Have Bangles Extinguished Their Flame?

Breaking up is hard to do.

Just ask the Bangles. After weeks of speculation about the band’s future, the group has finally made it official. After nine years together, two platinum albums and a ton of critical plaudits, L.A.’s most acclaimed all-gal band is going on hiatus, perhaps permanently.

“We just didn’t seem very happy anymore,” said Susanna Hoffs, the group’s lead singer. “The last few years were very emotionally draining. After nine years, we’d given so much to each other that it had become like a marriage--a long marriage. It got to the point where we just didn’t have that ‘band’ feeling anymore.”

According to Hoffs, the band held a meeting nearly three weeks ago where it was agreed that everyone--Hoffs, bassist Michael Steele, guitarist Vicki Peterson and drummer Debbie Peterson--would go their separate ways, at least for the foreseeable future. (The band’s last public performance was Sept. 2 at the Redwood Amphitheatre in Santa Clara.)

The group has enjoyed continued success--its most recent album, “Everything,” sold 1.2 million copies and produced the No. 1 hit single, “Eternal Flame.” But it became obvious that their greatest strength--all four women in the group write and sing--had also created the most trauma and tension.

“I’m proud of our last album, but it was really painful to make,” Hoffs said. “It ended up being like the Beatles’ White Album, where we were essentially serving as each other’s back-up band. Everyone felt compromised--it’s just hard to do artistic things by committee. We called it ‘song abortion.’ We had a quota system, where everyone had to be represented on the final song list. That’s why we ended up with 13 songs on the record. It just wasn’t working--there was so much suffering and loss that everyone felt they were being cheated.

“It got to the point where everything had a quota. Even our video directors were told that everyone in the band had to have equal time in the videos. Trying to have four songwriters and singers in a band causes a lot of tension, largely because we were so afraid of hurting each others feelings that we never got our feelings out--we were too busy protecting each other.”

In retrospect, much of the band’s problems were caused by Hoffs’ high profile. As the band member featured on the most hit songs--and most favored by photographers and video directors--she became the group’s media darling and focus of fan appeal. “Sure, it made it difficult,” said Vicki Peterson. “Here we felt we were a band with four equal parts, but people were always looking at our last single and saying, ‘Oh, Susanna sang it, so she must be the leader of the band.’ I think that caused some tension--it certainly took some of the satisfaction out of it for me.”

Hoffs agreed: “It gave me a lot of anxiety and emotional stress. It ended up taking away from my pleasure that people liked what I was doing because that was causing so much pain and frustration to everyone else in the group.”

She laughed. “Maybe this all happened because we were women. Maybe if we were guys, we would’ve yelled at each other and fought it out and gotten over it. But we all tried to be so supportive that we ended up being martyrs!”

For now, Hoffs says she’s writing songs with various partners, with plans to “eventually” put together a solo album. Peterson says she’s taking some time off before pursuing other interests. (According to the band’s management, Stiefel-Phillips Entertainment, the group is signed, collectively and individually, to CBS Records.)

Will the band ever get back together? Peterson is optimistic: “We needed this break to survive--I believe there’ll be another Bangles album.”

Hoffs isn’t so sure: “If the emotional scars heal and we have a genuine musical reason to get together, then maybe it could happen. But only if we all can feel a part of it.”

And what are the group’s commercial prospects as solo artists? “What made the Bangles great was their signature harmony sound,” said ex-A&R; exec Peter Philbin, the key figure in signing the band to CBS Records. “When you turned on the radio, even in the middle of a song, you immediately knew who it was. I think each of the members will have success on their own, but it’s important to realize that they can’t trade on what made the Bangles special. They weren’t the greatest musicians in the world, but they were a real band. They had an all-for-one, one-for-all attitude--and that’s what they’ll really miss.”