Nearly three decades have passed since the initial rise of the “hair bands” and their complete domination of the music world. As we roll through 2007, the demand for that raw, loud, high-energy rock ‘n’ roll hasn’t been louder or more widespread. Over the last couple of years, that call has been answered by more of our favorite classic rock acts than ever, alongside a growing number of hungry, up-and-coming contributors.
Among this new generation of rock—and we are talking dirty, in-your-face, loud-ass, kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll here, folks—are four guys hailing from the small town of Falkenberg, Sweden. Influenced by classic rock from a very early age, they decided to put a band together, and their journey down the road to success has been anything but ordinary. An overnight sensation? That’s practically unheard of in the rock world today, right? Meet the exceptions to that rule: Lizzy Devine, J.P. White, Nicki Kin, and Jacki Stone, collectively known as Vains of Jenna (named, yes, after the legendary adult film star Jenna Jameson—we never said they were into only music!).
After catching Vains on tour this summer, I caught up with frontman Lizzy Devine to get the rest of the story. In a nutshell, the band formed, shared just one track online, and less than a day later, the boys were living out their long-awaited dreams. I’ll let Lizzy fill you in on the rest of the madness, including how they landed on one of the biggest rock tours of the summer, his take on the modern music industry, and why he’s glad he was born with two middle fingers. Just keep reading…
Blast: Hi Lizzy! You guys have been tearing up the country with Poison and Ratt all summer. How’s that ride treating you?
Lizzy Devine: It’s going great! It’s so exciting being out on tour with Poison and Ratt. We’re completely stoked, and we love being on that stage every single night.
Blast: How did a new band from Sweden end up landing a coveted slot on a major tour like this?
LD: Well, Poison came out to do some shows in the L.A. area and they caught our set and liked what they saw. [laughs] I heard some crazy rumors online that we paid something like $75,000 to get on this tour!! No way. They just genuinely liked the band, and that was the only reason.
Blast: So you were invited directly by the headliners? That’s incredibly cool. You’re also getting some massive feedback on your debut album, Lit Up, Let Down.
LD: Yeah, people seem to like it a lot! But even if some people don’t, whatever—we’re just having a blast, so we don’t really care. But obviously, the more people who dig it, the better!
Blast: Watching you guys on stage, it’s clear you’re having the time of your lives up there.
LD: We’re just so into it! It’s an incredible feeling being onstage. If the crowd can see exactly how much we love doing this, then we feel like we’ve successfully connected with them.
Blast: Let’s take a quick step back to how this all started for those who don’t know the story. Is it true that you put just one track online and received an invitation to play the world-famous Whisky a Go Go less than 24 hours later?
LD: Yeah! We had only been a band for about a month, put just one song online, and 13 hours later we got a call asking us to fly out and play a showcase in L.A.
Blast: You traveled over 10,000 miles to a city completely swamped with local rock bands all fighting to make it in a very tough market. Did you hesitate at all, or was there absolutely zero doubt?
LD: We didn’t think about it for long at all! We were just like, “Hell yeah!” We were so excited to be invited to play The Whisky that we just blindly bought four plane tickets. We weren’t even thinking about what was going to happen after that show. We just landed, got to the venue, and played our set at four o’clock in the afternoon. Stevie Rachelle [frontman of Tuff] saw us perform, became our manager on the spot, and after that, everything just went completely crazy.
Blast: Wow, talk about everything falling perfectly into place.
LD: Yeah, we were just totally stoked with everything happening so fast.
Blast: Didn’t you also hook up with Gilby Clarke [ex-Guns N’ Roses] almost immediately after that? How did that come together?
LD: Well, Stevie is really good friends with Gilby. A day or two after the showcase at The Whisky, we met up with Stevie again and he randomly asked, “Hey, do you guys want to go record some tracks with Gilby Clarke?” And we were just like, “Yeah, why not?!” We’re all massive Guns N’ Roses fans, so getting the chance to work with him was unbelievable for us.
Recording with Gilby was great for the band because his name is obviously much bigger than ours. It immediately helped get our name out there, opened people’s eyes, and landed us way more gigs. We’ve been incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time so many times now. It’s almost scary, but so far, so good!
Blast: Your sonic style and raw look are obviously reminiscent of the classic ’80s Sunset Strip scene, but you guys are all incredibly young. Where did that early influence come from?
