Veruca Salt Whatever Happened To The Band Behind Seether, Volcano Girls, Louise Post & Nina Gordon

Veruca Salt: Whatever happened to the band led b Louise Post and Nina Gordon? They would release the hit songs Seether and Volcano Girls.

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#louisepost #verucasalt ##ninagordon #davegrohl

Veruca Salt was a band seemed to have success overnight, but just as fast as they rose, they quickly crashed and burned. This is the story of whatever happened to Veruca Sal
The band got their name from a character from the 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Veruca Salt was formed in 1992 after Louise Post and Nina Gordon met through a mutual friend and hit it off and they started writing music together. .The pair began playing chicago area coffee houses and had their eye on expanding to an all-female quartet. The pair had put an ad in a local chicago newspaper looking for a female rhythm section, but Post and Gordon would closer to home enlisting Gordon’s brother Jim Shaprio would become Veruca Salt’s drummer and his friend Steve Lack would become the band's bassist. Meanwhile, Post and Gordon would share guitar and vocal duties. The addition of a rhythm section created the band’s trademark alternative rock sound.

Full of teen rage- Veruca salt blended the sound of My Bloody Valentine and The Pixies. The band would play only a handful of shows before being noticed by indie label Minty Fresh Records who signed the band. Minty Fresh had previously signed Liz Phair and a handful of other acts. That’s not to say that major labels weren’t lining up to sign the band, in fact many major labels showed interest early on in the group, but Veruca Salt opted to go with an Indie label first as there was a buyout clause in the contract and they felt more comfortable with the scale of what they were doing.
Prior to being signed Veruca Salt had already recorded a 4 song demo but their demo didn’t include the hit song ‘Seether’ that would become their first big hit Regardless Minty Fresh Records, which was basically ran by a 30 year old guy named Jim Powers out of his Chicago apartment, loved the sound of the band and offered to pay to have the band record a single. That single would turn into Seether/All Hail Me.
Since Minty Fresh Records, was a tiny label, Powers was more in favor of first recording singles instead of full albums with bands he was interested in signing. In addition to that Powers had to wheel and deal and that he did. Prior to signing Veruca Salt, he made a deal with local producer Brad Wood who was short on cash and owned his own studio. Wood had previously worked with alternative rock acts liz phair and sunny day real estate. Powers paid Wood money upfront so he could come back later and either record 7 singles or 14 songs in the future with any future band he signed. Wood had envisioned that Powers would bring 7 different bands to record singles in his studio, but since the Seether/All Hail Me single was such a big hit within Chicago and on college campuses, Powers came back and asked Wood use the remainder of his credits just to record Veruca Salt's debut album American Thighs. By the end of 1994, Minty Fresh would sign a distribution deal with Geffen Records, who would re-release their debut album and give it the boost and marketing power it needed to get national exposure. The single Seether/All Hail Me would shoot up the rock charts peaking at number 8 and garnered a lot of play on MTV. The band also got a prime spot opening up for Hole on tour. And American Thighs would go gold selling over 500,000 copies. While the album would receive generally favourable reviews, not everyone was a fan. Some critics would slam the band for being just another group riding the coattails of Nirvana and compared Veruca Salt to the alternative rock group The Breeders who were led by women.
As the band’s profile grew, in 1996 they hooked up with Nirvana producer Steve Albini to record a stop gap 4 song EP titled blow it out your ass it’s Vercua Salt. Here's Nina and Louise from Veruca Salt talking to MTV about why they recorded an EP that they didn't really care if it was successful or not. You know i wanted to ask you about that. Well i think we tried to diffuse the pressure of having to follow it up following it up with a big single for our new EP blow it out your ass it's Veruca Salt um really just so we wouldn't feel the pressure. We wanted to put something without a big single without a big

[ringtail]

They were a non-Seattle grunge band. American Thighs is so underrated, really great album

[joesbeard]

I see Nina and Louise all the time around town. Still gorgeous.

[jasonmcmillan]

Eight Arms To Hold You was one of the best albums of the '90's. For anyone reading this, if all you've heard is Seether, you've really gotta get that album, its amazing.

