Smoking Gun Beating Heart

Veruca Salt are touring Australia for the first time after a 17 year hiatus. Having added new tour dates in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth it seems the ‘Volcano Girls’ are as popular as ever. Co-front woman Nina Gordon took some time out pre Adelaide show to talk new songs, mixing parenthood with music and the trouble with forgetting your entire back catalogue.

You ‘re in Adelaide right now, kicked off the tour in Brisbane last night, how’d it go?

It went great. We had some technical difficulties but the crowd was great and the room was hot and sweaty. Super positive energy!

How long has it been since you’ve been in Australia?

I was here in 2001, 2002 but as a band together we haven’t been here since 1997.

You’ve gone from Veruca Salt, then going on to do two Solo albums, then back to Veruca Salt again, what’s the difference touring solo to with your band ?

This is sort of where we were meant to be. It’s a lot more fun being with your friends, I mean I enjoyed touring solo because I had some really nice guys in my band but this is a whole different thing, we’re a team and we’re just having so much fun.

Is it true that it’s the 20^th Anniversary of Seether? That just doesn’t seem right?

It’s true, it’s true. I know it seems crazy, but it’s right.

That’s insane, and you’re a mum now yeah?

I am, I have a 5 year old boy and a seven year girl.

How’s blending being a musician and mum? Do your kids know what Mum does for a Living?

Well they do, and they’re sort of getting used to it you know, but this Australian run is the longest that we will be away from them, all of us, from our children. I mean Louise has a young daughter, Jim has a young daughter and so it’s a whole different thing. I mean we really enjoy touring but we do miss our families.

 It’s a whole different world yeah?

Yeah, I mean it’s fantastic; it’s great to get away from the kids for a while and then go back. We can sleep when we want to, we can nap in the afternoon. It’s great.

 You’ve released two new songs ahead of this tour ‘It’s Holy and Museum of broken relationships’ – does this mean we’re getting a new album or are you just teasing us?

Oh no we’ve recorded a new album, we’re like, 98% finished, we just have a little bit more recording to do in November and then we will be done. Will get it out as soon as we can. We have many many songs recorded and there will be a full-length album, yeah soon.

Traditionally you’ve written as either Gordon or Post, is there any collaboration on the new songs?

Yes, much more than we ever have, I mean part of it is a practical thing, you know we just don’t have the same sort of time that we used to. They’ve been written with this spirit of ‘ Hey if you’ve got time to finish this, can you finish it, because I’ve gotta go pick up the kids’ you know, so there’s that. Also we’re in different places in our lives, the collaboration is just nice. In our twenties we were really sort of just forging our own individual identities back then and we just you know, had this feeling of narcissism and self-centeredness that we just don’t have anymore, so you know we’re much easier collaborators. It works better.

So you’re about to play a tour where there will be a lot of long-term fans, expecting to hear favourites, are there any you’re looking forward to revisiting or some that you wish you never had to play again?

No, I mean there aren’t any that we wish we didn’t have to play because we took such a long hiatus from one another that all the songs feel new again, nothing bores us.

Did you remember them all?

Oh no! I mean I had to use You Tube like look up, like ‘ the livid festival ‘ or grudge fest and other Australian festivals to remember how we played it. I had to look up lyrics on line and was looking up the chords. I couldn’t remember anything. Thank god for the internet or there would have been a lot longer rehearsal times.

Are you going to get some time to explore while you’re here?

This time we will, we’ve got a day off in Sydney and I think a day off in Melbourne maybe. I think this time around we’re more likely to do some exploring , back when we used to tour here. It was like we’d stay up all night and that was it.

So you used to exclusively a Gibson girl, are you still?

I am, I play a vintage melody maker. I mean it looks good and it sounds good but also it’s very light and so that’s part of the appeal. I have played the same guitar like forever….

This interview first appeared on Time Out Melbourne