BERETTA JANE
12/21/07
Recher Theatre
Towson, Maryland

Ok, so I want to stress something that’s really important about this piece and why I feel like this is an interesting article to read before I start this...this was the first official show, EVER for Beretta Jane and I got the first interview and inside scoop, so it meant alot to me to be able to support the band, give their fans something extra special, and offer the first taste of Beretta Jane to those who are not totally aware of the band just yet. Beretta Jane are:

MICKEY VALENTINE - Vocals, EVAN VIA - Lead Guitar/Vocals, DANNY VANITY - Bass/Vocals, BRENT ALLEN - Guitar, ROOOBYN - Drums

I was initially planning on talking with the guys around 7:30 so I had some great quotes to use with this piece, and then I assumed I’d check out the opening bands, but what ended up happening was, I hung out with the Beretta Jane boys for around 2 hours, got to see the inner workings of their world, before they hit the stage, and let me tell you, it’s like a total brotherhood backstage...the guys are all like brothers, they tease and joke with one another, and one particular line, “Fed-Zeppelin” stands out, but I won’t share that joke, and it’s all done in fun, with the expressed idea that no one’s trying to piss anyone off, they are just truly enjoying hanging out with each other, and in between applying make-up, I learned that some of the B.J. guys are HUGE wrestling fans, and it was actually really nice to see 5 guys who all have their own distinctive personal characteristics which make each member of Beretta Jane an individual, yet, they all come together to create a unique high octane rock that’s most definitely inspired by all the great rock n roll bands that poured their heart and soul into what they did ala Led Zeppelin, Guns N Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, and Motley Crue, to just name a few!

So, as the house lights went down, it was interesting to note that Mickey didn’t wanna be seen by the crowd till the band started and he took the stage, and I totally dug that he was keeping in line with the same persona that all the great rock icons have....when the band started into song #1, Mickey stormed the stage with his pointy toed boots, pink Blondie shirt and faux fur, possessing the energy of Iggy Pop and the attitude of Scott Weiland (before he lost his presence to severe drug use!) For those a little confused, the core of the band is the remnants of Havok in Hollywood, but don’t expect this band to be H.I.H. jr., because everything about this band is new, fresh, and original! I asked the guys what broke up Havok in Hollywood, and Danny replied, “I think it was just one of those things where we’d all been plugging away at it so long that we kinda looked at it and realized that we were not very happy creatively and stylistically and it was just some conflicts and it just got to a point where it was just best for all of us that were all on the same page to go one way and the one’s that weren’t on the same page to go another way.” This question led me to ask if the band still talks to former singer, Davey, and Danny commented, “There was no hard feelings, it was just one of those things where Dave had a different idea about what we need to be doing and it doesn’t make us right and him wrong, it’s just that he’s got a different idea about how to become successful..I think that he had a strong desire to be out in California and all the best to him.”

Naturally, finding a charismatic and interesting singer is always a challenge for a band, and I asked Evan how they found Mickey Valentine, and he said, “I thought he w as hitting on my girlfriend....true story, on Myspace and I was just like, who is this character? I kinda didn’t think of it anymore after that and for some reason I thought he was a guitar player and then when all 4 of us decided we wanted to stay together and we wanted to find a frontman, I happened to look back and I was like, Ohh, he’s a singer! Basically, it was late one night and I was online, and Danny was online too, and I saw this kid (Mickey) online and he videos and he was good and so we both watched his old bands videos and I was like, wow, he can perform, so we went to go see him play, and I was pretty much that night!” Danny chimed in, “Yeah, we were all blown away! It was one of those things where we all went in with...it was like, inside of our head we were drawing up an artist we were looking for, and we went and it was just right on the stage there for us” and Mickey added, “I think we all believe it was fated..alot of weird things were happening, where it all just came together so perfectly, like first of all, I moved out here like a year ago, then I started with this band and that band and I was in Molotov Valentine and it was such a perfect situation to get into because I didn’t have to write, I didn’t have to spend any time practicing, I just had to learn their songs and I was playing shows as soon as I met them, literally like 2 days, they gave me 2 days to learn their songs and we played Fletcher’s Noise in the Basement and so it was like a perfect situation and like it was so weird that I was able to get on the scene so quick and just in time for them (Havok in Hollywood) to break up and look for another singer and everything was aligned and we started writing right away!”

