The group disbanded in 2000 but reunited for a small tour in 2008.[2] In 2016, the band reunited, and on October 14, 2016, released an EP, titled Back to Nebraska.[3]
Guitarist Greg McKenna and singer Kay Hanley formed the band Letters to Cleo in 1990. The band was initially called Rebecca Lulu,[4][5] with Tad Bouve on guitar and Ted Garland on drums with several musicians filling in on bass. In its early phase, the band enlisted various guest players, including a brief period with Abe Laboriel, Jr. as drummer in 1993. The band released a 45single of "Here & Now" with Rimshak featuring Abe Laboriel on drums with Brian Karp on bass. The band's definitive lineup of Hanley, McKenna, Michael Eisenstein on guitar, Stacy Jones on drums, and Scott Riebling on bass, was established in 1994. The band changed its name to Letters to Cleo in 1990.[4] The name "Letters to Cleo" is a reference to Hanley's childhood pen pal.[4] They spent their summers together in Canada, and they wrote each other letters to keep in touch over a ten-year period. At some point Cleo moved without giving Hanley her new mailing address, and Hanley's letters to Cleo were returned to sender.[6] Hanley rediscovered a box of these letters during the band-naming process, and the band adopted the name. Hanley called it "the least crappy of all the names" they came up with at the time.[6]
Letters to Cleo played gigs in several Boston clubs, including T.T. the Bear's Place[5] and The Rathskellar. The band could not seem to find success and was close to breaking up when it recorded their first full-length album, Aurora Gory Alice; Hanley had already started another band on the side at the time.[6] The album was released on CherryDisc Records, a Boston-based independent record label, in 1993.[7] The album received extensive airplay around New England. In 1994, the Billboard published a review of the album and the next day the band played a much-hyped show at South by Southwest in Austin, which made several recording labels very interested in signing the band.[8] Letters to Cleo decided to sign a record deal with Giant Records, a Warner Brothers subsidiary, in 1994, and it re-released Aurora Gory Alice worldwide in 1995.[8]
Soon after signing the deal, their new record label was asked to compile a soundtrack for "Melrose Place", and the record label decided to put "Here & Now" on it.[9] "Here & Now" was an instant hit, and the song reached number 10 on the BillboardModern Rock Singles chart.[10][6]
In 1997, Stacy Jones left the band to join Veruca Salt and was replaced by Tom Polce. That same year, the band released their third album Go!. After a short tour, Polce left the band and was replaced by drummer Jason Sutter. In late 1997, Letters to Cleo parted ways with their record label Giant/Revolution.
1998 saw the release of some early demos and B-sides in the form of the Sister album released originally by Wicked Disc.
Letters to Cleo appeared in the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate about You as a favorite band of the character portrayed by Julia Stiles. They contributed four songs to the soundtrack for the film, which included a Cheap Trick cover ("I Want You to Want Me"), and a Nick Lowe & Ian Gomm cover ("Cruel to Be Kind"). Also included were two original tracks, "Come On", and the beginning of "Co-Pilot" (which can be heard at the end of the scene of their performance at a local club). Whereas the covers appeared on the film's soundtrack, "Come On" was released as an MP3 download on the band's website. "Co-Pilot" was also not on the film's soundtrack, but it appeared on Letters To Cleo's album Go!. In the closing credits, they were mistakenly credited as Letter to Cleo.
The band played its final show on May 4, 2000, a benefit for their friend and longtime local supporter, Mikey D.[13] They announced their disbandment the following month. [13] In 2008 they went on a reunion tour and again in 2016.
Reunion
In December 2007, an impromptu reunion occurred when four of the original band members appeared at a benefit for longtime supporter Jeanne Connolly, at TT the Bear's Place in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The members reunited officially for a series of shows a year later in Los Angeles, Boston and New York City. More dates followed in 2009 with shows in New Orleans, Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Bassist Scott Reibling did not participate in these shows but gave his blessing. Longtime friend of the band Joe Klompus replaced Reibling.
As of July 2009, the band members returned to their own projects.
