A: Veruca Salt's second full-length album, Eight Arms to Hold You was released on February 11th, 1997 in the United States and Canada. It was expected to be released on March 3rd, 1997 in the U.K. The producer was Bob Rock, who has previously worked with Metallica and Motley Crue. With a recent reports of a break-up, it is not likely that the band will ever release any more music.
Q: What will be the next single off of Eight Arms to Hold You?
A: After "Volcano Girls" and "Shutterbug", in the United States, "Benjamin" was released as the third single. There doesn't appear to be a fourth single off of the album.
Q: Will there be a video for "Benjamin"?
A: Apparently not.
Q: When were the videos for "Volcano Girls" and "Shutterbug" shot?
A: The "Volcano Girls" video was shot over two days in December, 1996 at Effanay Studios in Chicago, IL. It appeared on MTV in February, 1997. "Shutterbug" was shot the week of March 15th, 1997, somewhere in New York. It appeared on MTV in May of 1997.
Q: Why did Veruca Salt play "The Morning Sad" on the Rosie O'Donnell Show April 11th, 1997?
A: Apparently, Rosie requested that they play it because it's her favorite song on the album.
Q: What is the bonus track on the vinyl version of Eight Arms to Hold You?
A: The bonus track on the vinyl LP is "Good Disaster", which can also be found on the CD1 version of the "Volcano Girls" CD single British import as well as the Australian import of the "Volcano Girls" CD single.
Q: Does the band have any plans to tour? When will they come to my town?
A: Veruca Salt toured with Bush in a tour of arenas in the United States and Canada last spring. They made a short tour of the eastern USA and Canada with Local H and Figdish before they went to Europe then Japan and Australia. They then performed on a month-long tour of the eastern half of the United States, to complete their touring for Eight Arms to Hold You. See the Bunny Hutch Tour Schedule for more information.
Q: Is there a Veruca Salt mailing list?
A: Yes, there is a Veruca Salt electronic mailing list. It is
available in two forms, one where you get each individual message as
they are sent to the list, and the other where you get messages clumped
in a digest (approximately once per day as long as there is traffic on
the list). To subscribe to the first form, send mail to
Veruca-Salt-request@tri0306.urh.uiuc.edu with the subject of
subscribe. To subscribe to the digest, send mail to
Veruca-Salt-Digest-request@tri0306.urh.uiuc.edu with subscribe
as the subject. To contribute to the mailing list, mail to
Veruca-Salt@tri0306.urh.uiuc.edu.
Ryan Kolak is the administrator
of the list, and any questions can be directed to him at
kolak@uiuc.edu.
You can also subscribe to the list by visiting the web page for the
mailing list at
http://tri0306.urh.uiuc.edu/~kolak/Veruca.
Q: Is there a Veruca Salt Usenet newsgroup?
A: Yes. It is alt.music.veruca-salt but it is not propagated everywhere. If you do not have access to alt.music.veruca-salt, you can post Veruca Salt questions and comments to alt.music.alternative and alt.music.alternative.female. There are a few people around those groups that will answer your questions. It is okay to crosspost a Veruca Salt question or comment to any of the newsgroups listed. Or you can post your questions to Veruca Salt fans on the mailing list (see the previous question)
Q: Where can I find guitar or bass tabs on the net for Veruca Salt songs?
A: Try Mahalo XOXO at http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Stage/2585/.
Q: Do any of the band members have internet access?
A: Stacy Jones apparently has an account on AOL, but his screen name is not public information. Aside from him, it does not appear as if any of the other members have internet access, and if any of them do, they're not letting anyone know. In one interview, Steve Lack said he had a computer, but was vague about the internet. At the same time, Nina Gordon and Louise Post said they didn't own computers yet. However, the band members are aware of the internet and their many fans that use it.
Q: Is the band Salt the same as Veruca Salt?
A: No. Salt is a female-led three-piece band from Sweden, which had a hit single called "Bluster".
Q: Where did they get the name "Veruca Salt"?
A: Veruca Salt is a character from Roahl Dahl's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was made into the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Veruca was the bratty rich girl who wanted everything, including an Oompa Loompa and a goose that lays golden chocolate eggs. She eventually fell down the "bad egg" chute and wasn't seen from again in the story.
Q: Who are the members of Veruca Salt?
