Janet Robin Interview

by Tom Watson.

Janet Robin is a working musician. She plays guitar, sings, writes, produces, records, promotes and spends time on the road. She’s a professional. Music pays her bills. It feeds her stomach and her soul.

Robin’s career reflects the decades it’s been through: garage bands in the ’70s; rock (mild to heavy) and a touch of glam in the ’80s with the L.A.-based group, Precious Metal; touring with Lindsey Buckingham, a shift to singer-songwriter mode and Lilith Fair in the ’90s; and now, in the ’00s, a commitment to DIY writing, producing, recording, promoting, and purusing new opportunities in those fields via the digital revolution.

Her solo discography to-date includes: Open the Door (1998, Renaissance); Out from Under (2001, Little Sister Records); and, After the Flood (2004, Little Sister Records). Her song, “Personal Revolution” appears on the compilation CD, Girls Night Out. She is currently working on her fourth album, as yet untitled, with producers David Bianco (Tom Petty, Teenage Fanclub) and Steve Baughman (Eminem, 50 Cent).

Janet Robin is born (1966) and raised in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, so I have to wonder: What turns a potentially straight-up Valley Girl into a music business warrior?
A few minutes into our conversation I know the answer. Destiny.

Her fate’s sealed at the age of eight when she signs up for guitar lessons from Randy Rhoads.

Yes, the Randy Rhoads.

But, you don’t survive or thrive in the music business because you took lessons from Randy Rhoads. You don’t survive any serious business because you had a famous teacher. And we’re not talking here about just any serious business. We’re talking about a dog-eat-dog world that would make Darwin weep.

Want to know what it takes to survive in the music business and keep the love affair alive?

You’re about to find out.

Interview

[The interview took place on October 6, 2006. It felt more like an informal conversation than a formal interview. It’s presented here in a different format from and less formal in tone than other interviews you’ll read on Guitar International to help preserve that conversational feel and to help turn a reader into an eavesdropper. — Tom Watson]

Tom Watson: How did you avoid dental school?

Janet Robin: [Laughs] Wow, that’s a good question, Tom.

Tom: Your father’s a dentist, your brother’s a dentist. What happened?

Janet: That is a good question. Actually, there was one suggestion of me getting involved in the dental profession, but it was only because I think my parents were thinking, oh, that would be a secure job or whatever. But, actually, they mentioned it only once when I was younger. I’ve been playing guitar and playing music forever. I started when I was six. I was in and out of bands, garage bands, when I was a teenager, and then, of course, I was in Precious Metal and I started professional gigs. They quickly found out that dental school definitely was not in my future.

What’s funny is that I started when my brother was playing guitar and I sort of followed in his footsteps. I was kind of the tomboy. He started taking guitar, so I started taking guitar. He kept it up for a little while, until around the beginning of high school. And we jammed together. We didn’t really have a band, per se, but we jammed in the garage and whatnot, and I thought it was really cool. I sort of got the music bug. I think when he got into high school, he was over it, and I was not. I had sort of found my … I guess I found my best friend, you know?

Tom: Classical guitar lessons came first?

Janet: Yes, but it was only for a couple of years. I started when I was six at this place called Valley Arts Guitars – it doesn’t exist anymore – for about two years, so six to seven to eight. And then I took from a woman named Arlene who taught at Musonia, which happened to be right around the corner from our house. We got a recommendation to go to her, both my brother and I. I worked with her until I was about 10, and so did my brother. And then, of course, he was four years older than me, and he was like, “I want an electric guitar. I want the chicks.” So he got an electric guitar, and then I quickly followed with whining to my parents about getting an electric guitar too. We were at Musonia and Mrs. Rhoads, who owned the place, said, “We have an electric guitar teacher, he’s my son, and you’ll really like him. He’s amazing.”

It was Randy Rhoads.

Tom: How do you spell Musonia?

Janet: M-u-s-o-n-i-a. It’s still there. I’m not sure if she’s there. I’m sure she’s retired. But I visited her many years ago, maybe 10 or 15 years ago. She was still there working. I don’t know who owns it or what’s going on with it, but my parents still live in the same house, so I’ll go visit them and swing by there. I still see the sign and everything so somebody is doing something there.

Tom: Her son happens to be Randy Rhoads.

Janet: Her son happens to be Randy Rhoads and we start taking lessons from this guy. And basically the lessons, in the beginning, were: “I would like to just go and sit and watch you play,” because he was so incredible.

Tom: Was he with Quiet Riot at that time?

Janet: Yes. He was in Quiet Riot. And once we got knee-deep in lessons, it was great taking from him. It was a very unstructured lesson. He’d show me some scales or he’d show me some riffs to play and then he’d sit there and wail away like a madman. And I’m like this 10-year-old little girl going, “Okay. I can’t believe this is happening.” And my brother is 14, and he’s totally in love with him.

Tom: He must’ve been in heaven.

Janet: Yeah. He’s, like, oh my God, this is awesome. And of course, when I got older, I started taping some lessons. I have no idea where those tapes are, like an idiot.

Tom: That’s too bad.

