LETTERS TO CLEO RELEASE THEIR “BAD MAN” SPLIT 7-INCHΒ
HTOURING THIS FALL TO CELEBRATE THE 30th ANNIVERSARY OF AURORA GORY ALICE
Letters to Cleo have released a split 7-inch featuring the new songs “Bad Man” on the A-Side and “It’s Sunny Outside” on the B-Side out now across all digital platforms and available on tri-color splatter vinyl that will be sold exclusively at their shows this fall. Following the November tour dates the vinyl version of the 7-inch will be available at LettersToCleo.net
This 7-inch is the first new music offering from the band since the 2019 release of their holiday EP Ok Christmas. The music started to come together during writing sessions that Kay Hanley (vocals) and Michael Eisenstein (guitar) were having at Eisenstein’s studio in Los Angeles prior to the pandemic. “We would get together and make these super quick demos that we always loved and in fact performed at last year’s Cleo shows,” says Michael. “Bad Man”, which premiered on SiriusXM’s 90’s at 9 show last week during an interview Kay and Michael did with Lisa Loeb, is about a woman in an abusive relationship who takes matters into her own hands to end the abuse by murdering her partner. “It’s Sunny Outside” is an upbeat, fun, yet slyly dark song about how the unwavering good weather of Southern California can actually be oppressive. Both songs were produced by Billy Lefler at The Deathstar studio in Los Angeles.
The split 7-inch comes in advance of the band’s annual fall homecoming tour. This year Letters to Cleo celebrates the 30th anniversary of the release of their seminal album Aurora Gory Alice, playing the album in its entirety on each of the fall dates including the annual set of shows at the Paradise in Boston. The album, along with Go!, Wholesale Meats and Fish, and their most recent EP releases Back to Nebraska and OK Christmas are all available on various vinyl formats at LettersToCleo.net.
Letters to Cleo formed in 1990 in Boston, led by guitarist Greg McKenna and singer Kay Hanley. This upcoming tour will feature original members Kay Hanley (vocals), Michael Eisenstein (guitar), Greg McKenna (guitar), and Stacy Jones (drums) along with longtime collaborator Joe Klompus on bass. Aurora Gory Alice, the band’s debut album, was originally released on CherryDisc Records in 1993. The albums received loads of press attention and local radio play around New England which led to the band signing to Giant Records, and the re-release Aurora Gory Alice in 1994. The album’s song “Here and Now” became an instant hit after appearing on the soundtrack for the wildly popular 90s TV show Melrose Place. The song reached #10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Singles chart, was in the top 100 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album debuted at #3 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. To this day “Here & Now” continues to be a fan favorite and one of their most popular songs.
The band’s music could be heard on many of the top TV shows and films throughout the 1990s, including the cult classic 10 Things I Hate About You, where the band contributed 4 songs to the soundtrack and were featured in the film. The band played their last show in 2000 and each of the members went on to have successful careers working in different areas of music from production, writing, performance, musical directing etc. The band was thrust back into the pop culture spotlight via a cameo Parks and Recreation, playing themselves, the obsession of the show’s state auditor Ben Wyatt played by Adam Scott. The band achieved the pinnacle of pop culture validation as a subject in a Sunday version New York Times crossword puzzle. Letters to Cleo reunited in 2016 for the release of Back to Nebraska EP, their first release in 17 years, and have been doing their annual fall homecoming tour ever since.
Tour Dates
November 15 Brooklyn Made New York, NY
November 17 & 18 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA
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