Jinxed Interview - 12.06.2004
| Interview with Jenna Rocco (drums) Interview by Jason Schleweis | 12.06.2004 - Email | 01.18.05 - Email  Hailing from Lockport, NY, Jinxed are the latest addition to the rare female comprised pop-punk-rock style that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. While many bands in the genre get downplayed for being too commercial or lacking any true musical talent you can guarantee Jinxed shake up the mix. Their lyrics are more epigrammatic, and their sound is edgier than almost anyone you could compare them too while their musicianship is definitely developed beyond their years (average of 17), and will hopefully only continue to improve as time goes on. Since our interview, the girls have been writing a few new songs as well and have about four roughly completed to look forward too in the future. While their debut album Beyond the Obvious released in May of ‘04 on One Eleven Records, 2005 is shaping up to be their year. So far Jinxed have balanced being the in-house band for the show “Premium Blend” on Comedy Central, moved up college radio charts, and have developed a loyal fan base that’s expected to greatly expand this year with their extensive touring. If you haven’t had the word ‘Jinxed’ slip off your tongue yet, it’s about time to listen to what you’ve been missing out on. Prepare yourself now because you’ll be hearing plenty of them in 2005 and you won’t want to miss them when they stop through your town. For more first-hand information, read on below for our interview with drummer, Jenna Rocco! Your biography and history as a band don’t seem to be outlined extensively anywhere. Just as a quick recap for new fans, how did Jinxed get their start? Well, Kristen [Reilley] (guitar, vocals) and I met in middle school. We tossed around the idea of starting a band but we were only 13 so it wasn’t taken very seriously. When we started high school, we met Sarah [Danna] (bass) and began focusing on the band as a career. We started out playing local shows and promoting ourselves through web sites, flyers, and recording demos in our practice space. How did Jinxed land a deal with One Eleven Records? We were playing a show at a local venue in our area and a talent scout from 111 was there. She emailed us a few days after the show saying that she liked what she heard. A few months later, Brad (the owner of the label) flew into Buffalo to listen to our music and signed us shortly after. How did you guys come up with the band name? Well, like I said, we were 13 when we started this band. We picked the name because we thought it looked cool on paper. (Laughter) And it just kind of stuck with us. We’re not superstitious or anything. How does a young band, particularly Jinxed, find a balance between regular life (school, friends) at younger ages, and also deal with being in a band that’s been recently getting more and more of the limelight. How do you find a balance in pursuing your career while keeping up with everyday life? I’m not going to lie and say that it’s easy balancing everything. It’s not. But we want this band to eventually be our career, and if that means finishing high school, then we know we have to do it. It can be pretty stressful going straight from school, to work, to practice, to homework; but it’s a small price to pay to eventually be on tour doing what we love to do. Just taking one day at a time right now. You just have to stay on task and keep your priorities straight. As much as we’d love the band to be our only focus right now, it’s not. So we just have to come to the realization that school is the top priority until we graduate in January and then we can have the band be our main focus. How does it feel to have accomplished so much already? It feels really good. We’ve already done more than we’ve ever expected to do with this band and we’re incredibly thankful for it. Do you guys have any touring plans for 2005? It seems that the general consensus is that people are really looking forward to seeing you live; many of them for what will be the first time. Yes, we’re actually graduating early (January instead of June) in order to begin touring around February or March. We’re very, very excited to get out on the road. We had a little taste of touring in August on the 111 Records tour but this time around we’ll be on the road for most of 2005. We’re excited for it. Any idea on a time frame or who you would be out on the road with? Right now, the options are being discussed. We don’t have anything confirmed at this point. But as soon as we find out anything, it’s always posted on our web site. We should be out for most of 2005 though. For those people who haven’t heard of Jinxed yet, what would you like them to know about your band or your music that would persuade them to check you guys out? Well we like to think that maybe we’re doing something a little different than everything out there today and we hope that people will agree. What song(s) would you want someone to hear as the best representation of the band on first listen? I would say “Bowzer’s Castle,” “To Whom It May Concern,” or “Public State Final.” Everything is kind of summed up with those songs. How was it being selected as the band for Comedy Central’s Premium Blend? It was incredible. We were so happy to be able to do that. It was fun getting to hear all the comedians as well. Premium Blend was a very different experience. We’re used to playing shows, but TV has a very different feel to it. It’s very fast paced. Are there any other similar opportunities coming up that you guys will be a part of, such as TV Show appearances, radio shows, etc.? Well Premium Blend airs every Friday night at 10:00pm (EST) for a few more weeks. And shortly after that, we’ll be heading out for tour. What pieces of advice could you share with other up-and-coming bands, particularly female comprised ones? Just stick with it. If we listened to all of the negative feedback we’ve received over the past few years, we probably wouldn’t even be a band anymore. Of course, you always try to take in the criticism and improve on it, but ultimately you just have to do what you want to do. For every 50 people that like you, there’s always a few that think otherwise; you can’t change everyone’s mind, you just have to bring your band to it’s fullest potential. Any last comments, messages, or information we didn’t ask that you would like to share with us or let people know? Check out our web site at www.jinxedrock.com and come be our friend on MySpace. Thanks for reading this interview! :) UPDATED CONTENT - JANUARY 18 2005 A little over a month after our initial interview, we heard the girls were up to some pretty big new things. So instead of speculating or spreading rumors, we got them to clear everything up for us themselves. This time around we were fortunate to have input from vocalist & guitarist Kristen Reilly, bassist Sarah Danna and of course drummer Jenna Rocco! Have you guys set an official 'release' date for the new video to "To Whom It May Concern?" Will the video be entirely composed of live footage or will there also be an underlining story to it as well? We shot a video for "To Whom It May Concern" when we were on tour this past August in Florida. Right now, new ideas are coming up and we might put off the video for a little bit but it looks like it's going to be a performance video with some type of story to it. What ever happened to the video for "Relentless?" We've found a web site the studio had created for it (Blue Juice Films), but we're yet to see the video available anywhere. The video for "Relentless" was shot in November of 2003 in Orlando. It was basically used for promotion. I'm sure there are websites where you can find it. I think it was even available on the 111 site for while. [Editor's Note: When clicking the link on 111 Records site for the video it says "Temporarily Unavailable"] I'm not sure if it's up there anymore though. It was just a performance video. We shot it in one day, about a 14 hour shoot, we had a lot of fun. We've heard you just recently have been working on a few new songs. Are Jinxed already working on a follow up to Beyond the Obvious? Yes, we've been on a little break since the 111 Records tour this past summer. We've been writing and finishing high school. We're actually graduating in about a week and then we leave for tour shortly after that. Right now it looks like we'll be going into the studio in August or September to record the follow up to Beyond the Obvious. We have a few songs as of right now but we're hoping to have a lot of stuff to pick and choose from by that point. |
