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'It's crazy we get to do this': Boston alt-rockers Letters to Cleo ready for reunion shows

Jay N. Miller
The Patriot Ledger

Boston’s favorite alt-rock band of the 1990s, Letters To Cleo, bring their annual reunion to the Paradise Rock Club in Boston this weekend, with shows Friday and Saturday night.

Since they officially disbanded in 2000, Letters to Cleo has been doing periodic reunions since 2007, and in recent years it has become kind of a November tradition. Usually the shows are in Los Angeles, New York City, and Boston, but this year’s edition also includes a Thursday night stop in Portland, Maine, at the Portland House of Music and Events.

"We haven't played in Portland in a very long time, maybe 20 years," said Letters to Cleo singer/songwriter Kay Hanley. "But we have fans up there and it will be good to see them again."

Letters To Cleo plays their annual reunion show at The Paradise Rock Club in Boston this weekend.

The reunion shows are always an event of note, because the band’s members have all forged different careers since the breakup. Most notably, Hanley has been very successful in Los Angeles, where she’s composed music for movies and TV, as well as working with Miley Cyrus on the "Hannah Montana" series, and now becoming a major musical presence in animated films. She has also released three well-received solo albums. Guitarist Michael Eisenstein has become a busy session player and producer in L.A.; while guitarist Greg McKenna is still in Boston, where his many projects include the band City Rivals. Drummer Stacy Jones has also worked with Cyrus, and at last look was her band leader as well as drummer. Original bassist Scott Riebling became a businessman in the Boston area, so Joe Klompus is the bassist these days.

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With a decade’s worth of songs, and even more music written just for TV or movie soundtracks, the potential for Letters to Cleo setlists is pretty wide ranging. But with the members so busy doing other things, and these reunions so limited, how do they figure out what to play? We caught up with Hanley last week as she was on a lunch break at the animation studio in L.A.

“Greg McKenna does the setlists ‒ he always has,” Hanley said. “Usually, we do take a lot more time to weigh in, with what we want to do, or don’t want to do. But with me starting a new job this spring and Michael writing his master’s thesis, there just wasn’t any chance to get together like that. We’d prefer to have new music to release, of course, but the pandemic really tied us up for quite a while, so new music will have to wait until next year.”

Kay Hanley, lead singer of Letters to Cleo, is a former Quincy resident.

It would be easy to expect many fans to want tunes from “Aurora Gory Alice,” their hit debut album, which included the hit single “Here and Now.”

“It is funny, but a lot of people like different records,” Hanley said. “One of the most popular things is our soundtrack music. Every soundtrack has music people know and want to hear, from the ‘Josie and the Pussycats’ stuff, to songs from (the 1999 movie) 'Ten Things I Hate About You.' People really dig the soundtrack music ... it is a really fun aspect of our catalog. I never get sick of playing anything from our past. There might be certain things we don’t play, and never did, but in the main, if anything is in our set it is because we all love it. “

And then there are song that they will never leave off the set list: ‘Awake’ or ‘Here and Now.”

Hanley was in Boston in the spring for a pair of solo shows at City Winery. Ironically, she had a guest guitarist on those gigs, rock veteran Bill Guerra, whose day job is general manager at the Paradise.

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“My solo shows have a smaller audience that Letters to Cleo, but I realize there is no solo me without Letters to Cleo,” Hanley said. “All my solo music fans are presumably Letters to Cleo fans who stuck around. Those shows were to mark the 20th anniversary of my first solo album, 'Cherry Marmalade.' For whatever reason, people who liked that album, really liked it, and so it has proven to have very loyal fans. Bill Guerra was part of that ‘Cherry Marmalade’ record, so it was great to have him come back and join us for those shows.”

Kay Hanley appears in a 2005 file photo.

Hanley has a busy life, not just with her own writing for film, but also as co-executive director of Songwriters of North America, advocating for musicians and composers rights.

“We’ve been very active in fighting to get fair treatment for songwriters in this streaming economy,” Hanley said. “With the streaming services, it’s not just because they’re (jerks), but because of the way the laws are written. So, a big part of our work is helping to move legislation in Washington, D.C.”

 And in her own creative life, Hanley is in the midst of a major project that is a big step.

