þ7#£K¡WWW[‘Ÿ.ÍÍÍÍ × ááhIxÍÁ á*/c.ûùý/BIG FAT STUPID POP TalkinÕ Õbout pop music with Letters To CleoÕs Kay Hanley by Shelly Ridenour I have to admit that I was more than a little skeptical of Letters to Cleo at first. It all started at an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies conference in Boston a couple summers ago. Staffers from across the country were confabbing at the club Zanzibar, waiting for a local band that had given me much trepidation when I checked out their photo in the conference program. LetÕs put it this wayÑanybody remember Animotion? Imagine my surprise when four sloppy pop slackers took their place on stage behind a bouncy blonde wearing baggy skater pants and a Big Star shirt. My first, albeit embarrassingly catty, thought? ÒPigtails do not credibility make.Ó ÒWhat? Are you sure it was a picture of us?Ó Letters To Cleo frontwoman Kay Hanley (yes, the one with the pigtails) asks incredulously of the pouting, big-hair, black-clad weenies in the photo that turned me off. ÒWeÕve always been the same old goofy pop band, I swear.Ó Letters To Cleo seemed to be cursed with the dumb luck of inspiring badÑand mistakenÑfirst impressions, be it the result of appearance or association. But flying in the face of my original synth cheese suspicions, Letters to Cleo do indeed play pop music. Giddy, non-threatening, angst-free pop, to be exact, with the added edge of HanleyÕs baby doll gun moll vocals. Nothing about them suggests ÒquirkyÓ or ÒretroÓ or post-anything. With Michael Eisenstein and Greg McKennaÕs great big guitar melodies, the perfect bouncing beat of drummer Stacy Jones and bassist Scott Riebling, and that magic something that will make you hum along even when you donÕt want to, Letters to CleoÕs aim is true. In fact, thereÕs a quote from Hanley in their press bio that spells it out: ÒWeÕve always been this big, fat, stupid pop band. A goofy, smiley, happy loser pop band.Ó By proclaiming this, arenÕt they admitting to exactly what so many critics have written them off as? ÒI hope so,Ó Hanley insists proudly. ÒThe bands we love or, for lack of a better word, try to emulate, all have classic pop structures. [Including KnoxvilleÕs own Superdrag, whom Letters toured with a few months ago and whom Hanley Òloves.Ó] ThatÕs obviously what we are and what we do. We like to think we put our own little twist into it, but if a bio is going to turn off somebody then the music is gonna make Õem hate us more. ÒBut,Ó Hanley chuckles, ÒI donÕt think weÕre as faggy as we pretend we are.Ó Nonetheless, the band isnÕt afraid to admit they sometimes come on like Wings for the Õ90s. ÒI think it takes more balls to write a beautiful, well-structured pop song than to write a lot of the crap on the radio today,Ó Hanley says. ÒI used to feel really bad when we would get nasty reviews, but it almost validates what we do. I would rather people despise us than be like, Ôwhatever.ÕÓ Most of the bashing Letters to Cleo has received in print is a result of their contribution to the Melrose Place soundtrack, ÒHere and Now.Ó ÒThat was a situation where we never expected to have to explain ourselves. How the fuck were we supposed to know it would be the single?Ó Hanley asks. ÒWe innocently askedÑno one approached us, we solicited thisÑif we could be on it. The reason was, first of all we wanted to be on the same album as Paul Westerberg and Dinosaur Jr. Secondly, I watch the show. I thought it would be this really funny thing, no one would ever know we were on it except our friends, Õcause we would be the only one on there no one had ever heard of. If it hadnÕt been a single, no one would have cared and we wouldnÕt have suffered at all for it.Ó Guilty by association, Letters To Cleo were oft slagged as being as shallow and trendy as the Fox network blockbuster. That is, until they released their second record, Wholesale Meats and Fish (Giant Records). Suddenly, many of the same critics who had written them off as a one-hit wonder realized LettersÕ wide-open guitar riffs werenÕt just empty Gen-X calories. Not all of the critics, however; some scribes refuse to let go of their grudge so easily. ÒIt went both ways,Ó Hanley says. ÒSome people immediately wrote us off and decided exactly what we were because of that song, because of the Melrose affiliation, and had formed an opinion before the CD passed across their desk. That type of review tended to be very back-biting, nothing to do with the music. ÒOn the other side of the coin, people expected it to be just terrible. Expected a one-hit wonder. I think a lot of them tossed it on for a laugh and were surprised. I donÕt think that anybody who ever really listened to the record hated it.Ó But would they ever do it again? LetÕs say, ahem, their pals in Superdrag were asked to be on the soundtrack of a Pauly Shore movieÑwhat advice would these backlash vets offer? ÒItÕs simple,Ó Hanley says. ÒIf you have a bad feeling in your gut about it, donÕt do it. I donÕt regret that we did it at all. But I would think very carefully before getting involved with a television or movie production. Not to say that IÕd never do it again, because weÕve actually been on another soundtrack since then. One of our songs was in the BabysitterÕs Club movie. And that came and went without incident. No one never even knew we did it. And, from what I understand it was a positive, uplifting message to young girls.Ó Then the good girl mold is broken as Hanley erupts in a fit of mischievous giggles and you can almost hear her eyes rolling. 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