Janet: So, when I’m between the ages of 10 and 15, he was in Quiet Riot, and our family would go and watch him at a club that doesn’t exist anymore called the Starwood. It was a very famous club in the ’70s and early ’80s. It was in Hollywood. I’ve got unusual parents. They’re just really open-minded and very supportive. We’d go watch him and I couldn’t get in unless I was with my parents, obviously, because I was underage.

Tom: Your parents would take you to see Quiet Riot?

Janet: Yes, sir. We would all go, including my brother, and we’d sit there and watch this band. The other guys in the band were cool, but it was all about Randy. You’d go see that band and you’d be like, “Who the hell is that?” He was amazing to me.

My dad’s a dentist, but a bit of a health nut, and Randy sort of knew that and was kind of into vitamins and stuff. So my dad would always bring him a pack of vitamins and powdered vitamin C. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that before, but it’s like crystalized vitamin C in a bag, and we’d hand it to him after the show. It looked like we were giving him cocaine. We were like, “No, no! It’s vitamin C! Vitamin C.” I clearly remember that because it was really funny. But I totally remember my time sitting there watching him, thinking he’s a god of guitar and that I wanted to do that when I grew up.

Tom: What was your first electric guitar?

Janet: My first one was a 1977 white Stratocaster and I got it from Fender. My uncle had a connection at the company and we went down and picked up that guitar along with a Fender Bronco – a little practice amp, which I still have. The guitar, unfortunately, got stolen out of my mom’s station wagon. But from the insurance, when it got stolen, we went and bought a ’78 black Les Paul from Guitar Center because, you know, Randy had played a white Les Paul and everything he did, I wanted to do. So, I got the Les Paul and I continued lessons with him. There was no other girl, from what I know, at the time that was taking from him. Not one girl. I was the only one. I mean, I was a bit of a tomboy and all that, but still, he never questioned …

Tom: Made it a thing?

Janet: Yeah. He never questioned any of it. Never made a comment about me being a girl. Nothing. The only comment … I remember his last comment to my mom was,

“When she gets to be around my age she’s going to be really great.” That’s the few little words that he did say because he rarely spoke. He just didn’t talk very much. He was a very quiet little guy. He’d sit there in the little practice room with his guitar – his Les Paul – and his big, giant cup of Coca-Cola. Every day, that’s what he did. He was amazing. It was great. I was sort of like a sponge. I took it all in. I think I was just sort of adept at playing guitar or playing music. I guess I had some of it in me, and he never told me to practice. Nobody ever told me to practice. I was always in my room playing, anyway.

Tom: When did the garage bands start?

Janet: Oh, I was really young. Like around 11. My neighbor played drums – this boy that I used to hang out with. And he knew some guy that played bass or whatever. It was always guys. Of course, there were no girls back then. I know I’m dating myself and giving away my age, but I really don’t give a rat’s ass about that.

Tom: What year were you born?

Janet: ’66. [Pause] Yep. I mean, I don’t really care. I don’t play that whole game. I am what I am, you know? So back then, there just really were not a lot of girls playing rock ‘n’ roll instruments.

Tom: Did that cross your mind at the time? You knew at an early age that you wanted to make something out of this. Did the lack of women in the business mean anything to you?

Janet: No. It never crossed my mind. I would go in my brother’s room and look at his walls. He had all the rock posters. Do you remember the magazine Circus?

Tom: Sure.

Janet: They used to have those pull-out posters and he would take those and put them up on his wall. He’d have Angus Young up there and Jimmy Page, all sweaty with their double-neck guitars. I just thought, “Man, that’s freakin’ cool.” And I grew up listening to all that music. All I heard from that room was Zeppelin, Sabbath, the Beatles, David Bowie, Heart. I mean, that’s all I listened to because he was playing it.

Tom: You’ve got your older brother on one hand and Randy Rhoads on the other.

Janet: Exactly. And I was going to see Randy play, so I was inundated with that stuff.

Tom: Precious Metal formed while you were still in high school?

Janet: I was 16 … between the ages of 16 and 17. When I got in that band I was a senior. I answered an ad. I was in bands through high school, just little projects, still being the odd woman out. They’re all male bands. I got a little grief as I got older. The guys couldn’t really take it for whatever reason. Either I was better than them or just the fact that I was a girl. So, I just kept drudging along, and I picked up the Recycler and looked at some ads in there and there was an ad for an all-girl rock band looking for a female lead guitarist. I was like, “Oh, that’s me.” There was only one ad, I think, and I answered it. These two girls were putting this band together. They had already met a producer, this guy named Paul Sabu, which seemed relatively professional at the time. I auditioned and got it.

There’s no money or anything involved in the beginning. But then we got the singer and the bass player and the singer came prepared with tons of songs. She had already had a hit in Europe in a previous band. So, we quickly got our songs together and we made a demo with this producer. Our first gig, actually, was at my high school.

Tom: Was Mara Fox one of the two ladies?

Janet: You know Mara?

Tom: I know of her.

Janet: She was the rhythm guitarist. She was one of the founding members.

Tom: There’s a story that the president of Polygram heard your demo tape…

Janet: I’m leading up to that story. So, we had a couple of gigs in high school and then I started going to college – UCLA – and we were still keeping the band going. We had finished our demo, like I said, and we got it to Rodney on The Rock at K-Rock. At the time, either him or somebody else had a noontime local-music show. You know, now all the local music shows are at like freakin’ 1:00 in the morning when nobody’s listening. This happened to be on K-Rock right smack at noon.