Naturally, it’s always the first question everyone asks when you see a band name, what’s the band name mean, and I usually try to refrain from asking that question, but then again, with this being a totally new band, I had to ask, and Brent replied, “We wanted to come up with a name that kinda symbolized what we were going for creatively and we wanted a name that was kinda like, something that’s dark, which is a Beretta, I mean because you kill people with them, and chicks names are always good in band names too and Jane is perfect because alot of the bands that we like have Jane in their songs so Jane is kinda like a rock n roll name and we thought it fit.”

When this interview was conducted, it was literally about an hour before the band were to take the stage for the first time ever, so I had to ask the guys if they were a little nervous and they all admitted they were kinda nervous, and Danny replied, “I think it’s a good kinda nervous because anytime you’re taken out of your comfort zone, you have to rise to the occasion and I think part of what kinda got to us in Havok was, atleast for me, I’d become like super complacent and it would get to a point where I’d be playing a show infront of a bunch of kids and it just wasn’t really that much fun and that sucks because there’s bands around here that would kill to have the loyal fanbase that we had and it was just kinda like, we really need to think about what we are doing, for me, I’m nervous, but it’s a good kinda like anxious more so than nervous.”

Among the other interesting banter backstage, I learned of “lip crickets” which is an Evan analogy that I won’t address...if you wanna know, ask him, he has funny terms for sexually transmitted diseases, lol. I was curious as to what the bands favorite song was off their new EP, and Mickey replied, “I think everyone has their own favorite, but I think “Let Me Go” might be the biggest, but as far as my favorite, it’s probably “Shot Down on Sunday”...it’s a raw rock n roll, sleazy rock song and it’s got a good message, it’s got a good story, and it’s a good song, but you know what...I’m torn because we wrote the songs and like all of them are my favorites, but the ballad, that one is just like..I never thought I’d ever be able to write a song like that, but I think I owe alot of that to Evan, because I didn’t know how to write a ballad and that was one of those where we sat down, had an acoustic, and I told him the story and that was when the first lyric came out, and the story behind the ballad is, I was with this girl in Japan for a while and the song is called “One More Night” and the thing was, me and this girl had been together for a year and I’d met her from being in a band and I’d seen her from the stage and she’d sing the songs back and so we were together and we broke up and then she started hanging out with this guy that I knew liked her alot and I’d seen them making out at a bar and I went nuts, like in my mind, I didn’t know what I was gonna do, so I took her and said, Hey, I’ve Gotta talk to you outside...sorry buddy, I’ve gotta talk to her outside, and he was like, ok man, because he wanted to be my buddy, so I took her outside and was like, look, here’s the story, and I don’t remember the whole conversations, but basically what happened was, she didn’t go back into that bar she went to the hotel for one more night

So when the Beretta Jane guys played their first ever show, the crowd was totally into it, they were actually singing along with songs that have not even officially been released yet, except on myspace, and they even tossed in a cover of the stripper anthem, Def Leppard’s, “Pour Some Sugar On Me” which was actually a good cover, although I think Roobyn had one arm too many! Sorry, I had to toss that joke in there! In all honesty, Beretta Jane are a great band that packs alot of punch, they play arena rock on a smaller stage, and with show #1 already done, It wouldn’t surprise me to see this band signed to a major label sooner than later!

I definitely want to thank all 5 of the Beretta Jane guys for taking the time to do this piece with me, and I have to tell you, if you get a chance to see this band, DO IT..you won’t be disappointed!

You can check out more on the band at www.myspace.com/berettajane

Tags: Beretta Jane, Local Rock N Roll, Recher Theatre