Jennifer Herrema opens up on the 'gnarly, stupid, horrible' that led to Royal Trux's unlikely reconciliation



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<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "In the post-Nirvana, pre-Spice Girls 1990s, tea Drunk band of the day was Royal Trux, the druggy noise-rock duet ex-Pussy Galore guitarist Neil Hagerty and his then-girlfriend Jennifer Herrema – who, according to indie-rock lore, puts at a DC club when a 19-year -old Hagerty set a 15-year-old Herrema's hair on fire. "data-reactid =" 31 "> In the post-Nirvana, pre-Spice Girls 1990s, tea Drunk band of the day was Royal Trux, the druggy noise-rock duet ex-Pussy Galore guitarist Neil Hagerty and his then-girlfriend Jennifer Herrema – who, according to indie-rock lore, puts at a DC club when a 19-year -old Hagerty set at 15-year-old Herrema's hair on fire.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "" I was on the cusp of 16. I remember my 16th birthday, because that's when he decided tell he was my boyfriend – after doing acid after school for a week, "Herrema tells Yahoo Entertainment, in his typical unfazed manner and pack-a-day vocal fry." data-reactid = "32"> "I was on the cusp of 16. I remember my 16th birthday, because that's when he decided tell he was my boyfriend – after doing acid after school for a week, "Herrema tells Yahoo Entertainment, in his typical unfazed manner and pack-a-day vocal fry.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "After a notoriously rules-flouting career that perhaps peaked with Royal Trux convincing major label Virgin Records to give them 100 percent creative control ("What do you think about Whitney Houston or something?"); let them release an aggressively and obnoxiously uncommercial album, Sweet 16with a photo of a vomit-and-feces-filled toilet on its cover (Herrema now confesses that it was "actually a bunch of oatmeal, Tabasco sauce, and chocolate sauce"); and then give them $ 300,000 to basically go away, Herrema and Hagerty split personally and professionally in 2001. The unauthorized cassette-trading file-sharing, and they arguably set the template for stripped-down scuzz-rock succes Sleigh Bells, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and especially the Kills. "data-reactid =" 33 "> After a notoriously rules-flouting career with 100% creative control ("What do you think about Whitney Houston or something?"); let them release an aggressively and obnoxiously uncommercial album, Sweet 16with a photo of a vomit-and-feces-filled toilet on its cover (Herrema now confesses that it was "actually a bunch of oatmeal, Tabasco sauce, and chocolate sauce"); and then give them $ 300,000 to basically go away, Herrema and Hagerty split personally and professionally in 2001. The unauthorized cassette-trading file-sharing, and they arguably set the template for stripped-down scuzz-rock successors like Sleigh Bells, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and especially the Kills.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Now Royal Trux are back against all odds with White Stuff, their first full-length studio album of dirty rawk 'n' roll in 19 years, out on Fat Possum Records. Fleetwood Mac's relationship drama look like nothing. "Data-reactid =" 36 "> Now Royal Trux are back against all odds White Stuff, their first full-length studio album of dirty rawk 'n' roll in 19 years, out on Fat Possum Records. And the saga leading up to their reconciliation practically makes Fleetwood's Mac's relationship drama look like nothing.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Throughout their 15-year relationship (for only one year of which they were legally married), drug use bonded the couple – they were admitted to their interviews in their '90s heyday. "Early on, it was just acid. but there was drugs, weed, acid – a lot of acid – and a lot of drinking. "Heroin cam later. Trousers understandably informed Royal Trux 's woozy, sleazy sound, and notoriously confrontational live shows. And Herrema was the decade's heroin-chic heroine, staggering and swaggering onstage like a female Axl Rose in her snakeskin boots and Cousin It bedhead, trailing cigarette smoke and raccoon pelts everywhere she went. "Data-reactid =" 37 "> Throughout their 15 -year relationship (for only one year they have been legally married), drug use bonded the couple – they've been admitted to their interviews in their '90s heyday. "Early on, it was just acid. of it at all, but there was drugs, weed, acid – a lot of acid – and a lot of drinking. "Heroin cam later. Trousers understandably informed Royal Trux 's woozy, sleazy sound, and notoriously confrontational live shows. And Herrema was the decade's heroin-chic heroine, staggering and swaggering onstage like a female Axl Rose in her snakeskin boots and Cousin It bedhead, smoking trailing cigarette and raccoon pelts everywhere she went.

