Regrets — like everyone else, Tanya Donelly’s had a few.
But the lead singer/frontwoman of Belly, the ’90s alt-rock stalwarts who are bringing their reunion tour to the Majestic Theater on Oct. 4, is clear about one thing that would have gnawed at her had she and her three bandmates — brothers Chris and Tom Gorman and Gail Greenwood — not addressed it.
“We all spent the last 20 years feeling that we could have done more,” says Donelly, speaking to Isthmus by phone. “That’s an awful feeling to have. Reuniting with these guys would have been my biggest end-of-life regret if I hadn’t done it.”
Well, now there’s one less thing for her to worry about. The Belly reunion began, as reunions often do, spontaneously. A series of side conversations led to some shows in 2016. That, in turn, led to some new songwriting.
“We wrote four to five songs, mostly to keep it from feeling like a vanity project,” says Donelly, who had already been part of two other ’90s alt-rock powerhouses — Throwing Muses, with Kristin Hersh and The Breeders with Kim Deal — when she formed Belly. “It was really Tom who said, ‘Forget the EP idea; let’s make an album.’”
That led to Dove, the band’s first effort since their second and then-final album, 1995’s King. Parts of Dove feature the band’s signature, dreamy sound — songs like “Mine” and “Shiny One” could have hung out and shared a beer with “Feed the Tree,” the band’s biggest and most enduring hit. “Heartstrings,” meanwhile, is the sort of blunt confessional that’s become a hallmark of Donelly’s extensive solo work. (“That song is basically, ‘Hey, here’s what’s going on at my house,” she quips.)
Donelly says the new work with her old bandmates is the most collaborative work she’s done — and also the most honest.
“We’ve just had multiple loves and losses, as Gail puts it,” she says. “We have better perspective. That young concern about intellectual property, about who contributed how much to what, doesn’t matter anymore. What we have now is a harmonious equal partnership.”
The band’s longtime fans are apparently superconnected to the all-for-one vibe.
“Back when we were first performing, people would come to the shows to hear a single song,” Donelly says. “Now, on this tour, every single person in the room knows the deep cuts. It’s much more conversational.”