VERUCA SALT LOUNGE AX, SEPTEMBER 29
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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. Now music writers are becoming like art investors: more concerned with the bottom line than with lines and shapes. 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. Instead you get lots of prognosticating on their great chances of scoring big sales. 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 . . . 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.
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. Lost in all the hoopla was the fact that Veruca Salt aren’t a particularly exciting or compelling rock band. 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. 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.