It all worked for a while – gloriously, in fact, for nine studio albums – until it really did not.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "" Dude, I'll tell you what: Seriously, "Herrema shockingly reveals." He was helping me, blah blah blah Oh, I was furious, but I understood that he really was doing it because he was so scared for me, I really believe that was the impetus. is a very controlling person. I think it was more than complete fear that I might die, or I might go off and not come back. But at the same time, I needed Dude, I'll tell you what, Neil had me committed Seriously, "Herrema shockingly reveals." He did not know. it was helping me, blah blah blah Oh, I was furious, but I understood that he was really doing it because he was so scared for me I do not believe it was necessary is a very controlling person. I think it was more than complete fear that I might die, or I might go off and not come back. But at the same time, I needed to go off and not come back. "

Herrema, who started smoking pot at age 12 ("I was like, 'Why did I get bothering to get out of bed?'"), Did not realize then that she had a "Total chemical imbalance," which she says runs on her mother 's side of the family. "I was self-medicating. I just thought it was the only way I could get through and not be super, super depressed. I kind of moved on to different drugs – and then heroin. Once you go in, it's not easy to get out. "

Eventually, Herrema realized the only way to get her life on track, she was familiar with – that is, from both her band and her marriage. "I was just like, 'I have to go. I can not keep going around in circles, like the same self-destructive behavior, "she explains. "It was not easy, to have to concentrate on this whole new world without Neil. I'd been with him since I was 15, so it was like. I realized I had to take me out of the equation and become fully autonomous, because we were still forming, as you know? I mean, it takes a while to get smart. "

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Life before and after down for Herrema A bona fide underground fashion icon, she styled shoots for Playboy, modeled for Calvin Klein, interviewed her idol Keith Richards, designed for denim line for Volcom, founded the band RTX and Black Bananas, and even lectured about Southern rock at Princeton. And during her times of sobriety, she says, she "had no compulsion to be self-destructive, no compulsion to change my reality. I was stoked to see the sun. I was like, 'S ***, it's what it's like to have a regular chemical balance' Everything was great. '"Data-reactid =" 46 "> Life before and after Royal Trux had its ups and down for Herrema A bona fide underground fashion icon Playboy, modeled for Calvin Klein, interviewed her idol Keith Richards, designed for denim line for Volcom, founded the band RTX and Black Bananas, and even lectured about Southern rock at Princeton. And during her times of sobriety, she says, she "had no compulsion to be self-destructive, no compulsion to change my reality. I was stoked to see the sun. I was like, 'S ***, this is what it's like to have a regular chemical balance!' Everything was great. "

Jennifer Herrema models her denim line with Volcom. (Photo: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

<p class = "canvas-atom-text-canvas Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "But there was" gnarly, stupid, horrible *** "Too much, Herrema says,"[Doctors] were talking about amputating one of my fingers. I was in the hospital, in the psych ward, and they would not stay with my family because my dad was an alcoholic. So they feel me at this place called Melwood in Maryland. It's basically where ex-cons go to live in the real world before they actually go to the real, real world. Then I did not have any money to go, so I lived in this shelter in Northeast D.C. I had left Neil at that point too, because he kept doing drugs. He was not gonna stop, so I separated myself. But then of course we got back together, and then we were Both doing drugs. The cycle repeated one too many times. "" Data-reactid = "67"> But there was "gnarly, stupid, horrible s ***" too.At her lowest point, Herrema says, "[Doctors] were talking about amputating one of my fingers. I was in the hospital, in the psych ward, and they would not stay with my family because my dad was an alcoholic. So they feel me at this place called Melwood in Maryland. It's basically where ex-cons go to live in the real world before they actually go to the real, real world. Then I did not have any money to go, so I lived in this shelter in Northeast D.C. I had left Neil at that point too, because he kept doing drugs. He was not gonna stop, so I separated myself. But then of course we got back together, and then we were Both doing drugs. The cycle repeated one too many times. "

Shortly before her romantic relationship with Hagerty dissolved for good, Herrema went "on a tear for like a year" after she found her father was terminally ill. "There was more about having a good relationship with young people, and having no contact with them. [my parents] and shutting them out – not because they were bad, but because I did not want them to know what I was up to, you know? "I was shocked at myself, and I was so sad. I said, 'Oh s ***. I can not let this happen to me again. "

Royal Trux 2000, shortly before their split. (Photo "Andy Willsher / Redferns / Getty Images)

