Tanya Donelly on Belly’s Reunion Tour and New Album (in 2024)
by Marisa Torrieri Bloom
Talking to Tanya Donelly feels like talking to a big, cool sister. That’s probably why I forgot I was supposed to be in journalist mode during our recent Zoom chat about her band, Belly, and their upcoming reunion tour with the Parkington Sisters (on the East Coast) and The Breeders (on the West Coast), which kicks off on October 1 in Newport, R.I.
It’s clear that I haven’t done my homework when she reminds me, ever so sweetly, that it’s the 30-year anniversary of Belly’s debut album Star — one of my favorite albums of all time. My jaw drops.
“Wait, has it really been 30 years? I feel like I was just in high school.”
“Well, you were 17,” she responds. “So it probably does!”
That’s when memories of 1993 kick in:
Seeing Belly for the first time at the HFSTival in Washington, D.C. Buying the Star cassette at Tower Records in Rockville, Maryland. Popping it into the console of my 1986 Dodge Omni. Singing along to “Dusted,” Angel,” and “Low Red Moon” on 20-minute drives to my then-boyfriend’s home. I can’t help but smile when I realize Donelly’s angelic voice was the backdrop to lots of things I did behind my parents’ backs.
The band, which originated in Newport, R.I. — with Donelly on lead vocals and guitar, brothers Tom and Chris Gorman on guitar and drums, and Gail Greenwood on bass, replacing Fred Abong in 1994 — went on to receive two Grammy nominations for that record, for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Performance. (For more history on Belly the band, check out Stacy Buchanan’s excellent interview with Donelly, published in 2018.)
[SEE RELATED: TANYA DONELLY SHARES HER POSTPARTUM JOURNEY THROUGH MUSIC, PARENTING, AND A NEW RECORD WITH THE PARKINGTON SISTERS]
It’s wild to think about all of the big life events that have transpired over the past 30 years since Star was released.
The band put out a follow-up album, King, in 1995, before parting ways. Donelly married fellow musician Dean Fisher and they had two kids — who are now 24 and 17 — and pursued a second career as a postpartum doula. Donelly recorded and performed as a solo artist in the early ’00s and collaborated on lots of side projects with her musician friends. Finally, in 2016, Belly reunited, which led to a U.S. and European tour in 2018 and the release of the band’s third album Dove.
But in 2020, shortly after Donelly finished recording a covers album with her friends the Parkington Sisters, Covid-related cancellations and health concerns upended Belly’s plans for a follow-up tour.
There was a small silver lining, however: Donelly and her bandmates fully embraced home recording and released a handful of acoustic versions of classic Belly songs on Bandcamp, which they recorded and mixed in their respective New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts dwellings. And in 2021, Donelly and longtime West Coast pal Brian Sullivan (Dylan in The Movies) collaborated on a new project called The Loyal Seas, which was also recorded, mixed, and mastered remotely.
Today, having recently upgraded from her beloved Snowball to a Blue Yeti microphone, Donelly seems to prefer the DIY approach. In fact, the next Belly album, which Donelly hopes to release in early 2024, is the band’s first fully remote full-length record.
[SEE RELATED: THE LOYAL SEAS: BICOASTAL PALS TANYA DONELLY AND BRIAN SULLIVAN NAVIGATE NEW MUSICAL TERRAIN]
“I think our attitude right now is like, ‘four voices,’” Donnelly tells me. “That’s as many voices as we need. When we were in the height of the recording-touring cycle, having somebody come in from the outside with fresh ears was vital. But now we know what we want to hear …. we don’t need a mediator. We don’t need another voice. We can just do this, and, you know, figure it out ourselves.”
Self-recording has its own challenges, admittedly. When four individuals are collaborating on a project, making time for recording, ruminating, and sticking to deadlines makes it hard to pin down an exact release date: Each member of Belly has other things going on, professionally and personally. Lately, Donelly’s been busy helping one of her daughters, a musical theater student, with college applications, and dealing with the aftermath of a few health issues. Yet there’s a clear sense of unified gratitude as the band prepares to hit the road.
“We laugh about it,” says Donelly, of the reality that Belly’s members are no longer in their 20s and 30s. “Nothing has become a huge obstacle yet, but I just had a hand surgery that has left me with nerve permanent nerve damage … I have a condition called Barrett’s esophagus, which affects my throat very much and so I navigate around that. Tom’s got stuff, Chris … it’s sort of a, you know, it’s 75% powering through and then 25% tweaking around our new bodies,. We make it work and figure it out.”
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.
