Luscious Jackson

Luscious Jackson Reunite — To Make Children's Album

26 Sep 2006 11:38:00 EDT

Album is completed but currently label-less; frontwoman Jill Cunniff will issue solo LP in February.
By Chris Harris

It was motherhood that led to the demise of New York's Luscious Jackson. Now, six years later, motherhood is fueling the all-female, hip-hop-inflected act's comeback album.

However, fans expecting a characteristic collection of gritty urban beats and sultry melodies might be surprised to learn that the album consists of songs written expressly for children.

Let's just say the Luscious ladies have grown up.

Frontwoman Jill Cunniff — who, weary of touring and wanting to start a family, dissolved the band in 2000 — is now the mother of two daughters and a Parent Teacher Association member. Over the last six years, she's been pursuing a more mom-friendly musical career (writing songs and producing for artists including Emmylou Harris, the Cooler Kids and others) and recently finished her first solo LP. Guitarist/co-founder Gabby Glaser and drummer Kate Schellenbach have similarly moved on professionally since the band split (see "Luscious Jackson Hangs It Up").

"We [broke up] with the understanding that we'd all be friends," Cunniff said. The three kept in touch, and last year Cunniff e-mailed Glaser, "Hey! Wanna do a kids' record?" The rest is history: With Kate in tow, the group recorded 11 tracks for the album. Keyboardist Vivian Trimble — who left before the recording of 1999's Electric Honey, the original band's swan song, and is a new mother herself — has also offered to play on the record (see "Vivian Trimble Quits Luscious Jackson").

"We've made a lot of music so far, but it's fun because adults will be able to enjoy this too," explained Cunniff. "It's like Luscious Jackson with a kids' angle. It's not goofy kids' music — it's dance-y and has Luscious Jackson beats, but the [lyrical] content is pretty silly. It's been so much fun and so easy to do: That's when you know things are going in the right direction.

"I wouldn't cancel out [LJ doing] other things in the future," she continued, "but that's what we're doing at the moment. I miss the band, I miss playing live — and I never thought that would happen."

Luscious Jackson's LP has not been titled yet (although Cunniff likes It's All Goo) and the band is seeking a label to put out the album, which currently has no release date. But the band will be performing in the near future, doing "family concerts where parents can come with their kids, because a lot of our fans have kids now."

Cunniff also plans to play some limited live engagements around the release of City Beach, which is slated for release in February and was indirectly inspired by the events of September 11.

"I was working inside a studio that was a block away [from Ground Zero] when September 11 happened," the New York native recalled. "My daughter was three weeks old at the time, and Luscious Jackson had been broken up for a year. When that happened, I decided [my family] needed to move to Martha's Vineyard for a year. We looked on the Internet for a place we could drive to that would never, ever be a target of terrorism."

Cunniff, who self-produced much of City Beach, rented a house on the popular island resort off the coast of Massachusetts and gradually carted all of her home-studio equipment there. The album, she said, is somewhat dichotomous, with half of its songs reflecting city life and the rest inspired by the tranquility of the Vineyard's lifestyle (Cunniff and her family have long since moved back to New York).

"I was with my first daughter, listening to a lot of lullabies and quiet music, and I really wanted to make like a lullaby/beachy record," she said. "I wanted to make a record you could put on and feel a mood change. The city stuff started filtering into the album over the last few years, because I couldn't just leave that part out — it's a big part of me."

City Beach boasts a dozen tracks, including "Happy Warriors," "Apartment 3," "Kaleidoscope" and "Disconnection," which features Emmylou Harris. Cunniff recorded the album without any label backing (she has pacted with the Militia Group for its release). That, she said, afforded her the time she needed to make the LP the best it could be.

"I did what I wanted," she said, "which is really amazing, because I just handed it in and they were like, 'Great.' There was no pressure from a label. It was comfortable and creative. I tried to make the songs all link, so that they work together as a whole. There are a lot of storytelling songs on the album, and some of them deal with relationships. That's always the theme for me — understanding human relations."

Related Artists

Luscious Jackson

Luscious Jackson Hangs It Up

31 Mar 2000 18:00:00 EST

On Friday afternoon, New York groove rockers Luscious Jackson announced that they had decided to split up, confirming rumors that had been floating on the Internet.

