Wild At Heart
I must admit not being familiar with the music of Kim Lenz before meeting her though I have been a fan of rockabilly for years. It started off with my love of the Stray Cats with songs like "Stray Cat Strut" and "Rumble In Brighton" before I even knew what real rockabilly was. I have seen a number of bands that perform offshoots of the form like the punkabilly or psychobilly music of the Cramps, Horrorpops, Creepshow and Reverend Horton Heat, and while those bands are most my style, I do have a great appreciate for the originators like Gene Vincent, Ronnie Hawkins and the lovely Wanda Jackson who I had the pleasure of seeing perform at the Henry Ford Museum. I find the rockabilly style very exciting and it is the type of music that gets the blood a pumping and the foot a stomping. Today most artist go for the more punked out versions of the form so I was surprised to find Kim adheres to the more traditional style of rockabilly.
What first attracted me to the artist was the beautiful covers of the albums. I have always been a fan of 50's cheesecake and models like Bettie Page and her covers evoke that style wonderfully. A further attraction is her flaming red hair of which I have been a fan of ever since Cyndi Lauper came on the scene. The cover work is by her friend, and renowned photographer Joseph Cultice, who has shot Nine Inch Nails, Patti Smith and did a documentary of Marilyn Manson. Kim admits it is nice having friends like Joseph that can help provide a real professional shoot for a decent budget. The photo shoot for the last album was done at Smashbox studios where everyone, including Madonna, has posed. When I showed up at Abeline to meet Kim, I wasn't sure what to expect and I admit I was a bit surprised. With her polka dot dress, she kind of reminded me of an early Lucille Ball that more recent rockabilly singers. I esp noticed that absence of tattoos which so many singers tend to overdo at times so this was refreshing.
We went inside by the jukebox, which was playing a Johnny Horton song which she later covered during her set. I was set up in the front row so I had a good view of her set list and it was nice to see that she changed stuff around and added a number of covers as the mood struck her including the beautiful "Tennessee Waltz" and other classic songs. She has a nice easy going style, much like Wanda possesses, as she took the time to cavort and tell jokes to the audience (she admits that her jokes are risqué and sometimes audiences get a bit shocked by her humor though I enjoyed it), say hi to a nosy neighbor looking out the window of the building next door, accept a glass a wine from a patron and some banter with her bandmates. The later came as her bass player would correct her when she would get the names of some of the song writers incorrect when introducing her cover songs. The show itself was a joy as her band was really tight and her vocals very strong. As you can see from the pictures below, she usually has a smile on her face and that translates nicely with the crowd. She even posed for pictures and took the time to talk to her fans afterwards.
Inspired by Big Sandy and Deke who helped put out her 1st 45 (remember vinyl folks). Without this push at the beginning of her career, she doesn't think she would be doing music at this point, at least not professionally (thank you Deke). When she started out with their first 2 albums in 1998 and 1999, the band, which included guitarist Nick Curran, bassist Jake Erwin, and drummer Scotty Tecce (she has a new back-up band now), they were doing about 200+ shows a year and then Kim disappeared off the stage for a number of years. After years of hearing about the bad antics of our rock icons, it turns out Kim disappeared for the most unselfish motive of all, motherhood. She is the type of person who likes to give 110% to everything she does and knew she couldn't raise a family and tour so she picked the nobler cause and gave birth to her son Riley (now 10). When Riley hit 1st grade, she started doing music again since was at home with nothing going on so she put in a production studio at her home and used her free time to write and record songs for future albums. She has a little glow when she mentions that Riley does show some musical talent (plays violin and fiddle with a western swing) but she doesn’t want to push him in any direction. He “loves music but he is also very smart in engineering” and wants him to find his own way. I do feel that Kim will be very supportive which is probably indicative of the way she has grown in the industry herself without having a big ego and truly realizes her gifts and is thankful for them.
Going back, it was the allure of 40's and 50's style of music that really inspired Kim to record rockabilly or like she says, “it chose me”. It was the music of Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, dale Hawkins and esp Jane Martin (check her out) that got her juices flowing. At the time you had all this wonderful design work and culture with a real merging of black and white music (along with country and rock) that brought excitement to the post-war nation. It’s not really retro, just plain good. When bands like Creepshow and the Cramps try to go for a crossover appeal, Kim decided to “be authentic to the time period” and that really shows in both her originals and the songs she covers on stage with her band. She realizes her core fans are those that collect vinyl or juke boxes, etc, but younger fans will sometimes make the crossover from more trendy bands to her style.
When asked if the music industry is different from when artists like Wanda performed, she feels it is not overly different which surprises me. She says she “needs to work twice as hard” as male bands and that audiences expect a clean show but maybe that comes from having an older set of fans that really remember the good ole days of rockabilly.
Fans of the series “Tru Blood” (which is very popular in my office) will recognize a couple of her songs, esp “Zombie For Her Love” from “Beyond Here Lies Nothing’ from season 2 and “Dang Good Stuff” from episode ‘Strange Love’ in season 1 of which Kim mentions she is enjoying the show. For the future, she is content the things are going and hopes to have another album out someday. For the fans that come to the show, the one things Kim imparted was she wants fans to “delve into the history of the music” and not think it is all pinstripes and tattoos. A real understanding of what rockabilly means is needed. What it means to me is fun music and a driving beats performed by well dressed men and women (like Kim) who can get an audience moving. If you get the opportunity to see Kim Lenz & the Jaguars, I would definitely make the effort to see a very hip and exciting act. Tell her Wild Bill sent you!
Here are a bunch of pictures from the show:
The next few pictures I like but there was a smudge or something on the lens but enjoy anyway.
If you like what you see, you can go to http://kimlenz.com/bio.htm for more info and I’ll leave you with this song.
Got Lou Gramm pics coming soon!