Live-Metal.Net - Interviews

In July 2007, Live-Metal.net introduced many to the Swedish rock band Vains of Jenna through an interview with drummer Jacki Stone (READ INTERVIEW HERE). Vains of Jenna plays an old-school style of rock n' roll: loud, trashy and raunchy, the way rock should be, as evident on their debut, Lit Up/Let Down. Signed to Bam Margera's Filthy Note Records, their sound brings Faster Pussycat, GNR or early Aerosmith to mind. The band, whose oldest member is singer Lizzy DeVine at 26, caught a big break when '80s rockers White Lion were forced to drop off the opening slot of one of the biggest rock tours of the summer with Poison and Ratt. Vains of Jenna has stepped in and are winning over fans night in and night out with the right rock n' roll image to go with their refreshing, throwback sound. Minutes after their set, which included a surprise cover of Tom Petty's “Refugee,” Live-Metal.net staffers Jeff Maki, Jason Price and Steve Johnson met up backstage with the band—Stone, DeVine, bassist JP White and guitarist Nicki Kin. The boys downed some beers, talked about the tour, Bam and a chance encounter with White Lion singer Mike Tramp.

JP: I came up with it when I was drunk, so I really can't remember what I was thinking. It just sounds cool, you know?

JP: Not at all. It just sounds cool. It sounds good when you say it—Vains of Jenna.

Lizzy: It's a good name because people always get questions about it, and in the beginning we got dictionaries sent to us because it was spelled wrong. It's so annoying. We know we misspelled it, so you don't have to send those fucking ... We're not gonna change it.

We touched on this in the earlier interview, but is there any new material in the works?

Nicki: Yep. We're working on new songs all the time. We recorded one new song, and it's gonna be on the Viva la Bands compilation, which will be out in September, I think.

Lizzy: And the plan after the tour this fall is to record a new album. We have the same producer now that we'd been working with on the new song, Brent Woods. He was with a band called Wildside. He's never really done any major albums before, and that's the people we wanna work with who are hungry and ...

JP: He's a great producer. He knew exactly what we wanted and how we wanted the song to sound.

Lizzy: Hopefully the album will be out sometime next year, which will be cool, through someone's label—Bam's or someone else's. We don't care as long as people are willing to put interest in us.

Lizzy: Yeah, I like Bam. He's the coolest and always fun to hang out with, but I wish the label could have put the CD out in every store there is.

Nicki: People don't find the CDs in stores, and you have to order it online. And myself, I don't order stuff online. I want to go to the CD store and find the CDS.

Lizzy: We want to find a bigger label, and that's what Filthy Note wants, too. That was the plan from the beginning, to like launch us and that's a good thing.

Nicki: I'm really thankful for what they did and what they still do.

Lizzy: But most things in the music business suck except standing on the stage and playing music. That's just how it is.

The Tom Petty song I think everyone would agree was fucking awesome. How did you guys pick out “Refugee”?

Lizzy: Nicki came to me one day and said, “I know a great song we could cover.”

Nicki: I hadn't heard it in like 10 years or whatever ,and then I heard it on the radio driving in a car in L.A. And right when I heard it I knew we had to fuckin' do this song.

Lizzy: I'm glad we started playing this song because it's one of the best songs to play live.

JP: People don't know who we are, but when we play that song people are like, “Fuck yeah!” Our first two songs people are like, “Hmmm,” but when we play that, they're like, “Oh yeah, we love those guys!”

Nicki: It really feels like we wrote the song. People don't really expect us to do that song. They probably expect fucking Guns N' Roses, but we don't want to do that.

Lizzy: Well, people will never know where to have us because our next album probably won't sound like our first. You need to change, get new influences and you need to have fun. Our first album was two, two and a half years ago, so we've become a lot better musicians. It's still fun to play. It's raw. That's how we wanted the first album to sound, and it's they way we were then. We didn't think, we just wanted to have fun. And that's what that album shows.

