Kate Schellenbach may be the only musician cool enough to have played bongos with Ellen DeGeneres and drummed for the Beastie Boys.
The drummer, who is openly gay, kept the beat for Luscious Jackson throughout the 1990s. The funky, all-female quartet’s signature sound was an effortless blend of indie rock and hip-hop, a sonic environment where catchy guitar riffs were complemented by sinuous samples.
During that decade, Schellenbach and her fellow bandmates — Jill Cunniff on bass, Gabby Glaser on guitar and Vivian Trimble on keyboards — scored a Top 40 single with “Naked Eye” and earned a gold record for “Fever In Fever Out,” produced by Daniel Lanois. The group appeared in commercials for The Gap and participated in both Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair.
By 1999, however, tastes had changed, so the band decided to call it quits. Members refocused their efforts on beginning new careers and starting families. For the past 14 years, there’s been nary a peep from Schellenbach and her former band, but that is about to change.
Earlier this month Luscious Jackson released two new records, “Magic Hour” for grownups and “Baby DJ” for children of all ages. The band is also kicking off a limited series of engagements, starting with a gig right here in Philadelphia.
Schellenbach was psyched when asked about that upcoming show. “For us, Philly has actually been one of our strongest places we’ve ever played,” she said. “We played there a bunch starting up, and the audiences have always been great and the venues are great.”
In concert, Luscious Jackson was known for getting audiences to dance, something Schellenbach hopes to see when she, Cunniff and Glaser return to Philadelphia. Interestingly, Schellenbach said the city contributed a key concept to the band early on.
“I think we came up with the term ‘disco diving’ out of Philly, which is when we have people come up on stage and dance and then dive into the audience, which is kind of a funny thing that just started happening at some crazy shows in Philly.”
In all likelihood, Luscious Jackson’s new material will inspire some booty shaking. The 10 tracks on “Magic Hour” are filled with guitar hooks, catchy choruses and sexy raps. Lyrically, the message is positive and upbeat. It even includes an ode to the male derriere, “#1 Bum.”
Schellenbach admitted that she laughed when she first heard the demo for that number. “The words, I thought, were hysterical. It’s a silly track, but why not? Who says everything has to be deep? I like the attitude. I like the lyrics.”
The playful attitude combined with a frank statement of female desire is typical of Luscious Jackson. It’s just one reason Schellenbach believes that the new record fits seamlessly into the band’s catalog. “I feel like the new record is a little bit of an ode to early Luscious Jackson, meaning the sound that you hear is a lot of collaboration between Jill and Gabby’s vocals, which is kind of reminiscent of ‘In Search of Manny,’ which was our first release,” she said
Schellenbach is pleased with the entire record, although she admitted a particular fondness for the opening track, “You and Me.”
“That felt like a really good example of Jill and Gabby together, and also it infuses a little Brazilian vibe and it has some cowbell. So for me that kind of summed up everything personally and musically,” she said.
“Magic Hour” also continues Luscious Jackson’s long-standing relationship with the Beastie Boys. It was the first band to sign to the Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal record label and also toured with the hip-hop heroes. On the trio’s latest record, Ad-Rock, also known as Adam Horovitz, contributed the song “So Rock On,” an infectious declaration of desire.
The women return the favor on “We Go Back,” a thoughtful number about growing up, which is also a heartfelt goodbye to Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who passed away in May 2012. Schellenbach said the band members initially wondered if the song was too dark, but decided they wanted to share their experience with listeners.
“We haven’t said that it’s necessarily a tribute to Adam Yauch, and some people figured that out and picked up on it,” she noted. “Other people think it’s actually about us kind of reconnecting after all this time. So we leave it open to interpretation.”
In reality, the bandmates never lost touch. Although they’d established lives of their own, they were sporadically in contact. Cunniff and Glaser remained in New York City, while Schellenbach moved to Los Angeles.
After setting down her drumsticks, Schellenbach began working as a researcher on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” She eventually worked her way up to producing celebrity-interview segments, a job she’s also done for Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler. She continues in that capacity for Ross Mathews, whose pop-culture chat show “Hello Ross” debuted in September.
Given that success, it might seem surprising that Schellenbach would want to regroup with Luscious Jackson. There was, she said, a feeling among all three women that the time was right. They’d recently watched Kim and Kelley Deal mount a tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Breeder’s record, “The Last Splash.” Their old friends got such a good reception that it prompted the women of Luscious Jackson to give serious thought to touring themselves.
“I think for all of us it kind of felt like, ‘Oh, the time’s coming back around where people who were fans of ours who were teenagers are now maybe in their 30s and kind of having that nostalgic feel.’ You know, you always sort of hold on to those bands that you were into at that time,” Schellenbach said.
Yet, there is more to it than nostalgia. The women’s relationship stretches back to the early 1980s, when the then-teens bonded over shows at grimy Manhattan clubs like CBGB. According to Schellenbach, once they’d decided to begin making music again, the three of them picked up right where they’d left off.
“We came together over the summer to start rehearsing for these live shows after we hadn’t been together in a room rehearsing for 14 years, and immediately we were laughing to the point where tears were rolling down our faces. I mean over the same old jokes that we were laughing about 15 years ago, so that was a great feeling to have that,” Schellenbach said.
After building a presence on Facebook and Twitter, the band launched a PledgeMusic campaign to raise funds for recording. The process was a resounding success. In roughly two days, the band had enough money to produce “Magic Hour” and to complete work on the children’s music that originally reunited songwriters Cunniff and Glaser in the late 2000s.
The children’s music project has a personal dimension to it, explained Schellenbach. “We all have kids and there’s a certain age where you’re listening to all this ‘children’s music,’ and a lot of it’s really annoying. There’s a lot of stuff about Luscious Jackson that the kids enjoy, be it the sing-along choruses or dancing or beats or whatever.”
The result is “Baby DJ,” an album including carefree songs for kids, like “Coconut Icee” and “Hula Hoop.” Harried parents tired of Raffi enjoy it too. “People are buzzing about it on Twitter and whatnot,” Schellenbach said. “People are digging it, and they’re like, ‘Is it bad that I’m dancing to this too?’ Adults like it.”
The pleasure appears to be mutual. As Schellenbach described it, both recording and rehearsing have been a gratifying experience for the band. Now it’s time for Luscious Jackson to get back on stage.
“I think we’re kind of just open to what happens,” she said. “We’d love to play some shows and do some festivals and play the cities that we love to visit, and to get overseas if we can.”
Luscious Jackson performs 8 p.m. Nov. 23 at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. For more information or tickets, call 215-232-2100 or visit www.lusciousjackson.us.