“I’ve been working as a songwriter in animation for quite some time,” she explained, “but now we’ve sold a show to Disney Junior, and I’m working as an executive producer for the first time. The show, ‘Kindergarten: The Musical,’ is scheduled to debut in fall 2024. My previous work has been writing and composing, but now as executive producer I have to weigh in on all aspects, from scripts to the design of the animated characters and the overall look and feel of the series. From the first word to the end of the series, I’m part of the development mix, and it’s a big responsibility, the most ever in my life."

Kay Hanley, left, and Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein perform during the 2006 installment of the Hot Stove Cool Music benefit concert.

Hanley admits she can almost be dubbed "bi-coastal" at this point, since family concerns have her coming back to Boston several times a year. Most of her family is still here, including daughter Zoe, who is a social worker, counseling juveniles with the Suffolk County court system. Hanley noted that Zoe now lives in a Dorchester home less than two miles from the house where Hanley grew up. In the early 2000s Hanley lived in Quincy. 

And of course, as a Boston native immersed in the rock scene, Hanley fully realizes that being booked for a whole weekend at the Paradise, one of the city's premier music venues, is the stuff of dreams. The fact that such shows are in demand 20 years after the band broke up is not lost on her.

“It’s crazy that we get to do this,” she laughed. “But people really want to see us, which is why we can’t ever let ourselves just be dialing it in. We all make sure we’re leaving it all out on the field. We are all doing other things at this point, but we are so lucky to be able to get together and do this again. Believe me, for all of us, these Letters to Cleo gigs are a labor of love and so much fun.”

The highlight for Sunday is Pembroke's Matt York bringing his acclaimed "The Highwaymen" show to City Winery's Haymarket Lounge.

Upcoming gigs: Bill Janovitz, DJ Jonas Blue, The Highwaymen

THURSDAY: Soundcheck Studios hosts a fundraiser for the winners of the Boston Blues Challenge, to help them get to the nationals in Memphis, so catch The One Dime Band, and the Matt Swanton Band. The folk trio House of Hamill harmonizes at the Spire Center. The Lone Bellows' Americana/rock at the Paradise. Williamstown native Albert Cummings is one of the hottest bluesmen, at the Narrows Center. Billy Shmurda raps at the House of Blues. Toby Lightman sings at City Winery.

FRIDAY: A cool double bill for roots fans at Boston Harbor Distillery with Peter Parcek and Danielle Miraglia. The folk-pop quartet Darlingside arrives at the Spire Center. The Good Trees River Band rocks The C-Note. Toronto quintet Alvvays and their indie pop at Roadrunner. The "science fiction fusion" trio Consider the Source warms up Soundcheck Studios. Baltimore power popsters Pinkshift at Brighton Music Hall. Ali Gatie raps and grooves at Big Night Live. The Lizard Lounge is reopened and the Gravel Project is ready to rock it. The English Beat gets City Winery jumping.

SATURDAY: Buffalo Tom frontman Bill Janovitz worth a trip to The Burren. Hard rockers Turnstile open a two-night stand at Roadrunner. Don't forget the earplugs when Michigan hardcore outfit I Prevail takes over MGM Music Hall.  A benefit with multiple bands at The C-Note, in the annual Wreckless Wreck Chords show beginning at 5 p.m. English DJ Jonas Blue is a big deal at Big Night Live. Nonpareil acoustic bluesman Chris Smither lights up the Spire Center. Rachael Yamagata's indie pop at City Winery. Folksinger Don White at the Rose Garden Coffeehouse.

SUNDAY AND BEYOND: The highlight for Sunday is Pembroke's Matt York bringing his acclaimed "The Highwaymen" show to City Winery's Haymarket Lounge.  Country-rock with Charlie Crockettt at Royale, also on Sunday, while Grammy-nominated songsmith John Fullbright sings at the Narrows Center.  Tuesday the edgy rock of The London Suede at the Orpheum Theater. Wednesday night is Thanksgiving Eve, and if the Aldous Collins Band at The C-Note is too much fun for you, check out Playing Dead at Soundcheck Studios. 

Kay Hanley is the lead singer for Letters to Cleo. She is a former Quincy resident.

Letters to Cleo

When: 8 p.m. Nov. 18-19

Where: Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston

Tickets: $35

Info: 617-562-8800 or crossroadspresents.com