via Magnet Magazine:

Longtime MAGNET contributor Hobart Rowland takes a deep dive into the influential albums championed by the magazine over the years, with exclusive, in-depth interviews with the artists, producers and other key players. For episode five, Rowland gets the real story behind the making of Blake Babies’ 1990 classic Sunburn, college rock’s last great statement.

This one features contributions from Gary Smith and the Babies trio.

Available in the embed above or the usual places including Apple Podcasts, Overcast, and Spotify.

From the latest edition of Paul Myers’ Record Store Day podcast:

Stars' Torquil Campbell looks into the rear view mirror at the events leading up to Stars' lovely and melancholic new album, From Capleton Hill.

All three Blake Babies - Juliana Hatfield, Freda Love Smith, and John Strohm celebrate a new reissue of their 1990 indie classic,Sunburn.

Bill Kopp talks about his new book Disturbing The Peace, which provides the 411 on legendary SF indie label, 415 Records.

Record Store Day co-founder Carrie Colliton praises a new RSD reissue of Linda Martell's Color Me Country.

The 30 minutes Blake Babies section begins at around 25:30.

Freda performing with the Blake Babies in Allston, MA, 2016. Photography by David Young.

This week has seen Freda perform on drums for the last time.

If you missed her retirement announcement on the Sunshine Boys’ Facebook back in April here’s a snippet:

Lately I’ve been saying to the folks around me that baseball players don’t play forever. Bodies change. And mine is just about finished playing drums. I’m speaking here on behalf of my wrists, back, elbows, shoulder, knees, and hips, among other parts. And speaking on behalf, too, of the writer and teacher in me. I’m currently writing two books and teaching writing more than I ever have, and I feel strongly compelled to make more space in my life for these endeavors.

Freda performed her last show with Sunshine Boys a couple of weeks back. This last weekend saw her final drumming appearance at the Hot Stove Cool Music event in Chicago where she guested with several artists which included playing Some Girls songs in Juliana’s set.

Freda has given us so much joy over the years in her various projects. For many of us it is the music she made with Blake Babies that will be the most special legacy from her brilliant career.

Best wishes for the future Freda and thanks for everything.

Freda Love Smith performing on drums with the Blake Babies in Allston, MA 2016. Photography by David Young

JPS, writing for Talkhouse on the legacy of Sunburn and “what it was like to be a “college rock” band on the verge in 1990”:

Happily, Freda, Juliana, and I have rekindled our friendship several times over, and we made what I personally consider our best album, God Bless the Blake Babies, in 2001. We’ve periodically done shows together and supported one another in all of our mostly successful post-band pursuits. It’s wild to think that was over 30 years ago. It’s even wilder to listen to the music with the knowledge of what indie music sounds like today, and realize it still sounds contemporary. With the exception of a few dated production touches, Sunburn could fit in with what we call Indie Pop today.

An excerpt from Juliana, John, and Freda interviewed by Warren Kurtz for Goldmine Magazine:

GM: That vocal blend is also on “Train” which I really enjoy and reminds me a bit of R.E.M.

JH: They have train songs too, “Driver 8” for example. It is an American tradition.

JS: I think with that song it was a dual lead vocal. I was struggling as a new singer, trying to find my voice. I was learning how to sing in front of a microphone in a studio, which is not the best place to learn. It is the quickest way to improve but most people who sing in a studio have sung in a school choir, at least.

JH: I was also a bit new. I studied piano at Berklee and then started studying voice, so I was also learning techniques on how to strengthen my voice.

JS: Juliana had already sung on two albums before this, so she had great experience, compared to me. “Train” has a pretty demanding vocal with an active melody. Juliana’s guide vocal helped me to nail the pitch. The lyrics were ambiguous, so having the male and female vocal was not a conflict.

JH: While this song doesn’t sound like the band X, John and my voice are so different that it reminds me of John Doe and Exene Cervenka’s voices being different in X. When we sing together it is a cool tension that blends well.

From Freda, John, and Juliana’s interview with Dave Rayburn for Alliance Entertainment to mark this month’s vinyl reissue of Sunburn:

JOHN: We have a couple more albums to reissue in the future, EARWIG and GOD BLESS THE BLAKE BABIES. We also have a set of demos for SUNBURN that are really strong. I don’t see why we wouldn’t make those available at some point as well.

JULIANA: There is one demo-ed song called “Radiator”, from the way early days, and there are maybe some live things we could share. As for other unreleased songs, I do remember one long multi-sectioned prog rock song we created and practiced, and I recorded us playing it live into a boom box in our rehearsal space in I think 1987 and I think I still have that cassette.

American Laundromat Records:

We are stoked to reissue "Sunburn" on vinyl for the first time in over 30 years! This exclusive reissue is limited to 2,000 units worldwide.

