Letters to Cleo Brings Rare Summer Tour to the Grog Shop

Growing up in the Boston area, Letters to Cleo singer Kay Hanley benefited from a very eclectic local AM radio station that played a mix of music that would never work in today’s genre-specific world.

“That AM radio station would play Wings before Little River Band before Dolly Parton and Donna Summer, depending on who the DJ was,” says Hanley via phone from Los Angeles where she was working on sound effects for the animated show Kindergarten: The Musical. Letters to Cleo performs at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 29, at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights. “I got into Run DMC and Eric B. & Rakim when I wanted to rebel against my parents. I got into the Smiths when I was a teenager, and that changed my life, and I joined a band.”

Boston would famously produce alternative acts such as the Pixies, Blake Babies and Lemonheads, and Hanley says the nurturing nature of the scene helped Letters to Cleo, which formed in 1990.

“The two major market radio stations played local music during the day and not just in the local music show ghetto,” she says. “We had tons of fanzines and the [alt-weekly] Boston Phoenix and all these incredible local music journalists who were so supportive. We had [clubs like] the Rat[hskellar] and the Middle East and T.T. the Bear’s Place. We had so many places to play and people who wanted to see local music.”

The band self-released a few singles, including what would become its big hit, “Here & Now,” a song that balances distorted guitars with pristine vocals. The song would turn the group’s debut album, 1994’s Aurora Gory Alice, into a hit. The album also became a success simply because the band worked so hard to promote it.

“We had played [the festival] South by Southwest a couple of times,” says Hanley. We were road dogs. I would work a double at a restaurant on Thursday and then get in the van to play New York on Friday. We were working day jobs, and we were weekend warriors with the band and playing to five and then 10 people and then 12 people. Cleveland was the first place outside of Boston to play us on the radio. We got to Cleveland, and all of a sudden, there was a line down the street to see us play.”

During the ’90s, the band continued to record and tour and gain traction. It hit the road with acts such as Our Lady Peace and Sponge and signed a deal with Giant Records, a label distributed by Warner Bros.

“We were together every single day for ten years and put out three records together,” says Hanley when asked about the time period. “We were definitely a dysfunctional family. People talk shit about one-hit wonders, but that one hit is the reason people still take my fucking phone calls all these years later. We were so fortunate to have the opportunities we had even though I was a brat that didn’t appreciate it enough at the time, but now I do, and I’m so grateful that all these years later I still get to play with my [musical] brothers all these years later.”

The group disbanded in 2000 at the time that it cut the songs for the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack as well as music for the 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats. But it reunited for a small tour in 2008 and then reformed in 2016 and has been active ever since.

“A lot of people discovered the band after we broke up,” says Hanley. “We got together to record in 2015 and for fun went out and did a bunch of dates. We were surprised by how much fun it was and how psyched people were to see us. It was such a kick in the pants that we decided to do it again. Now, we’re doing a summer tour, and we haven’t done a summer time in a long-ass time.”

The group recently released two new singles: the murder ballad “Bad Man” and the sarcastic “It’s Sunny Outside,” a song that playfully addresses the “aggressive sunniness” of Southern California.

Even though the current tour celebrates Aurora Gory Alice’s 30th anniversary, Hanley says the band won’t play the album in its entirety simply because it wants to include a wider range of songs. And thirty years on, Hanley says she and her bandmates can still play with their same spunky energy.

“We haven’t really changed,” says Hanley. “I don’t drink anymore, so that’s the biggest change. I’m not going to be getting into a fight at the club after the show. That’s different, but other than that, we’re exactly the same — and maybe better because we have inner-ear monitors.”

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