|
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.
Inspired by Music
from: jupiterindex.com
by Matthew Donovan
Since his start in the music industry during the 1960s, KENNY LAGUNA has made a name for himself as a performer, songwriter and producer. Beginning as a performer with bands like WMCA Good Guys, then moving into producing, his varied career has ranged from bubblegum pop to New Wave. He has worked with artists as diverse as Tony Orlando and Bow Wow Wow, and Laguna was also instrumental in starting the career of JOAN JETT. He has produced all of Jett's albums, leading to major hits such as "Bad Reputation," "I Love Rock and Roll," and "Do You Wanna Touch Me." Along with these musical projects, Laguna has helped run BLACKHEART RECORDS, a label started for JOAN JETT releases, which has also put out records by the likes of the Eyeliners and Metal Church.
Recently, Laguna produced the new JOAN JETT album SINNER, and is currently touring as a keyboardist with JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS in support of the album. In a lengthy phone interview, Laguna talked about his long and varied career as well as upcoming projects.
Matthew Donovan: First question, what drew you to music and how did you get your start in the music business?
KENNY LAGUNA: Well I'm from an artsy family. Downtown Greenwich Village was were I was born. I spent the early part of my life there; it's where my parents lived. My grandfather was an architect, my father was an architect, and my mother is an oil painter of some renown. I also had an aunt, Lucy Brown. It was kind of expected that I wasn't supposed to be something like an accountant; I should be a struggling artist.
Lucy Brown was a famous piano player, she played classical music. When I was a kid she played Carnegie Hall and we'd go there. Aunt Lucy would decide which kids in the family were worth spending for music lessons. I passed the test, my brother didn't. He became a track star, but that's pretty useless later on in life.
I started learning to play classical piano. Then I discovered Elvis Presley movies and it changed my whole perspective. I started trying to play rock and roll, which upset my family "You want to use my piano as a drum, we'll get you a drum, trade the piano for a drum".
Eventually I knew all the songs and at twelve I started playing professionally. I was in New York, with a lot of opportunities, especially because I would work for any price. I was going for twenty bucks a day. I was doing high school hops for WMCA Good Guys, with Jack Spector
I started meeting acts, when the Shangri Las had their hit "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" I was playing with them. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but there was a picture of me doing that, in the early Sixties. I played behind Tony Orlando when he had his first big song and later on I hooked up with him and he had his first hit record, which is on my collection, Laguna Tunes, his first real Top Twenty.
At 15 or so, I started working in the city. I was signed to this company United Artists, they bought Kama Sutra's publishing. Kama Sutra was a label with The Lovin' Spoonful, The Critters, The Shangri Las was their production although it wasn't on the label. And I found out these guys had bought the publishing rights. I went over to Kama Sutra, to talk about The Critters; they had a few hit records. So I went over there and they went nuts over my stuff. They thought I could be lead singer of the Critters. One thing led to another. I was pretty much a slave for them. I would do anything, splice tape and put their library together.
I started graduating a little bit. During that time, the Lovin' Spoonful, one of the most underrated bands in history, they got busted in California, and before the morning, when the mob would have got them out of jail, Zal Yanovsky, the guitar player who passed away a few years ago, he panicked, and ratted out all these drug dealers plus all these FM stations. So now the Lovin' Spoonful became useless. They got dropped from all the stations that were playing their one hit. The Lovin' Spoonful became a non functional act on FM radio which was where everybody had to live at the time except us.
They started Buddah Records to avoid what had just happened at Kama Sutra, because Kama Sutra's got this big stain on it, being part of the guys who ratted out, and so now they start Buddah Records
There were other reasons to start Buddah. It had to do with money because at Kama Sutra they took money from MGM and from the "Boys" as it were. They started a new label. They got rid of MGM, but the Boys came with them.
I played on The Lemon Pipers. That was their first number one and then Simon Says. We had "Yummy Yummy" and "Chewy Chewy" And then we started playing for other labels, like The Archies, and I played on Shadows of Knight It was like 35-40 hits in a short period of time. Then bubblegum died and it died quickly, in like a week.
I didn't want to be bubblegum, because everyone thought it was really shitty. But I was counting on those hits, like "Mony Mony" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion," "Get Out Now." But I still loved Tommy James.
I went to California, banged around for a while and I ended up loading boxes. So now, I have no career left, and thinking that's about it, I'm on the loading dock, the only guy who could speak English except for the foreman. The other guy told me "No radios" and I just figure that's about it for me. Suddenly I get this communication, my friend Peter Anderson, who's a brilliant songwriter and singer; he had a lot of hits. He wrote some Ronettes hits and he sand "New York's a Lonely Town."
