Interview

Kate Schellenbach

(Luscious Jackson)

Still Luscious After All These Years

A Conversation with Luscious Jackson's Drummer

By NIKKI USHER

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Since the release of 1992's In Search of Manny and 1999's Electric Honey, featuring the melodic single "Ladyfinger," Luscious Jackson has been a force within the music industry. This all-female band continues to redefine its sound, which ranges from hip-hop rap to melancholy grunge ballads, in a changing music world. These rocking New Yorkers, on tour since the release of Electric Honey, are in Boston for the Yahoo! Out Loud Tour, a nationwide tour with Smash Mouth coupled with local bands, like Captain Audio, at the Orpheum on Feb 19. Kate Schellenbach, one of the major female drummers of the decade (and former Beastie Boy drummer), took the time to answer a few questions about the band, touring, aging and the gentrification of New York City.

The Harvard Crimson: So you are here for the Out Loud Tour. How does touring with Smash Mouth compare to touring with the band during Lilith Fair?

Kate Schellenbach: It's really a lot of fun to play with Smash Mouth. They have a lot of energy and the tour is a good production in general. Touring is becoming more and more expensive, and Yahoo! paid for the production, sound and lights, which means it's going to be really good quality. But touring has just gotten so expensive lately. It's harder to make it now because the band has to pay for everything. There's so much competition from video games to music. It used to be easier to book at clubs. But we're really about putting on a good show and playing our set and just giving everyone a good time. And that's what we tour for.

The artists of [the now-defunct] Lilith Fair are really going to be missing the opportunity to play together. Hopefully someone will pick up the slack. It was really well put together and the corporate sponsorship was great. The activism was great from Breast Cancer Awareness to women's health care.

THC: Did Lilith make a difference? Why did you play Lilith?

KS: Lilith exposed people to women in music. It brought the possibility of a female tour concept to reality. I think it worked well. It's definitely influenced college radio stations, and we are starting to hear a return to alternative music.