Rodney had played one of our songs on his show, which was at night, but I think he then passed it on to somebody else for the local-music show at noon and they played it. Russ Reagan, who was president of Polygram Records back then, was driving down Sunset Boulevard. It was the timing. He had the radio on and heard our song and was like, “Who the hell is that?” You know? He called the station and they said who we were and that we were an all-girl band, which tantalized him even more. There was already the Go-Gos, they were happening already, but there was nobody doing the edgier stuff that we were. We met him the next day then he came to a couple of our shows and signed us. It was within a week. Really, it all happened fast.

Tom: At this time, was Precious Metal a metal group?

Janet: The name was a bit of a problem. It was slightly misleading. We chose that name because we thought it was appropriate for a female band – Precious is the soft side and Metal’s a hard, edgy side – because we weren’t doing “pop” pop music. Actually, we fit more along the lines of like a Poison or like a hair band. Like Bon Jovi. That kind of ’80s music.

Tom: The ’80s thing.

Janet: It was an ’80s thing, but back then they were very specific about that name because they felt that maybe we were like Metallica or really, really hardcore, and we weren’t. We were more like a Poison. We actually ended up riding with Poison and some of those bands, you know, Heart and whatnot. But the name was a little bit of a problem at radio. We managed to get some radio play, but even then we’d get an attitude from an MD [music director] of, “We only allow one female on our roster.”

Tom: Did Precious Metal do Club Lingerie? The Music Machine? Roxy? Whiskey?

Janet: We used to sell out the Roxy and Lingerie. We actually had our Polygram record release at Lingerie. We were one of those bands that had the lines down the street. We were very, very popular in L.A. Huge.

Tom: Ever play Al’s Bar?

Janet: No, we never did that. That was a little more of the alternative side of things. We were like Whiskey, Roxy, and Lingerie. At the time, in the Valley, there was a place called FM Station. We used to play there all the time. We were quite famous in L.A. Lots of write-ups in the L.A. Weekly. So it was going quite well and I dropped out of college. We kept touring and our record sold like 30,000 or 40,000 copies.

We eventually got dropped but then we got picked up by another label for two other records down the line. So the band kept going for about six to seven years. That was my life for quite awhile.

Tom: When you were with Precious Metal were you taken seriously as a guitarist?

Janet: When I got in Precious Metal, Randy had already died. He died when I was a junior in high school. So, I was still taking lessons from his replacement. When Randy got the Ozzy gig, this guy, Steve Sonorsborg, replaced him [at Musonia] and I kept taking. Then I saw Randy one more time. He came home in between Ozzy tours to visit his family. He was so dedicated to music and teaching he taught for that week. That was the last time I saw him. He went back to Florida and then he ended up dying. I never saw him again. It was terrible when I found out, by the way. It was awful. I cried so much.

Anyhow, I kept playing and taking from Steve. I was still taking a little bit throughout my time with Precious Metal. It wasn’t until I was midway through that band that I stopped taking lessons.

Tom: How were the crowds at the Roxy, Whiskey? I mean, you sold out, so were they taking you…

Janet: They loved it. We were good. I mean, we were pretty good musicians for our age and what we were doing as being women – there really weren’t many around. Later on, in ’89 or ’90, Vixen came out and they had the big record deal, bigger than us, and they had the big muscle behind them. They were also a bit more sexpot than we were and they, of course, blew up. They had a hit or something. They were like our nemesis.

It’s not that we didn’t do the whole “we look hot in our clothes, blah, blah, blah” like all the male bands. The male bands did that, too. But we were very about “look, we can play.” We were very much about that, and we wanted people to take us seriously. We got so many comments. We got comments like, “Are your boyfriends playing backstage?” Ridiculous shit. Dildos being thrown onstage. Really disrespectful things. I’ve seen it all and I’ve heard it all.

Tom: The crowds at the Whiskey and places like the Roxy, a lot of those were your fellow musicians too, right?

Janet: Yeah. We had a lot of guys come out and see us. A lot were musicians and some were just weird guy fans that liked girls. We were very, very popular. I mean, we’d sell out those places and get major write-ups. And we really had a good time, for LA. Then we’re on the road and we would be kind of famous in some of these other towns because we had gotten a lot of press from being on a major label and a lot of people knew us in some of the other towns. So I experienced that.

Tom: I’ve seen photos of you playing with your teeth. Is that for real?

Janet: Yeah.

Tom: It wasn’t a publicity stunt?

Janet: Nope. I think I saw Jimi Hendrix doing that on some film one time, and I was like, “Oh, I can freakin’ do that.”

Tom: I did it in the ’70s. I used to bleed afterwards.

Janet: It never hurt my teeth or anything. I’d seen Yngwie Malmsteen a few times and I was, like, a little showmanship won’t hurt and people like that. I still do it every once in awhile.

Tom: Precious Metal had two guitar players, you and Mara Fox. Did you get the double-lead thing going?

Janet: Only a few times. There were a couple of times where we would share leads. I was really the technical lead guitar player. Sometimes we’d stand on stage and do a double harmony solo or something like that.

Tom: What guitars did you use in the Precious Metal years?

