Belly was the band that saw Tanya Donelly finally step out of the shadows and emerge as a songwriting talent - and a huge commercial success - in her own right. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer person : Tanya's intelligence, imagination, complete lack of pretension and immense warmth make her one of music's true treasures - and all of these qualities shine through in her songs.
Belly were a short-lived outfit, releasing just two albums - Star in 1993 and King in 1995 - but their joyous pop-rock shone brightly, by turns seductive, poetically adventurous and full-on rockin'. The quartet's breakout hit was "Feed The Tree", a jangly ode to r-e-s-p-e-c-t. The song propelled Tanya to Gap ad iconhood, Star to gold status, and Belly to double Grammy nominations. However, they were just as surefooted with more ethereal fare such as King's exquisite, piano-driven "Judas My Heart". Belly was a band that you could dance to, scream to, or just lie back and dream to, as Tanya's famously fanciful, twisting lyrics spun their tales of love, lust, and wayward children who decapitate dolls (that would be the delightfully insouciant "Gepetto").
Belly was named after Tanya's favorite word - chosen because, as she said back then, "it's both pretty and ugly" (a paradox that her songs often explored), but it was a band in the truest sense: the secret to their chemistry lay in the mix of personalities. First there was Tanya herself. A shy, pretty, self-confessed "art chick" with hotshot credentials, she'd already co-founded the legendary Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh, then helped Kim Deal launch The Breeders. Next up were the Gorman brothers. childhood "skate-punk" friends of Tanya's who'd both spent time in Newport hardcore bands. Lead guitarist Tom brought his brooding intensity and power-pop licks to the table, while younger sibling Chris was the surfer boy drummer with an art degree, contributing endlessly inventive rhythms and also serving as the band's graphics director. The final addition was bassist Gail Greenwood, another Newport native, who came onboard after the departure of ex-Throwing Muse Fred Abong (who played on Star). Gail's headbanging yang proved to be the ideal foil to Tanya's gentler yin.
As so often, what made the band so great also made them volatile. "The force that pulled this group together and made it good - the differences in our personalities - was ultimately a centrifugal force, and we flew apart," recalls Tanya. After an 18-month world tour in support of the criminally under-appreciated King, the foursome quietly called it quits, Tanya evolving into the solo artist she is today. But Belly's legacy lives on. When, in 2002, 4AD gathered a selection of Belly classics into a "best of" titled Sweet Ride, music journalist Brantley Bardin wrote: "Though for many their most familiar song will be "Feed The Tree", for my money the group's finest hour was the whirling, shamelessly hook-happy "Seal My Fate". I'll always remember wandering an hour late into one of the band's New York Roseland shows while that number served as my glorious entrance music. And there they were, a wondrously user-friendly, pop-band-with-brains faithfully united in art and rock 'n' roll : Chris, shirtless and pounding away; Tom on the sidelines, as always, laying down one deliriously, echo-laden riff after another; Gail, swinging her red, white and blue hair and straddling her guitar like a latter-day Lita Ford; and in the middle of the hurricane, Tanya gazing soulfully skyward as she crooned, yelped and wailed in that astonishingly human voice, effortlessly pulling all the threads of the crazy package together. It was a beautiful thing, folks. And I'm proud as a papa to say I was there."