We got the pleasure of asking a few questions to the guys at Sweet Jane in particular the lovely Lydia and this is the result. Were all the questions absolutely neccessary. Definitely not. Does it make for good reading? Absolutely. We had some fun with them and they had fun right back. Enjoy
Ok so Sweet Jane, Who the hell is Jane and why is she so sweet?
I swear, If you knew how many people call me Jane. Im not fucking Jane. Can you imagine how much of a cunt I would have to be, ”i’m Jane” and my band is ‘Sweet Jane’. Our band name is a reference to many things that happened around the time when we met first, the pinnacle of which was around the first time we recorded, we had a Jane Fonda documentary on, y’know her Hanoi Jane period, ”what happened to the Sweet Jane we know and love” as she was freed from jail.
What drives you to write music given the endless stream of bands, do you ever just get fed up?
Personally, I have this crappy built-in system that only allows me to get creative musically when im absolutely clinically depressed, so all the music I write is really soppy, and romantic, and lonely, and that’s fine for two songs on a twelve song record but you cant always write that type of music. So thats why you join a band, so that you can get the best of everyone’s world. I have a good band though, there’s no way Im being allowed to play ”girl rock”.
Who writes your songs? What is the band’s process and is there a theme/influence in the writing?
When we started, it was Danda, he was the puppet master who pulled our strings, which wasn’t his fault, all the bands he was in previous to that required him to do exactly that, so when we recorded our first EP, it was very straight forward there was no emotion to it, we were just in to the studio, put down the tracks, and that was it, there was no discussion, but looking back on it, it’s stood to us, because it was his vision, all of us going in and adding to it would have ruined it, y’know too many cooks and so on. So when we done the new record, it was really beautiful, we still done alot of the finalizing in the studio with the four of us, but when we wrote the record, I had been living at Danda’s house for a while, so we would spend day in day out just singing and playing acoustic guitars. I dont think subconsciously we were ”writing” for the record, so now that those songs are on ‘Sugar For My Soul’, it feels pretty organic.
How would you describe your music/band to people in 5 words?
Sleepy Dream Pop Rock Roll
What are your immediate music career goals in the next 12 months?
Lots of music placements, so we can get silly money, and use it to tour. We just want to tour. Spending a couple of weeks in a studio doing an album doesnt justify you doing nothing for the rest of the year, and still get to say you’re in ”a band”
What would Sweet Jane define as “Success”?
Our own home. All our bills paid. A collection of Gibson 335’s. A wine cellar. Sold Out Shows.
Sweet Jane Live or Sweet Jane CD?
For me, live. They’re so different. To me, it’s two different bands. The best of both worlds.
Do you ever play any covers?
Never live. But we have recorded covers of Mazzy Star, Spiritualized, Gram Parsons, The Rolling Stones, just for ourselves, and a couple of the little wolves.
Where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite venues?
I cant remember everywhere we played, thankfully. Favorite, hmm… I guess y’know all the Death Disco shows, we’re really lucky to have been given that oppurtunity, y’know were all big fans of Alan Mc Gee, and Creation Records, and BP Fallon has been such a good friend to our band. We’re very lucky. Least favorite venues? I dont think I have any, I dont think there has been any horrendous experiences, yeah we’ve played places that have has shit PA’s and shit engineers but that part of the parcel, it’s not always gonna be stadium rock tours.
Oxegen or Electric Picnic?
I really couldnt answer this question fairly, I’m not a good festival go’er, I go and then I’m the dickhead who stays backstage at the bar. I went two Oxegen for 2 days last year, and it rained so bad that I only came outside to see Glasvegas, and then went back to the bar. Super Douchebag.
Sweet Jane are stranded on an island with 5 albums for all time. What would you want them to be?
Im sure we’d all agree on Oasis ‘Definetly Maybe’, Danda would probably have a Flying Buritto Brothers record, Ruairi would probably have an Animal Collective record, Donagh a Cocteau Twins record, and my own, umm… something by Karen Dalton, I would imagine.
What is Sweet Janes view on the Eircom’s clamp down on illegal downloading?
Our view? Our bass player is fucked.
For Fan Communication Which Social Network is best? Facebook / Myspace / Twitter
Twitter, I think might be the best way, because you know it’s us, and not someone at our label or some fake account, I love twitter, we all have Blackberry’s or iPhone’s so it keeps us busy, there is alot of waiting around in this game. But I guess facebook is OK too.
Black Eyes is released Friday, Is this the single to make Sweet Jane a household name?
Probably not. It is what it is, y’know, a fucking great single, from a fucking great band. We know our place in this game, and we know how good our record is, and how good the next one is going to be. Being made a household name is down to the little wolves, and all those media people, we don’t need them to tell us we’re a good band or that we have a good single. Any way, arent U2 the only household name in Ireland? Im not Bono, well y’know not yet.
If you could pick your support band (nobody was too big) who would it be?
Anytime we get to choose a support band, I always demand Talulah Does The Hula, I love them, they’re all my best friends, which is why I want them on tour with us, we have so much fun, so much so that when Im free, I go on their bus when they tour, it helps that we share a fantastic tour bus driver, but saying that, I really want The Funeral Suits to come on tour with us after the record is out, I think they’re beautiful.
Following on, what artist would you most like to open for?
Oasis. Without question. I would fucking die. I could cry right now at the thought of sitting in the same room as Noel Gallagher.
Sweet Jane vs Janes Addiction in a Fight, who would win & why?
Dude, have you seen Perry Farrell lately? Fuck that shit, I’d just have to steal his eyeliner anyway
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If you liked what you read you can check Sweet Jane out on their Myspace, Thanks to Sweet Jane for taking the time to answer our questions even if they were a bit unconventional in places