KEEPIN' IT COPACETIC

Veruca Salt’s Louise Post and Local H’s Scott Lucas — veterans of the Nineties alternative-rock signing spree — discuss life after major labels

- JOE BOSSO

LOCAL H’S BIG HIT DURING THE SUMMER OF 1996 WAS “Bound for the Floor,” otherwise known as “the copacetic song” for its sing-along chorus (“And you just don’t get it / you keep it copacetic / and you learn to accept it/you know it’s so pathetic”) and a gnashing guitar sound that fit in nicely with playlists leaning heavily on Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and other au courant grunge/alt-rockers. The band’s 1995 debut album, Ham Fisted, failed to elicit much attention, but with “Bound for the Floor” receiving constant radio and MTV play, they saw their second disc, As Good As Dead, reach gold status. And now the pressure was on. As Lucas recalls, “All of a sudden, we were faced with this new set of expectations, all focused around one thing: Can we do it again?”

After the first grunge-rock signing spree tore through Seattle in the early Nineties, record labels invaded Chicago, waving big contracts and snapping up alternative acts such as the Smashing Pumpkins, Urge Overkill and Liz Phair. “It was an exciting time,” says guitarist-singer Louise Post, whose band Veruca Salt was wined and dined by scores of A&R reps before they ultimately signed with Geffen. “Things were happening so quickly. You have your first hit, and just as fast you’re placed in this pressure cooker. Your song is on the radio, but you don’t even have a moment to soak it in because everybody’s running around going, ‘Oh, God, the house is on fire!’”

Veruca Salt first hit the charts in 1994 with the track “Seether,” released on the Chicago-based indie label Minty Fresh. Almost immediately, the band became alternative-press darlings, but when the group signed with Geffen, which took over marketing and distribution of their debut album