Nina Gordon
The former Veruca Salt guitarist-vocalist discusses her highly anticipated sophomore solo release
By Melissa Bobbitt
Published: August 21st, 2006 | 11:51am
Like a superhero, Nina Gordon has practically maintained a secret identity in the last decade. As one of the shredding sisters for alternative rock stalwarts Veruca Salt, she penned snarling grrrl anthems with a gritty pop edge (remember “Seether” and “Volcano Girls”?) and wielded a Fender Strat as if it were a battle axe.
But Gordon also was a minstrel with an underlying flair for fine-tuned ballads, such as the commanding “Loneliness is Worse.” So after severing ties in 1998 from fellow Salt songwriter Louise Post and the ferocity of their 1994 debut,
It took six years and one rented piano for Gordon to record the follow-up, the crystalline Bleeding Heart Graffiti, which was released August 8, 2006, on Warner Bros. Records. Building on the sultry, vulnerable direction of Tonight, she enlists the help of Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and Prince’s pals Wendy, Lisa, and Susannah Melvoin to round out the vibe. For example, the grandiose “Watercolors” soars with symphonic crescendos and Gordon’s kittenish croon. “Superstar” lusciously laments amid piano plunks and a Sarah McLachlan–like sway.
As she opened her Bleeding Heart to us, she also announced on her Web site that she’s expecting her first child, due in November 2006.
It’s been six years since we last heard from you. What have you been up to?
I was always in some sort of phase of writing and working toward getting an album together. That meant doing a group of demos in Boston and then not being totally satisfied with them, then doing a group of demos in L.A. once I moved here. Then I recorded an album two years ago and thought that was going to be the album that I was going to release, and then wasn’t totally satisfied with that. I recorded five albums worth of material. I’ve been busy but I haven’t been good at pulling the plug. It’s been a little procrastinate-y and perfectionist-y.
How did you get hooked up with the Melvoin sisters?
Louise and I [had] bonded about how much we loved Wendy and Lisa. I had heard through a rumor through someone I knew who had played bass with them [that] they’re big fans of Veruca Salt. I was like, “No way!” I felt I could contact them and they wouldn’t laugh in my face. We tried to make it work for the last solo record, but we couldn’t get the schedule together. And then when I was coming out to California and decided to move out here, I thought I should get in touch with them again. So we met and I instantly loved them and also instantly connected with Wendy and we became good friends. Then I met her sister Susannah. Wendy and Susannah had been working on a track, this instrumental thing that ended up being the framework for “Suffragette.”
What particularly drew you to L.A.?
It’s funny because anyone who grew up here always laughs when I say I’m really inspired by L.A. I grew up in New York and Chicago, in city cities where most buildings are gray and half a year it’s gray and dreary. So there’s something about being in a climate like this, but also being surrounded by flowers all year round, and green all year round, and mountains.
One song on the album that really struck me was “Bones and a Name.” What’s the story behind that one?
The “Bones and a Name” part came from my feelings when I moved out [to Los Angeles,] that late-night existential, “What are we? What are we here for?” That intense, lonely feeling, like what is my purpose here? In the end, that’s all that we are — a pile of calcified whatever. But the song is actually about what happened with Louise and Dave Grohl [Writer’s Note: the two dated and the breakup inspired Post to write the 2000 album Resolver under the Veruca Salt moniker.] I was [once] driving up into the hills, and I saw Dave in a car right next to me. We looked at each other and then both looked away. Yeah, sure, it’d be fun to hang out with [Dave] and talk to [him] again but he really destroyed my best friend.
Do you always intend on being a solo artist from henceforth, or would you be interested in starting a new band?
I don’t think so. Being in a band is really hard. All of a sudden your whole career, your life, your livelihood, your music — you’re tied to these other people. And what you do reflects on them and what they do reflects on you. [But] at its best, it’s the greatest feeling in the world. It’s like you’re part of some incredible team or some incredible gang, or being like the X-Men. It feels like it’s you against the world.
Issue #35
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