Get On the Ride
Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 10:18AM 
Bring Back Glam! recently interviewed Vains of Jenna drummer Jacki Stone and bassist J.P. White on their newfound success. After legal issues kept White Lion off the Poison/RATT tour, VOJ stepped in. During the interview, Jacki and J.P. discuss touring, the band’s future, moving to America and Rocklahoma. Transcription follows.
Bring Back Glam!: How do you think the Poison/RATT tour will change your lives?
Jacki Stone: This is a great opportunity for us to get the name and music of Vains of Jenna out to a lot of people every night! We all are grateful that Poison and RATT decided to bring us along on this tour. We will get more fans out of this and it will be a good experience... I hope we will be able to continue touring and that our own tours get bigger and bigger. We'll see after this tour how it might change our lives!
J.P. White: Yeah, this tour will definitely give us a lot more experience and also a lot more confidence as musicians. We will see and do so much new stuff during this tour that will help us later on in our careers. Already after the first show we did on the tour we learned tons of shit. I think that all this will get us stronger as a group and make us prepared for the future.
BBG: You landed a major tour relatively quickly. What do you think this means for the state of rock in the U.S.A.?
Jacki: Yeah, it's amazing. I think it really shows that rock n' roll is on the way back again. Hopefully, we'll get some kids to start a band too. We need more RnR here in the states!
J.P: Like Jacki said “It’s amazing" to be on this kind of tour and play in front of thousands of people after two and a half years as a band is almost unreal. I think it means a lot to the rock crowd in the States. Hopefully we can show them that rock n’ roll isn’t dead! It is a new generation of rock n’ roll coming up to keep it alive. Soon people will understand that it’s cool to start a rock band with guys or girls that actually look like “rock stars” again.
BBG: Are you surprised by your success?
Jacki: Well, no not really. We have worked really hard to get to where we are right now. I know we are a kick ass band with great songs! Live we are even better and we have also met the right people along the way at the right time that has helped us. But it's all about taking changes in your life and believing in what you do.
J.P: I knew that this band would be something right from the start. It’s just that right chemistry between the four of us in the band and we all feel the same way. I think that’s the reason that we could make it this far so fast. No one in the band hesitated on giving up our old life in Sweden and get to the next level.
BBG: Will Vains of Jenna play Rocklahoma in some capacity since the festival is an official tour stop for both Poison and RATT?
Jacki: I don't know yet... it would be really cool to do it, so hopefully that will happen!
BBG: Who are your major musical influences?
Jacki: I listen to a lot of different music... we all do...everything from like N.W.A to Slayer. But the "major" influences would probably be bands like Aerosmith, GnR, Nirvana, Motley Crue, and The (Rolling) Stones.
J.P: I just have to mention Avenged Sevenfold is a great band with killer songs!
BBG: Talk about your new song "Enemy in Me" for the Viva La Bands II disc. Who wrote the song and is this the direction you are going with your next album?
Jacki : The song "Enemy In Me" we wrote sometime during the summer of 2006. We have worked with it off and on and when we got the opportunity to be on the Viva La Bands compilation we wanted a new song to show the people. Our producer for this song, Brent Woods, loved the song and we decided to record it. Brent helped us some with different stuff to get the song even better, and Lizzy (DeVine, lead singer) made most of the lyrics and melodies, which came out just great! It's definitely a direction to how we might sound like on the next album. It is still raw rock n roll but so much better!
J.P: I don’t think that anyone in the band expected the song to come out that hard and raw as the final product is. It’s definitely in the direction that we wanna go and it sounds killer.
BBG: When will Vains of Jenna return to the studio to record a follow-up to Lit Up/Let Down?
Jacki: Don't know. We hope that it will be in the next six or nine months.
J.P: Hopefully it will be with Brent Woods, it’s a cool chemistry between the band and him as a producer.
BBG: Will the next album be on Bam Margera's Filthy Note label, or will you jump to a major?
Jacki: I have no idea.
BBG: Will the recording process take place here in the U.S. or Sweden? And do you have intentions of permanently moving to America?
Jacki: Well, our visas expire in October, but we are working on that now so we can at least stay here for another year. The dream is to permanently live in U.S.A. making it big over here and continue touring and then also do tours in the rest of the world!
J.P: Right now it feels like the only thing that is 100% is that we are on this summer tour with Posion and RATT. We don’t know what will happen after that.
BBG: What's your favorite - and least favorite - aspect of Lit Up/Let Down?
Jacki: I'm very proud of the CD. We did it by our own in a cabin, in the woods, in the middle of January 2006 and it only took us a week. To get this far from that album is a pretty fucking cool thing!
J.P: Of course there is parts that can be better and tighter. If we knew that the songs on the record would end up as an album we probably get more time and (put more) work into it. It’s raw and punky and reflects the way we live and I’m fucking proud of it!
BBG: What's the best part of touring?
Jacki: I love everything about it! Being on the road with my best friends is absolutely the best thing ever. Going to city to city, meeting new people, fans, girls and have that gift to be able to perform every night is a dream coming true!
J.P: That’s true. Just the feeling of going somewhere all the time, you never know what to expect the next day; it’s a great way to live. It’s almost like sex: you arrive, you play, you say "Thank you" and you go away to the next one (laughs).
Reader Comments (9)
Rock and Roll forever!!
xoxox
Peace!
that would be a dream come true!
Hope the summer tour's going great for you guys!!!
Rock n' roll cuddles
i love you guys the first time i herd litup/letdown i was addicted you guys brought what real rock n roll really is back to the states
i love you guys
good luck
xoxoxo
dacia