Nina Gordon first gained prominence as a member of Veruca Salt, the female-fronted alternative rock outfit whose signature tracks “Seether” and “Volcano Girls” showcased her commanding vocals alongside her concise, melody-driven songcraft. She exited the lineup following the 1997 album Eight Arms to Hold You amid reported tensions with co-frontwoman and guitarist Louise Post. Although Post carried on under the Veruca Salt name, Gordon turned her attention to a solo debut that leaned toward adult alternative pop/rock rather than the harder-edged sound of her former group.
Bob Rock, who had also produced Eight Arms to Hold You, oversaw the sessions for Gordon’s initial solo album, Tonight and the Rest of My Life, which surfaced in 2000 after a one-year postponement caused by the collapse of Outpost Records. Its title track nevertheless reached the pop and adult contemporary charts, territories Veruca Salt had never explored. Five years later, after shelving a completed project recorded with producer Ethan Johns, Gordon reunited with Rock for Bleeding Heart Graffiti. The 2006 summer release, structured as a narrative tracing the arc of a romance from start to finish, marked her second solo effort.
