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Jett Fuel: An interview with JOAN JETT's long-time producer
from: themonitor.com
by Zack Quaintance
JOAN JETT shows no fear voicing her opinions in her music.
She loves rock and roll. She doesn't give a damn about her reputation. But she hasn't given many interviews, and she still chooses to shy away from the media.
Behind this rock legend, you'll find some real musical muscle.
Meet KENNY LAGUNA. His name might not be on the cover or in lights, but chances are you've heard his work. Often.
This fast-talking, straight shooter with a thick New Yawk accent is not afraid to talk on any subject. He's produced every JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS album, and he's played with the band since its birth in the early 80s.
And he'll tell you things JOAN JETT won't.
He'll talk about being the first civilians to entertain the troops in Afghanistan. He and Joan have played for the troops many times. They've visited them for extended stays, sleeping where the troops sleep rather than nearby hotels. But Joan won't say any of that. She prefers to do things quietly.
A You Tube search pulls up two pages of music videos. After all that, you'll find a single interview with Jett, and there's a reason for that.
"So far we still haven't worked it out to wake up early in the morning and watch all those crazy people with their signs on the NBC Today Show," Laguna said in a cell phone interview while driving through a storm in New Jersey. "That's not really a rock and roll thing, but you want to sell a lot of records, go far, do that. I'm not saying we're never going to do that. People say to us 'you and Joan are nuts, you don't do nothing.'"
True, they don't do much publicity. But they do keep playing music as they have for three decades.
And Laguna says that hasn't changed since they started together in 1980, and it won't change. Jett jumped on board a nationwide tour alongside Def Leppard which hits Hidalgo on Wednesday.
Ask Laguna and he'll also tell you what he thinks of current musical trends.
Pop punkers like Good Charlotte, Avril Lavigne and Fall Out Boy don't meet his definition of punk.
"What Joan and some of her contemporaries feels is punk music, is not what Entertainment Tonight says is punk music," Laguna said. "Part of the punk thing is you at least got to control your own music, your own record. If your record is being made by A and R men at record companies that sort of eliminates you from being really punk. If you've got a song writer who's writing for Brittney Spears one day and then is trying to do a pop punk song the next day, is that truly punk? I don't think so."
A lot of newer pop punk bands might make punk style music, but you can't call it really punk, he says. "Some bands are like the Partridge Family with a punk outfit," he said.
Laguna himself is no stranger to pop music. In his long-spanning career he has pop hits like "Yummy Yummy."
But he says the difference is awareness. When he made "Yummy Yummy," he knew what it was - a song to put money in the bank and food in his tummy. He also produced the pop song "I Want Candy." But for every one of those there's work he has done with The Ramones, The Who Organization and other legends of classic rock.
Finally, ask him about JOAN JETT and the Blackheart's consistent low profile. And he'll tell you how they've modeled their public behavior off legendary crooner Frank Sinatra.
"We try to think more like Sinatra and less like these sloppy drunk people if you can fill in the blanks," Laguna said. "Look how Sinatra handled himself, and then look at some of these sloppy drunk people that are handling themselves today and that's what they do with their celebrity. Sinatra - classy guy. Even Elvis [Pressley], we didn't know Elvis was a sloppy drunk."
Laguna will talk about all these things. But once the show starts, he's just like Joan. He's up on stage with the BLACKHEARTS, letting the music do the talking.
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