Perhaps because Gordon and Post are women, there’s been lots of talk about the feminism of their lyrics. Occasionally the sweet-meets-mean approach was spiced up with some perfunctory volume-pedal hopping, but by and large their approach was tediously straightforward, from Post’s linear, workmanlike guitar solos to the monotonous crunch of their riff workouts. The Breeders exude a skewed, carefree approach that gives their music an edge, while Veruca Salt have their formula down pat and rigid: play the tunes straight, straight, straight.Īt Lounge Ax, with Gordon and Post swathed in feather boas–their sole concession to being “entertainers”–the band played most of the songs from American Thighs along with five or six tunes not yet recorded, all of them rooted in the same stylistic niche. While the Breeders’ songwriting incorporates influences from a broad range of genres, Veruca Salt incorporate only one: the slow to mid-tempo pop tune. Whereas the Breeders employ an endless, imaginative shuffle of guitar textures and attacks, Veruca Salt play two ways: soft or loud.
Krebs look-alike Steve Lack on bass–is hardly an innovative tack, and Veruca Salt practice it with very little imagination. But the hook of their sweet vocals set against loud guitar riffs and a thunderous rhythm section–Gordon’s brother Jim Shapiro on drums and former Maynard G. And as songwriters they possess a convincing grasp on pop phrasing. Fronted by singer-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, Veruca Salt are capable of some striking Breeders-style vocal harmonizing Post’s full-bodied croon and Gordon’s high-pitched, near-angelic warble make a lush combination. The Breeders are the band’s closest point of reference, but don’t let the above-mentioned comparisons give you the idea that they’re as good as the Breeders. A long-form video would provide the same experience as their shows, only in the comfort of one’s own home, without the sweaty throngs talking over the music. While their live playing has slowly improved, they still don’t try to produce anything more than carbon copies of the album versions of their tunes. Lost in all the hoopla was the fact that Veruca Salt aren’t a particularly exciting or compelling rock band. Their recent sold-out performance at Lounge Ax, celebrating the release of their hotly anticipated debut album, American Thighs, was filled (like most of the band’s gigs) with greedy industry vultures looking to swoop down on their prey. it’s not an issue in this equation.” It’s an idea Veruca Salt, in their desire for indie-rock credibility, would probably be loathe to admit, but at the same time they haven’t done much to dispel it. While Veruca Salt lack the savvy of Chicago’s grand dame of alternative rock, Liz Phair, a comment made by Phair in the Tribune Sunday magazine a few weeks ago also applies, sadly, to these inheritors of the mantle: “You don’t get big money based on merit.
Instead you get lots of prognosticating on their great chances of scoring big sales. Reading through Veruca Salt’s voluminous clips, one is hard-pressed to find any musical critique of the band apart from incessant (and somewhat well founded) comparisons to the Breeders–which, of course, is one of the band’s selling points. Now music writers are becoming like art investors: more concerned with the bottom line than with lines and shapes. One expects label reps to have dollar signs for eyes, but the music press has always worked under the notion that it was looking for bands that would become successful artistically, not those who’d become financially successful. What’s new–and particularly distressing–about their rapid ascent has been the manner in which the critics have uncritically held hands with the industry while it created the deafening buzz. In the profit-motivated saga of the music business, Veruca Salt are just another chapter in an old story. Subject of one of the year’s most frenzied major-label bidding wars on the basis of an unbelievable gush of hype and a 2,000-run seven-inch single–the ubiquitous “Seether”–Veruca Salt are a seamless paradigm for marketable “alternative” rock.
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