By Ben Fletcher
PLAY editor

The queen of punk and rock. The original Riot Grrrl. A trailblazing pioneer.

It’s obvious Joan Jett loves Rock ‘n’ Roll. And it sounds like she loves her time on the 2006 VANS Warped Tour, too.

Jett and her band, the Blackhearts, are headlining this year’s traveling punk-rock circus as it rolls into Nampa’s Idaho Center Amphitheater today. And for those kids who don’t already know, Jett is as bad as they come.

At 15, Jett started her career with an all-female punk outfit called The Runaways and became the first woman to start her own label back in the ‘80s when 23 other record companies passed on demos that contained hits such as “I Love Rock n’ Roll.” Jett’s Blackheart Records is in it’s 25th year.

Jett, who has always done things her way, released “Sinner” this year, her first album in a decade. And she’s not slowing down.

PLAY spoke with Jett before a recent Warped show in Pomona, Calif. about her new album and her experience on the tour.

How’s the Warped Tour treating you?
It’s treating me great. We’ve had a blast. I thought it was going to be fun. I thought it was going to a big traveling punk rock circus vibe, and that’s exactly what it is. Everybody’s treated us really nice. The camaraderie between the bands is awesome. No head trips, no egos. Everyone’s really friendly. And the audience has been extremely receptive, so it’s been great.

Anything surprising so far on the tour?
Not surprising. It’s just enjoyable. It’s like a block party. Some of the bands have done this for years running like NOFX and Bouncing Souls. They bring out a whole bunch of gear with them to make the time pass. They bring BMX bikes and little scooters. Some of the guys have a hockey net with pucks and sticks and the whole deal. There’s weights and there’s little blow-up swimming pools. It just makes the time pass. The bikes are great because it helps you get from the buses to the stage, which a lot of times is far away. But it’s a great atmosphere.

What do you use to pass the time?
I bring books and that’s pretty much it. I like to try to hang out, get out and see as much of the music and kind of experience it as much as I can.

What does Joan Jett and the Blackhearts bring to the Warped Tour?
Boy, you’re probably asking the wrong person because sometimes it’s hard for me to see exactly what it is we bring. I think what Kevin Lyman, who put together the Warped Tour — what he told me, anyway — is he likes to put bands on the Warped Tour that sort of represent punk rock and where it came from. And there’s the fact that the Ramones have done it and Green Day’s done it. This year they had The Buzzcocks and The Germs doing some dates. So I guess that’s where I fit in, being in The Runaways and being an early woman in Rock ‘n’ Roll.

You just released Sinner. There’s obviously a sample of George Bush in there. Explain where that song comes from.
Yeah, well. You didn’t mention Rummy (Donald Rumsfeld) (laughs). That song is born out of the frustration that I personally feel when I can’t get the straight answers, years running now. I read pretty voraciously. I pay attention to things and I’m just frustrated on a lack of communication. So I’m really just commenting on what I see.

Is this something you address on stage?
I try to mention briefly what this song’s about, the lack of dialogue, clear dialogue, between ourselves and our government. And then I get into it. I get the kids to sing. The message is there if people want to hear it. And if they just want to rock, they can do that too.

You were a pioneer in that you started your own record label back in the 80s. Do these bands know who you are and what you’ve accomplished?
I think some of them certainly do. They don’t discuss the business end so much, but they’re certainly aware of Blackheart Records and the fact I’ve been doing my own thing all this time. But also about the other things I’ve been involved in my career — like producing The Germs is a big one with a lot of these bands.
People ask me a lot about that and about the Runaways’ days and certain aspects about this or that. But I think it’s from very reciprocal relationships because I’m a fan of them, too, and enjoying becoming a fan of other bands that I haven’t seen before that I might just have heard of.

What’s the best advice you could give to these Warped Tour bands trying to break through?
That’s always so tough because certainly a band is having some level of success if they’re on the Warped Tour. At least they’re out and touring. So my advice wouldn’t be the same to people like that, than say someone trying to start a band or someone wanting to start a band and feeling alienated or feeling like they can’t do it — that’s where you’ve got to try and follow that dream if you can because you’ll always regret it if you don’t give it a shot. At least if you try and fail, I don’t think you really fail, because at least you tried.

The bands at this point, it wouldn’t know what to tell them, except if they want to make they have to keep working. They have to build an audience and keep touring if they can. That’s all I would know to tell them because that’s what I did. And it was through so much touring that we were able to build a ground (following). We weren’t getting the radio play when I was getting shut out of radio because I was a girl. We were able to still go into a lot of cities and play and still have decent crowds because we toured so much.

What lies ahead for Joan Jett?
Well, literally, we’re going to finish this Warped Tour in August and then we’ll probably have a month or so of one-offs. Maybe we’ll get a couple of days off maybe. And then we’re going to start our own headliner in the fall to support “Sinner.”