Talking With:

Gabby Glaser

of Luscious Jackson

By Carol Rink

Instead of embracing trendy girl band appeal, New York's Luscious Jackson thrive on being a musical melting pot of genres.

Since they formed together in 1991, Jill Cunniff, Gabby Glaser, Kate Schellenbach and Vivian Trimble have experimented with dance, hip-hop, rock, dance, neo-country and pop. Their four albums — In Search of Manny, Natural Ingredients, Fever In, Fever Out and Electric Honey, the trio's latest effort, minus Trimble, who left the band in 1998 to pursue solo projects — each display a unique combination of these musical styles.
Gabby Glaser, guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist, took some time before Luscious Jackson kicked off their current Yahoo! Out Loud tour with Smash Mouth to talk about Electric Honey and the changes the band has been through over the past nine years.

OV: Were there any differences in the way you recorded Electric Honey?

GG: We used a few different producers. We used the guy we always work with, Tony Mangurian, who did most of the work, co-produced most of the songs. And then we had Alex Young, our DJ, with his partner — they're called 25 Ton — they produced a couple songs with us. And then we had Tony Visconti produce a song, he also co-produced a couple of the ones I wrote. I worked with him a lot on some songs that never made it on the record. And then this guy Mickey P [Petralia] did a couple songs as well.
So you know, that was a lot of fun. If the band really knows their sound and if they have a big hand in producing as well, then each song won't sound so different. So I think it worked out.

OV: Did you do anything different while writing the album?

GG: I think Electric Honey was almost a combination of all the ones previous. You know, the first record we did, In Search of Manny, had a lot of samples. The second one, we had a little more live on that record. The third record was pretty much all live except for maybe one or two songs. So now the fourth one is pretty much a combination of all that. We had strictly live songs, we have songs that loop, and samples, and songs that have no loops.

OV: Did you do more song-writing on the latest album than you have in the past?

GG: Well, the first two records I co-wrote all the songs with Jill. And then on Fever In, Fever Out, I definitely took a step back because we had Vivian more involved. There wasn't much room for us all to move up. Jill moved up, Vivian moved up and I stepped back. And I think on this record there was definitely a lot more room.

OV: When you write songs, which instrument do you start writing your parts for first?

GG: Tendency's guitar, but it has been on keyboards as well.

OV: How do you go about writing?

GG: You know, we've written in so many different ways throughout the years. We've all jammed together, we've written our own parts, we've written with just two people, writing just all together. We've written with just one person, writing one song and all people adding their parts, or playing the parts the writer wrote. So it's a really broad combination.

OV: Is there a certain genre you would classify yourselves as?

GG: How about good time music?

OV: I read that you added a couple people to the current tour.

GG: We replaced our keyboard player with this guy Sid Verthall, who's wonderful. He can play everything and sing everything. And then the same thing goes for Tia Sprocket who can also play and sing great.

OV: How do you think your music has progressed over the time Luscious Jackson has been playing together?

GG: I suppose it's been an experience through each record we've made. I don't know, perhaps songwriting and production. I'm sure production- wise.

OV: I actually saw you guys play a show last November and I noticed how you all alternate between guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals. How, especially with just you and Jill, do you decide who plays what?

GG: We just do whatever works best, you know, whatever works best live. It really doesn't matter how you record it. And live, whatever makes the most sense.

OV: So you guys mix it up a lot?

GG: Yeah. We like to play everything anyway, it makes the show more fun for us.

OV: When Vivian left, how did that affect you guys as a band?

GG: Well, it was pretty natural, I mean she was unhappy towards the end and she wanted to leave so we didn't want her to be around if she's not happy. And we're all certainly still friends.

It hasn't been that different creatively because we've always written in so many different ways that it wasn't like “Oh no we've written all these songs with Vivian and now what are we going to do? We have no keyboard player.” We always played the keyboards, too. On our first record, Vivian wasn't with the band.

OV: She's still doing some solo projects?

GG: Yeah, she's working with Josephine Wiggs from the Breeders [on a project] called Dusty Trails, and their record should be coming out. They just mastered it. I heard the demo and it sounds great.

OV: How did you guys get Debby Harry to do guest vocals on “Fantastic Fabulous”?

GG: We just asked her.

OV: Have you always been Blondie fans?

GG: Yeah, definitely. We loved them when we were just like starting to go out and Kate played with them for a show here, and so she knew her and she called her up.

OV: I read on the Luscious Jackson web site that Tommy Hilfiger named a lipstick color after the band.

