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Rad reputation
Thirty years after her debut with the RUNAWAYS, renegade rocker JOAN JETT rules the roost at this summer’s Vans Warped tour
from: montrealmirror.com
by Chris Barry
In a rock ’n’ roll landscape dominated largely by phonies and bullshit, you’ve got to give props to JOAN JETT for consistently keeping it real. Sure, she’s had her creative ups and downs over the years, as with any artist who’s managed to survive some three-odd decades in the biz, but the bottom line is that with Jett, truly, what you see is what you get.
Having rubbed shoulders with the woman many, many times over the course of our lives, I can tell you with absolute certainty that what you get with Jett is a chick whose passion for rock ’n’ roll is, seriously, probably unprecedented. Not to mention she’s a way underrated rhythm guitar player. Rest assured, when Jett gets up to sing her 1982 mega-hit "I Love Rock ’n’ Roll" for the sixth millionth time in her life, she means every line of it—still!
Her latest record with her band the BLACKHEARTS, SINNER, has been garnering rave reviews, and hey, if there’s any justice in the world—which of course, we all know there isn’t—might even saddle our proudly androgynous miss with yet another hit single by way of the old Sweet song, "ACDC."
The Mirror caught up with Jett, who’s been spending her summer "rockin’ out" on the Warped tour (which hits Montreal next week), over the phone.
Mirror: It’s been a while since your last record. How long were you working on SINNER?
JOAN JETT: It was a long process. It’s been, like, 10 years since our last new CD. But we’re having a good time. [The release] coincided with the start of the Warped tour, so I’ve kind of been in this Warped tour bus bubble since it came out. But it’s doing well on college radio and I think the video’s getting some decent play. We’re just trying to build it up. We’ll be doing a headlining tour in the fall and out supporting it all year. People are responding really well to it. They like the songs, think it’s quality, and I’m really proud of it too. I think it’s just what people would expect from me.
M: I get the impression people really want to like it, that they want to get behind you.
JJ: Well, that’s great. I don’t know if it’s just the underdog aspect or the fact they’re somewhat aware that I didn’t just sort of retire for a while. I’m out there touring every year, regardless of whether we have a new CD or not. I’ve never really taken any time off my whole life.
M: You don’t ever tire of it, do you? You always seem to have the same enthusiasm—it’s really quite remarkable.
JJ: It’s easy to get enthusiastic about.
Beating on Bush
M: Does it feel like a new audience for you on this Warped tour, or do most of the kids already know you?
JJ: It’s definitely a combination. There’s plenty of people out there who’ve been fans for awhile, and then you see the kids who look like newer fans. People are buying the new CD too, and singing along to not just the single, but to "Riddles" and a song called "Change the World." But I’m sure there’s plenty of kids who don’t know anything about me, or might only know I did "I Love Rock ’n’ Roll." But they’re curious, and hopefully, by the end of the show, they become at least some level of fan. Some like it more than others, I suppose. But the audiences have been treating us really enthusiastically.
M: Speaking of "Riddles," this is the first time you’ve written anything political, right?
JJ: Definitely. My first protest song. I’ve been wanting to write about this stuff for years but was sort of having writer’s block in general, and when you broach these subjects, you really don’t want to be preachy or corny, so that surely held me back. I didn’t really know how to approach it, and maybe there wasn’t anything necessarily in the world that was bugging me to the degree that I felt it was time to write. But every line in the song applies to something going on in our country. Whether you’re talking about the economy, or lack of jobs, or tax cuts for the wealthy, the environment, Hurricane Katrina or the war, I mean it just goes on and on. I’m just saying, "People, it’s our government, we should make them speak directly to us." As a citizen, it’s frustrating, you know, wondering why it doesn’t fire other people up as much.
Edgy about Edgeplay
M: Why did you choose not to participate in Edgeplay [former Runaway Vicki Blue’s documentary film about her and Joan’s iconic ’70s teenage girl group the RUNAWAYS]?
JJ: To me, the RUNAWAYS is my baby, so you have to understand my perspective. If there’s gonna be a RUNAWAYS movie, it should be about what we accomplished, the tours we did, the bands we played with, the people we inspired. I’m not gonna participate in a Jerry Springer fest, bottom line. With any band, you’re gonna have interpersonal conflicts, but if that’s what they thought the RUNAWAYS were about—about breaking a bass or putting on make-up—well, it’s very disappointing. Very, very disappointing. I wanted nothing to do with it because that’s not the band I was in. [The film] was a totally different take on what went down.
M: Back when you were a 16-year-old chick in L.A., playing rock ’n’ roll, did you ever imagine you might still be doing it as a grand old dame of 47?
JJ: Well, I didn’t project the year, but I definitely thought I’d be doing it, you know, in that naïve teenage way where you think you can do anything.
The power of pussy
M: It’s sort of become respectable these days for old guys to keep playing rock ’n’ roll long after they’ve been admitted to the geriatric ward. Do you think it’s the same deal with respect to women?
JJ: No, I’m sure it’s not. I mean, I take a lot of shit because it’s very ageist. In any article I’ve seen on me this summer, they always list my age after my name. But, like, Mike Ness—he’s my age or maybe a little older—or any of my male contemporaries, they never list their ages after their names. It’s only with the women, always about their desirability and all that shit. It’s really annoying.
M: Why do you think that is? Do you have any theories?
JJ: It’s all about the pussy. Pussy rules. Pussy rules if you love women, it rules if you hate women. It rules, it’s just constantly in the mind of everyone. Whether it’s women who want to feel desirable or feel a lack of desire because they’re getting old, or they think it means they can’t be desirable because they’ve hit a certain number—I just don’t think about it, you know? I just go out and rock, and don’t think about it. But yeah, it can piss me off, piss me off greatly. I guess I’m lucky because I still look okay, so people aren’t really hassling me about being too old yet, but—
M: Yeah, it’s true, Jett, how d’ya stay so svelte? Is it from constantly gigging? Or an exercise routine or something?
JJ: Ha, it’s probably clean living, really. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke—I pretty much stopped drinking after the RUNAWAYS—and I try to stay out of the sun, three things that can really kick the shit out of your skin and make you look years older. That’s just a fact. That, and I’m a vegetarian and have been for upwards of 15 years. (laughs) Maybe it’s good genes.
With NOFX, Billy Talent, Rise Against, Anti-Flag, Gogol Bordello and many more at the Vans Warped Tour at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Sunday, August 13, $43, all ages
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