People are often surprised at some of the bands I like.
This one is probably one of them.
And I don’t care.
I became aware of Letters To Cleo through the song “Here And Now” like pretty much everybody else did, though not necessarily through the Melrose Place soundtrack single and video that most people seem to remember.
I had heard the song on radio at some point earlier, just a couple of times a year or so before, so when the video hit I wasn’t surprised, but did get annoyed that it seemed to be everywhere. I had picked up their album and enjoyed it.
Kay Hanley’s voice seemed perfect for this alt-pop-rock outfit. There were only three albums officially released, with their demo E.P. (Sister) getting expanded to a full length version with a couple of bonus tracks after they broke up. Or maybe they didn’t break up but were dropped by the record label. Whatever the case one of those bonus tracks was a Scruffy The Cat cover.
“You Dirty Rat”
After the band broke up singer Kay Hanley (and I think the guitarist Greg McKenna) provided songs to the Saturday morning cartoon Generation O! which was half the reason I watched. I’m still waiting on a soundtrack. Letters To Cleo provided songs for a couple of soundtracks, most notably a cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” from 10 Things I Hate About You.
But it is the original material by the band that hooked me and keeps me coming back to the band. They were active from about 1993 to 2000. Kay Hanley went on to have a solo career with a couple of albums, and plenty of other singing and songwriting work (I could make a lengthy blog post regarding the 2001 film Josie And The Pussycats soundtrack) even going on to work as a backup singer for Miley Cyrus.
I bring up Miley Cyrus because drummer Stacey Jones wound up being her longtime drummer and musical director. Before that, however he started his own band, American Hi-Fi, which I like. I met Stacy once, but that will be another post.
“Sparklegirl”
Now Letters To Cleo have reformed and working on some new music. Of course I plunked down some money for the project. Hopefully this won’t be a one-time thing and the band will actually be back.
