By Tim Brouk
Journal & Courier (Lafayette, IN) | June 20, 2003
Lisa Germano often refers to her time as fiddle player for John Mellencamp to her current solo career as “day and night.”
After spending a good part of the 1980s and the start of the ’90s backing Mellencamp, she released five dark and moody albums from 1991–1998. Her solo work is definitely “night.”
After ’98’s Slide, Germano took a hiatus from a music career. She started working days at a Los Angeles independent book store, getting therapy, and writing and recording music alone at home. With no pressure, the formation of her 2003 release, Lullaby for Liquid Pig, slowly emerged.
“I think I need to take time with records,” said Germano, 45, from her L.A. home. “I never thought of this as a career and that I need to make a new one.”
Germano has embarked on her first United States tour in several years. She will perform at 10 p.m. today at Birdy’s Bar & Grill, 2131 E. 71st St., Indianapolis.
Lullaby features very little violin, the instrument she had played for decades and what brought her initial exposure. Most songs feature piano and guitar played by Germano. Electronic soundscapes are the background, and Germano’s emotional, often heart-wrenching vocals are upfront.
An alt rock all-star lineup helps fill out Lullaby’s sound. Soul Coughing’s Sebastian Steinberg handled bass duties, and Beck’s Joey Waronker was on drums. The Smiths’ Johnny Marr added some guitar to a couple tracks. The Eels’ Butch and Crowded House’s Neil Finn added other percussion and noises on the album.
The title Lullaby for Liquid Pig is the feeling of being in that drunken moment when “the kind part of your eyes are wide open” and “needing too much and being thirsty for things beyond you — substances, sex, food,” Germano said.
Lullaby has been a critical success. Rolling Stone has always given Germano favorable reviews and called her latest work “a harrowing swan dive into the depths of her soul, baring all and sparing nothing.” Roger Wireman, night manager of West Lafayette’s JL Records, said Germano’s solo records were hot sellers in the ’90s but have slowed down in the last five years.
Germano was born in Mishawaka and raised by parents who were both music teachers. She recalls writing her first songs at the age of 7.
After living in Bloomington, Germano moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s mostly to escape the Indiana winters. She often comes back to Mishawaka to visit family.
“When I get there in the summer and spring, I forget how green everything gets,” Germano said.
Featured Image: Lisa Germano (Photo: James Frank Dean)
