Babes in Toyland to reunite

Babes in Toyland, the punk rock band who released three albums between 1990 and 1995, are reuniting for their first live show in eighteen years.

The show will be February 12 at the Roxy in Los Angeles and will include original band members Kat Bjelland and Lori Barbero along with bassist Maureen Herman who replaced original member Michelle Leon in 1991.

Fans should expect a show of music from the heyday of the group. Although they would like to write new music together, they are concentrating on playing favorites from the past before considering new recordings.

The band put out a press release on Monday:

"Second time's the charm," said drummer Lori Barbero.

"It was brought to my attention that not only do we have a lot of diehard fans from back in the day, but also a whole new generation of kids--my son Henry included-- that were eager to see us live," explained singer/guitar player Kat Bjelland. "I felt some kind of obligation for them to see us, too. But mainly, I just missed my girls and the feeling that comes from playing with them--visceral live therapy."

"The first time we played together again," added bass player Maureen Herman, "we weren't sure what it would be like. After knocking the hell out of He's My Thing on the first try, we knew this was going to be fun--and it was going to rock like a motherf***er."

Tickets for the Roxy show go on sale Friday.

Babes in Toyland originally formed in 1987 with Bjelland, Barbero, Chris Holetz and singer Cindy Russell. Holetz and Russell soon left and, after a single rehearsal with Courtney Love, the band settled on Leon. They released their first album, Spanking Machine, in 1990 on Minneapolis' Twin/Tone Records and went on the road opening for Sonic Youth.

In late 1991, Leon left and Herman joined for the recording of their second album, Fontanelle, which was their major label debut on Reprise. The album went on to sell over 200,000 copies and they followed in 1995 with Nemesisters.

Herman left the band in 1996, the same year that they lost their recording contract. Babes in Toyland were on-again/off-again over the next few years until 2001 when they embarked on their final tour.





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