"We want to let our fans know that we are still good friends," vocalist Jill Cunniff said in a statement announcing the split. "We all want to diversify what we do individually, and the band just came to its natural conclusion. It's been a great eight years, and we hope to work together again in the future."

"We want to thank our fans for their amazing support over the years as well as the people who supported and worked for us and with us personally and professionally all this time," drummer Kate Schellenbach added.

The band promises to address the move further on its Web site (lusciousjackson.com).

Cunniff, Schellenbach, and vocalist/guitarist Gabby Glaser will now focus on writing and producing, working with other acts, and kicking music for soundtracks. Luscious Jackson's final bits of new music will come with the soundtracks for "Titan A.E." and "Felicity."

Keyboardist Vivian Trimble had left the group in April of 1998 as the band was beginning to record what would be its last album, "Electric Honey."

The band found its greatest mainstream success with its single "Naked Eye" from the 1996 album "Fever In Fever Out." That album proved to be the group's best-selling effort, selling more than 500,000 copies according to SoundScan. Despite spawning a radio hit in the form of "Lady Fingers," the group's "Electric Honey" sold only 127,000 copies, less than both "FeverŠ" and 1994's "Natural Ingredients."

Related Artists

Luscious Jackson

Smash Mouth Preps New Video, Plans Tour With Luscious Jackson

11 Jan 2000 17:00:00 EST

Before heading to Los Angeles' Staples Center on February 23 to see how they fare at this year's Grammy Awards, the men of Smash Mouth are wrapping up a new video and preparing to hit the road with Luscious Jackson.

Frontman Steve Harwell and company are currently putting the finishing touches on the video for their next single, "Waste," and plan to hit the road with Luscious Jackson on February 9 outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The month-long, 20-date tour wraps on March 9 in Pompano Beach, Florida.

The tour news comes as the band is enjoying its newfound triple-platinum status (as the group's 1999 album "Astro Lounge" passed sales of 3 million). The band now adds the "triple platinum" tag to that of "Grammy nominee" following the group's recent nomination for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for "All Star." Smash Mouth faces heavy competition for the award in the form of fellow nominees the Backstreet Boys, Santana, TLC, and Sixpence None The Richer.

If you want to catch the band with Luscious Jackson, here's where to look:

2/9 - Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Amphitheatre
2/10 - Los Angeles, CA @ Palladium
2/12 - San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
2/14 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
2/16 - Austin, TX @ Austin Music Hall
2/17 - Dallas, TX @ Bronco Bowl
2/19 - Columbia, MO @ Expo Center
2/20 - Chicago, IL @ Aragon Theatre
2/21 - Madison, WI @ Dane County Exhibit Hall
2/24 - Ypsilanti, MI @ East. Michigan University
2/25 - Akron, OH @ E.J. Thomas Hall
2/26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ A.J. Palumbo
2/28 - Amherst, MA @ Mullins Center
2/29 - Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
3/1 - New York, NY @ Roseland
3/3 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
3/4 - Washington, DC @ Nation
3/6 - Raleigh, NC @ Ritz
3/8 - Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
3/10 - Pompano Beach, FL @ Pompano Beach Amphitheater

-- Kara Manning

What do you think about this story? You Tell Us.

Related Artists

Destiny's Child, Luscious Jackson, Others To Be Featured On WNBA Collection

20 Oct 1999 10:00:00 EDT

The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) counts a number of celebs in its fanbase, including Luscious Jackson, who tapped Kym Hampton of the New York Liberty to sing on the group's recent album, "Electric Honey." Now that band and other female artists are teaming up with the WNBA for a good cause.

Fourteen different artists will be appearing on the forthcoming "Divas Of The Court: Songs From The WNBA, Volume 1" CD, which will be released on October 23 via NBA Entertainment and SFX Alphabet City Sports Records. Proceeds from sales of the CD will benefit the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations.

Included on the album will be previously released tracks by the likes of Destiny's Child, Monica, Luscious Jackson, the Indigo Girls, and others.