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Nowadays, Herrema says with a shrug," I do not do [hard] drugs. I just smoke a lot of weed and drink. … I'm not strung-out on drugs, but I am we [psychiatric] medication. I had spent my whole life not it is medication. I tried it, and yeah, it worked. Neil did not believe in it, but he came to my psychiatrist with me. He's OK with it now, but he will not take [medication] himself. "Herrema adds with a wry laugh," That mother *** er needs to take it. "" data-reactid = "89"> Nowadays, Herrema says with a shrug, "I do not do [hard] drugs. I just smoke a lot of weed and drink. … I'm not strung-out on drugs, but I am we [psychiatric] medication. I had spent my whole life not it is medication. I tried it, and yeah, it worked. Neil did not believe in it, but he came to my psychiatrist with me. He's OK with it now, but he will not take [medication] himself. "Herrema adds with a wry laugh," That mother *** er needs to take it. "

Somehow, after all this, Hagerty reached out to Herrema out of the blue about a reunion show at Southern California's Berserktown II festival in August 2015. This was a total surprise, since Hagerty had said in a 2012 interview that the prospect of a Royal Trux reunion was "depressing," and the two had no contact with each other. "For almost 14 years, I would get a random email from him every ounce in a while. One was like five years after I left. Then the other was 11 years later, telling me when our cats died. That was it. But that was fine, "Herrema says. She agreed to the comeback concert, but in classic scrappy Royal Trux fashion, the two did not practice, and were not even in the same room together, until the Berserktown gig.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "" We were supposed to have one day to rehearse , "Herrema recalls." I mean, we had emailed a setlist, and then when Neil got here, his plane was late, so we had a half day to rehearse I was like, 'I do not remember the words! 'I mean, I was just making some stuff up at times, but [the lyrics] when I heard the riffs and whatever. So I was pretty lucky on that. "The two decided to capture that shambolic show, and a second show at New York's Webster Hall in December 2015," for posterity "as the warts-and-all live document Platinum Tips + Ice Cream. "We recorded it because we had no idea if it would ever happen again. It was rough, that live album that we put out. But it was real, "Herrema says." Data-reactid = "93"> "We were supposed to have one day to rehearse," Herrema recalls. "I mean, we had a setlist. I was like, 'I do not remember the words!' I mean, I was just making some stuff up at times, but [the lyrics] when I heard the riffs and whatever. So I was pretty lucky on that. "The two decided to capture that shambolic show, and a second show at New York's Webster Hall in December 2015," for posterity "as the warts-and-all live document Platinum Tips + Ice Cream. "We recorded it because we had no idea if it would ever happen again. It was rough, that live album that we put out. But it was real, "Herrema says.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The past still sometimes haunts Herrema: For instance, Royal Trux's spring tower just got postponed due to her criminal record, after a routine traffic stop uncovered a probation violation. In fact, Herrema reveals that she's conducting her phone interview with Yahoo Entertainment while wearing an ankle monitor from that recent arrest. ("It's just the dumbest f *** ing thing," she groans.The short-ordered GPS tracker comes off March 18.) And the animosity between the train junkie-rock poster can not be entirely smoothed over – a feature in the & nbsp; January 2019 issue of& Nbsp;MOJO& nbsp; detailed their bickering during the White Stuff recording sessions (and during the MOJO interview itself), and that in-fighting has seemingly moved over to Twitter. & nbsp; But for now, & nbsp;White Stuff is a ferocious return to form that reestablishes Royal Trux as garage-rock royalty … and really, it would not be Royal Trux without a little Herrema / Hagerty drama. "data-reactid =" 94 "> The past still sometimes haunts Herrema: For instance, Royal Trux's spring tour has just been postponed due to a criminal record, after a routine traffic stop uncovered by a probation violation, In fact, Herrema reveals that she's conducting her interview with Yahoo Entertainment while wearing an ankle monitor from that recent arrest. ("It's just the dumbest f *** ing thing," she groans.The short-ordered GPS tracker comes off March 18.) And the animosity between the train-junkie-rock poster can not be entirely smoothed over – a feature the January 2019 issue of MOJO detailed their bickering during the White Stuff recording sessions (and during the MOJO interview itself), and that in-fighting has seemingly moved over to Twitter. But for now, White Stuff Royal trux as garage-rock royalty … and really, it would not be Royal Trux without a little Herrema / Hagerty drama.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = ""Nothing has changed in the Truxian universe we created for ourselves as teenagers," Herrema said in a recent press release. She further tells Yahoo, & nbsp;"The thing is, the dynamic between us is exactly the same. Neil is still the same person. I'm still the same person. We're just smarter, and we have more experiences under our belt. It's complicated, but it's the same. He's one of my best friends. "" Data-reactid = "95">"Nothing has changed in the Truxian universe we created for ourselves as teenagers," Herrema said in a recent press release. She further tells Yahoo, "The thing is, the dynamic between us is exactly the same. Neil is still the same person. I'm still the same person. We're just smarter, and we have more experiences under our belt. It's complicated, but it's the same. … He's one of my best friends. "

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