Letters to Cleo

 ((Whisky; 400 capacity; $ 10.67))

By PHIL GALLO

Presented by Avalon. Reviewed March 8, 1995. Television proves itself a healthy vehicle to break in new bands. A slot on the "Melrose Place" soundtrack and MTV's buzz bin have put Letters to Cleo in the envious position of being the first female-led band on the Green Day-Offspring train. But while the pop hooks and punk lust are all in place in this young Boston band, there's an air of "right place, right time" about Cleo.
 
Band: Kay Hanley, Michael Eisenstein, Scott Riebling, Greg McKenna, Stacy Jones.
 

The club, packed with the "Melrose Place" crowd rather than the usual industry throng out to catch "the next big thing," was treated to a vigorous onslaught of music cemented in the three-chord workouts of the Ramones and every classic Beantown garage outfit that came before them (Neighborhoods, Del Fuegos, Scruffy the Cat).

Like her male counterparts on the "punk" bandwagon, frontwoman Kay Hanley has a bouncy, inviting presence that won't threaten anyone. Each song starts in a voice of preteen innocence and she winds up maturing midway through.

The band's one flub came on the intro to current hit "Here & Now" but it hardly detracted from the appeal of the group's tightness.

Giant has what should still be a hot commodity come summer when the label releases Cleo's second disc, and their first recorded for a major. Long-term prospects, however, seem iffy.