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Belly On World Cafe

Belly performing live at NON-COMMvention 2018 at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.
Dylan Eddinger
/
WXPN
Belly performing live at NON-COMMvention 2018 at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

In 1995, Bill Watterson, the author of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, decided to end it even though it seemed like the comic was in its prime. Since then, Bill has said, "It's better to leave the party early." Belly, our guest in this session did the very same thing. The band had explosive success with the debut album Star in 1993 and was all over MTV with the hit song "Feed the Tree." Belly released the follow-up King in 1995, grabbing the cover of Rolling Stone in the spring of that year. But by the fall, Belly broke up. To some people, they left the party early.

But that doesn't mean you can't throw another party later. In 2016, Belly reunited for some shows, and has since made a new album called Dove that came out at the beginning of the month.

All four members of the band — Tanya Donelly, Gail Greenwood, Tom and Chris Gorman — have been cranking out creative projects in the time since, including solo albums for Tanya, tours for Gail and photography for Tom and Chris. But when they came into World Cafe, it seemed like Belly is the party they all want to be attending right now.

Copyright 2018 XPN

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.