Interview: Baby Jane: Huge wallet wanted! - STALKER MAGAZINE inside out of rock´n´roll

Baby Jane: Huge wallet wanted!

Sweden seems to be the ultimate birth place of Rock sensations, but those guys from Gothenburg have been overlooked by the industry up to now. Baby Jane create high quality Hard Rock in a quality that has not been heard in a long time. Their fresh music makes them one of the best newcomers in the scene, although the big break-through is still in their future. Two years after our first STALKER interview we talked with Bass player Manx about their self-financed debut album „In the Spotlight“.

Hey guys, how are you doing? It’s been a while since our last interview, what have you been doing in the meantime?
Actually it has been two years where we slowly slowly developed "In The Spotlight". There has happened a lot in everyone´s private life, which made the process ultra slow. Though, when we decided to book a studio, the recordings and mixing were done in 2 months. I think it was a mutual decision to lay low for a while to come back as a monster in a time when a new big act in the hard rock scene is needed so badly!

Back then you have been part of the Mama Trash Family, what happened that you are not part of it anymore?
No, we had a year together and we had nothing to deliver at the time, so we were not in need of Mama Trash´s services by then. But times have changed and we are looking for new partners again. We think Mama Trash, and what she doing is great!

You just recorded your first album “In the Spotlight”. This one was produced by Christian Svedin @ Studio Haga, but the old demos you produced yourselves is that right?
Yeah that´s right, in our own studio. Actually Plan A was to record most of the album ourselves in BJ-studios and only lay the drum&bass in another studio. But when we met Christian and got to love the guy, we all thought it would be a good idea with fresh eyes for the production and I am very happy about that decision!

I am honestly not very familiar with the studio work, so what do you have to take care of, especially when you produce a record on your own?
Oh, the studio bit Christian handled just fine! We only had to play our instruments tight! But it´s a bunch of other stuff you have to do which you have no clue of when you first start the project.
Our distribution company Rambo music was in great help of giving us instructions but it´s a lot...
Everything from doing a 16-pages booklet to fill in a NCB-form (Nordisk Copyright Bureau, the ed.) takes time and its like 100 things like that that has to be done, but this whole process have made us stronger as a band and we are ready to take on the world!

Do you think it is better to have a producer who is not a member of the band, because you get kind of routine-blinded with the songs at some point?
Yes! Well, Christian only co-produced the album and he was excellent in giving his opinions on backing vocals and guitar-parts, but the song writing is 100% Baby Jane.
As I said before, we very much enjoyed having Christians fresh ears with us.
Hes a great studio tech and I reckon he will become big in the business very soon!

I guess it is also a question of money to do such a record, I know nobody likes to talk about money, but I think it might be interesting to know for bands who have not produced anything yet, how much do you have to count in for doing such a record as you did now?
Well, more than you think!
But if you are smart, you can make smart deals. We had a budget of 11.000 euro and we almost managed to hold it, but that included everything from recording, mastering, printing cds, pay our company´s fees, t-shirts etc.
Actually I have heard million dollar productions which sounds a hell lotta worse than ours!

You got a distribution deal for Sweden, but you are still looking for a worldwide Record Label, I guess?
Yes! The album is distributed in Sweden by Rambo/Sony and that´s great, but if you wanna buy the record abroad, you have to import it. Currently we are looking for a record or distribution deal for a world wide release. We are also looking for a good booking agency - and we need it fast, hehe.

Do you think it is so difficult to find one, because of the complete situation in the music business, or what do you think is the reason?
Yeah, there´s no money to earn anymore, so you have to be extra dedicated and believe you can be the one that makes a difference, if you gonna get involved. But of course we hope for a major company to pick us up!

Nowadays almost everybody downloads the music from the internet, what do you think about it? And what should be done about this problem?
Hm, well I think there´s nothing you can do about it anymore.
If a kid can choose between paying 15 euro or get it for free, I guess every kid choose the free way. And the kids got no where to put the cds anymore. I think it´s a bit sad we have come here, but I know others in the band are more than happy about it.
I think it´s great you can get every music you ever wanted fast, but it´s sad in the way that you can´t make money on it as a indie artist. You have to have a daytime job, which we all in Baby Jane have got, and of course the creative mind gets tired after a day´s work and it would be better to lay those hours on creating music and lyrics.
So it´s good with downloading and it´s bad. It´s heaven and hell. We have chosen to distribute our album in all channels. More plays open up for more shows and a show still pays money, cause that is a thing you can´t download!

Any idea how you can make people buy your album on CD despite the odds?
Hm, only on cd you get the 16-page booklet with lyrics, chords and cool pictures. It also sound a lot better on cd. And it´s a fucking product of hard DIY-work, there´s a few selling points!

Do you think that it is nowadays still necessary to have a label, or would it also be possible to handle everything by oneself?
The distribution bit is hard to do yourself. It´s great having Rambo delivering our music to all the music stores offline and online. But all the other things you can do yourself. We have shown that. We don’t need a record company, but we need a bank man with a huge wallet :)

You celebrate this year your 5th anniversary as a band. So what was the best that happened in these years and what was the worst?
The best must have been the trips we have made abroad, all happy people at our shows and of course "In The Spotlight".
The worst... Hmm I can´t think of any bad moments with Baby Jane at all!

So how do the plans for the rest of 2012 look like? Are you planning a tour or is it just going to happen when you find a label?
We plan to break this year, so hopefully you get to see us a lot on the road in 2012!

Any special place you would like to play or play again? What about Finland, the crowd there really loved you?
We love Finland! It was a great night and we hope to come back very soon.
We love playing festivals and we love to visit new places, and old places. We are almost up for anything and Yes we are excited!

Jyrki of 69 Eyes once talked about you guys in an interview, so he must like you - do you think there might be a chance to tour with The 69 Eyes? Would you like to do that, or do you have another band you would really love to tour with?
Fuck yeah! The 69 Eyes are a band which we have liked for a long time. We have also partied with the guys a couple of times and it has been fun! I think they are one of the best and coolest bands on earth, so it would be an honor to play before them.

So then last but not least: What question would you like to be asked in an interview you have never been asked before?
If you answer this question right, u win 1.000.000 dollars, is the color of the sea: A. Red B. Blue C. Black ;-)

Thanks a lot for the Interview and good luck with “In the spotlight”!
You can order the CD here: www.bengans.se
More Info about Baby Jane can be found here: http://babyjane.se/

Author: Sandy Mahrer photos: Baby Jane
Date: 2012-04-29

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