[OriginalGrasshopper]

Veruca Salt is still around. When the original lineup isn’t touring Louise and Nina play lots of shows in L.A. as a duo. They’re once again the best of friends.

[starwinksbackfromtheskypit]

Facts: You still can’t fight the seether

[lfh]

I saw Veruca Salt at a midnight show on my 21st birthday at Empty Bottle. I also went to Columbia College in Chicago and for one of my classes, we had to break down their equipment at Chicago Dress Rehearsal Studios. Me and my best friend in the class got to meet them and we helped the road crew at a show that weekend and I remember the band “Hazel “ opened for them. Saw them with Dig and Juliana Hatfield at Metro too. I have American Thighs on vinyl, cassette, and cd lol. I also have the Minty Fresh 45 of Seether. I remember being so blown away by them and had the biggest crushes on Nina and Louise. Steve Lack was so nice to me and my buddy. His dad owned Lack Funeral Home in Chicago. Just really cool people.

[z-z-z-z]

veruca salt and salt n pepa went on tour together; the tour was promoted by McCormick spices...

[jessicascott]

Louise Post was able to convince Richard Patrick and Brian Liesegang of Filter to reconcile. I love it. I think it's great when bands can put aside their differences and make music again.

[Mr_Biggs]

A band I was in opened for them in Nashville back in 2015 or 2016. They sounded great and were super sweet.

[modernastronomers]

Surprised he didn’t mention Post’s monumental contribution to the greatest song ever written, Everlong. That harmony over the phone is pure brilliance.

[briankennedy]

Nina Gordon was a star athlete in high school and eventually chose music over the Olympic trials. An ankle injury helped her to decide.

[immortalu]

Just read an article about a Veruca Salt losing master tapes in the UMG fire in 2008. They weren’t the only ones, the fire affected Soundgarden, Audioslave, Nirvana and many, many others. THIS would make a great story to cover here.

[anthonybryant]

I used to have a huge crush on Nina Gordon. Okay, I still do.

[Low]

I met Louise Post in 2006 and she turns to me and says “Oh my god you are beautiful.” It felt like every bone in my body turned to ice in that moment 😲🥶

[stevebuffinton]

Still love Veruca Salt, they're one of my favorites. I seen them at a club called Watermelon Sugars in Santa Barbara around like 2008, 2010 somewhere in there. My bro and I went because we were fans. Most everyone there were just the regular douchy club types of Santa Barbara, not there for the band, just there for the scene. It seemed as if everyone would watch for a minute then go back to socializing. Maybe 40 or 50 people in the whole club and yet me and my bro were front and center at the stage the whole show and it seemed to us that the band noticed this and suddenly were just playing to us. All the movements and eye contact were on us as I feel like they recognized that indeed we were there for them, not the scene. It was like they were playing just for us and it was awesome. When we left my buddy says "dude did you get the vibe that she wanted to hook up with us?" (I cleaned up his language btw) and I was like "lol, no dude, I think they just recognized the true fans there, me and you". anyways that part made me laugh, but if that was the case I wouldn't have been bummed about it either. Good show, glad I'm not a douchy Santa Barbara type.

[lilywhite]

Veruca Salt was and is AMAZING. I never thought of them as an 'alternative' or 'grunge' act. They had such a unique sound that scratched me right where I itch, especially when they first hit the scene in the early/mid-90s. American Thighs was fantastic from beginning to end. Eight Arms to Hold You was an epic follow-up. Resolver is also good though there's one album in there I just never really listened to. Ghost Notes from 2015 is easily my favorite album of the last 15 years. It's full of that signature sound and I can't get enough. I'm bummed it faded away so quickly after getting really solid reviews.

[nonewmsgs]

I was in the front row of veruca salt show and couldn't hear out of my one ear for 3 days.

That was the last concert I went to without earplugs.

[flipnap]

first time I ever heard the song "all hail me" I got shivers down my spine. Eight arms was a sonic masterpiece and the engineering was like gold. im still kicking myself for missing their last reunion tour. hate myself for that one

[mccallosone]

Their reunion album Ghost Notes from 2015 is great, everyone should pick it up

[derekspace]

Ghost Notes is like they never broke up and continued creating great music. It is a great album. Love those guys.