Janet: Back then, what happened was that I followed again in Randy’s footsteps when he got the Ozzy gig. I was reading all about him and I saw he’d gotten with Jackson and got involved with Jackson. When I got my deal with Precious Metal, we got some money and had a lot more power to go to guitar companies. So, I approached Jackson myself, told them what I’d done and who I was and who my guitar teacher was. They made me a custom Soloist and I went down to the company many times and wanted them to customize it as much as possible. I got two Jacksons and those were my main axes when I was with Precious Metal.

Tom: Mara Fox got an endorsement deal with B.C. Rich, didn’t she?

Janet: She did. I hated that guitar. I thought it sucked and I wasn’t at all interested in that company.

Tom: I was wondering because I saw you with the Jacksons and I saw her with B.C. Rich.

Janet: She went with B.C. Rich. But Jackson was the way to go. They make great guitars. The necks were awesome, the body fit me really well, and they were really cool about working with me.

Tom: They had a good custom shop early on.

Janet: They did. It was freakin’ far though, man. I had to drive all the way down to Monrovia, I think it was. The guys were really cool. They had a good idea of what I wanted the paint to look like. They gave me suggestions on pickups and that was my introduction to the JB Seymour Duncan pickups and the better model of the Floyd Rose back then. They chose a bunch of necks for me to try out so I would get the one that I wanted. They were really cool. Of course, I paid for the guitar, but they gave me an incredible discount. It was a lot of money. I can’t remember. I had two of those and I still have them. I will never sell them. They’re classic.

Tom: I’m told that MTV and VH1 play Precious Metal videos from time to time.

Janet: I think they might. Maybe on one of those metal shows or something.

Tom: Headbanger’s Ball maybe.

Janet: I haven’t seen it. Yeah, it’s possible. We did do a video. Later on, when we got signed to Chameleon, which is sort of an offshoot of Capitol, we had money again and the ball was rolling again. We managed to do this cover called “Mr. Big Stuff”.

Tom: The Donald Trump video?

Janet: Right. Well, originally we filmed it with Donald but he ended up pulling all of his scenes. I don’t know. For whatever reason, he got in a fight with our record label president and wanted to have all of his scenes edited out. We were able to use shadows of him and whatnot, so it came out pretty good and it definitely got some play on MTV. I don’t know about now, honestly, if they’re still playing it. I don’t have MTV, so I don’t know. But I do know that there are random things on eBay for sale.

Tom: You sat down and met Trump when you shot the video, right?

Janet: Oh yeah. Me and the singer, Leslie, went to New York and filmed the video there. Then we did the alternate band shots at another place out in L.A. But Leslie and I went there, and it was a whole promotional thing. And then he ended up pulling out. It was a whole bunch of bullshit. But, whatever. It was a good experience.

Tom: Women and guitars in the ’80s…

Janet: Really hard, hardcore. Really just a lot of misogynistic comments and very hard to be taken seriously. The one thing I had going for me was my cred of being taught by Randy. Once you mention that, people are like, “Oh, okay.” So they totally took me seriously once I mentioned that, but it was still really hard. If you’re at all attractive and you’re a woman – of course you’ve got to dress cool, it’s rock ”n roll – they’re just going to look at you in this way that, to them, may not read musician.

Tom: More a novelty kind of thing.

Janet: Exactly. And back then … I mean, you’re talking about the most misogynistic time of music with the hair bands, you know, the guys that are trying to look like girls, and we were already girls.

Tom: Glam rock…

Janet: Yeah, but we were already women playing music. It’s kind of ironic. So, we had a little niche for ourselves and we got some good press. We were very confident songwriters. We had some good songs and there was some good playing going on in the band.

Tom: Would girls talk to you at the gig and ask how you got into it?

Janet: Yes. There would be random girls that would come and talk to us. Absolutely. There was a contingency, a very small one, of women that had started playing back then. There were other girl bands, Girl School was around, you know. There had been the Runaways in the ’70s. So there were some girls that were following some of those bands and we sort of fell into that category.

Tom: What would be one or two songs from the Precious Metal days I should listen to that feature your solos?

Janet: There’s a great solo on our last record called “Easier Than You Think”. There’s a solo on that that I really like. I loved the song that we wrote with Ann and Nancy Wilson called “Trouble”. I just love that song. I’m not sure about the guitar, but Nancy and I are playing guitar on that. It’s a little mixture of acoustic and electric, which, you know, I have a lot of roots in. But solo-wise, “Easier Than You Think” has a pretty rockin’ freakin’ solo. There’s actually a MySpace Precious Metal page where you can listen to some Precious Metal music.

Tom: This is all electric guitar. When did the acoustic come into the picture?

Janet: When you asked me when I started, I started on acoustic. When I was six, I was playing classical. Then when I went to Arlene at Musonia we switched to steel string acoustic and I was playing fingerpicking stuff. She was the first person that showed me fingerpicking and all the folk kind of style of strumming and all those kinds of chords. She was actually very good, especially at fingerpicking. I learned some classical fingerpicking, but then I learned some folk fingerpicking. And when I took from Randy and he was a classical guitar fanatic. I don’t know if you knew that. So fanatical that when he got the Ozzy gig he hired a classical guitar teacher to go on the road with him. So, he would occasionally throw in some things in our lessons that were based around some of that stuff.