In February 2016, Letters to Cleo was back together and recording new music.[18][19] The band's Facebook and Twitter feeds have been active with status updates, pictures and videos of ongoing recording.[20][21]
Letters to Cleo appeared as the musical guest at Geek Bowl XII, the twelfth annual event of its kind put on by Geeks Who Drink Pub Quizzes. The event took place in the band's hometown of Boston on Saturday, February 17, 2018.[22]
The band released their holiday EP Ok Christmas November 2019.[23]
As of 2022, LTC has been playing reunion shows periodically in the Northeast and California. The lineup includes both Stacy Jones and Tom Polce alternating playing drums show to show along with Kay Hanley, Michael Eisenstein, Greg McKenna, and Joe Klompus. [24]
In 2023, band members Kay Hanley and Tom Polce wrote ten original songs for "Subspace Rhapsody," the musical-themed ninth episode of the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.[25]
Michael Eisenstein has been doing session work[clarification needed] and touring work for many artists including Our Lady Peace and Lisa Loeb. He is a producer and engineer.
Hanley and Eisenstein married in the late '90s and have two children, Zoe Mabel and Henry Aaron (named for legendary baseball Hall Of Famer). They split up in 2010.
Scott Riebling went into the production side of music. He has produced work for The Von Bondies, Cobra Starship and Fall Out Boy. Riebling resides in Massachusetts. His brother Eric Riebling plays bass in Pittsburgh band The Affordable Floors. He co-owns a pizza chain (Stoked Pizza) located in the Boston area.
Co-founding member Greg McKenna is playing live with his new band, City Rivals. McKenna resides in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Tom Polce played with several prominent Boston-based bands and is a producer and engineer. He lives in California.
Band members
Current members
Kay Hanley – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1988–present)
On the television show Parks and Recreation, Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) wears a Letters to Cleo shirt on multiple occasions while he is between jobs.[30] Letters to Cleo also makes an appearance on the show, playing during the Pawnee/Eagleton Unity Concert in the last episode of Season 6.[31] Hanley said that the show's head writer, Mike Schur, is from Boston and let the band know it would be funny for the character to wear the shirt on the show.[30]
Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro, and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, "Seether", which was released on the 1994 album American Thighs. That success was followed up with 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You. By 1998, Post was the only original member still in the band and continued on with other musicians. Veruca Salt released the album Resolver in 2000 and the album IV in 2006. After a hiatus in 2012, the band reformed with its original lineup. Their fifth studio album, Ghost Notes, was released in 2015.
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Gil Junger in his film directorial debut and starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik. The screenplay by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith is a modernization of William Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew, retold in a late-1990s American high school setting. The film follows new student Cameron James (Gordon-Levitt) who is smitten with Bianca Stratford (Oleynik) and attempts to get bad boy Patrick Verona (Ledger) to date her antisocial sister Kat (Stiles) in order to get around her father's strict rules on dating. Named after a poem Kat writes about her romance with Patrick, the film was mostly shot in the Seattle metropolitan area, with many scenes filmed at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington.
Jennifer Trynin, is an American singer-songwriter and author from Boston, Massachusetts.
Kay Hanley is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known as the vocalist for the alternative rock band Letters to Cleo.
Aurora Gory Alice is the first studio album by Letters to Cleo. It was released in 1993 on CherryDisc Records and re-released in 1994 on Giant Records. The first single from the album was "I See," which got little exposure. However, the second single, "Here & Now", received much exposure when it was featured on the Melrose Place soundtrack a year later.
Go! is the third studio album by the alternative rock band Letters to Cleo. It was released in 1997 on Revolution Records. It was their first album without their original drummer, Stacy Jones, who was replaced by Tom Polce.
Sister is a compilation album by the band Letters to Cleo. It was released on November 3, 1998. The album's last track is a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams". Although it was the final Letters To Cleo album to be released through a major label, the material on the album pre-dates all their other work; tracks 1-7 are originally from their demo tape, and tracks 8-10 are rarities previously performed live, and track 11 was on a compilation honoring music of the '70s.
