|
All news is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves.
Have Joan Jett news to report? Email us at jettfc@aol.com, and please include the source of the information so it can be validated.
KENNY LAGUNA: The Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth
from: jerserybeat.com
by Phil Rainone
KENNY LAGUNA is the manager/co-producer/ co-writer for JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS. He's pretty much the fifth member of the band, who also plays on stage with them from time to time. In our interview I also found out that Kenny's musical and political roots, run very deep. His passion and fascination for music goes back to the 60's bubblegum era of pop rock, and he bridges the gap between 60's pop, the 70's original punk bands, and today's punk. Kenny was very articulate, and at the same time funny throughout the interview.
Q: I listened to your CD from a few years back, Laguna Tunes. It goes from 60's pop rock (Tony Orlando, Darlene Love), through current bands like Bad Religion, and JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, almost like a Who's Who of cool music. What was it that first got you into music?
A: "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis. I grew up in an "art family." My mother was a pretty well known painter. I liked music as a kid, starting around five years old. I had an aunt, Lucy Brown, and she would be the one to decide if the family was wasting their money on piano lessons (for me). I tried almost every instrument, and Lucy liked (what I played), and she arranged for me to go to Julliard (music school). But I rebelled, I didn't want to go to Julliard, I wanted to hang out on the streets and steal hub caps (laughing), so I had a problem with Julliard. But when I heard "Jailhouse Rock," I went "wow"! I really wanted to learn how to play that! I was escaping from having to do classical music. I really loved Bach and Mozart, and it really helped me a lot with rock & roll!
Q: We saw the BLACKHEARTS play the Stone Pony a few months ago, and the intensity is still there, so much!
A: She's totally right there... when it comes to punk rock, and the bands that are coming up, she just knows what's going on, she just lives it!
Q: There's not many that I've seen that's been able to live punk rock and actually keep that intensity this long. That's a big tribute to her and the band. How did you and JOAN JETT meet?
A: After bubblegum died, I was having a really rough time with things. When I was 15, I got a record deal... all they wanted me to do was bubblegum music. I did that for a few years, but it died out. Than I was rediscovered by the Who's manager, and 'adopted' by the Who, it was a revival of my career. They had hired a PR firm that managed Blondie and the RUNAWAYS (Joan's first band). They kept asking me to produce the RUNAWAYS. I had to go to Amsterdam (Holland), where the RUNAWAYS were going to record their next album (which turned out to be their last). They didn't have a producer yet, and if they liked me I'd have the job. (Note; long story short, Kenny gets hired before seeing the RUNAWAYS by Beserkley Records in California, producing Greg Kihn, among others.)
Then the RUNAWAYS break up, and I'm in England doing singles. I get this call that the RUNAWAYS broke up... and my wife says "You should go out there, JOAN JETT is significant." So I flew out there, and wrote eight songs in six days, and we saved one of the songs we did, and the actual demo is "You Don't know What You Got," it's on the first album. I thought she was unbelievable, and I said let me try to get you a record deal. But I couldn't get her a record deal, so I became frustrated. It became my cause! That's how it started. (Eventually, they started their own label - BLACKHEART RECORDS.)
Q: How did you get two of the Sex Pistols (Jones & Cook) on the first album?
A: That was because of Joan's charisma, which remains today. We've had some awesome people show up over the years - Paul Westerberg, Blondie…
Note:
Another long (but cool) story.- Kenny borrows $3,000 from his daughter's college fund.
I used it to print up records, and we started our own label by accident. Only because we were desperate, everyone turned us down. That's the story of BLACKHEART RECORDS!
Q: The BLACKHEARTS have covered songs like "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore, "Crimson & Clover" by Tommy James & the Shondells, and "Indian Giver" by The Ohio Express, which was covered by both the BLACKHEARTS and Ramones...
A: That's not a coincidence, because it was the Ramones record that I was mentoring. So it's all traced to the same insanity (Laughing)!
Q: That's what I was trying to get at. What's the connection between the pop rock/bubblegum Top 40 hits from the 60's & 70's, and Punk rock? (Some of us grew up on both.)