But for a long period of time I didn’t really play much acoustic. In Precious Metal there were a couple of songs that maybe would intro on the acoustic or whatnot and I’d have an acoustic on a stand on stage and I’d go and play it for the intro. But there was a period of time where I didn’t really pick up the acoustic. It wasn’t until I got the gig with Lindsey Buckingham that I really had to get my acoustic chops up to par.

Tom: Before we get to Lindsey Buckingham, let’s talk about Nancy Wilson. How did you meet the Wilsons?

Janet: Chameleon Records was an offshoot of Capitol, so we had a good in-line with Capitol. When we sat down and got ready to make our second record we really wanted to make a splash and there was a suggestion of getting guest stars on our record and also maybe guest writers. We were, like, “Okay, fine. We’ll be open to that.” We weren’t happy about it, but we were being open to it. Then our label president was like, “Who are your favorite people? Who would you want to work with?” And I’m, like, “Oh, my God. Ann and Nancy Wilson,” because being a woman, when I was growing up there really was nobody to look up to as a female guitarist or even female rockers but Heart.

Heart was the only one for me. And Nancy, certainly, as a woman guitar player. They were on Capitol at the time so it was really, really easy to get in touch with them. We met up with one of their friends, too, Sue Ennis, who’s a writer that they work with a lot. We all met and they loved the fact that we were girl rockers. They were totally into it and supportive. We became friends and flew up to Seattle and worked with them and wrote some songs and drank and smoked and became crazy. We liked to party.

Tom: Was she on the 1988 That Kind of Girl album?

Janet: No. They worked on our last record, which was Precious Metal – self-titled. They worked on that one and we did demos of a couple of songs. One song called “Trouble” actually made it to the record. Then we flew Nancy out to come and play and sing on that song when we were in the studio, back when there were real recording studios.

Tom: Are you still friends today?

Janet: I wouldn’t say that we’re as close as we were back then because we were working together. But, we’re definitely acquaintances. I see her every once in awhile. When they come to town I’ll go and see their show and go backstage and we’ll have a little chat. When I got the Lindsey gig, she was very, very happy for me. She actually came to my show and we all went out to dinner. So that was awhile ago. But, I think I saw them about two years ago they were in San Diego and I went to the show. Back in 1999 or 2000, I opened for them. So, every once in awhile our paths will cross again.

Tom: Precious Metal broke up in 1992?

Janet: Around 1992 or 1991.

Tom: What happened in between the breakup of Precious Metal and the Lindsey Buckingham gig?

Janet: I was in a little band with Leslie [Knauer], the Precious Metal singer, called Sugar Shack. It went absolutely nowhere, Tom. It went nowhere.

Tom: What style of music was that?

Janet: It was a lot more pop-rock. It wasn’t as heavy as Precious Metal. Leslie was very much of a pop songwriter, but she always wanted to rock it out, so she’d have me on the side rockin’ it out, you know? I provided the edge for her. We did a lot of co-writing together in Precious Metal. And then when we started that little band we continued the co-writing expedition and I had this whole thing like, “Well, I’m going to give it a year and then see what happens.” I was working at recording studios trying to pay my rent. Then I got a call to audition for Lindsey Buckingham’s band and I auditioned.

Tom: You got a call from an agent, right?

Janet: Yeah. There was a woman out here that, at one point, was responsible for putting bands together with major artists, and her assistant was somebody that used to work at the label that Precious Metal was on. When somebody gets a call for a female guitar player it’s so specific. There’s only a few of us and he totally remembered my name and got me the audition.

I remember it very, very clearly because it was around my birthday and that evening I was having a huge party at my apartment. Like, 50 people were coming to my apartment and the audition was that day. We didn’t know anything about what the audition was. They just said, “Go and bring your guitar.” So I showed up.

The way that Lindsey is, nothing goes very fast, including auditions. So there was a lot of sitting around and a lot of smoking pot though I didn’t do any of that. Everybody was hanging out and talking. Then he’d pick up a guitar and say, “Try playing this part,” so I’d play a little and then we’d play together. He’d already gotten a couple of the other guitar players in the band, so I was playing with them. Then he’d throw me a harmony part and I’d sing a little bit. Then we’d sit around again. The audition, I am so serious, went on for like four hours.

Tom: You were auditioning for his Out of the Cradle tour. What was the concept behind having so many guitar players?

Janet: You know, if you listen to that record, or any of his solo records, they’re very, very layered. Layered with lots of guitar parts, either one’s doubling another or there’s a harmony or a second-up or something. And he really, really wanted to recreate that sound that he had on that record. On top of that, he wanted the background vocals, which he also layers. In order to give him a female sound on some of his background vocals, he would slow down the tape and record it at a slower speed and then play it back. So he was like, “Well, screw it. I want to kill two birds with one stone. Why don’t I get a female guitarist that can sing?”

Tom: That’s why the tour had two male and two female guitarists in addition to Buckingham.

Janet: That’s why. And there was a much larger band beyond that. I mean, we had two percussion players because he’s really into the percussion/rhythm thing, and then there was a drummer, bass player, and a keyboard player.

Tom: He’s been quoted calling that the “crazy band”.

Janet: Yeah. It was a little crazy but he’s a master arranger. You might think that could be really overwhelming but there were times where I wouldn’t play during verses and maybe just come in on the chorus or whatnot. It was very minimalist in a sense.