A: Nina Gordon is a singer/guitarst for the band. Louise Post is the other singer/guitarist. Nina is the really thin one. Also, Louise usually stands a little stage left of center (on the right of the stage as you look at it), and Nina usually stands stage right (on the left as you look at the stage). Steve Lack is the bassist and Stacy Jones is the drummer. Jim Shapiro was the original drummer.
Q: Why did Jim Shapiro leave the band?
A: Jim left because he had always been considered a temporary drummer. He learned to play the drums for Veruca Salt. He was the frontman of a band called Ultraswiss before he joined Veruca Salt. He left to go return to Ultraswiss as a singer/guitarist.
Q: Are Nina Gordon and Jim Shapiro related?
A: Yes. Jim is Nina's older brother.
Q: Why does Nina have a different last name than Jim?
A: From the February 1995 issue of CMJ Monthly magazine "...they found Steve Lack and drafted [Nina] Gordon's brother [Jim] Shapiro (Gordon uses her mother's maiden name)."
Q: What are the birthdays of the members of Veruca Salt?
A: Their full names and birthdates are as follows:
Q: Why did Veruca Salt cancel some of their summer 1995 concert dates?
A: Louise Post ruptured a disk between her sixth and seventh vertebrae, which not only forced the band to cancel concert dates between July 21st and August 10th, it also caused them to cancel their appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman that was supposed to occur July 18th.
Q: Was the Letterman appearance rescheduled?
A: No, the appearance on The Late Show was never rescheduled.
Q: Where did they get the name for their album, American Thighs?
A: The title of the album comes from a line in the AC/DC song "You Shook Me All Night Long" on their album Back in Black. The lyric is, "Knockin' me out with those American thighs."
Q: On the bootleg CD Veruca Salt: Past and Present Live, is the "past" part (Macomb, IL) really songs by Veruca Salt?
A: According to Louise Post, who was asked after the Milwaukee Eight Arms to Hold You promotional show about the bootleg, the answer is no. "I don't know who that is, but it definitely isn't us!" she said. Another clue to solve this mystery is that the supposed date of the performance listed on the CD was in 1992. According to most sources, the band did not form until 1993.
Q: What is a "Seether"? What is "Seether" about?
A: Nina Gordon wrote Seether after having a discussion with someone and disagreeing so violently that she wanted to bash her face in. Simply put, Seether is about anger, a seething anger, hence the name. It has been said that's it's more about a woman's anger, the kind of anger "a woman is not supposed to show."
Q: What is the song that they played before "Seether" in concert and has anyone come up with the lyrics?
A: The name of the song is "Hey Little Ghost." Nina wrote it while she missed her boyfriend while she was in France and he was in Russia. Nina says there is no special significance beyond that. The lyrics are as follows:
"Hey little ghost
Are you haunting me right now?
'Cause I feel a little chill
And the door's not open
Anyway
I love you when you're gone
Oh, I love when when you're gone"
Q: Have they ever done anything different with "Seether" when playing it live in concerts?
A: Yes, Veruca Salt on many occasions play the first verse of "Seether" slowly and softly before striking the first chords of the song and playing it "normally" from the beginning. They also used to do the same thing with "She's a Brain".
Q: In the song "Number One Blind", the lyrics mention "Levelor", as in "Levelor, which of us is blind?" What is "Levelor"?
A: Levelor is a brand name of blinds, creating in the song a play on words with the word "blind".
Q: Louise has alluded on stage to the song "Sundown" being about someone who has passed away, who is the song about?
Q: "Sundown" was written about Kurt Cobain, after his suicide in 1994.
Q: In the song "Sundown", where do the lyrics "Goodnight moon, goodnight mush, goodnight lady saying hush" come from?
A: The lyrics are a quote from a children's book entitled "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown. It is illustrated by Clement Hurd and published by HarperCollins. It is a bedtime book about putting to bed a little rabbit.
Q: What is "Oreo"? Is it recorded anywhere?
A: They don't play the song any more, and to my knowledge, it's never been recorded. It's a strangely sensual song basically about "whoring oneself for a truckload of Oreo cookies," and when it is played, it is usually after the encore, with just Nina and Louise on stage.
Some of the lyrics (that I can remember) go like this:
"There's a truck over there
Filled with Oreo...cookies
There's a guy over here
He wants to...fuck me
For some...Oreo...brand...sandwich......cookies!"
The "..." are dramatic pauses, which is what makes the song so sensual.
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