Reissue artwork prepared by Aaron Tanner at Melodic Virtue from the original Mammoth art. Our good friend Sean Glonek at SRG studios handled remastering, Levi Seitz cut metal, and the fine folks at Furnace pressed the vinyl. It looks and sounds amazing! We are very proud of this reissue and hope you enjoy it.

For further info on colour variants and test pressing options head to American Laundromat Records order page.

John P. Strohm posted on Twitter yesterday about finding a Blake Babies tour diary he kept from 1989-1990, and which he’s now transcribing.

I’ll keep this post updated with links to John’s Wordpress as he publishes in parts.

A snippet from Part 1 (November - December 1989) :

12/7/89

Athens GA did not disappoint. Tuesday night we played the 40-Watt. We played an hour and two encores. It felt a little lackluster because Juliana is getting a cold. The staff at the 40-Watt are as nice as any club people I’ve met. The sound guy kept offering Juliana various cold remedies including slugs of brandy (which she declined – she never drinks and in fact none of us are drinking at all on this tour). Wednesday we drove to Sparta to a junk store and I bought some shitkickin’ boots and some hats. Freda got these amazing red cowboy boots, which she’s wearing with pride.

Updates:

Part 2 (January 1990) published April 3, 2022

Part 3 (February 1990) published April 4, 2022

Part 4 (February 1990) published April 5, 2022

Part 5 (March 1990) published April 6, 2022 (final part)

American Laundromat Records are having a further run of their Blake Babies t-shirt featuring John P Strohm’s classic illustration.

We’re receiving tons of requests again for this exclusive @blakebabies tee, so we’re doing a special run. We are only screenprinting against orders received in advance so be sure to place your order asap here https://t.co/iTIlPhhc9K@johnpstrohm @julianahatfield @fredalovesmith pic.twitter.com/71lJu73JeK

— American Laundromat (@laundromat13) September 16, 2021

Also, ALR have teased a 2022 single featuring Juliana covering Neil Young’s “Lotta Love”:

Oh, what’s this?! Just the test pressing for the @julianahatfield and @emmaswiftsings split 7”we’re putting out next year. Two @Neilyoung songs. Juliana covers “Lotta Love” and Emma covers “Give Me Strength.” They’re both OUTSTANDING!#45rpm #testpressing pic.twitter.com/qMNaQnBFoZ

— American Laundromat (@laundromat13) September 15, 2021

Freda Love Smith, writing at Talkhouse:

Juliana Hatfield and I were bandmates in the Boston indie-rock band Blake Babies. This year marks the 30-year anniversary of our music video for the song “Out There,” which featured us shaving our heads on camera.

In early 2020, my band Sunshine Boys supported Juliana for a few shows on her US tour, and during a backstage chat we discovered we were both sick of dyeing our hair to hide the grey, and had both been thinking about chopping it all off to let nature take its course. Months later, during COVID-19 lockdown, we decided to take the leap together again, making a tidy bookend with the “Out There” video shoot 30 years earlier.

The article goes on to include an edited transcript of an email exchange between Freda and Juliana as they "reflect on now and then, going grey, and growing older."

There are photots of their glorious new haircuts there too, so I won't spoil the reveal by posting them here, particularly if you haven't seen Juliana's Twitter in recent days!

talkhouse.com/freda-love-smith-and-juliana-hatfield-got-matching-quarantine-haircuts/

View fullsize

John P. Strohm, writing today for Talkhouse about "the 'demonic' 1970s Chevy cargo van that carried Blake Babies across America":

Juliana always drove, because she believed that she had a psychic connection with The Van and she could will it to stay on the road. We had a boom box that ran on batteries, but often we just rode in silence as Juliana looked straight ahead, jaw clenched, occasionally muttering insults to the van when it made its strange noises or if any indicator lights came on. The “check engine” light remained on pretty much always after we left New England.

talkhouse.com/the-van-from-hell/

More video of the Blake Babies reunion at the weekend, this time with improved audio. Thanks to Stacee Sledge for posting this to YouTube and via the Juliana Hatfield Three Facebook page.

