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JOAN JETT at Warped speed
from: presstelegram.com
by Paul Andersen
SHE WAS a Runaway at 15, so it should come as no surprise that JOAN JETT recently ran off to join the circus for the summer.
"It was really a convergence of opportunities, all coinciding at the right time," she said over the phone from her New York City home. "The new CD will have just come out, it is the 25th anniversary of BLACKHEART RECORDS, our little indie label, and though I'd never thought about doing it before, I've been extremely aware of the Warped Tour since its inception.
"So when Kevin (Lyman, the tour's founder) approached me with the idea of doing some Warped Tour dates this summer, I got very excited. I've never been with a traveling circus before."
She ended up signing on for the entire two-month trek, a grueling affair that lurches hither and yon across the country like a drunken hiker. After today's show at the Fairplex in Pomona, it travels up to San Francisco and Fresno before heading back south to Ventura and Los Angeles, only to turn around again to finish out the California leg of the tour in Sacramento next Thursday.
"The Eyeliners have done it the last couple of summers," she said, referring to the young pop/punk band from Albuquerque that records for Blackheart, "and they had a good time. So we're looking forward to it. There are a lot of bands that I've heard of, but never had the chance to hear play.
It will also be an opportunity for younger music fans to see a rock legend. A Philadelphia native, Joan Larkin first picked up a guitar at 13 and taught herself rhythm guitar by playing along with T. Rex and Chuck Berry records.
In 1975, at age 17, having moved with her family to Southern California, she was JOAN JETT, a founding member of the RUNAWAYS, an all-female quintet who combined English pop, heavy metal, teenage angst and DIY tenaciousness. They were signed by Mercury Records and toured all over the world. By the time they broke up on New Year's Eve, 1979, they had helped lay the foundation for a generation of riot grrls to follow in their path.
Jett embarked on a solo career while also producing other acts, like seminal Los Angeles punkers the Germs (who also play Warped in Pomona). Soon, having formed her own band, the BLACKHEARTS, she began knocking on record company doors with their first album in hand. After being rejected by 28 labels, she and KENNY LAGUNA, her producer/manager, decided to form their own company to put it out.
Named after her band, BLACKHEART RECORDS is still going strong a quarter of a century later, with a catalog that includes nine Top 40 hit singles and eight platinum and gold albums; among those is one of the most enduring rock anthems of all time, "I Love Rock 'N Roll," her cover version of a 1975 English pop-rock hit that she took to the top of the charts in 1982.
She has also appeared on Broadway and in a number of movies, not surprising since acting was her initial career goal.
Her new new album, "SINNER," is a collection of songs that bristle with energy and her signature knack for hooks. Jett and Laguna also plan on re-mastering and re-releasing the entire BLACKHEARTS catalog this year. And she still gets excited whenever she hears her music playing on the radio or in the mall.
"It feels great," she said simply. "Wherever you hear your music, you recognize the blessing you've been given. I never get tired of it, and I still love to see the response we get from people when they connect with those songs, when you take them back to whatever memories they have.
"It's really so much bigger than you, and when you make those connections, it is like you're floating above it all."
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