9325 8104