To help plug the CD, Destiny's Child will be playing a free concert on the album's release date, October 23, at the NBA Store at Fifth Avenue in New York City. The concert, to be hosted by Rebecca Lobo of the New York Liberty, will start at 1 p.m. (ET).

The track listing from "Divas Of The Court" is as follows:

Destiny's Child: "Jumpin, Jumpin'"
Monica: "Don't Take It Personal"
Vanessa Williams: "Happiness"
Luscious Jackson: "Friends"
Shawn Colvin: "Round Of Blues"
Imani Coppola: "Legend Of A Cowgirl"
Tatyana Ali: "Everytime"
Heather Nova: "Heart And Shoulder"
Queen Latifah: "Ladies First"
Aretha Franklin: "Jump To It"
Republica: "Ready To Go"
The Go-Go's: "We Got The Beat"
The Indigo Girls: "Galileo"
Sister Sledge: "We Are Family"

-- Brian Ives

Related Artists

Bush, Moby, Luscious Jackson Sign On For Atlanta Charity Concert

25 Aug 1999 10:00:00 EDT

Bush, Live, Moby, the Verve Pipe, and Cake will be among the artists converging on Atlanta's Lakewood Amphitheater next month for a special charity show being sponsored by local radio station WNNX.

Others scheduled to play at the "Big Day Out" concert on September 18 include hometown faves Marvelous 3, Luscious Jackson, Tonic, Train, 2 Skinnee J's, Econoline Crush, and Vertical Horizon.

Regional acts ranging from the Josh Joplin Band and Five-Eight to Big Atomic and Deacon Brody will also be on hand to perform at a "Locals" stage set up at the Lakewood Amphitheater midway.

Proceeds from the benefit show will be donated to the Samaritan House of Atlanta, a non-profit organization that helps homeless men and women regain their independence through employment and housing.

For more information and updates on the "Big Day Out '99" charity concert, check out the WNNX website or the Good Samaritan home page.

-- David Basham

Related Artists

Luscious Jackson Drops "Honey," Explains Flower-Powered Video

17 Jun 1999 12:00:00 EDT

Luscious Jackson is currently in Europe, blazing the promotional trail to support its fourth full-length album, "Electric Honey," but the band is already prepping for a busy summer touring schedule that will include a stint on Lilith Fair and a joint outing with Cibo Matto.

Due out on June 29, "Honey" marks Luscious Jackson's first effort since losing keyboardist Vivian Trimble (see "Vivian Trimble Quits Luscious Jackson"). To help fill in the harmonious void, Luscious Jackson tapped Blondie's Deborah Harry and folk singer Emmylou Harris to provide some guest vocals -- with Harris singing backup on the first single from the record, "Ladyfingers."

Several of Luscious Jackson's friends and musical compatriots turn up in the Tamra Davis-directed video for "Ladyfingers," including actor John Leguizamo and fellow New York City groovesters Cibo Matto (who just issued their own new album, "Stereo-Type A").

Luscious Jackson has just announced dates for its tour with Cibo Matto, which is slated to begin almost immediately after the band wraps its two week run on Lilith Fair from July 8 to July 21.

The itinerary for the Luscious Jackson-Cibo Matto tour:

7/23 - Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
7/24 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater
7/25 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
7/27 - Pontiac, MI @ Clutch Cargo
7/28 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
7/30 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music
7/31 - Cleveland, OH @ The Odeon
8/1 - Toronto, ON @ Opera House
8/4 - Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
8/7 - Baltimore, MD @ Recher Theater
8/10 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
8/12 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza

Related Artists

Luscious Jackson

Luscious Jackson Sets Dates For Tour With Cibo Matto

17 Jun 1999 12:00:00 EDT

Luscious Jackson has just announced dates for its tour with Cibo Matto, which is slated to begin almost immediately after the band wraps its two week run on Lilith Fair from July 8 to July 21.

