Where Are They Now? Two Nice Girls

After the group broke up, Phillips "vehemently declared" that she would never join another democratic band. She released a solo record, Welcome to My World, a spoken-word acoustic album, and then headed into "the most forbidden music I could possibly think of: gospel."

"Singing gospel music at the Michigan Music Festival can really divide a crowd," she joked. "Some people can't stand it, and others are glad to hear it." Gospel music, she believes, plays a different role for Southerners than for people on the East Coast. "It's how we were raised."

The genre also allows her to explore different musical connections between lesbians and gay men — one that does not include show tunes. A prolific songwriter, she founded her own record label, Seasick Sailor Records, and began playing with the gay duo Y'all, singing "gospel disco."

She also started the band Phillips and Driver, with friend and musician David Driver. "I really wanted to know about the intersection between fags and dykes musically," she said.

Korniloff left Austin for Los Angeles to be with her family. She landed a job doing sound design for commercials, integrating her film education and the knowledge she gained while working in the studio with Two Nice Girls. Though she enjoyed performing in front of live audiences, she was actually more interested in studio work.

"Recording, learning about the mix, were my favorite parts," she said. In addition to commercial work, Korniloff now does sound editing and composing.

Meg Hentges has released three solo albums, and Pam Barger joined the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet and now plays with the Seattle-based band Weary.

Years ago Phillips began receiving fan letters on her website with people asking how they could find a copy of the album. The requests usually accompanied a story about "how much they loved it and how they lost it when it melted in the car or their girlfriend took it in a divorce settlement."

Though she is primarily interested in moving forward with her music and "wants to live in the present as much as possible," Phillips was moved by the letters. She had been contacted by different record companies willing to release 2 Nice Girls but knew that she was the only one who could possibly "do it justice." After taking out a loan from friends, she packaged the album the way she would want "to see it done with a band I loved whose work was only available on vinyl."

The reissue contains all the original songs, including the hilarious "I Spent My Last $10 (On Birth Control & Beer") and "Sweet Jane (With Affection)," plus two bonus tracks, a 24-page booklet including an essay from Phillips, liner notes and newly released photographs.

Though the music industry still has a long way to go in supporting queer artists, Phillips said, it has improved significantly in the last 15 years. The industry is less "ghettoized" and musicians can make quality recordings for far less money than previously required. "You don't have to be in a relationship with someone who is telling you to tone down the 'queer stuff' just because of money."

Though the focus was always on the music, reaching out to young lesbians was an important part of the band's objective. "It was so important to be out that it wasn't hard," said Phillips. "It meant everything. I wanted to do whatever I could to make it easier for people coming out. I was on a holy mission."

Their attempt to reach out to both gay and straight communities, however, was never calculated. "It was very intuitive," Phillips said. "It was always about pleasure. [We wanted to show] that being a lesbian or even knowing a lesbian is fun."

In fact, being out was so integral to the band, said Korniloff, it simply was not an issue. "It only seems amazing in retrospect," she said, "but I didn't know any better. I didn't know that it should be difficult. I don't recall ever having a sense that being comfortable in my skin as a lesbian or as a performer was ever in question."

At the time, of course, there were other lesbian bands, but many did not publicly admit their sexuality or allow it to seep into their lyrics. It was frustrating, Phillips said, to later see these musicians heralded as heroes when they did finally come out. "But that's the nature of criticism," she said, "'Let me tell you how I would do this.'"

Ultimately she understands that many musicians who decided to come out later in their careers did so because they "had their own reasons for not wanting to be out and then finally feeling safe enough." Still, she is proud that Two Nice Girls took a stand from the very beginning.

Because of the overall progress in the music industry, it is a good time to look back, said Korniloff, referring to the reissue of 2 Nice Girls. The album, the only one that features the three original members of the band, is "a document to a very unique combination of people. We predate what we now think of as queercore, but we postdate women's music and the lesbian separatist scene. We were a bridge and historically occupied an interesting niche in terms of music."

Phillips hopes to release the other Two Nice Girls albums in the future — "In my dreams, one a year," she said. Though there are no plans in the works to tour for the reissue or to record a new album, all three have considered the possibility.

"Never say never," Phillips said. "I don't want to relive something that's over, but I have been thinking more and more about how it could work and how it would be good."

Korniloff agreed. "This is a metaphor, but I was in love with and felt married to my band mates. That's how bonded we were." She can imagine just about anything, she said, "and I'm happy to say I have a completely open mind."

Even Freelove could see the trio getting back together. "That would be a really cool thing to do at this point," she said. "It would be so different — still so unique, and I'm sure still 'us.'"

For more on Gretchen Phillips and Two Nice Girls, visit her website, her MySpace page or the Two Nice Girls website.