Jani Lane is one of the most remembered vocalists of the entire “80’s Hair Band Scene.” His vocals and song writing ability on hits such as: “ Down Boys,” “Heaven,” “Sometimes She Cries,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “I Saw Red” and of course…”Cherry Pie” that were in heavy rotation on MTV making the band Warrant a household name. He traveled the world on sell out tours while releasing a string of records: “Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich,” “Cherry Pie,” “Ultraphobic,” “Belly To Belly” and “Dog Eat Dog” until finally leaving the band. After leaving Warrant, Jani pursued a solo career that kept him in the spotlight some twenty years later.
Jani took some time out before a show at The Alrosa Villa to talk with T.E.N. and bring us up to date on what’s going on in his life.
The Entertainment Nexus- Hey Jani, how have ya been?
Jani Lane- Great! I’ve been very good…really good.
TEN- What have you been up to lately?
JL- Almost 6’1” (laughing) I’ve been doing a lot of stuff. I’ve been playing with the band. I just finished a project with Bobby Blotzer from RATT and Keri Kelli, the guitar player for Alice Cooper. It’s called ‘Saints of the Underground.” We’re lookin’ to release that this fall. Andy Johns of (The Rolling) Stones and (Led) Zeppelin fame and everybody else that’s good…mixed it. That was really fun and in the mean time I wrote a couple songs for Alice Cooper. I’m hoping that they’re gonna make the new record. I’ve been doin’ that and like I said, playin’ with the band and working on a new solo record that hopefully I’ll get to record this winter.
TEN- You were on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club, Season two. How did you become involved with that?
JL- Ya know…they just basically wanted somebody that’s “Rock N” Roll.” I guess that’s like their criteria. They like people from television. They like people who have been in movies. They had Gary Busey on…he was wild! Wild’s an understatement! They wanted somebody from the “Rock N’ Roll” genre…the music business so I got a call to see if I wanted to do it? At the time when they called me, I was just getting into pretty good shape so I went on this “Just cheeseburger and doughnut diet” and put a little weight on. What the show did for me was that I was in a spot in my life where my mother just passed away and I was getting a divorce and the depression was leading me to drinking more. The drinking was becoming a problem. It was interfering with work and family life and everything. I sort of switched it. I knew I was gonna lose the weight ‘cause I’d already lost it. That wasn’t the big deal to me. The “Big Deal” for me was cleaning up the rest of my life. As a result of that show, I’ve now got custody of my nine year old daughter and things are going better. I feel better. I’ve got more energy and I’m much more focused on what I want to do. It was a much broader experience than I thought it was gonna be. I thought it was just gonna be doin’ some push ups and sit ups and get paid. Actually, it turned into…not to sound “corny” “A life changing experience.”
TEN- I was gonna ask you gained most from the whole experience.
JL- Yeah. It really, really was. It taught me a different way to get through the day where I could actually enjoy the day and remember the day.
TEN- Is Harvey such a “Badass” as he seems on TV?
JL- Harvey’s a really super nice guy when the camera’s not rolling. His job is to be a “hard-ass.” Don’t get me wrong, he’s a real marine drill sergeant. He missed two episodes because he had to go out in the field with the guys. He’s for real. He’s also very supportive and very nurturing when the camera’s off he’s like: “Great job! You’re doing an awesome job. Keep it up…I’m really proud of you.” When the camera comes on he’s like;” What the Hell are you doing?!”
And…the psychiatrist (Dr. Linda Papadopoulos) wasn’t bad looking. (laughs) Yeah, I wound up meeting her once a week. I was like: “I’m feeling crazy doctor. I gotta see ya! How about we meet for coffee over at The Grove?” (laughs)
TEN- I don’t blame you at all…
JL- Yeah…she’s hot!
TEN- You contribute to a lot of “Tribute” cds. Tell me about that.
JL- Yeah, I do. Actually I get offered a lot more than I do. I really only contribute to the ones that I like…that are my peers. I’ve done a couple of favors…not that I don’t like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard…but I normally wouldn’t do those tributes because it’s kind of my genre. So, it seems odd to do those. I did those kinds of “Last second favors” when the other singers weren’t working out. But, some of the ones that I’ve done like: Aerosmith…Cheap Trick…Van Halen and that…I grew up on that. I cut my teeth on that. That’s a thrill for me to pay homage to the boys.
TEN- Did you do a cover of “Patience” on a Guns N Roses cd and they credited John Corabi for it?
JL- I’m trying to remember if I did or not. I don’t remember.
TEN- It sounds an awful lot like you.
JL- Wow…I don’t remember. I know John sings a lot of that stuff too. He’s got a great voice. The fact that you’re wondering is a complement to me because I like Johns’ voice a lot.