We get contacted by Peter Meaden, The Who's first manager and producer. He had sold The Who for 500 pounds, he was a little depressed. We were given an opportunity for Motown over there and we were over in England. Gradually I got adopted by The Who and to make a short story long, I start having hits. I made some hits for the Steve Gibbons Band, one called "Tulane."
Then punk music started. What FM America hated, they loved. I had a brand new career. I came over to England All our friends in the bubblegum world that had just given up because no one liked bubblegum All of a sudden I'm in England with the punk rock thing happening and everybody loves my shit.
I start making these singles for these New Wave bands. I had like twelve hits in a row. I'm hot in England. But in England, you have a hit record, you sell 26,000 singles, you don't really get rich on that especially what the producer makes. But still, fantastic.
At the time, The Who had a publicist, not for them but for Steve Gibbons, who managed Blondie and the RUNAWAYS. He told me "You have to produce the RUNAWAYS" and I kind of ignored it.
One day, it turned out it was going to be their last album. The guy said "Why don't you come on out and interview. If the girls like you, you can produce their record"
I'm always desperate for a job. I'm not in a band anymore, I'm just a producer. I join a band for three months then I say goodbye. It was kind of like a good, free, life. I didn't get complicated, like kind of a soap opera. I was intrigued. I was going over to Amsterdam to interview them I thought these four or five wild girls, like, wow. This could be like different, and fun, and a party maybe. It wasn't like I was very focused I liked a party but you'd hear these stories
I hit to the lobby, and there's my friend Matthew Kaufman from Beserkley Records there. He says, "Where are you going? Let me drive you." He's got this big limo because he's starting to get hot. Driving to the airport, he says "Why would you go do the RUNAWAYS? They lost their best person." Cherie Currie he was talking about. Obviously never met JOAN JETT.
So I'm on my way to the airport, he said "Listen, You want to go to Amsterdam? What if they say no? You come with me. I'll let you produce Greg Kihn, Jonathan Richman, Earth Quake. You'll work five hours a day. I'll put you in a health spa in California, You can work out, work five hours a day and smoke pot. What would you do? So I went to California. So now I'm working with this guy. I get a call about the RUNAWAYS and chaos is happening. They want me to come in and finish the album. It just sounded too crazy for me and it was indeed. They were partying with John Alcott, the producer and they kind of ostracized Joan, but I don't really realize this. Luckily I didn't go there for that soap opera. I went on with my day.
I worked on some albums for Beserkley Records, some of them were pretty successful. I went back to England where I was working in the Who studio, Ramport. Whatever downtime there was, I would take. If I had a few days with nothing going on I would sit there and make records, Share any receipts with The Who and their organization and it was kind of a cool thing.
I get a call that the RUNAWAYS have completely broken up but they have a contract and they are going to get sued if they don't write eight songs in six days and record them And they said "You're the only guy I know who can do that" because unlike Joan, I don't really need to experience something to write a song about it. I can watch a TV show, I can read an article, just come up with something in my head, you know?
I was not going to do it, but my wife, who means everything, she said. "You should go there and meet Joan, she sounds like she might be significant". So I went out to California, I met Joan. I completely fell in love with this little teenage girl who was totally in the dumps because her band had broken up, her dream had gone. She had been frozen out of her own band and these geniuses, including producer John Alcott, and Sandy, and whoever the bass player was at the time, they wouldn't record Joan's idea. That had to be "I Love Rock and Roll." Who knows where rock history would be today if the RUNAWAYS had recorded the song?
Fate did me a big, big favor. I started working with Joan and I did these eight songs in six days. I said "Let me help you get a record deal," never dreaming I would get involved in managing anybody, because I was my own unmanageable entity to begin with.
But I was always interested in the business because I figured someday I might get paid. You never get paid much because records companies rip you off. That's the truth of it. I loved these guys I worked for in the Sixties, and I knew I was an indentured servant, and that was fair enough. But as I got older I started to want to get paid. But going to the major labels, like RCA, I have a song "I Want Candy" that I produced for Bow Wow Wow. They never paid me! I had to sue them. You know what I did for them? I brought them the song, I taught the band the song, and I arranged it. It wasn't like I just showed up and didn't deserve as much. I gave them their biggest song and they never paid me!
Let me get back to this. So I'm working with Joan, I'm going to get her a record deal, but nobody wants to sign her. They are telling me that she's a punk rocker, which means she's a Nazi. They said they didn't want a girl playing electric guitar like that, she should get out from behind the guitar and be a singer like Pat Benatar. There was a bizarre resistance. I just got so emotionally involved.