Tom: Were you playing acoustic, acoustic-electric, electric?

Janet: Both, all of it. I was playing acoustic-electric. It was a regular acoustic that we’d plug in and I played electric.

Tom: What guitars were you using?

Janet: I had an Alvarez Yairi and then I had a Washburn acoustic-electric that was a thin line, like a solid-body acoustic-electric. And I had my Les Paul that occasionally I’d pick up, but often he would have me play his Fender Strat. I don’t know what year it was, but it was an old one, from like the ’60s.

Tom: What’s the story behind the dueling guitars?

Janet: That was a thing that we’d do in the show. Actually, if you go back in the Rolling Stone archives you’ll see a review of one of our shows and I think I’m the only one from the band mentioned in that review because of the thing. Lindsey happened to be sweet to me and featured me quite a bit in that band. We had a really, really good energy together onstage, and offstage, too. But onstage, it was just really great. We just totally connected. With the dueling guitar thing we thought it’d be sexy and fun and cool to do this sort of, like, you know how you cross the guitar necks onstage? Like at the end of one of his songs, the band was going crazy with the drums and stuff and we’d do this cross-the-guitar-necks then we’d lean down and roll around on stage together. People were, like, “What the hell are they doing?” It looked cool and it was a girl and a guy. You know, it was entertaining. It was very entertaining.

Tom: You didn’t get a lot of opportunity to solo on the tour did you?

Janet: Not a lot, but actually that was the song that we closed with. No, we closed with “Go Your Own Way”. But before that song, we played the dueling guitars song, “This Is The Time” where he featured everybody in the band. He had an arrangement where he’d break, and then the drummer would do a little fill-in, and then he’d break, and then I’d do a guitar thing and he’d show off each member in the band. It was sort of a showmanship kind of thing. So I had one moment where I got to do a very fast Randy riff, you know?

Tom: Would that be on the Strat?

Janet: Yeah, that was on the Strat usually. I played his, and then I had a blue Strat at one point. That was sort of a Frankenstrat that I had put together. I found the neck somewhere and I had the body, it was like a Fender Lead 1 body, a smaller body. I had that guitar built when I was in Precious Metal and I used it in Lindsey’s band as well. Yeah, the Jacksons were just not appropriate for Lindsey’s gig. I really switched gears when I got that gig. I came off this hard rock, all-girl band, and he had to talk to me about my wardrobe and whatnot.

Tom: When you went to the audition did he know you had been with Precious Metal?

Janet: I think he knew I was in some all-girl band. He asked me. I didn’t know what to wear. I didn’t go dressed like a crazy person. But I was wearing … I guess it was the end of ’92, so I wasn’t all glammed out. That wasn’t happening anymore. We were into the grunge phase. But I still looked a little kind of like that. I remember him saying, “Is this how you always dress?” He doesn’t mince any words.

So, we went through a transformation and I also found out quickly what it was like to be … I mean, Precious Metal was pretty professional for what we had at the time, but being in a band with Lindsey was on a way higher level. It was a way bigger situation. I learned about a whole other level of playing, of putting shows together, of rehearsing. He’s so fanatical. He was taping our rehearsals on ADATs and we were each on separate tracks and we didn’t know that we were being taped. He would sit and listen to the rehearsal tapes after we left, and then I remember him sitting down with each of us and saying, you know, “You’ve got to work on your pitch here,” or, “Your timing on this part is not good.” And he clearly said some things to me, like, “If you don’t get this shit together, I’m going to have to replace you.”

Tom: He’s a professional.

Janet: Well, yeah. You don’t get to be Fleetwood Mac for no reason, you know what I mean? And he purposely recruited new people. Almost everybody was a new face in that band. Some of the guys had some previous pro gigs, but nothing major. He wanted to have new people, new blood Obviously, with that comes some of this territory that we had to get through. He scared the hell out of me. That’s when I started my regimen of going to vocal lessons and practicing my guitar and really trying to stay aware. I think when I got that gig I got a massive head and I really wasn’t paying attention to what’s going on here. Then I was quickly humbled because he’s all about the music.

Tom: I heard he spent two hours teaching each of you individually.

Janet: Well, that’s the other thing I was trying to tell you. Because he was listening to these rehearsal tapes, if there was any question about what to play he would sit down with us and go over the parts. He spent a lot of time working with us individually. It was like having a private mentor but it happened to be Lindsey Buckingham. So, I went from Randy Rhoads to Lindsey Buckingham, you know?

Tom: And he has his own approach to playing guitar.

Janet: Oh, God, yeah. I mean, he has, obviously, a custom-built Turner guitar and he doesn’t play with a pick, he only plays with his fingers, including electric and acoustic. And his acoustic guitar playing – his fingerpicking is out of this freakin’ world. He’s one of the best fingerpickers ever. So, my fingerpicking like went through the roof. I didn’t really necessarily have to do much fingerpicking in his band, but when we would sit around and have downtime we would jam a lot.

Tom: You could soak it up.

