Jenna's Revenge blog

A triumphant return

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 20:31:05 GMT

Greetings to all our friends and fans on this most excellent of evenings when we have some superb news to announce!

As many of you know Sic decided to leave us earlier this year and since then we've been struggling to find someone to fill his rather special shoes. We had several auditions (many thanks to everyone who came and tried out with us) and we eventually found a special person who would have been a big surprise to many of you who we thought might work out.

Having had a few practices with her (yes, that's right, it was a she) we had some tunes coming together and we think she is extremely talanted. However, out of the blue last weekend Sic contacted us to ask if we had found a replacement for him yet as over the last few months his plans have changed somewhat and he'd decided that he missed us (awww...).

A rather large dilema for us all then. Brad, Craig and I thought long and hard about what we should do and eventually came to the decision that while we all think Kristy is great Jenna's has been hugely defined by Sic's voice and we'd all missed writing with him (and drinking with him too!).

So with a huge thank you to Kristy for her understanding we're all massively excited to annouce that Sic has re-joined Jenna's Revenge!

We're working on a whole new set of material which we're looking forward to bringing to you live as soon as possible to kick start a new era for us. Jenna's are back baby!

Transition

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:47:43 GMT

As you may have noticed we've had a bit of an uncertain time over the last couple of months or so since Sic decided the time was right for him to pursue a dream he has had for a long time and move himself to Prague. Obviously this posed a bit of a problem for us as commuting to practice would be a minor inconvenience to say the least! We're all naturally very sad to see Sic go as he has been our frontman and focal point from the very beginning of Jenna's and shaped us into what we are, but with that said we all wish him the best in his new life and on the plus side it means we have a place to stay if we want a weekend away in the Czech Republic.

Since his decision we've been looking at new singers and hope to find someone new very soon.

We'll be carrying out an update to the website as soon as we can get some photos done and will be recording some new tracks just as soon as possible. We'll be writing a whole new set with the new singer when we find them so when we come back gigging it'll be all new stuff for you to feast your ears upon..

Peace!

Silence followed by a deafening roar

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:19:03 GMT

Paul Gilbert played at the Brook in Southampton on 9th November 2010 and our very own Craig was there to watch. Here are his thoughts on the evening:

"Let me start by saying I am a massive Paul Gilbert fan. From his days in RacerX and Mr Big through to his solo career, Paul's playing has influenced and inspired me greatly. This was the 5th time I've had the pleasure of seeing him play live.

So, the support band (Kodiak Jack, who're friends of ours) at the brook have finished playing to a good reception and the atmosphere is buzzing, awaiting the arrival of the man himself and his band onstage. They open with 'silence followed by a deafening roar', the opening and title track from Paul's last album. It's one of my favourite Gilbert instrumentals and it kick starts the set perfectly, the crowd lapping up every note he plays. And there are a lot of notes. Most of them pretty damn fast too!

In Paul's band were the ever present Jeff Bowers on drums and Craig Martini on bass. These guys played with Paul two years ago when I saw them and they are the tightest, most talented rhythm section you could witness. Replacing Paul's wife Emi, who played keyboards on his previous recent tours, was guitarist/vocalist Tony Spinner. Tony continuously harmonised and duelled Paul on guitar all evening and it was a genius decision to have him on the tour. Tony is an amazing guitarist in his own right and the crowd loved the constant interplay between him and Paul.

Here's the set from memory: Silence followed by a deafening roar, The last rock & roll star, (from collaboration with Freddie Nelson), Fuzz universe, Olympic, Rock me baby (Robin Trower cover), Paul vs Godzilla, Scarified (RacerX), Will my screen door stop Neptune, Green-tinted sixties mind (Mr Big), Technical difficulties (RacerX), Roundabout (Yes cover), Batter up, Norwegian cowbell, Light my fire (Doors cover), -Encore- I want to be loved (Muddy waters cover), I'm not addicted (from collaboration with Freddie Nelson), Don't fear the reaper (Blue oyster cult cover), Go down (AC/DC cover).

He also did a couple of impromptu covers, just him singing with his guitar, of 'Stonehendge' by Spinal Tap (as requested by an audience member, and ingeniously reproduced by Paul with mock english accent much to the crowd's amusement) and Johnny Cash's 'Leave that junk alone', which he sand pretty much spot on in Cash's distinct voice and tone. Really nice to see Paul interact with the crowd audience on these songs. Paul seemed more comfortable chatting to the audience which was great, rather than his usual approach of song after song of insane guitar playing interspersed with the odd "YEAH" shouted between songs.