Eventually Joan came to New York. She was going to work with Leber-Krebs, the monster management organization. She moved here, but they said they weren't going to sign her I said "wait a minute, I have this teenager living in my house now, you were going to give her a salary. What am I going to do?" They said "We'll guide you." Krebs didn't want her. Now we're best friends with them but they screwed me on that one. Thank God they did!
I had a brand new baby, Carrie Ann, who now runs BLACKHEART RECORDS. And I'm so scared because now I have two kids in the house, JOAN JETT and Carrie Ann, and I don't know what I'm going to do.
So we started gigging, first 500 a night, and then 700 a night. Suddenly they are closing highways ten miles away from where we are, every time Joan plays, and we still can't get a record deal! So finally we just started printing up the records. I used to pack the back of the car with Joan's guitar and all these albums called JOAN JETT which later became the Bad Reputation album, and we got it going, and we still have it going! We have our own label! So that's pretty much how I got started with Joan. I did the whole thing, 1966 to 1980!
You perform and you produce music, which do you find more satisfying, producing or performing?
Singing lead. That's the best gig in the business. I like to go up there with a keyboard or guitar. That's the best, and I had a couple of moments here and there, obviously not like the Joan thing. That's number one. After that, I love background singing. I can do a standout singing, in a second if I can figure out a way to make it work. Singing background. I love inventing background parts and I managed to do it with Joan, who, except for gang vocals, wasn't really a background person. We melded our two different points of view and we have a lot of stuff with JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, where you can here sometimes when it's rooted in Dion and the Belmonts, or the Beach Boys. If Joan knew we had that, she'd freak out! One record when we had the Beach Boys on there, she thought I'd lost my mind. I had to beg. I've waited all my life for this, to have the Beach Boys on my fucking record, you can't take this moment away from me!
How do you feel your music writing has changed from the Sixties, to working with punk and New Wave bands?
For one thing, what I was taught in the Sixties, it was really rooted in Rogers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jimmy Van Heusen who wrote for Sinatra, and those kinds of things. They set the standard. I wasn't there at the beginning of rock and roll, that was the Fifties, but that was still the influence. Everyone in rock and roll, no matter how good they were, they always thought the guys doing Broadway shows were better, and so there were rules. Like if you had a rhyme in the first verse you had to have the same line in the second verse. Everything was a special form or Sinatra wouldn't record the song. You can't get Dean Martin, or Al Martino, or one of these guys, they won't record this song if there's a bastard line. As I wrote later it became free form, a little bit more free form. Everything doesn't have to be like, you have two verses second verse has to add a dimension of lyrical content, and you can't just repeat it with different words. Now the punk bands, they could do whatever, just go "Waaaaahhhh!!!!" That changed a little bit.
Ever since, I bring that to all the bands I work with. I bring that Tin Pan Alley, New York City thing. I've also been trained on how to do bastard lines and try to get bands to have to be really amazing to get away with it. But those guys, they wouldn't give you any money for it if you were a publisher. In those days if the song wasn't what they wanted you wouldn't get any money for it. You'd be so sure it was a hit record but they didn't care, they wanted it completed properly so it could be a standard. That was always the thing, to try and get a standard, like "Stardust." You know, some of the raw, emotional punk rock, is a whole other thing, songs that don't rhyme at all sometimes.
When you're writing songs, do you keep a specific artist or style in mind, or do you just write the song based on an idea you have?
I think over the last ten years, I just let it come to me. A lot of the songs I do are while I'm driving my car. I'm imagining the chords and then I get to an instrument and trying to figure out what I wrote. Then other time's I'm writing with Joan. Joan's very good at coming up with titles, like "I Hate Myself." She comes up with titles and guitar riffs. So with Joan a lot of times there's that element and I have to add to it. So that's the story with that.
From which artists do you take inspiration and what is it about their music you enjoy?
My all time favorites would probably be, Elvis, Dion, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Beach Boys, those five, going back. And the next generation of rockers, I liked the Ramones, who were good friends of mine. Those were people who influenced me later. I think Dion, Elvis records, Beach Boys, that's where I am coming from. The Kinks, also, that's another great one. And because I have so much time with the bubblegum music, I think that ran into the punk style. Somehow it just works together, unpretentious, a lot of it.
What creative projects are you going to be doing with BLACKHEART RECORDS?
Yeah lots, first of all we're doing a movie. We're doing it with these guys called the Linson's. They are Art Linson and John Linson, and they've done Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Fight Club, Swingers, Dogtown, they make a lot of hits. We're doing a film that will be a period piece based on a segment of Joan's life, during the early days of punk, the LA scene, and further. So that's one project I'm very excited about, it's going to be amazing. There aren't that many rock movies that teach you shit, but we're going to get one. I think we've got a chance, with a good concept.