GG: Yeah, well that's actually going to, I think, breast cancer research. All the profits from that lipstick color.

OV: When you first found out about that, how did you respond?

GG: Well they actually asked us our favorite color, and certainly if it was going to charity we were more than happy to get involved.

OV: If you had to choose a favorite or a most memorable performance Luscious Jackson has played, what would it be?

GG: Man, that's such a hard question. We had a lot of fun last time we played New York's Irving Plaza. That was a really fun show, I thought.

OV: Just because that's where you started out?

GG: Yeah, I worked there when I was 15. I was a bartender there so it was funny being there years later playing. We had a really great time on the Lilith Tour. We've had a lot of fun, some great shows, some great shows in Philadelphia.

OV: Was there a difference between the audience and atmosphere at the Lilith Fair versus what you'd find on a regular tour?

GG: Well, it's a festival. There's a big difference between a festival and a concert, or a tour. But as far as festival tours go, it was wonderful. Sarah McLachlan is very serious about making the tour as comfortable and functional and happy and productive and musically perfect as possible. They take a variety of music; they get such a bad rap. I mean, last year, there were such cynical people and that's a bunch of bullshit. I've been known to be cynic in my time, too, but you really can't judge anything till you see it. I mean, it's just so easy to put things down.

The fact is, she [Sarah] puts together a great thing. As far as a band perspective, you get treated so well. The security guards are so nice to you, there's no hierarchy. She's very available to everybody. It doesn't matter if you're on the third stage, on the second stage, on the first stage — she doesn't pull any ranks like that. And we all play with each other, you know all the bands, we go on each other's shows.

OV: How do you think the role of women musicians has changed over the time that you guys have been playing together? Do you think you've gained more acceptance in the last couple years?

GG: A little, I mean I think women have always been playing music. I think that there was a period there and here in the States where you had bands like the Breeders, Hole and Sheryl Crow, and then you have people from earlier: Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton. You have many great women who are very capable and competent at playing their instrument. And it's impressive, and they rock you know. Like Hole, we've seen them play, we toured with them in Australia and that was a really great show. And Sheryl Crow just blew our minds on the Lilith Tour.

It's funny because bands that are so big, like Sheryl Crow, REM, all you really know is their hits unless you really buy their records, and hits become tiring after awhile. It doesn't really matter if the song's good after awhile. It's just that song that gets played all the time. So to see a band like that live and hear all their other songs and to see them play, then you can really appreciate them. We've just been lucky to tour with a bunch of people.

OV: Have you ever played with Smash Mouth?

GG: Yes, a couple times, but in one of those festival things where you don't really get to see the other bands or get impressed. You have to leave right away. We've done two shows and both of them were in that situation. One show really, and then we did the WB awards thing, where we couldn't watch them because we had to present something right after them. So, we'll see them now.

OV: Do you think anything will be different playing with them?

GG: Who knows? I don't know. I mean, Smash Mouth has their own sound, which I respect. I respect any band who's gonna do their own thing. So, you know, hopefully their crowd will like us.

OV: One of the cool things about Luscious Jackson is that you mix up so many different styles. You can be into hip-hop, dance, pop, electronica, and find something about your music that you can get into.

GG: That's definitely something we hope to convey. We love all different kinds of music. We love bands that have different styles, that make their own style, not just something that's like “Okay, now I'm going to do a meringue song, or now I'm going to do a rap song,” but something where they can incorporate all those things into one.

OV: Who in particular has had an influence on your sound?

GG: There are so many bands I love, so many singers I love, and so many songwriters. I suppose as far as bands that do a little of everything, the Stones always did a little of everything, way before things got big, same with the Clash. They did a little of everything — reggae, punk . . . well I don't know if you would call it punk really, I guess you could. And then songwriting and voice I just love Stevie Wonder, T Rex.

OV: Is there any new band or artist that you're particularly fond of?

GG: Blur's not that new, but I like their last effort a lot. Mambo Loco — I want to get their record and I don't even have it, but what I've heard of them I like a lot. And then there's this band, the Beta Band. They're from Scotland; I like their record. I don't have it, I guess I've got to go shopping.

OV: No time?

GG: Yeah well you get these CDs in the mail and they pile up but you just don't get the records you really want to get. I tend to listen to old records.
I think that music comes in phases, and we had a really great phase. Well, I feel with like Nirvana and the Breeders those were some great bands that came out of the 90s. I love Urge Overkill too. I loved the bands we toured with; we saw them play every night. But I just feel like we need another great wave of great bands.