Still Luscious After All These Years

Interview

Kate Schellenbach

(Luscious Jackson)

Kate Schellenbach

(Luscious Jackson)

Still Luscious After All These Years

A Conversation with Luscious Jackson's Drummer

By NIKKI USHER

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Since the release of 1992's In Search of Manny and 1999's Electric Honey, featuring the melodic single "Ladyfinger," Luscious Jackson has been a force within the music industry. This all-female band continues to redefine its sound, which ranges from hip-hop rap to melancholy grunge ballads, in a changing music world. These rocking New Yorkers, on tour since the release of Electric Honey, are in Boston for the Yahoo! Out Loud Tour, a nationwide tour with Smash Mouth coupled with local bands, like Captain Audio, at the Orpheum on Feb 19. Kate Schellenbach, one of the major female drummers of the decade (and former Beastie Boy drummer), took the time to answer a few questions about the band, touring, aging and the gentrification of New York City.

The Harvard Crimson: So you are here for the Out Loud Tour. How does touring with Smash Mouth compare to touring with the band during Lilith Fair?

Kate Schellenbach: It's really a lot of fun to play with Smash Mouth. They have a lot of energy and the tour is a good production in general. Touring is becoming more and more expensive, and Yahoo! paid for the production, sound and lights, which means it's going to be really good quality. But touring has just gotten so expensive lately. It's harder to make it now because the band has to pay for everything. There's so much competition from video games to music. It used to be easier to book at clubs. But we're really about putting on a good show and playing our set and just giving everyone a good time. And that's what we tour for.

The artists of [the now-defunct] Lilith Fair are really going to be missing the opportunity to play together. Hopefully someone will pick up the slack. It was really well put together and the corporate sponsorship was great. The activism was great from Breast Cancer Awareness to women's health care.

THC: Did Lilith make a difference? Why did you play Lilith?

KS: Lilith exposed people to women in music. It brought the possibility of a female tour concept to reality. I think it worked well. It's definitely influenced college radio stations, and we are starting to hear a return to alternative music.

THC: When the band was less established on the music scene, it was often reportd as refusing to take a stand politically becaus of lack of experience. Now that you're a bit more experienced and a little older, do you think the band should take a political stand?

KS: We have been political outside the band for as long as there has been a band. I was part of political group that combined feminism and drumming years ago, which was a wonderful way to be involved in activism. But our role is to be a band for entertainment, not a band for political agendas.

'Our Role is to be a Band for Entertainment'

THC: This sounds like a horrible question, but why haven't you guys burnt out or gone the way of Stone Temple Pilots?

KS: We've always been very health conscious. We've prioritized mental health over being constantly on the road, so maybe we're not as big as we could be. It's a really hard lifestyle, which means it's really easy to lose it to drugs and alcohol. The music industry can really squeeze you dry. We have a strong home base and we try to be adaptable and stay healthy.

THC: Speaking of home bases, being New York City residents, do you find that Giuliani's cleaning up the city has affected your music?

KS: New York used to be a really great place. It was really cheap and diverse and there were so many funky small clubs and so much going on. It was a really great place to grow up. There were these great streets with mom-and-pop stores, something really different. I think Gaby [Glaser, guitarist] would really agree with me here. New York City's really lost its identity. There are so few real cities anymore. You go to any city and ask the taxi what there is to do and you'll hear Hard Rock Caf, Nike Store. I mean San Francisco even is getting that way. Manhattan is too expensive and it's impossible to live cheaply. It's lost its vibe. I guess that energy has moved to the outer boroughs but it's just sad.

THC: Four Non Blondes, the Breeders, L7, Sonic Youth and other grunge bands with women have sort of faded away over the past few years. How have you guys kept your sound alive?

KS: For the band, basically every album shows growth and potential. Each album reflects on the time but we think all of the music is connected. It's not like there's a change or transition but a continuation. We like to try new things and don't have any rules. We just like our music to be danceable and pop-ish.

THC: The band used to be really close to the Beastie Boys, sharing their Grand Royale label with the band and your drumming skills. How is that relationship?

KS: We're still really tight with the Beastie Boys--we've just known them for so long and we share the same home roots.

THC: What do your bands make of the Limp Bizkit/Kid Rock phenomenon?

KS: I think we all agree that it's an interesting take-off of what was already established. What these guys are the bastard children of Axl Rose, taking his worst elements. They're cool bands and they control a different influence and create a really macho industry. I think, however, that they are typical and boring of that macho idea.

THC: On a slightly more different side of the music spectrum, what do you make of Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears and company?

KS: Listen, there are always going to be pop teen celebrities--there always have been. There aren't any more now than there were before--just more girls. But what it shows is the need for a return for intelligent pop. We've lost that sense of intelligence, and I'd like to see a return to that.