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Rock never forgets, but it can forgive
Star buried hatchet with ex-bandmate for movie The RUNAWAYS
from: thestar.com
by Peter Howell
Rock 'n' roll may never die, but it sure can hold grudges.
It felt that way sometimes for rocker JOAN JETT over the past 31 years, as she struggled to come to grips with the legacy of the RUNAWAYS, the all-girl Los Angeles rock band she helped create in 1975. The teen group lasted just four years, long enough for a legacy that has influenced everyone from the Bangles to Bikini Kill. But the hard feelings over its explosive and untimely demise took decades to soften.
"The RUNAWAYS meant a lot to me and (the break-up) was devastating," says raven-haired Jett, 51, her smoky voice on the line from New York sounding tinged with regret.
"Cherie and I didn't really talk for years. It was really about not knowing how to connect and I was probably still hurt and upset. But really, when I think back on it, the universe takes care of you. It ends the way it should. We couldn't all be 20 years old and be RUNAWAYS. The universe just took care of it."
A big reason for Jett's mellower attitude is The RUNAWAYS, a film opening Friday. It tells the story of the band's creation and the circumstances behind lead singer Cherie Currie's tumultous 1977 departure, some 18 months before guitarist Jett and drummer Sandy West, the other co-founder, reluctantly drove a stake through the group's heart.
Jett went on to much greater acclaim with her new band, JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, which is still very much a going concern.
Toronto multimedia artist Floria Sigismondi directed The RUNAWAYS, making her feature film debut, and the project had the happy result of bringing together Jett and Currie, as they schooled actors Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning in how to play them in the movie. All four women were sharing smiles and hugs onstage with Sigismondi at the world premiere January at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
It's literally a good thing that Jett and Currie buried the hatchet, because Currie has since become quite proficient with dangerous tools. She's now an ace chainsaw sculptor, using her whirring blade to make astonishingly detailed wooden objets d'art.
"I don't know how all the girls feel (in the RUNAWAYS), but I think Cherie has been fine at getting back into the groove," Jett said.
"We had some distance there for a few years, but I would much rather be on a good note than a bad note. It was such a great experience, the RUNAWAYS. I think we experienced something together that was so unique and so important. I wish them nothing but the best and I love them all dearly. I wish Sandy West was still here to see all this. She passed away a couple of years ago of lung cancer. It's really sad."
The movie is not by a long shot the JOAN JETT story, arguably the more interesting tale. Jett dusted herself off after the RUNAWAYS imploded and made a huge impact with the BLACKHEARTS and "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," their 1982 hit single. Jett still tours Ð she may come to Toronto this summer Ð and she's one of the few female guitarists to be ranked alongside the male gods of rock.
As the film's executive producer, Jett could have demanded that more of her story be told. But she's quite content to have Currie more in the frame. "Really, I think the movie was kind of mislabelled initially as a biopic, which to me is more like a documentary or following the band ... and then the dissolution, or whatever.
"That to me is not what this story is. It's much more of a coming-of-age story. I think the part about the RUNAWAYS is the atmosphere, the environment that we were in. But it certainly shows the band and shows what we went through. It gives you a sense of it, for sure."
Jett was astonished by how quickly and diligently Stewart and Fanning took to their rock alter egos of Jett and Currie. "You can't force these kinds of things. It helped that Dakota and Kristen genuinely like each other. They're both pros; they both did their research on their own. Dakota studied Cherie and videos of her, and I spent as much time as I could with Kristen. We did everything from playing guitar to talking about old stories and mannerisms, how I would do something. You've really got to hand it to them, because they took it really seriously on getting it right."
How weird is it, though, watching other people play you on film? "It's surreal," Jett said. "It's been a very pleasurable experience."
There's been no serious talk of a RUNAWAYS reunion to help promote the film, although Currie has gone onstage a few times with Jett to sing "Cherry Bomb," the group's signature tune. What if they stole an idea from Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, who teamed in the '90s for a well-received tour as a duo? A Jett-Currie show could have Jett on guitar while Currie did her chainsaw art thing onstage.
"I don't know, man," Jett said, laughing at the idea. "I'd have to wear goggles!"
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