LD: When I was little, my parents fed me a constant diet of Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, and all types of classic rock ‘n’ roll. When I was about five or six, I started buying music magazines and seeing photos of bands like Mötley Crüe and G n’ R, and I just fell completely in love with the image. I bought their CDs, and it just clicked. From that point on, I loved this specific style of music. I hear people nowadays saying, “That kind of music sucks,” or “You have to play this style, don’t do that.” Honestly, I’m just glad I was born with two middle fingers, because I have to use them a lot!
Blast: Sounds like your parents are pretty cool.
LD: Yeah, we’re so fortunate that our families are incredibly supportive. Without them, there is no way we could be doing what we’re doing right now. We were totally fucking broke all the time, and I owe my parents so much money! You can’t make a living in this industry these days unless you’re playing massive venues, so I have to borrow money all the time just to survive on the road. They are always willing to help us out. They are absolutely incredible.
Blast: Have all four of you been completely on the same page regarding your musical tastes from day one?
LD: Yeah, pretty much. The other guys in the band are also heavily into the ’90s grunge scene, which is actually a great thing because it brings that alternative weight to our sound. People always want to label us as just a retro ’80s band, but it’s not just that. We are influenced by anything that genuinely rocks—it could be hip-hop, or really heavy stuff like Slayer. We try to take elements from everything that’s cool, bring it into our writing, and inject a little rock ‘n’ roll attitude into it because it’s what we love.
Blast: Reading other features on the band, I notice writers constantly throwing you into the “glam rock” box, but when I listen to your tracks, I get a much edgier, raw rock ‘n’ roll vibe.
LD: That is exactly what we’re trying to do! But people just see us and immediately want to label us a glam band. Maybe it’s because we’re all blond as hell! [laughs] I don’t know, I get a bit annoyed hearing that label sometimes. I mean, we love a lot of glam bands, but we aren’t trying to copy them. We are entirely about raw rock. People are actually going to be pretty shocked when they hear our new material; it’s not going to sound like what they’re expecting from us. It’s still Vains of Jenna, but much heavier and better. Some people will love it, some might hate it. Personally, I love it!!
Blast: It is incredibly rare to see a crowd react to an opening act—especially a brand-new band—with the kind of intensity that you guys generated here in Boston. We talked to several fans that night, and many who had caught multiple stops on this tour told us the wild crowd response has been identical everywhere. That has to feel amazing.
LD: To be honest, I was kind of worried before the tour started about how these massive crowds would react to us. But I think the fans can tell that we take our music very seriously. We plan on doing this for a very long time—we aren’t going away! If you truly believe in what you do and you’re having an awesome time on stage, people see that, appreciate the honesty, and want to connect with you. I’ve seen so many opening acts myself over the years, and most of them just stood there and sucked. I am stoked every single time we walk out on stage and see people standing up out of their seats for us. It’s an unbelievable feeling.
Blast: Oh, they were definitely standing. In fact, by the end of your set, my photographer was up dancing on her chair right along with them!
LD: [loud background laughter] That is so cool! I love that!
Blast: Your cover of Tom Petty’s “Refugee” was a bit unexpected for a band with your look, but it was beautifully executed. What made you choose that specific track?
LD: Thank you. I’ve always loved Tom Petty. Before we left for this tour, our guitar player, Nicki, came to me and said, “Man, we need to cover ‘Refugee.’ It’s such a killer song.” It was weird because I had been thinking about doing that exact same track. It just felt meant to be. People probably expected us to cover a song that sounds exactly like our own style, but we think it’s much better to take something completely unexpected and rewrite it our way.
Blast: Can your fans expect to hear that track or any other unique covers on your upcoming releases?
LD: Maybe! I don’t know if we’ll officially record any covers in the immediate future, but we’ll definitely come up with some cool ones down the line. Again, if we do it, it has to be a song that people would never expect to hear from a band like us.
Blast: Fair enough, we’ll be looking out for it. Who handles the primary songwriting duties in the band?
LD: All of us. We work completely as a team with absolutely no egos involved. That’s the greatest thing about this band. Either me or Nicki will come up with a main guitar riff, and then everyone jumps in to build the track. I’m not always the one writing the lyrics, either. Jacki is a fantastic lyricist. We function as a true collective, and that’s something I really appreciate about these guys.