The itinerary for the Luscious Jackson-Cibo Matto tour:

7/23 - Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
7/24 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater
7/25 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
7/27 - Pontiac, MI @ Clutch Cargo
7/28 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
7/30 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music
7/31 - Cleveland, OH @ The Odeon
8/1 - Toronto, ON @ Opera House
8/4 - Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
8/7 - Baltimore, MD @ Recher Theater
8/10 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
8/12 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza

Related Artists

Luscious Jackson

01 Jun 1999 00:00:00 EDT

ANAHEIM, California — Creed vocalist Scott Stapp and guitarist Mark Tremonti will start working nights this week as they resume writing the follow-up to 1999's smash Human Clay. Refreshed from taking the holidays off, the songwriting duo plans to buckle down four nights a week and pen an album that intensifies the larger-than-life feel of its predecessor.

"It's gonna be more extreme on all extremities — the harder stuff a little harder, the epic stuff a little more epic," Tremonti said Saturday.

Creed plan to spend the next few months writing before heading into the studio in July and hopefully releasing the disc in October or November. Tremonti said the band, which worked with longtime friend and producer John Kurzweg on both My Own Prison (1997) and Human Clay, has not picked a producer for the album.

The spiritual Florida rockers parted ways with bass player and founding member Brian Marshall in August and hired Brett Hestla as their touring bassist. Hestla will be working on an album with his group Virgos while Creed are recording their LP as a trio, but the bands are considering a joint fall tour after both albums hit stores. Hestla said he would play both sets.

Tremonti, Hestla and Creed drummer Scott Phillips attended last weekend's National Association of Music Merchants trade show in Anaheim, where Paul Reed Smith Guitars unveiled Tremonti's new signature model.

Tremonti said he had been working with PRS to design the guitar for about a year. "It's the baddest guitar on the planet. It's a technically perfect, thick, massive-sounding guitar. I think it's the best in the world today." Creed, who cleaned up at several recent award ceremonies, are up for two Grammys next month. "With Arms Wide Open" is nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Rock Song, the latter of which would go to its songwriters, Tremonti and Stapp.

"A Grammy would be great — I'm just not gonna count on it," Tremonti said. "We've won a lot of awards this year, and I'm happy about 'em. If we don't win a Grammy, we don't win a Grammy. We've got a lot more albums ahead. But we're up for two of them, so we'll keep our fingers crossed." For much more on Creed, don't forget to check out the MTV News Online feature Creed: Higher Learning"

Related Artists

Luscious Jackson

Sarah McLachlan, Monica Talk Lilith As Dates Are Set

27 Apr 1999 19:00:00 EDT

Monica, Mya, the Dixie Chicks, the Pretenders, Melky Sedeck, Luscious Jackson, Sixpence None The Richer, and Cibo Matto will be among the artists making their first trips to Lilith Fair this year when the tour gets rolling on July 8 in Vancouver.

The acts will join Lilith vets Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin, the Indigo Girls, Beth Orton, Aimee Mann, K's Choice, and others on Lilith's final outing, which will make 40 stops this year.

Queen Latifah, Me'Shell N'degeocello, Deborah Cox, Bijou Phillips, and Cree Summers will also be among the acts dropping in on the tour, which will feature a revolving lineup of artists throughout its run. Tour founder Sarah McLachlan will once again headline each date of this year's outing, while Sheryl Crow will play all but a handful of dates on the tour.

Details of Lilith's swansong were announced Tuesday morning at a press conference staged at New York's Irving Plaza. McLachlan and Lilith newcomer Monica were on hand to talk about this year's outing.

"One of the things we always tried to provide is a really wide spectrum of different musical tastes," McLachlan told MTV News. "I think this year is really, really strong in that capacity. I think the last years' [tours] were too... I know we got a lot of, like, flack for not being enough of this or enough of that. Basically, very early on, we just realized we had to sort of remain ruthless to the integrity of what we wanted in the first place, which was really good music from all different fields."

