Posts in general

Brad Walsh:

My strongest songwriting influences have always been female, and I was lucky enough to be able to work on this EP with some of the artists I idolized growing up. To be able to guide a rock legend like Juliana Hatfield into the realm of dance music, to have her hear what was done and respond with marvel, was a dream come true for me.

The PopCrush post also has a quote from Juliana about 'Easy'.

Freda Love Smith, Juliana's colleague in Blake Babies and Some Girls, has a new book out - Red Velvet Underground: A Rock Memoir, with Recipes.

You don't see enough of the memoir / recipe genre these days.

From the promo blurb:

Red Velvet Underground tells the story of how Smith's indie-rock past evolved into her domestic present. Loosely framed around cooking lessons she gives her older son, her story moves back and forward in time as she recollects how she got started in music, and how her career in rock eventually dovetailed with her passion for cooking and, later, the growth of her family. The book intersperses forty-five recipes with personal stories about her music career, cooking, eating, and family.

Here's a bit from TheTalkhouse, where you can read a fuller excerpt:

The Blake Babies and the Lemonheads had formed in Boston at about the same time, discovered each other quickly and become fast friends.

Evan and his Lemonheads partner, guitarist-singer-songwriter Ben Deily, attended one of the first shows the Blake Babies ever played, at an arty café called She’s Leaving Home. Evan stood front and center, enthusiastically rocking out, and Juliana was smitten from that moment, and far into the future. Of course, it was hard to meet that golden boy and not be smitten. Few people will ever gaze upon a human more beautiful than nineteen-year-old Evan Dando. And Evan wasn’t just a pretty face —he was an uncanny talent with a killer voice, a knack for melody and great taste in music. I will love him forever for bringing his copy of Big Star’s Radio City over to the apartment I shared with John and Juliana. “You guys are going to freak out,” he said. “I promise.” He was right. When Evan agreed to join the Blake Babies after we had unsuccessfully worked with two other bass players, we were delighted. As it turned out, it was only the beginning of a long cross-pollination between the two bands. John would later join the Lemonheads on drums, and years after that he would return as a guitar player. After the Blake Babies broke up, Juliana was an integral part of the Lemonheads’ classic record It’s a Shame About Ray.

Juliana, having read an advanced copy, has said:

These are sweet, unsentimental scenes from the ever-evolving life of a woman of many shifting and balancing roles: mother, wife, drummer, student, teacher, friend, daughter, food enthusiast. It’s all tied together with tantalizing recipes that have been lovingly improvised and tweaked into a life-affirming doneness.

The book is available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon USA and Amazon UK.

There's also an Apple iBooks version.

Hilken Mancini, writing for Boston Herald's Boston 101 Guestlisted series:

I first saw Juliana Hatfield play at T.T. the Bears in the Blake Babies -- it must have been 1989. They had two nights back-to-back there and the first night she was playing guitar and the next night she was playing bass: same set, same songs. Right then and there I decided she was a totally badass. I could barely play guitar at that point in my life and I was totally blown away.

Hilken goes on to discuss how Juliana and others were influential in the formation of her bands plus an appreciation of Trying Not To Think About It.

Troy Michael in an article for Innocent Words last month:

Heidi Lynne Gluck is now pursuing her solo career with her stunning debut 5-song EP ‘The Only Girl in the Room’ (Lotuspool Records). At its core, the five songs are based in roots rock with a bit of pop and country influence floating in between. Gluck’s voice is airy and captivating (think Aimee Mann) as they carry the songs. When Gluck set out to do a solo album, she took “solo” to a whole new level. She wrote all the songs and played all the instruments on the record, not to mention some of the production work.

“The intimidating parts were making the recordings sound like something. I have confidence as a player and writer, arranger and producer, but I don’t know a lot about engineering, nor do I have the patience to play with mic placement for an hour before recording a track. I was also a bit intimidated by playing drums. I don’t really know what I’m doing, and it was both a fun and maddening challenge.”

This is the first of a planned series of 4 EPs from Juliana's Some Girls colleague.

There's a further interview from earlier this week by Natalie Gallagher at The Pitch which expands on Heidi's songwriting partnership with Kenny Childers.

There's also a merch site with CDs and t-shirts: heidilynnegluck.bigcartel.com

Kevin Wilson has an interesting look at instances of Juliana returning to her old songs:

When you’re a fan of an artist for over 20 years, you start to see patterns. And one of Hatfield’s that is quite prominent on this new album is the re-purposing, in one way or another, of songs she previously recorded. Prior to hearing Whatever, My Love, I had already heard 10 of the 12 songs. A good chunk of that has to do with being a fan. A few years back she released a bunch of her demos, on a pay-what-you-want basis, and five of them appeared there. If you’re no more than a casual fan, those songs would seem new. After all, those demo versions were never meant as “official” releases. They can’t really be considered part of the Juliana Hatfield “canon.”

But there are other ways she goes about these re-recordings. Sometimes it’s a straight-up cover of herself. Sometimes it’s a similar song with different lyrics, kind of along the lines of what Guns N’ Roses did with “Don’t Cry” on their two Use Your Illusion albums. Sometimes it’s just tinkering. And other times the changes are fairly radical.

Kevin compares the versions and declares his 'winners'. Worth a look to see if you agree.

OK so this is tenuous Juliana news. I know.

Comedian Rob Delaney's autobiography (Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.) is published today in the US. It comes out in the UK on December 12.

It begins with a single line quotation from Juliana - the finest Juliana lyric of them all. If you disagree you are wrong.

If you can't guess what it is, you can do the 'Look Inside' thing at the publishers' site and go to page 7.

Some sad news.

Some of you may have known fellow fan Mary Haddon.

Allison Hardin has contacted this site:

I am saddened to share the news that Mary Haddon passed away yesterday after her battle against breast cancer.

One of the biggest joys of the last year of her life was the opportunity to meet Juliana Hatfield; Mary was an avid Juliana fan and had followed her for years.

You may recall that Mary wrote a heartwarming account of her trip to Boston in Summer 2012 to see Juliana's PledgeMusic shows at the Q Division Studios. You can read the account where she mentions the moment Juliana played 'Shining On' here. (scroll to July 3, 2012)

Thoughts and best wishes to Mary's family and friends.