This year seems to have been more to Love's liking. Frances Bean is now 15 months old and a rosy-cheeked charmer; motherhood clearly agrees with Love; and she and her band (guitarist Eric Erlandson, bassist Kristen Pfaff and drummer Patty Schemel) are putting the finishing touches on their major label debut, aptly titled Live Through This. Calling just before the start of a tour with the Lemonheads, Love was funny, impressively savvy, and unfailingly direct.

KN: What did 1993 represent for you?
CL: Was Vanity Fair this year? No, that was last year. This year was good! It was about being leveled by something and finding a higher ground. It was about trying to find ideal songs in myself with the kind of competition I'm up against in my own house. This year has really been about growth. And I'm a mother, and it's great. I don't care if that's a cliche. It really is great.

KN: How has that changed you?
CL: That's such a personal question. There's some kind of mother blood that just makes you want to buy firearms when you have a child. She's like this perfection, this utter purity that's uncorrupted by anything. And if somebody were to f*ck with my child, I would not hesitate to kill them. I'll answer anything, but on every level that that question operates, it's just too personal. It's too deep.

KN: Ok. Let's talk about the new album. How is it most different from "Pretty on the Inside"?
CL: It's so different that there should've been a record in between. I didn't want a punk-rock record-I did that. So it's very melodic, and there are a lot more harmonies. And you know, because our songwriting is so different, it's hard to deal with. We played on Halloween, and all these weird purists showed up. Total fans, but every time we'd go into one of our pop songs, they'd start chanting, "Don't do it! Sellout!" Girls were throwing riot grrrl zines at me and stuff. I was like "Uh, I'm really glad you're here, girls, but check it out: I can write a bridge now." I mean, I'm glad people don't expect much from me, but I wish they had an inkling that I had an inkling of how to write.

KN: You've taken flak in the press, but do you think that's the case with fans?
CL: This bugs me, because I can count on one hand the fallacious pieces that have been written about me. It isn't "the press." It was one article. It's the result of one woman's interpretation of my character, whatever her fucked-up agenda might have been.

KN: But there has been a tendency for the press to focus more on your marriage than your music, and there've been insinuations that you married Kurt to boost your career.
CL: Well, that suprised me. There's nothing in my past to indicate that I've gone out with anything but losers-that's my pattern, anyway. So it was a nice surprise that my husband turned out to be successful, but it wasn't something I counted on.

KN: The past few years have been uphill for you. Did any of that seep into the new lyrics?
CL: This record is not as personal. You know, when women say, "Well, I play music, and it's cathartic." that applies to me to a degree, but I just wanted to write a good rock record. I would love to write a couple of great rock songs in my life, like Chrissie Hynde did. If you write something that will transcend a long period of time and make people feel a certain way, there's really nothing like that.

KN: It seems important to you to leave a mark.
CL: Yeah. I mean, what was that Walt Whitman quote, about when you die, leaving a fertile patch of grass and a happy child? When you're dying and your life is flashing before your eyes, you're gonna be thinking about the great things that you did, the horrible things that you did and the emotinonal impact that someone had on you and that you had on somebody else. Those are the things that are relevant. To have some sort of emotional impact that transcends your time, that's great. As long as you don't mess it up by being undignified when you're old.

KN: What do you think you'll be like when you're old?
CL: I hope I'll be dignified. I know I won't be pathetically addicted to any kind of bull****. I'd like to have a brood of children and a good garden, and I'd like to grow great hybrid roses and have a lot of dogs and cats and have a goddamn nice house! I don't think I want to be sitting on a porch drinking whiskey and singing the blues (laughs). Knowing me, I'd probably end up at a bar, asking some guy to get me another martini. Still bleaching my hair at 59.