Tuesday, July 18, 2006

CREDIT: AP file Photo
Joan Jett performs during a SXSW showcase in Austin, Texas.

It doesn't seem like 10 years have passed between Joan Jett's last album and the new Sinner.

"Yeah, I don't think there has been any change," Jett agrees. "I could have recorded this album two years after the last album. I know what you mean."

Sinner is her mix of rock with a punk edge and enough pop sensibility to insure that the album is melodic. Ten years?

"It has been a long time," she admits. "I've been trying to get this record out, is what I've been doing."

That, you can guess, hasn't been easy and you correctly could conclude that she was another victim of the recording industry's corporate thinking.

Jett did, in fact, have a record to go two years after her previous one, 1994's Pure and Simple, but the management at Warner Bros., to who she was signed, changed and the album was put on indefinite hold. She tried again and the management changed again and, again, the album's release was held up.

"It was very frustrating."

In the end, and with some alterations, Sinner appears on her own, revived, Blackheart label, the label she set up 25 years ago out of a different frustration.

"I had to overcome the idea that 'girls can't play rock 'n' roll.'" she says grimly. "I still have to prove it."

That's remarkable. This is Joan Jett speaking, after all. By now, she shouldn't have to prove anything. Jett survived The Runaways, the all-girl group that appeared at the height of glam, identified with punk-rock, outlasted grunge, was lauded by the grrrl
groups as an important influence, and probably has eclipsed the Warners chairmen of the board.

The girl who boasted "I don't give a damn about my bad reputation," is still identifiable on the new album as Joan Jett. Through all the trends she has remained true to herself.

"What it boils down to is making the connection," she says. "Whatever the case may be, all those moments of connection transcend everything. It's that connection you're looking for."

In other words, she found an identity years ago and that image hasn't altered, which has allowed her longevity while providing something that her fans draw strength from. Yet it can be a trap.

"I sort of created this," Jett says. "This Joan Jett with the makeup, the eyeliner and black hair and black leather scares a lot of people. But I'm very vulnerable. I'm very approachable."

In the 10 years that have passed, she hasn't been idle.

"I've been on the road this whole time," Jett insists. "I've never stopped working."

She did Broadway, appearing in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She produced albums, appeared on a few others, witnessed a few compilations and a Japanese
release and, on weekends, is an announcer on the satellite spin-off of "Little" Stephen Van Zant's Underground Garage radio show, Joan Jett's Radio Revolution.

And today, she'll be one of 50 bands who are participating in the Vans Warped Tour at Thunderbird Stadium. Many of the bands' members were in diapers when she was making her first record, but this is Joan Jett, born 1958 as Joan Larkin. Age makes no
difference if you are true to yourself.

"Oh man, it's a travelling punk-rock circus," she says enthusiastically. "It's something I grew up with. Why wouldn't I want to be on this tour? It's been a great experience. I'm really enjoying it."