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Here’s your first glimpse of the reunited Babes in Toyland

by Andrea Swensson

August 22, 2014

Nearly 14 years after playing their final show, Babes in Toyland have quietly reassembled and started rehearsing in North Hollywood, California—and this week we got our first look at the reunited group.

Founder and lead singer Kat Bjelland, drummer Lori Barbero, and bassist Maureen Herman (who joined the group after Michelle Leon's departure in 1992) started discussing the possibility of a Babes reunion last year, shortly after I caught up with Kat Bjelland for an in-depth interview about her life and musical career. "I write all the time, I play my guitar a little bit and then I write," she said, noting that she had at least an album's worth of songs written but needed to assemble a band.

It wasn't until this summer that she was finally able to reconnect in person with Barbero and Herman, and since they've gotten back in touch they've started leaking hints about their reunion plans. “We’ll make it a reunion and do songs we’ve done before,” Bjelland said in an interview with Lancer Radio at Pasadena College in June. “But I think we were kind of talking just to see how it goes, and make it Babes in Toyland but a new formation, write new songs and stuff.”

In the same interview, Bjelland and Herman said that their first show would likely take place at First Avenue, and that they were hoping to use the show to raise awareness and funds for Lizz Winstead's Lady Parts Justice organization.

"We want the first show to be in Minneapolis, and to be a benefit for Lady Parts Justice, so we can kick off our reunion with purpose," Bjelland said.

No additional details have been announced quite yet, but Herman did post the above photo to her Facebook page this week with the caption, "This happened last Thursday. #tbt. Or maybe it was Friday. Well last week anyway."

If only there was audio...

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This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.