Nicki: We didn't think at all. We just wrote the songs, recorded them as we wrote them, didn't change anything—

Lizzy: Yeah. We didn't have any expectations to put out a CD or anything like that. We just recorded them just to have something to show people, and Bam liked the songs so much he just decided to put it out.

JP: Some of the songs we did in the early days and we don't play them. We're like, “Fuck those songs.” The songs playing here on this tour, I still fucking love them.

Lizzy: And so far we are a band that proves that you don't have to play music that's on the radio and TV all the time and get on a tour like this. It's gotta be the right time, have fun and believe in what you do. If you just sit around waiting for something to come to you, nothing will change. We took a chance and two years have passed, and we're here doing a tour with Poison and Ratt, one of the biggest summer tours of this year, and we're signed to Bam's label. It's crazy. We're lucky motherfuckers.

You guys are taking the place of White Lion [on this tour], and not that White Lion is that popular anymore, but did you feel that there were any shoes to fill?

Lizzy: I never really liked White Lion. I'm a big Poison and Ratt fan, so if I went to a show I'd rather see a new band.

Jacki: It's good for Poison and Ratt to bring a younger band.

Nicki: I think its good for everybody to have a new rock n' roll band. The world needs rock n' roll.

Lizzy: And the young kids that come—I want them to see us and go, “That's what I want to do!” Like when I saw Poison, Ratt and GNR when I was younger, I decided right then and there this is what I'm gonna do. I was 9 years old but, someday I will ... Now that I'm older—

Jacki: Older? [laughter]

Lizzy: I'm twenty-fucking-six years old. It's been many years since I was 9 years old. I look pretty young [pointing at
face]. I feel like 18.

The easy comparison people might make to you is GNR. You guys kind of channel that, so when do you think Chinese Democracy is coming out?

Lizzy: I hope it's soon because I've heard a few songs ,and I really think it kicks ass. “Better” kicks ass. I'm a huge GNR fan, but it's too bad that Axl couldn't have called the band something else. He's still a cool guy, working hard, but please put out the album.

Nicki: We have a lot of respect for that band. We love those guys.

Lizzy: Yeah, most bands I have respect for except for the bands that treat us like shit like that singer you met.
[points at JP]

Jacki: Say his name.

Lizzy: I don't really know, but we were in Oklahoma and we checked out White Lion, and it sounded fucking great. Nicki went up to Mike Tramp after the show and went, “Good show,” and he just turned his fucking back.

Nicki: I don't fucking care about him and never liked White Lion. And that one song “When the Children Cry,” I fucking hate that song! [room erupts in laughter] But I mean, if I come up to him and say, “Good show,” he could be like, “OK, thank you, man.”

Jacki: I mean, you don't have to be pissed off because we took your spot.

Nicki: It's not my fault that I'm here playing right now.

Lizzy: Hopefully he didn't do it on purpose, he just had something more important to do. If he did it on purpose someday he will see my two middle fingers pointing right at him.

Jacki: Up his ass. [laughter]

Live-Metal (Jeff): Now be careful, this might start the big White Lion feud on the site, on the Internet ...

Live-Metal (Jason): Oh come on now, you know White Lion doesn't know about the Internet.

Lizzy: Most bands though ... I was so glad when we met Poison and Ratt. They treat us so fucking good. They could have very well treated us like shit, but it's like a big vacation. We get wasted, and they show up, so you know ...

Stephen Pearcy has had his problems in the past with his band, but what is he like?

Lizzy: He's the coolest guy. Stephen Pearcy has always been a big influence to me because I love Ratt. So meeting him and he being the way he is, is like fucking awesome. He's fun to hang out with. Of course, he's partied a lot more, but we're on our way. We're on our way.

So after you finish up on your summer vacation with Ratt and Poison, what's next for the band?

Lizzy: We're going out on a tour called the Viva la Bands tour with Cradle of Filth and CKY. That's gonna be an awesome tour.

Jacki: There might be one or two more bands added to that tour, so it'll be a good combination and be really cool.

Lizzy: And according to our record label they're going to try and get us a tour bus, so they better fucking do it!