I've never heard Paul play so many covers in his set and normally it would irritate me slightly, buI have to say that the way Paul and his band skillfully played, changed, and in my opinion bettered the originals left me wanting more and I almost forgot I'd come to see aul basically play fast instrumeguitar. He can sing pretty well and Tony Spinner has an amazing voice too, so they could pretty much play and sing whatever they want to. Definitely had more of a band feel about him this tour, rather than the Paul Gilbert show as before, and I for one welcomed it.

Final word on the crowd that night, who were absolutely brilliant. Cheered and sang along all night and you could tell the band completely fed off it and didn't want to leave the stage at the end.

Bring on the next tour!

Cheers.
Craig"

Come stay at Top hotel

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:19:55 GMT

As some of you may by now be aware we've been working on a new album "Top hotel" for a little while now and we finished the recording and mixing process a few weeks back. If you're interested in hearing a couple of tracks feel free to visit www.myspace.com/jennasrevenge or our own media page here and check out "Replace" and "Take your chances". Let us know what you think, we like hearing from you guys!

So, now that it's finished we've got a treat in store for it's release. On 10th December at the Joiners in Southampton we're having a release party and the magnificent Dear Superstar will be headlining with the equally superb Jettblack in support and also our friends Ancient Shamans. Tickets for this are a mere 6 quid and given the quality of the acts playing that's a bargain! Drop us an email right away to band@jennasrevenge.co.uk and we can arange to get tickets to you.

Following the gig Top hotel will be available on itunes, Amazonmp3, Spotify, Napster, and a few other places as well as being available as a download or hard copy cd (for those of you who are proper old school like us!) right here on our very own site and of course from us at gigs.

We hope you'll come and join us on the 10th, it'd be awesome to see you there, come and say hi, and also that you'll enjoy the album as much as we've enjoyed making it!

A not so crooked shepherd?

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:20:44 GMT

So last weekend we played a show at a little pub in Portsmouth called the Shepherds Crook and before we got there I think it's fair to say we all had some mild misgivings about the whole affair for a number of reasons.
Firstly we were booked on quite short notice by one of the other acts playing, who happened to be a solo accoustic singer with political leanings, and were told that the other two acts were also solo accoustic acts. "Surely we aren't what you want for this show?" we said, but the guy was sure he wanted us so we agreed...
Secondly we'd all heard random stuff about this particular pub claiming it is, not to put too fine a point on it, pretty rough with a clientele that are as likely to gouge your eye out with a bottle as to actually listen to what you're playing.
However, upon arrival we were met by a superb landlord (Jodie, thanks again bud!) who made us feel welcome and proceeded to set up PA, lights etc with no fuss whatsoever.
The accoustic guys went on, one by one, and each was entertaining in different ways, but what they all shared in common was that they were naturally somewhat more quiet than we are... We felt a little nervous about this as we went on stage, the locals had been polite to the accoustic guys but had also tended to be chatting while they played. They wouldn't be able to do that with us playing though.
Turns out we needn't have worried, we played as we always do, Sic climbing on stuff as per usual, and ended up playing three encores!
Here's to the Shepherds Crook! One of the friendliest, most welcoming and best organised pubs we've ever played in and whose reputation should henceforth be cleansed of any and all disrepute! Cheers to Jodie and to all the regulars who made us feel so welcome, we hope to see you again soon!

So, a blog then...

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:20:59 GMT

So apparently it's the trendy thing to write these here blog things and since we're obviously hyper-trendy here in the Jenna's camp we figured we'd finally jump on the band wagon.
Actually though it will be a good way for us to keep you up to date with what's been going on in our little corner of the rock n roll world. We're planning on each of us being able to add to this as and when we feel like it, with no particular subject in mind other than an insight into our own often odd minds as well as updates on band stuff.
Like the release of our new album "Top hotel" at the beginning of December for instance (you may have heard me mention that before from time to time. That's not because I'm quite proud of it at all...).
Well, for now this is just a quick introduction to our blog I guess, the other guys will be adding stuff to it soon. If there's anything you'd like to know about us, our music, the band generally or politics in the 1930's drop us a line, we'd love to hear from you.
Hope you're having a cracking day!
Greg