Features
Letters To Cleo Marks 20th Anniversary
The gigs also mark the first time the group’s members have performed full shows together since disbanding in 2000.
Confirmed dates include November 8 at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, Calif., and December 8-9 at Paradise Rock Club in Boston and December 11 at Bowery Ballroom in New York City.
Letters To Cleo emerged from the Boston college rock scene in the early ’90s and released a pair of independent recordings before signing with a major label and scoring its first hit, “Here & Now,” in 1994.
Besides releasing two more albums, Wholesale Meats and Fish and Go, the band was featured on a number of soundtracks for cult films, including “The Craft,” “Jawbreaker” and “10 Things I Hate About You,” in which they appeared on screen performing covers of Nick Lowe’s “Cruel to be Kind” and Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.”
Guitarist Michael Eisenstein explained Letters To Cleo’s soundtrack legacy creates some interesting fan dynamics.
“The funniest thing about running our MySpace page is that the majority of our friends were in preschool for the band’s heyday,” Eisenstein said.
“We played maybe 10 shows or so between the release of ’10 Things I Hate About You’ and the breakup of the band, but that film has been a DVD/cable sleeper.
“There are tons of kids out there who think ‘I Want You to Want Me’ is our song! Most of them have no idea that we broke up nearly 10 years ago.”
The idea to get back together came after an impromptu reunion last winter at a benefit concert for an ill bartender at Boston’s T.T. The Bear’s Place, where four of the band’s original members – Eisenstein, Kay Hanley, Greg McKenna, Stacey Jones – and Joe Klompus, bassist for Hanley’s solo band, were in attendance.
“As we took the stage, we could see people on their cell phones texting about what was about to happen – it was a thrill,” Eisenstein said. “We busted through unrehearsed versions of ‘Here & Now’ and ‘Awake.’ We were excited, the crowd was excited and from that point on, it just seemed like we should try to find a time to do it for real.”