Janet: Yeah. There was a lot of jamming and a lot of hanging out at his house. You know, he was single back then so we would go to his house in Bel Aire and drink all freakin’ night and play. I didn’t really drink. I really make it sound like it but I’m not a partier at all. I would just watch everybody else drink. We’d sit around and jam because he had a studio there. And every time we went on the road we would jam in his hotel room. I mean it was constant jamming. So, you’re absolutely right, I soaked it up like a sponge.

Tom: Did you pick up alternate tunings?

Janet: Did that too, yep. Picked up some stuff from him. He uses some. Not a lot. I got really involved in the capo. I didn’t really use capos before him, oddly enough. In hair metal music you don’t really need capos because everybody just screams and you can’t tell what key they’re in anyway. So, yeah, I got into that. He had me playing mandolin on one of his songs so I got interested in alternative string instruments. Also, I learned a lot about production because we did do some recording with him. He flew the band to Hawaii for three weeks and we did some recording in Maui. That was a really hard gig, Tom. Rough. You know? [Laughs]

Tom: Sounds really hardcore.

Janet: It was really rough getting up and going snorkeling and then meeting Lindsey Buckingham in the studio for the rest of the day.

Tom: The few times that I’ve seen him play, I couldn’t figure out what fingerings he’s using.

Janet: You can’t figure it out. You have to sit down with him.

Tom: It’s not just me then.

Janet: No. It’s not you. He’s out of control. His version of [Merle] Travis picking is not what you think, you know? It’s not typical Travis. All the guitar players in his band, we always were debating that. You know, he’s a banjo player, so he comes from that … he’s alternating the strings. It’s a Travis style, but he really alternates that version of what you think Travis picking is, and he made up his own things. He comes from playing the bass and playing banjo.

Tom: It’s hard to follow.

Janet: You can’t. You have to sit with him and he has to slowly walk you through it because it’s sort of his own version of fingerpicking. And a lot of the bass, runs with his thumb and then the melody will keep going on. You can hear that in early Fleetwood Mac, like in “Never Going Back Again”, which we also did in the band. Well, he did it solo. That’s a perfect example of classic Lindsey Buckingham picking. Then, you know, the easy, very Travis-style of “Landslide” that he did with Stevie.

Tom: Did those techniques become part of you? Is it something you’ve kept?

Janet: Yeah. I soaked it up. I totally soaked it up. I got some ideas of arrangement as an approach to song writing. We had a little foray into writing together. He was very, very supportive of my writing efforts. In fact, one time he called me specifically to meet him at the rehearsal studio, just the two of us, and we sat there and jammed all day and he recorded it. Nothing ever came from it.

Tom: What an experience.

Janet: Oh, it was great. And we did a lot of recording, like I said, later on with the band. At one point, it was looking like he was going to have the band do a record with him. But in the end, that never really happened and I don’t know what happened to those tapes. But, yeah, I soaked it all up.

That gig went on for like three years. We did a couple of tours and then we did some recording. We didn’t know where it was all going to go. I just got really inspired to do my own thing, and he was very inspiring. People had been telling me I should start singing more and that I’m a good writer. I did all that writing in Precious Metal with the singer and I had Lindsey telling me that I was a good writer and I looked to him for inspiration.

I’d done a lot of singing in his band and I learned what it took to become a singer, at least a background singer. So, I thought, well, I’ll see what I can do with my own thing now. Now’s the time. I was young … younger. His gig had ended and I really didn’t know what was around the corner for me. I really thought the phone was going to be ringing left and right when I got home and that gig ended but it wasn’t. There were a few auditions for some gigs but I turned them down and started just really working on my own material.

Tom: This period ends around 1995, 1996?

Janet: Around 1995 or so.

Tom: You record your first album, Open the Door, in 1998. But in between ’95 and ’98, is that the Meredith Brooks…

Janet: Nope. That’s after. In between, I was writing, playing gigs, trying to get my shit together as a singer and doing things for like three years or so. Then I recorded that record, put it out, and then started playing around and getting better gigs and more press and stuff. No, the Meredith Brooks thing happened later. Way later. 2002. By the time I got the Meredith gig I’d already done two CDs of my own on my own little label and I’d done a lot of touring, sort of Ani DiFranco style, taking my guitar and playing anywhere and everywhere. So, I was already entrenched in the indie world as a singer-songwriter when I got the gig with Meredith.

Tom: Did you open for Meredith?

Janet: I did one time. We went on the road with Melissa Etheridge. We opened for her for about a month. In between, Meredith had a couple of shows of her own and she had me open for her.

Tom: Is that the tour she got pulled off of?

Janet: Right. She got pulled off because her label kind of went to hell. But we were out for awhile. It was a great run and it was a good bill together. Meredith I knew when I was in Precious Metal. She was friends with our drummer. They were in a band together years ago. So, she remembered me. She actually wanted that Lindsey Buckingham gig but it didn’t happen. She wasn’t “Meredith Brooks” back then. She was just playing around in bands and whatnot. But she remembered that I had gotten that gig. She was very, very respectful of my playing and of me as a woman musician. I was surprised that she wanted to have another female guitar player in the band but she was all for it.

Tom: What album was she supporting on this tour?

Janet: It was called Bad, Bad One and it was on Gold Circle Records. I did a lot of radio promo with her. Actually, what happened was she hired me just to be her radio promo guitarist and she was looking for an acoustic guitarist. She’s not really into playing acoustic and she needed another guitar player to help her out on this radio tour.

