Sunday, Jul. 09, 2006

Jett-propelled rock
Back on tour, the singer-guitarist says music needs more female bands
By Rachel Leibrock -- Bee Staff Writer

It's been more than 30 years since Joan Jett joined the Runaways. At that time, the Los Angeles-based, all-girl rock band -- cobbled together in part via Monkees-style auditions -- was considered something of a rock 'n' roll novelty for its pretty, teenage members who were barely schooled on their instruments.

Now, Jett is a seasoned, skilled musician with several hits to her name, but, as the cliché goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"How have things changed?" Jett's famously raspy voice rises an octave or two at the question.

"It's been more than 25 years since the Runaways (broke up) and there still aren't any mainstream rock 'n' roll girls," says Jett, 47, on the phone from Nashville, where she's about to play a set at the Vans Warped Tour. The tour arrives Thursday at the Sleep
Train Amphitheatre near Marysville.

"What's going on? The glass ceiling is definitely there and there's definitely resistance," she says.

Jett says she's encouraged by the Warped Tour's somewhat progressive approach: In 2005, members of the New Jersey-based band ShiraGirl staged a mini-coup by
setting up a renegade all-girl stage on concert grounds. This year, the stage is official and home to more than 100 bands booked for various dates across the country.

"(ShiraGirl) started doing this because they felt like the Warped Tour was very male-dominated -- and it is. I think in general, music is," Jett says. "It's great ... (but) if I had my druthers they'd be on the main stage. Maybe that's coming, but it takes time."

The boys-club climate still presents a struggle even for a veteran musician such as Jett.

"People get very nasty when they realize you're serious about rock 'n' roll -- there's a lot of misogyny," she says. "I've had people call me (names) and say things like, 'I've got to share a stage with this bitch?' It hasn't happened on this tour, but in general it's still there."

Although Jett is cautiously optimistic -- "There are great all-girl bands in every city -- even if you don't know them yet" -- she says it's frustrating to see female musicians put down their instruments in defeat.

"Sometimes women say, 'I'm just trying to play music, I'm just trying to have fun and I shouldn't have to take this kind of abuse because I'm trying to rock,' "she says.

"Although I understand where they're coming from, I'm trying to figure out why there aren't more girls fighting for this."

There's no doubt that Jett's paid her dues. After the Runaways disbanded in 1979, the Philadelphia-born singer-guitarist launched another successful chapter, fronting Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and turning out hits such as "Bad Reputation" and "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" -- both released in 1981.

Jett hasn't had a No. 1 hit since "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" (the tune spent seven weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart), but her career is anything but a nostalgia trip. Among the highlights on her résumé are acting ("Light of Day") and 1994's acclaimed "Pure and Simple" album.

She's raised her social profile, as well. In 1995, Jett recorded a live album with Evilstig that featured the remaining members of the Gits, the Seattle-based punk band whose lead singer, Mia Zapata, was murdered in 1993. (Proceeds from the Evilstig album went to finding Zapata's killer, who was finally convicted in 2002.)

The Warped Tour stint and her first studio album in a decade continue to add to the singer's pop culture relevancy.

"Sinner," produced by Jett's longtime songwriting partner, Kenny Laguna, and released on her own Blackheart Records label, features songwriting collaborations with Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre) as well as Linda Perry, the pop songwriter who wrote, among other hits, Pink's "Get the Party Started."

The result is a collection of well-muscled pop-rock songs such as the politically charged "Riddles," "Tube Talkin' " and "Naked."

Jett says she particularly enjoyed the time spent with Hanna, whom she first met in 1993 when the riot grrrl pioneer cited Jett as a major influence.

"She was a fan of the Runaways, and I became a big fan of her," Jett says. "She's just really cool and funny and has a great view on life."

Hanna provided a creative spark as well.

"I loved being able to sit down and write songs with her (because) she has a different songwriting process than me," Jett says.

"I think of myself as very regimented and structured -- almost in an anal way," she says. "(Kathleen's) more loose and less structured. It forced me out of my normal comfort zone, which is good -- not a bad thing at all."

The album follows a certain thread. Songs such as "Naked" and a cover of the Replacements' "Androgynous" tackle themes such as self-identity, while "Fetish"
and a cover of Sweet's "A.C.D.C." take on sexuality.

And that's one topic Jett won't touch on outside of her music.

Although the singer is politically active in the gay and lesbian community, performing at numerous fundraising events, she refuses to discuss the particulars of her private life.

"I always let my music speak for itself -- I never discuss my private life with anybody except my friends," she says.

It's a matter, she says, of preserving that ever-thinning line between what is celebrity and what is personal.

"I'm very comfortable with boundaries (because) I've been in the public eye since I was 15 and everyone was after salacious details (about) the Runaways," Jett says.

She wants her music to transcend such personal issues.

"I just never really try to differentiate -- as an artist I like to sing to everybody, I want everybody to think I'm singing to them."

And if that's not enough in our gossip-crazed, details-obsessed society?

"If people want to know me, just listen to the music -- you can see what I'm about."