Inger Lorre
(b. 1964 Lori Wenning
) is an American singer who is best known for her bands The Nymphs and Motel Shootout.
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INGER LORRE TICKETS
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Music career
The Nymphs
The Nymphs spent the mid-to-late 80's honing their craft in New Jersey, but soon decided to try to make it big in California. They hadn't been there more than a few months before only Inger and guitarist Jet were left, and replaced the other two with guitarist Sam Merrick, drummer Alex Kirst and bassist Cliff D.
[1]
The band's distinctive sound, a mixture of
punk rock and
goth, glam and
grunge, and image began to attract the attention of major record labels. At the time, the band simply wanted to sign to an Indie label, as most grunge bands did before the 1991 success of
Nirvana's
Nevermind, but by 1989 the Nymphs were signed to
Geffen Records with a nearly million-dollar recording contract. The band even made a brief appearance in the film
Bad Influence performing "The Highway", a song Lorre wrote about the young girls who loved serial killer
Richard Ramirez.
It was at about this time that the Nymphs began to have problems with their label. Almost 2 years had passed since the Nymphs had completed their album. Lorre was losing her battle with drugs and alcohol and in an alcohol induced fit she urinated on the desk of A&R man Tom Zutaut. "
Rolling Stone
quipped, 'Talk about being pissed at your record label.'"
[2] Lorre broke up The Nymphs in 1992. An
EP called
The Practical Guide to Astral Projection
was released the same year but it failed to chart.
Solo work
Lorre returned to New Jersey for several years. A few spots here and there over time, where Lorre popped up in various places, never evolved into a Nymphs reunion or second album. In 1995, she teamed up with Motel Shootout and released the single
Burn,
on old friend
Long Gone John's label,
Sympathy for the Record Industry. She entered rehab and worked toward permanent recovery.
She befriended singer
Jeff Buckley and they began collaborating on music. Lorre's vocals are featured on "Angel Mine" while Jeff played guitar, sitar, and mouth sax on the track. Jeff and Lorre duetted again on the track "Thief Without The Take" contained on Lorre's album
Transcendental Medication
. Buckley also covered "
Yard of Blonde Girls" co-written by Lorre, which appeared on
Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk
. Sadly, at the height of his popularity, Buckley drowned during an evening swim on May 29, 1997, before the album's release.
[3] Lorre reemerged from New Jersey with her solo album,
Transcendental Medication
released on
Triple X Records in 1999.
In 2000, Lorre moved back to Los Angeles, where she painted and appeared in group shows around the city. She made a cameo appearance in the 2001 indie film
Down and Out with the Dolls
, a raunchy, wry and in-your-face tale of the fast rise and fall of an all-girl, four-piece Portland rock band. She performed a cover of
Black Flag's "Slip It In" with
Henry Rollins on the 2002 album
Rise Above
.
On
July 17,
2004, Lorre played an acoustic show at Hollywood's The
Knitting Factory, performing Nymphs songs, new songs and some covers. In 2006, a version of The Nymphs popped up in a few places.
Discography
The Nymphs
- The Nymphs
LP - 1991 Geffen 36,000
- A Practical Guide To Astral Projection
EP - 1992 Geffen 5,000
Inger Lorre & the Motel Shootout
- Burn
Single - 1994 Sympathy for the Record Industry
Solo
- Transcendental Medication
LP - 1999 Triple X 12,000
Guest appearances
- Jeff Buckley, Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk
-1998
- Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three
- 2002
Filmography
- Bad Influence
(1990)
- Down and Out with the Dolls
(2003)
References
- "Interview with vocalist Inger Lorre" ''HIP'' magazine, 1990
- Pearson, Sarah Luck. "Inger Lorre, Patron Saint of Fucked-over Musicians", ''LA Weekly'' feature, March 24, 1999
- Jeff Buckley (May 29th 1997)