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JOAN JETT
from: mixdownmag.com.au
by Melanie Lewis
When JOAN JETT's band The RUNAWAYS expired in 1979, Joan had, in the previous four years, headlined shows with Van Halen and Tom Petty supporting, written the classic hit Cherry Bomb, and toured worldwide, imbibing bulk narcotics en route. When The RUNAWAYS disbanded in 1979, JOAN JETT was 19 years old.
It'd be enough to send the most seasoned rock dog into hiatus, but Joan had plans and nothing was gonna stop her. That's when she met KENNY LAGUNA -- performer, songwriter, producer -- who remains her best mate and partner-in-Blackheart-crime to this day. Together they kept the motor running.
Laguna himself calls me one morning, explaining in his Sylvester Stallone drawl that the calling company has failed; he's trying to avoid having the "whole day cocked up", and asks if I am happy for him "to put Joanie on the phone." I'm very happy. I ask Joan, woman-to-woman, didn't she -- just for a minute -- doubt she could reach the dizzying heights of golden-days RUNAWAYS?
In the Laguna accent, though softer; less deep, she explains, "Once I met Kenny it was easy to fight together with The BLACKHEARTS. But we still ran into a lot of resistance. I mean, The BLACKHEARTS formed in late '79 and I Love Rock Ôn' Roll was a hit in '82. We spent those first years touring, building our audience and making records. We were very much supported by local New York radio. Those were the days when the disc jockey still chose the music and listened to audience requests. We don't live in that world anymore."
More than twenty labels knocked back I Love Rock Ôn' Roll, prompting Joan and Kenny to start a label, making Joan the first woman ever to own and operate one. Over the past thirty years, I want to know, has she perceived sexism for women in rock dissipating?
"I think the business has changed so much, so I'm happy when I see all-girl bands playing rock Ôn' roll all over America. I'm sure it's the same around the world, certainly in Europe," she muses, explaining that major labels seem to like throwing money at pop and country more, while the indie scene thrives because girls can do everything themselves. "Maybe you could tell me what it's like in Australia -- if there's a lot of girls playing in bands in Australia or if they're gravitating toward the pop scene?"
Our indie scene is strong, I tell Joan, but I'm not sure what the label support is like compared to pop and country. Oz rock has historically been a men's club, with shining lights like Chrissie Amphlett, Suze DeMarchi and Adalita Srsen, but today Australian artists seem supportive of each other, regardless of gender. Still, while rock music seems to attract more boys than girls, I concede, the chicks I know in bands tend to organise a lot and work really fucking hard: it is such hard work.
"It is," Joan says firmly. "People don't think about that: ÔOh yeah, lets form a band, it'll be fun.' But if you're serious about more than just playing in your garage on a Saturday night or at the local bar then you got to go on the road. That is definitely hard work."
At the same time, the road is where Jett's keeping connections with the younger artists she and Kenny work with for their label, BLACKHEARTS Records. Joan reckons: "It's hard to go out [to see bands]; you're working so hard that on the night you are off you're a wreck. So, most of it's personal contact; bands we play with, that we see on the road."
For the past two years, the premier project for Joan has been biopic The RUNAWAYS (starring Kristen Stewart as Jett and Dakota Fanning as lead singer Cherie Currie). "This is an idea Kenny's been trying to get together for years; to get Cherie's book published," Joan spills. "When he couldn't, he thought maybe he could get it made into a TV movie. That didn't work, so he went to MTV. They weren't interested. Eventually Kenny ran into some real moviemakers and I had to make a decision: ÔAm I really going to do this?'"
The early hurdle for Joan was distancing herself from the character played by Stewart. "I had to kinda quit myself because I was an executive producer and yet I was also the artist. So you have to stop yourself from going, ÔWell, it didn't happen exactly like that!' Movies about rock Ôn' roll are notorious for being off base. I didn't want the band to be taken as a joke."
The night I watched The RUNAWAYS, I admit to Joan, I also watched Nowhere Boy -- portraying Lennon's teen years. A scene that really struck me was young John sitting in awe of his first guitar. Did 13-year-old JOAN JETT have a similar feeling when she got her Silvertone?
"Oh yeah," drawls Joan. "I just found a picture of me with the guitar on that Christmas morning. My Silvertone, I wasn't necessarily in awe of it, but it was great to have a guitar. My parents got it for me, and it was electric, so that was pretty radical in the early 70s."
Being the first woman to ever have a Gibson signature guitar made for her was pretty fucking radical, too -- the JOAN JETT Double Cutaway Melody Maker with slab mahogany body and Worn White finish.
"Yes, that's right. The Blackheart is another model of the JOAN JETT signature. I do have others besides them with me on tour, but the Gibsons are the ones I use on stage." And what about her baby? The guitar that never gets taken on the road? "I have two of them; my original white Melody Maker double cutaway that I used in The RUNAWAYS and early BLACKHEARTS, and my blonde Les Paul. And it's blonde!" she says, like a finger in my chest. "Everybody says, ÔOh you got a gold one?' No! It's blonde!" Joan laughs. "It's blonde wood and it's a Les Paul Deluxe, and that was my first real guitar after I got the Silvertone and I saved my money up. It hadda be pretty cheap, 'cause I couldn't afford a lot. It was probably from a pawn shop."
Even today, she's still writing exclusively on electric.
"Yeah. I don't own an acoustic. I wanna get one. I just don't actually own one myself. I wanna get an electric acoustic one called a Kramer. That'd be
nice."
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