We're signing great bands for the label. We're going to try to break the Vacancies and breaking a band without a gazillion dollars is always a challenge. The Vacancies are on our label, and Joan and I produced their album, a great punk band. We're signing a band called the Dollyrots. They have a new album that's incredible and we're also doing - There's a band called Throw Rag, and Charley Horse is a spin-off of them, they have the same singer. We're going to do something with Charley Horse on our label. We have a lot of bands that we're looking at, like five, and I've looked at least three of them. There's a group from overseas, a girl we met on the Warped Tour. She's a Lebanese girl. She grew up Lebanese but she's also grown up in England, so she has the English thing going on but she also has a unique ancestry, so she's fantastic.
You're on tour right now, do you guys enjoy touring and any interesting tour stories you'd like to share?
Well, the West Coast was amazing. I think we had a bus all through the Warped Tour, so that was like three months. And then we took off, like a month, then we started this tour, and I do love it, I love what I do and I know every day that I'm so lucky. We're tired right now, but this is like easy living compared to most people. It sure beats being in the Army, over in that hell hole. I love it and there are certain parts of every show that I love every night. Like, I had 'Crimson and Clover" with Tommy James and I have "Crimson and Clover" with Joan, so I'm so excited with that every time, every night. Every time I go to sing those "ba da das". I've been singing those "ba da das' since I was a teenager. Can you imagine? I see God when I do it, I really see God every night when we hit the "ba da das", and at the end -"Crimson and Clover/ Over and over". I still get excited like the first time I heard it.
What song or album that you produced are you the proudest of and why?
Bad Reputation by JOAN JETT. Right now, SINNER, the new record, I think it's a very consistent record which is really hard to do. I'll have to listen to it in a few years, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to like this one.
I know Joan and I went back and heard Up Your Alley, which was one of our big ones, it was actually double platinum. We weren't as impressed with the record as we thought we were. We just didn't think it was so consistent. There's like three songs we like. Well, Joan likes three. I like "Little Liar," "You Want In I Want Out," "I Hate Myself For Loving You," and "Tulane." The bulk of album wasn't as great as I thought, at least in my opinion. I know all our fans think I'm nuts because sometimes I interact with them and say I like Bad Reputation more than Up Your Alley and a lot of fans like Up Your Alley. It's a period piece you know??
You look back on that and you're not as happy with it. Are there any other records you produced that you wish you'd done something different on?
I did an album for Andy Warhol, Lonesome Cowboys, for his movie Lonesome Cowboys, that's amazing. I just wish we could have ... The company that had the soundtrack went out of business and they used the songs for the movie, but after that, who knows? I did some records with Bill Medley, a song called "Making My Way." These are all on Laguna Tunes. I wish it would've stayed in print, I'd put it out. There's a song called "Lord," by Spencer Barefoot. It's a really cool song about a bad guy, a cowboy, who stole some gold and the sheriff shot him and he's just trying to get home to his girlfriend before he dies, that's a really cool one. The record I did with Darlene Love, Make a Change to Something Better.
"Tulane," with the Steve Gibbons band. The album I did with Steve Gibbons band was incredible. I did one of the albums on Pete Townsend's estate, on the studio he had on his estate. You can imagine how that would get your rocks off, with inspiration! That was a great album, in every detail. We got to stay as long as we wanted. The Who were playing stadiums they didn't care what I did, so we stayed for a whole summer, at one of Townshend's estates He had like five estates at that time, I don't know what his situation is like now. You can imagine I'm on the River Thames, and up at Oxford. That was an inspired record, I was working my ass off on that!
That Bow Wow Wow shit I did was good. I didn't do the whole album I did five songs. "Louis Quatorze," "Cowboy," "Mile High Club," and "I Want Candy." They had another hit, "Baby, Oh No". I never liked that, that much
Who would be your dream artist to produce, if you could pick anyone, at anytime?
Dion, Dean Martin, who I should have approached when I had "I Love Rock and Roll." It's too late for Dean, but that would have been one. Roger Daltrey, I'd say those three.
Are there any new artists you enjoy listening to, bands who are coming out now?
Who's coming out right now? We listen to a lot of things; I never know what's just coming out. Green Day's just coming out again. White Stripes is probably not new. Against Me! The Bouncing Souls, not brand new, but these bands are newer anyway. I've been aware of NoFX for a few years, but I love them. When you've been around as long as we have, they are like a new band. That's a pretty good mix right? Wait until you hear the Dollyrots though, that stuff's incredible.
|
| |
This Week:
No shows scheduled this week.
Click on the LIVE DATES link for upcoming shows |
Item Of The Month:
|