Monica added, "You see myself, you see Mya, you see Dixie Chicks, you see Sarah McLachlan; this will be another good representation for each of us as women, to show that there's no reason for competition because music is universal." [RealVideo]

Here's where Lilith Fair will be stopping on its farewell tour (to see precisely which artists will be playing each date, check out www.lilithfair.com):

7/8 - Vancouver, BC @ Thunderbird Stadium
7/9 - Seattle, WA @ The Gorge
7/10 - Seattle, WA @ The Gorge
7/11 - Portland, OR @ Civic Stadium
7/13 - San Francisco, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/14 - San Francisco, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/16 - San Diego, CA @ Coors Amphitheatre
7/17 - Los Angeles, CA @ Rose Bowl
7/18 - Phoenix, AZ @ Desert Sky Pavillion
7/20 - Austin, TX @ South Park Meadows
7/21 - Dallas, TX @ Starplex Amphitheatre
7/23 - Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood
7/24 - Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood
7/25 - Nashville, TN @ First American Music Center
7/27 - Charlotte, NC @ Blockbuster Pavillion
7/28 - Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavillion
7/30 - Philadelphia, PA @ Entertainment Center
7/31 - Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
8/1 - Buffalo, NY @ Finger Lakes Performing Arts Centre
8/3 - Mansfield, MA @ Tweeter Center
8/4 - Hartford, CT @ The Meadows
8/6 - New York, NY @ Jones Beach
8/7 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
8/8 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
8/10 - Columbus, OH @ Polaris Amphitheatre
8/11 - Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Amphitheatre
8/13 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Star Lake Amphitheatre
8/14 - Detroit, MI @ Pine Knob
8/15 - Detroit, MI @ Pine Knob
8/17 - Cleveland, OH @ Blossom Music Center
8/18 - Indianapolis, IN @ Deer Creek
8/19 - Chicago, IL @ The World
8/21 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheatre
8/22 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheatre
8/24 - Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Amphitheatre
8/25 - Minneapolis, MN @ Canterbury Park
8/26 - Bonner Springs, KS @ Sandstone Amphitheatre
8/28 - Denver, CO @ Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre
8/29 - Denver, CO @ Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre
8/31 - Edmonton, AB @ Commonwealth Stadium

Related Artists

Indigo Girls Tap Lisa Germano, Ann Wilson, Shonen Knife, Others For Experimental Tour

28 Jul 1998 16:00:00 EDT

The Indigo Girls are tapping a host of female performers for a tour that promises to offer what Indigo Girl Amy Ray is calling "a socialist experiment in rock and roll."

Lisa Germano, Jane Siberry, Heart's Ann Wilson, Luscious Jackson's Kate Schellenbach, The Breeders' Josephine Wiggs, Mecca Normal's Jean Smith, Come's Thalia Zedek, Lourdes Perez, and Gail Ann Dorsey (who has played with David Bowie and Tears For Fears) will all be on board for the 12-date tour, which kicks off on August 19 in Portland, Maine. The Indigos are hoping for a harmonious convergence of the differing style and approaches represented by each of the artists who will share the stage. Or as Ray said in a statement released to announce the tour, the plan is to "gather a bunch of musicians from different musical genres who are relatively unfamiliar with each other... throw them on a tour bus together... drop them off at a rock club, and see what happens."

If you want to see what happens (and see opening acts Shonen Knife and Buffalo Daughter), here's where to look:

8/19 - Portland, Maine @ State Theater
8/20 - Burlington, Vermont @ Memorial Auditorium (w/Buffalo Daughter)
8/22 - Cleveland, Ohio @ The Agora (w/Buffalo Daughter)
8/24 - Detroit, Michigan @ State Theater (w/Buffalo Daughter)
8/25 - Chicago, Illinois @ The Riviera (w/Buffalo Daughter)
8/26 - Chicago, Illinois @ The Riviera (w/Buffalo Daughter)
8/27 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin @ Rave (w/Shonen Knife)
8/28 - Minneapolis, Minnesota @ First Avenue (w/Shonen Knife)
8/30 - Cincinnati, Ohio @ Bogart's (w/Shonen Knife)
9/1 - Norfolk, Virginia @ Boathouse (w/Shonen Knife)
9/2 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania @ Electric Factory (w/Shonen Knife)
9/3 - New York, New York @ Roseland

Related Artists

Luscious Jackson - Under Your Skin

18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST

Under Your Skin

Artist: Luscious Jackson
Label: Grand Royal/Capitol Records
Director: Chris Applebaum
Album: Magic in December

Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye

29 Oct 1996 00:00:00 EST

Naked Eye

Artist: Luscious Jackson
Label: Grand Royal/Capitol
Director: Marcus Raboy