Tom: What guitar were you using?

Janet: I had a Taylor at that point. I was endorsed by Taylor. She needed me to help her on the road doing these radio shows to promote her records. This is before she put her band together. So, I went out and did that and it was pretty successful and we got along well. She ended up saying, “I need to put a regular band together and I want you to be my guitarist.” I was stoked. I wasn’t sure she was going to keep me. Then we got the tour with Melissa.

Yeah, there were a couple of times I opened for her. She let me play an acoustic set. I was very well versed in that because that’s what I’d been doing on my own. She also let me sell my CDs at all the Melissa shows and the opening spots. She was very cool to me. Very, very cool. I’m grateful to her and it was a good gig. It was fun.

Tom: She would play the Telecaster, right?

Janet: She played the Telecaster so I had to play my Les Paul because we couldn’t play the same … we actually had the same guitar, you know? So, there were some requirements and obviously, as a hired musician, I had to follow them. I was fine playing my Les Paul. I love that guitar. So, she had the Tele covered and I played the Paul. I play my Tele mostly now.

Tom: What year is the Tele?

Janet: I have a ’52 reissue. I love that guitar. I do play my Les Paul every once in a while when it’s required for that kind of sound, but for the most part I’m playing my Tele. The Les Paul is so damn heavy. I mean, it really is, you know?

Tom: Have you had any modifications made to your reissue?

Janet: None. None whatsoever. Sounds freakin’ great. I also have a [Fender] Blues Deluxe tweed [amp]. That’s a reissue, too. And I have a pedal board that I built myself. It has various pedals on it.

Tom: Like what?

Janet: Well, there’s some boutique ones, like the Hotcake. It’s a great distortion pedal. I’d say it’s a huge notch up from, say, an MXR. Then I have a wah-wah pedal. You know, your standard Duncan wah. I have a Univibe. I have a great tremolo from Voodoo Lounge. I have a delay on there and a volume pedal. It’s pretty minimal, just enough for what you need.

Tom: Who’s your guitar tech?

Janet: I usually go to a place called Trutone Music. It’s in Santa Monica. But rarely do I need to go there. It’s only for little things on my electrics. On my acoustic, my main acoustic guitar, and I’d say 90% of my solo [performance] work is on my acoustic these days, I go straight to Taylor. Taylor takes care of it for me. Their deal with me is unlimited lifetime maintenance on my guitar.

Tom: That’ll work.

Janet: Yeah. It’s pretty good.

Tom: What Taylor model are you using most?

Janet: I’m using a Dan Crary. It’s the signature model. They don’t make it anymore.

Tom: Any modifications?

Janet: No modifications. It’s one of the best Taylors ever. I got it in like 1996. I love it. And those guys are great. I can’t say enough good things about Taylor. They’re as supportive as they can be. They’ve gotten me some shows and featured me in some Wood&Steel articles and I’m really good friends with Mike Keneally.

Tom: Another Taylor fan.

Janet: Yeah. Occasionally, Mike and I share the same band members. Bryan Beller [bass], Joe Travers [drums] and Rick Musallam [guitar] play in my band. We both use the same guys so I’ve done a couple of opening spots for Mike, which, you’d think, oh, that could be a weird combo. Actually, it’s not.

Tom: Interesting.

Janet: His audience is Zappa fans and whatnot but they’re music aficionados and they dig seeing a girl rocking up there with a freakin’ acoustic guitar that’s not whiny coffeehouse crap. It’s song writing and it’s guitar playing.

Tom: I think they also know that if Keneally has you up there, there’s a reason for it.

Janet: There must be a reason. I remember last year we did two shows up north and it went really, really well. I sold a bunch of CDs and I was talked about on his bulletin board. I wasn’t sure what his fans were going to think but they were way into it. That’s the kind of notoriety and validation that I’ve been looking for.

Tom: Especially as a guitarist.

Janet: Only as a guitarist. But, obviously, I’m seeking more in the singing and the song writing category. But, let’s face it, guitar is my strength. That’s my thing. When you think of Jimi Hendrix you think, “Oh, my God. Guitar player.” Not to say that he wasn’t an amazing songwriter or a really unique singer. He was. But I want to be thought of in that way. That’s been my thing all my life.

Tom: In the ’80s you’ve got a problem because you’re a woman and not many women are playing rock or metal or any of that. Then in the ’90s you start getting this thing where, okay, you’re a woman, but now you’ve got to do folk music …

Janet: Yeah. That was bad, too.

Tom: You can’t be a serious guitar player. You’ve got to play some chords and sing.

Janet: Yeah. I think, Tom, that’s why it’s taken me so long to get a major record deal or any record deal. They don’t really know where to put me. I don’t really fit in anything. I can’t fit in the Lilith Fair thing, per se, because I’m too edgy on the guitar.

But I think the time’s coming around. You know, the music is really different now. You make your own niche. Frankly, if I got a small record deal and sold 40,000 copies, I’d be fine with that. You don’t have to sell 200,000 copies. I just want to have a long career doing what I do in my style of music. There’s plenty of guitarists out there – Willie Porter, Richard Thompson – there’s these guitar players that are very niche-y. They fit in their own category of playing. I think that’s what I’m doing. That’s my future, you know?

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