Blast: You’re launching straight into another US tour immediately after this run wraps up. What can you tell us about that next trek?
LD: Yes, we are! We’re jumping right onto the Viva La Bands tour. We’re going out on the road with bands like GWAR and Cradle of Filth, so it’s a completely different vibe and a much heavier crowd. But we love touring with different types of bands because it allows us to capture entirely new audiences and build a diverse fanbase.
Blast: How long will you be out for that run, and what kind of venues are you hitting?
LD: We’ll be out for about a month and a half hitting smaller, intimate club venues, but I think they are going to be completely packed. It’s a lot of intense bands and a ton of people. The Poison tour gave us great exposure to a younger generation of rock fans, and we want to show those younger kids what real, raw music is actually about. They are fed all that generic MTV garbage all day long, and it’s honestly just high-level brainwashing. I don’t think kids should take that corporate shit anymore. They need to open their eyes to the real underground music scene and choose what they like for themselves.
Blast: We would definitely have to agree with you on that one. Are there any global markets you’re dying to play that you haven’t broken into yet?
LD: Well, our main focus is staying right here in the States for now, and then we plan to take over the rest of the world! [laughs] Every other rock band from Europe spends years touring over there, dreaming about coming to America and never making it out. We thought right from the beginning: we’ve got one real shot at this, so why not try to conquer the US market first, stay here for a while, and then take that momentum back over to Europe?
Blast: I think your American fans are going to be perfectly fine with that strategy. Do you have any final words for the Vains of Jenna fans reading this?
LD: Yeah! We have a brand-new studio track coming out this fall, around October, called “Enemy In Me.” It’s going to be released on the official Bam Margera Presents: Viva La Bands Vol. 2 compilation album. Everyone needs to go check it out because it absolutely kicks ass!! It shows a whole new, heavier side of VOJ. Hopefully, the fans will love it. We are aiming to drop a brand-new full-length CD in the spring if we can get back into the studio in time, but either way, we plan on living on the road for a long time to come!
And that about wraps up our time with Sweden’s finest new exports. Blast Music Coalition will be right here to cover all future happenings, album reviews, and tour updates for Vains of Jenna. Check out the official links and the full tour schedule below to catch their high-octane live show in a city near you. Until next time…
Official Band Links:
“Viva La Bands” 2007 Fall Tour Dates:
| Date | Venue | City/State |
| Oct 04, 2007 | House of Blues | Dallas, TX |
| Oct 05, 2007 | Verizon Wireless Theater | Houston, TX |
| Oct 06, 2007 | Sunset Station | San Antonio, TX |
| Oct 08, 2007 | Marquee Theatre | Tempe, AZ |
| Oct 09, 2007 | The Joint @ Hard Rock | Las Vegas, NV |
| Oct 11, 2007 | SOMA | San Diego, CA |
| Oct 12, 2007 | The Wiltern | Los Angeles, CA |
| Oct 13, 2007 | The Warfield | San Francisco, CA |
| Oct 15, 2007 | Saltair Pavilion | Salt Lake City, UT |
| Oct 16, 2007 | The Fillmore Auditorium | Denver, CO |
| Oct 18, 2007 | Cain’s Ballroom | Tulsa, OK |
| Oct 19, 2007 | Pop’s | St. Louis, MO |
| Oct 20, 2007 | The Beaumont Club | Kansas City, MO |
| Oct 21, 2007 | Myth Nightclub | Minneapolis, MN |
| Oct 23, 2007 | Congress Theater | Chicago, IL |
| Oct 24, 2007 | Eagles Ballroom | Milwaukee, WI |
| Oct 26, 2007 | PromoWest Pavilion (LC Pavilion) | Columbus, OH |
| Oct 27, 2007 | Agora Ballroom | Cleveland, OH |
| Oct 28, 2007 | Harpo’s Concert Theatre | Detroit, MI |
| Oct 30, 2007 | The Docks Concert Theater | Toronto, ON |
| Oct 31, 2007 | Electric Factory | Philadelphia, PA |
| Nov 02, 2007 | Roseland Ballroom | New York, NY |
| Nov 03, 2007 | The Palladium | Worcester, MA |
