Acid Jed: Chatting with Michael Eisenstein of Letters to Cleo

Discography:

Aurora Gory Alice (CherryDisc/Giant, 1993)

Wholesale Meats and Fish (Giant, 1995)

Go! (Revolution, 1997)

Back to Nebraska EP (Dot Rat Records, 2016)

OK Christmas 12" (Dot Rat Records, 2019) 

Popular Tracks: Here & Now, Awake, Cruel to Be Kind, Anchor

Letters to Cleo burst out of the Boston scene in 1994 with “Here & Now,” an upbeat little ditty with a lot of guitars. They didn’t have the angst of an L7 but a void was empty and begging to be filled for a band with a girl singer that didn’t play the stereotype of some of the cute bands that were coming out at the time. The band went away at the turn of the millennium but because of Ben Wyatt’s undying love for the band and vocalist Kay Hanley on “Parks and Recreation,” the band had a complete resurgence around 2012 and haven’t stopped since. Guitarist Michael Eisenstein filled me in on the band's career around 2017 and the band are still going strong.

Pete Crigler: How did you become interested in playing guitar?

Michael Eisenstein: My older brother played drums and started having jams and band practices in our basement. I would hang out and listen and when they would go outside to get high, I would start fooling around with the guitars.

Pete: What was the music scene like in Boston at the time?

Michael: It was super fertile and exciting. There were a ton of clubs and 2-4 bands playing in each one every night of the week. On nights that we weren’t playing or rehearsing, we were out seeing other bands, most of whom were local.

Pete: What was the impetus for Cleo coming together?

Michael: Kay and Greg had started the band a year earlier after their previous band, Rebecca Lula, had run its course. 

Pete: When did you end up joining the band?

Michael: It was the end of the summer in 1991. They had been a band for a year but never found a permanent guitarist. I was playing softball with Cleo’s bassist and he asked if I’d want to audition. I had a broken heart and was looking to re-invent myself so I went for it.

Pete: How did the band come to sign with CherryDisc?

Michael: We had appeared on the compilation album that I believe launched the label. They had put out a few albums by New England hardcore bands but wanted to work with us and we were psyched. It ended up being an awesome relationship- they believed in us when no one else did.

Pete: Tell me a bit about how Aurora Gory Alice came together.

Michael: We had done a 7” of Here & Now with Rimshak as the B side at Q Division with Mike Denneen when Abe Laboriel was our drummer. Within a year, we had solidified our lineup and were ready to record a full length. We were super happy with Mike’s production so we went back into Q.

Pete: What was the inspiration for Here & Now?

Michael: The song was written around a funky slap bass line that our original bassist Brian Karp came up with. Even though we later de-funked it, that groove really informed everything, especially Kay’s fast vocals.

Pete: How did the band sign with Giant and how do you feel about it now?

Michael: After a great showcase at the 1994 SXSW, we were courted by 4 labels- Atlantic, RCA, Columbia and Giant. Columbia wasn’t as serious as the others so we just had to make a choice among the other three. I can’t really second guess the decision as Giant was the only one saying that Here & Now was a hit and we needed to re-record it and release it- it ended up being by far our biggest song.

Pete: What was success like and how did everyone react to it?

Michael: It was great to finally be playing for full houses. We were pretty much all thrilled except Kay who had a fear of success and was always worried about being perceived as a sellout. But we had a lot of fun that’s for sure. 

Pete: Was there any pressure when it came to recording Wholesale?

Michael: Not really as we made that before Here and Now really blew up.

Pete: Was the band disappointed when the record didn’t do as well?

Michael: YES! I wouldn’t say we were devastated but it was hugely disappointing as we thought it was a huge leap forward creatively.

Pete: What caused Stacy to leave and what was it like bringing in Polce?

Michael: After all the touring for the first 2 albums and the disappointment of WM&F not doing as well as we had hoped, we hit a wall creatively and just needed a break. Stacy was itching to get back to it and after a few months of little or no new material, he got an offer to tour with Veruca Salt and took it. We auditioned a few players and struggled to find the right drummer. We made demos with Fred Eltringham for the Go! record that you can here on our When Did We Do That? CD. Polce came in recommended by our friend Ed Velauskas and he had tons of great ideas and the same power as Stacy. He got us excited to get back to it.

Pete: What was it like recording with Peter Collins?

Michael: It was great. He had a different style than Denneen, which I guess was fine because we had become a more seasoned band. He worked us hard in pre-production- bumping up the tempos of almost everything, changing the arrangements and keys of tunes. But then when we got to the studio, he was more of a vibe guy. He loved early takes, he never wanted to overwork anything. I think you can hear that energy in the record. 

Pete: What caused the band to split with Giant?

Michael: They just dropped us after the first and only single from Go! didn’t crack the Alternative top 20. The label was a bit foreign to us at that point- they had changed the name and brought in a whole new staff other than our A&R man. We might have been better off getting dropped before Go!, but then again, we might have just chosen to pack it in then instead of shopping for another deal and making that last album.

Pete: How did the band come to be involved with 10 Things I Hate About You?

Michael: We had done a song on The Craft soundtrack with music supervisor/producer Ralph Sall and had a great time and good results. Not having a label to negotiate with made us appealing too, so when he started working on 10 Things, he asked us to do a song. One song became two, and then an appearance in the movie got offered which ultimately led to 4 songs and 3 scenes in the film.

Pete: What ultimately caused the band to split?

Michael: A few things. The band was still paying the bills- we were doing music for a TV show which was super rewarding. But we were using what seemed like a different drummer at every show so it felt like we were just trying to recreate what we had been doing years before. 

Pete: What did you think of the homage to the band on Parks and Rec?

Michael: It was great and probably as much as anything helped us get back into playing again. Every time Ben would wear his Cleo T shirt, Twitter would go nuts and we found out that a lot more people really treasured our music than we realized.

Pete: What ultimately caused the reunion and what has fan reaction been like?

Michael: Stacy Jones suggested to me at a club that we should get together with Kay to write a song and see what happens. So, we did and 1 song turned into 3 in a hurry so we decided to just start an EP right away and see where it took us.

Pete: What are the future plans for the band?

Michael: We’re hoping to make an LP in the next year (2017) but will keep our November tour tradition going for as many years as we can.

Pete: What are you currently up to?

Michael: I teach music, play with a variety of artists, compose for TV, produce bands and artists. 

Pete: What do you think of the alternative rock scene during the ‘90s?

Michael: I thought it was a great era- probably the last time that rock was at or near the forefront of music in America.

Pete: What do you hope the band’s legacy will be?

Michael: I hope it’s a legacy of women who at a young age saw us and thought that they could front a kick ass rock and roll band too.