TEN- The VH1 Metal Mania Stripped cds are huge hits. How do you feel about that?
JL- I’m really happy that they came out to be hits. When they first decided that they were gonna do that…I didn’t know how those songs would translate acoustically. I mean the initial “Stripped” stuff were the songs that we normally play stripped. Then, they started branching into songs they wanted stripped down like “Cherry Pie” and stuff like that and I was like: “Wow, I don’t know how this is gonna play?” It actually went really well. We just did the Key Club this winter. We did the latest one. We had me, Jack Russell, Jeff Keith; Geoff Tate came up and sang. I forget who all was there but all us guys got up and jammed at the end
And it was really cool. All the songs went over really well.
TEN- Is that volume three or a newer one that coming out?
JL- I have no idea. We’ll see what happens. I just did some Christmas kind of thing. I think its “Monsters Of Christmas” or something like that for VH1. I redid “Merry Little Christmas” but I did it with Keri Kelli and it rocks! He’s a bro…I like working with him.
TEN- How do you feel about the bootlegs of the demos for your cd “Jabberwocky?”
JL- I don’t mind it. I wish people woulda let me mix it. I mean it’s not mixed but I’m flattered that people even want to hear it. Three of those songs are gonna go on the solo record. I’ve been holdin’ ‘em back forever. “All Ya Had To Say,” “Private Blue World,” and “Washington Square” are gonna go on and probably “Sinners Road”…so probably four.
TEN- It’s going for a high price on Ebay. People are paying over $100.00 for a copy.
JL- That’s crazy…
TEN- Can we talk about the “L.A. Strip” in the 80’s for just a little bit?
JL- Sure.
TEN- What are some of your fondest memories from back then?
JL- Getting laid! (laughs)
TEN- That’s the same thing Stephen Pearcy said!
JL- Aside from getting laid? Getting drunk and getting laid! My fondest memories are actually the stuff that I hated at the time like the struggle and not getting paid, getting stiffed by promoters. Not makin’ a dime, struggling, handing fliers out in the rain…ya know, all that kind of stuff and then getting to the show and sayin’ “Wow…there’s like a thousand people here!” But…still not having a deal and the whole building up and the whole anticipation of getting a deal. There reached a point where I didn’t think that we were gonna get signed. I was about ready to cut ties and move back to Florida and get in a cover band. It just so happened that that fall we met our manager and then we got signed by Columbia. Thank God ‘cause I was about ready to call it a day. We starved for three years tryin’ to get a deal and nobody would even give us a chance. We watched everybody get signed before we did
.TEN- How much was you involved in the “pay to play” that went on out there?
JL- Very involved. They would hand us a stack of tickets and we would have to buy the tickets from the club and if we didn’t sell them…we were stuck with losin’ the money. Back then if you lost $300.00 worth of tickets, if you had to eat that amount…that was food for the whole band for a week or two weeks. It was pretty brutal. We learned to delegate responsibility to just about every stripper we knew.
TEN- What are some of your worst memories?
JL- My worst memories go along with that and that is ya know…absolutely watching every band that played a club, who could plug in a guitar get signed and we’re sitting there goin’ “What the hell are we doin’ wrong?” I would have promoters and club owners and people come up and go “It’s your songs…they suck. You need to rewrite all new songs.” I was like: “Man…I just don’t believe that.” But, eventually it came to be. There was a real point there for about six months where we were thinkin’ about just hangin’ it up.
TEN- How much of an impact do you think MTV had on your career?
JL- Well, back in the day you couldn’t happen if you didn’t have MTV. And that goes right to the fans. Back then it was the countdown and if people didn’t call in and if you weren’t in the top ten at the end of the day…
There weren’t a whole hell of a lot of radio stations playin’ our kind of music. I think there was “Pirate Radio” in L.A. and a few others. But uh, the first single “Down Boys” really didn’t get a whole lot of radio play…what it got was MTV play. And, that really broke the band. When “Heaven” came out, that crossed over to “CHR Radio” and that helped.
TEN- Tell me something disturbing about yourself that you’ve never revealed before.
JL- I’m definitely a duel personality, schizophrenic. I’m either an angel or a devil and there’s no two ways about it. The bad side definitely comes out “under the influence” and what I can remember of it…it’s not very pretty so I try to stay in the good side. I think everybody has got a little bit of a “Yin and Yang” to them.
TEN- Is there anything else that you want to say?
JL- Um...no…that’s cool. That pretty much covers it. I hope people get a chance to come out and check out the show because I wrote the songs so when I play Warrant…it’s genuine, ya know. I hope that when people want to hear the Warrant songs they’ll come to the source.
TEN- Would like to thank Ted “Hollywood” Heckman, Waldo and Rick Cautela , and Obi Steinman for the helping hand in this interview.