Freda, John, and Juliana are interviewed by Jack Rabid for Rock and Roll Globe to talk about the reissue of Innocence and Experience. It's an excellent read. They talk about an unreleased song ("Radiator") which they all seem to love and which any fan reading will now be very keen to hear! They also all speak in remarkably candid detail about the early 90s break up. An excerpt:

FREDA: Regarding our demise, it was indeed, as Juliana remembers, long and drawn out! What was hardest for me was that we agreed to break up but kept playing shows, mostly to fulfill our obligations. Being a dead band rocking was no fun, and on one long tour I was very depressed then got super sick and went home in the middle—to be replaced by Juliana’s brother—and then I opted out of our final tour of Europe because it just felt sad and pointless to me. I’ve always needed to feel like I’m working with a sense of hope and direction and forward momentum, and the Blake Babies had that in our early years, which was exciting, and when that was gone I checked out, disappointed and a little wounded. Now I wish I had rallied to keep my shit together for a strong ending. My regret about that was one factor in my suggesting the [2001 comeback fourth LP] God Bless the Blake Babies reunion album and tour—I wanted a happier final chapter for us! I’m not sure if it’s because of the reunion or because of time, or because of love and friendship, but I don’t have any bad feelings about the breakup now. I just feel lucky I ever got to be in a band with Juliana and John.

Patrick Hickey Jr, with a great interview for Review Fix with John and Juliana reflecting on the recently reissued 1993 Blake Babies compilation:

Review Fix: What made this album special for you when it was originally released?

JH: Well, it was a compilation of a lot of stuff that had already been released so for me personally it wasn’t so crucial that it was even put together. But I think it was nice for a lot of people out there who maybe hadn’t heard the original albums to be able to grab one single overview that contained a bunch of songs from a bunch of different places so that they could get a taste of the band.

JS: I enjoyed compiling this album, but it was intended to be a sort of retrospective once the band was in the process of breaking up. It was really emotional for us at the time, but I think we all believed we were on our way to more significant career accomplishments after Blake Babies. It was true for each of us I suppose, but not necessarily in the careers we intended. But I think it’s undeniable that our band launched Juliana as a force in popular music in the 90s, and any ambivalence I might have felt at the time has resolved into feeling very proud of what we all did together.

View fullsize

American Laundromat Records, announcing a return of the fabulous 1993 Blake Babies compilation album:

We are beyond excited to reissue this fantastic Blake Babies collection on vinyl. It's always been a favorite and we worked with John, Freda and Juliana on every aspect of the reissue.

Our good friend and long-time collaborator Sean Glonek at SRG Studios handled remastering, and Carl Saff in Chicago cut metal. Vinyl was pressed by hand at Burlington Record Plant in Burlington, VT. The artwork has been recreated from the original Mammoth art but with a little twist thanks to the skill and creativity of award-winning designer, Aaron Tanner of Melodic Virtue. We also included the liner notes and photos from the original CD booklet as a newly-designed inner sleeve. We're very proud of this reissue and hope you enjoy it.

The scheduled release date is March 2019 and orders are being taken now at:

https://www.alr-music.com/collections/out-now/products/blake-babies-innocence-and-experience-vinyl-reissue

View fullsize

There are also t-shirts available at the same link. American Laundromat say:

The official Blake Babies T-Shirt design is from a drawing John Strohm did 20+ years ago. Our good friend Lonny Unitus, who is an amazing illustrator, recreated John's drawing for screenprinting purposes and added the Nicely, Nicely typography. It's an exclusive design and will only be available for a limited time.

Oh my! What a treat this is.

Uploaded 30 years after it took place by RoadToRuane - the "Billy Ruane live archive preservation," here's a Blake Babies show featuring Evan Dando.

I think this was just before that little "tour" we did in the Southeast. By the end of that, this lineup was really good.

— John P. Strohm (@johnpstrohm) November 1, 2018

opening for one of my all-time favorites, Game Theory. (also, love that you're wearing your own band shirt. HAR!)

— Todd A. Philips (@taphilips) November 1, 2018

Thursday last week saw the first of 3 consecutive nights at Paradise Rock Club, Boston where Blake Babies opened for Letters to Cleo.

Photos courtesy of David Young of Dry Eye Photography.

There are also photos at Vanyaland and YouTube clips across all nights including Out There, Girl In A Box, Baby Gets High, and Star.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Juliana has announced that she will be appearing with Wesley Stace over three nights on October, performing "mostly solo and acoustic." One is as support and the other two are multi artist "Cabinet of Wonders" variety shows which have previously seen Juliana perform maybe a couple of songs.

Also, there's three Blake Babies shows coming up in November, opening for Letters to Cleo at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Yay!

"Mostly Solo Acoustic" Performances
October 2017
11 Hudson, NY - Club Helsinki (Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders - appearing with Charles Bock, Tracy Bonham, Dave Hill, Stephen Merritt, Suzzy Roche)
12 Ardmore, PA - The Ardmore Music Hall (opening for Wesley Stace)
13 New York City, NY - City Winery (Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders - appearing with Eric Andersen, Dave Hill, Stephen Merritt, Eugene Mirman, David Myles, Aparna Nancherla, Annalee Newitz)

Blake Babies Performances
November 2017
16 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club (opening for Letters to Cleo)
17 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club (opening for Letters to Cleo)
18 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club (opening for Letters to Cleo)