A: I don't know exactly what the connection is but I can tell you it's really strong! The world that loved Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (60's/70's classic rock), did not like "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" (1910 Fruitgum Co.). They HATED bubblegum music! We were hated by FM radio in America. But over in England around '73, the people over there were intrigued with our pop sensibility, and they did not look down on us. When Punk started happening around '75, and I was part of that scene in England, they LOVED this Bubblegum music! It blew my mind! So then all of a sudden I could work, because they (the Punks) would much rather be with the guy who played on "Yummy, Yummy..." rather than the guy who played on "Suite; Judy Blues Eyes." My feeling was the simplicity - most of our stuff was three chords. They had very direct meanings. The words spoke simply, and directly, which is the basis of rock & roll. Chuck Berry was simple. I'm not saying it was easy, because that's the hardest thing. For us to write another "I Hate Myself For Loving You" or "I Love Rock And Roll" is extremely challenging! But the clearness of the message - our stuff was direct - like punk is pretty direct. It was also the unpretentiousness, maybe? The punk bands in England, they love that music!
Q: What does the 'punk ethic' mean to you?
A: Unpretentious; socially conscious. Some of the punks are worried about abuse against women, PETA, some about getting a right-wing President without a lot of moxie out of the White House, and some are worried about all of the above! The punk ethic is to share the money, not to steal more than your share (laughing), although I think that's a lot of bullshit because a lot of people steal. It's to not be greedy - that's very important. And the rest of it is fashion. Fashion based on JOAN JETT, 1978! (laughing)
Q: We covered the Warped Tour this past Summer, and there was a lot of talk about politics, and Punkvoter.com. What's your feeling, does Punk belong in politics?
A: We'll, there's conservative punk too. I think no - nobody belongs in politics - but I think right now, things are so serious that we all have to overlook our views. Like Joan and Bruce Springsteen, who are together on a lot of things (they both resisted commercials, during times when they could have made millions), but like Springsteen, Joan and I have reached a point where we feel this is the time, and I think it's the same thing with the punk voters. If this was normal times, and we had decent people on both sides (Kenny had worked for the three Kennedy brothers in the 60's), I would say no, we shouldn't be out there. But now I feel, another four years of what I see going on - we're decimating our wildlife preserves, and running deficits... another four years of this would be detrimental to our country.
Q: I've heard you're a Howard Dean supporter?
A: We love him! He became very powerful through the street. We were at a private party of his supporters, and there was bunch of young collage kids screaming, "DEAN! DEAN! DEAN!. It was like a rock show, and he was goofing around, and if they let that thing (Dean yelling out the state names that they were going to campaign in) run another eight seconds you would've seen he was laughing and goofing. We were just having a good time. They turned that into a thing to ruin his candidacy. It was totally appropriate in the context that it was said. I still think Howard Dean is a wonderful influence, and he's still out there. He's working for Kerry as well, and he's going to do a lot of good things for this country. I think maybe we'll see Howard Dean run for president again. He's certainly going to be an important guy because he speaks English (down to earth), better than any of them (the other candidates). Except for Clinton (laughing)!
Q: At John Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention he walked out on stage with Springsteen's "No Surrender" blasting out of the speakers. How do you feel about an artist's music supporting politics like that?
A: Personally, because of my personal taste - I know I'm not right but, I find it really annoying to see my presidential candidate rolling around to rock & roll music. I know that's weird but, I loved it when rock & roll was just too 'out there' for main stream politicians to use in their campaign.
Q: That's a good point, it makes a lot of sense. It's like Springsteen said at Little Steven's Underground Garage Festival, "Rock & roll is not from the United States or England," he said, referring to an earlier argument two co-hosts had over which country had produced more great bands. He then yelled, "Rock 'n roll is from Mars!!"
Thanks Kenny, you were interesting and a lot of fun to talk to! I'm looking forward to the new BLACKHEARTS & Eyeliners CD's.
|
| |
This Week:
No shows scheduled this week.
Click on the LIVE DATES link for upcoming shows |
Item Of The Month:
|