Nina Rachel Gordon Shapiro, known as Nina Gordon, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co-founded the alternative rock band Veruca Salt and played on their first two studio albums, American Thighs (1994) and Eight Arms to Hold You (1997). During that time, Gordon wrote the band's hit singles "Seether" and "Volcano Girls". After leaving Veruca Salt, she released two solo albums, Tonight and the Rest of My Life (2000) and Bleeding Heart Graffiti (2006). She then rejoined Veruca Salt for their album Ghost Notes (2015).
Cherry Marmalade is the first solo album by Kay Hanley, released in 2002.
American Hi-Fi is an American rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1998. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stacy Jones, lead guitarist Jamie Arentzen, bassist and backing vocalist Drew Parsons, and drummer Brian Nolan. Prior to the group's formation, Jones was well known for being a drummer in the successful alternative rock bands Veruca Salt and Letters to Cleo. American Hi-Fi has a close relationship with Miley Cyrus, whose band shares two members with American Hi-Fi. The group has a mixed musical style that includes influences from pop-punk, alternative rock, and power pop.
Tanya Donelly is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New England. She came to prominence as a co-founder of the band Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh. Donelly went on to co-form the alternative rock band The Breeders alongside Kim Deal in 1989, before leaving to front her own band Belly in 1991. By the late 1990s, she settled into a solo recording career, working largely with musicians connected to the Boston music scene.
"Flavor of the Weak" is a song by American rock band American Hi-Fi. The song was released as the first single from their self-titled debut album on December 22, 2000. It is the band's highest-charting single, reaching number 41 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and peaking within the top 50 in Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Abraham Laboriel Jr. is an American session musician best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of Paul McCartney's touring band since 2001. He is the son of Mexican bass guitarist Abraham Laboriel, nephew of Mexican rock musician Johnny Laboriel, and brother of record producer, songwriter and film composer Mateo Laboriel.
Averi was an American rock band that formed in Boston in 1998. The primary lineup of the band was Chad Perrone, Michael Currier, Stuart Berk, Chris Tilden (bass), and Matt Lydon (drums). Averi grew in local popularity rather quickly, and eventually developed a strong national following. From 2001 through 2005, the band garnered considerable attention from record labels.
Loveless was a Boston-based indie rock band. Releasing records on Q Division Records, the band was composed of Dave Wanamaker and Pete Armata, both of the 1990s rock band Expanding Man, Jen Trynin, and Tom Polce from Letters to Cleo.
Kevin Dotson, better known by his stage name Linus of Hollywood, is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. The stage name comes from his early days in Los Angeles, where he would frequently wear striped shirts similar to the Peanuts character Linus van Pelt. He is currently a member of Nerf Herder and comedy duo Jarinus.
Josie and the Pussycats: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack album to the 2001 film of the same name, starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, and Tara Reid. It was released on March 27, 2001 by Playtone, in conjunction with Epic, Riverdale Records and Sony Music Soundtrax.
"I've Never Done Anything Like This" is the third single from Bowling for Soup's eleventh studio album Fishin' for Woos. The song features guest vocals from Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo. The three-song single was released digitally on October 10, 2011. The single also contains a cover of Fountains of Wayne's "Stacy's Mom" and a re-recording of "The Bitch Song" off Bowling for Soup's 2000 album Let's Do It for Johnny!
The Summer and the Fall is the first studio album by People on Vacation, a supergroup composed of Ryan Hamilton from the indie rock band Smile Smile and Jaret Reddick from the pop punk band Bowling for Soup. The group released their debut EP on November 24, 2011 before releasing The Summer and the Fall on November 22, 2012. The songs "Rainy Day", "It's Not Love" and "Where Do We Go" were previously released on The Carry On EP and "This Is Me" was previously released on the Crappy Records compilation album, Crappy Records Presents: Have a Crappy Summer.
Hilken Mancini is a US female singer, songwriter, musician, author, co-founder of Punk Rock Aerobics, and Girls Rock Campaign Boston. She has been a member of the bands Fuzzy, The Count Me Outs, Shepherdess, The Monsieurs and Band of Their Own, and starred in a Green Day video “Here Comes the Shock” doing her Punk Rock Aerobics.
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