The Jenny Thing's
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Compiled by TJT and other sources
Last updated: March 1, 1999
Ehren Becker -- Bass
Matt Easton -- Vocals and Guitar
Mike Phillips -- Drums
Shyam Rao -- Guitar
What is there to know about The Jenny Thing?
The Jenny Thing is a four-piece "alternative pop" group from Berkeley,
California. The short version of what the name means: just about everyone has had a Jenny
SOMEWHERE in their life at one time or another. There, good enough? If not, read some
of their news articles.
Matt and Mike have known each other since they were born, literally - in fact,
they once had neighboring cribs in the nursery at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley.
They both met Ehren when they attended Adams Junior High in Richmond, during the '84-
'86 span. Shyam met up with Matt during the pair's stay at UCB, and began writing songs,
at first as an acoustic duo. Mike joined in when tryouts with another drummer didn't quite
work out, and later suggested Ehren as a possible bass player. And the rest is history.
Kendall Swim School is The Jenny Thing's label, independantly run by John
Kendall, a longtime friend of the band who had enough faith in them to put up
enough money for both of the band's cd's.
Frankly, because no one's asked them. They have absolutely no reservations
about moving to a major, unlike a lot of local acts who believe that would be "selling out."
From the beginning, TJT has been trying to get their music heard by as many people as
possible, and signing with big-name company would be the best way to do it (AND to still
earn a living at the same time).
Rumor amongst the band members is that it was named Me because
M.E. are Matt's initials and he is totally and completely self-absorbed. Which is true, of
course. Actually, after rheems of paper had been exhausted attempting to come up with a
decent name for the first disc, Mike was the one who came up with the name
Me , and everyone agreed since it wasn't too lame.
For those who aren't quite sure, the drums on this song were actually programmed,
by Mike, on a Korg 01/Wfd keyboard. The pattern was just supposed to be something
cool for Shyam and Matt to play to in the studio when they recorded the song, but
everyone liked them so much that they were left in when the final mix was done.
It's a sample of part of the guitar solo from "Sky Will Fall," looped backwards and
repeated, and was totally Shyam's idea.
It's been a long, long wait....BUT the new CD, Nowhere Near You is now available!
What are you waiting for? Go to www.thejennything.com and order it!.
The sad truth is that there aren't nearly enough all ages venues to perform at in
the Bay Area that:
1) Advertise enough to attract decent crowds,
2) Allow the band to make enough money to compensate for the guitar strings they
bought before the show,
3) Are not crap.
San Francisco in particular is chock-full of clubs, but around 90-95% of them
are 21+, or they cater to only very specific kinds of music.
Another sad truth is that the Berkeley Square -- where TJT played their first gig
EVER -- has been shut down. This was a real blow to the local music scene in general,
and as a result it is even more difficult for any band to play all-ages shows anywhere in
Berkeley, unless you like really tiny, stinky, smokey dives (even more so that the Square
was).
Well, Shyam is currently attending Med School at UC Irvine. The Jenny Thing
has gone on somewhat of a hiatus with playing live, but The Jenny Thing will try to work
in any shows that can fit in with Mr. Rao's schedule. However, the new cd WILL come
out soon, regardless of the currently weird situation.
Yes. They've done several mini-tours of Southern California, including dates at
So. Cal colleges and clubs - even one at a high school. Most of these were well-received,
some were okay, and some were a little scary. But the real excuse for touring in L.A. is
that the band almost always gets to go to Disneyland!
Yup. Here's a brief list:
"Sidewalks" (1992)
TV show filmed in El Cerrito, CA, and dedicated to spotlighting local talent.
TJT did a brief (and slightly uncomfortable) interview, and videos for demo versions of
both "Too Long"
and "When You Hold Her." For those who don't pay attention,
Shyam was only present for the interview, NOT the videos, which were filmed while he
was visiting family back east.
By the way, if your cable provider is Bay Cablevision, you may still be able to see
bits from this show in Sidewalks' opening sequence. They still occasionally show the
videos as well ("Too Long" was seen during the first week of October 1997).
"Straight Talk n' Teens" (1994)
Teen show on KGO-TV (Channel 7). TJT performed
"Even If" and
"Too Long." And no, they didn't get to meet Hillary Clinton -- she was actually
filmed on another day -- but the band did get to see the baby tiger!
"Star Search" (1994)
That's right, Ed McMahon's Star Search. The show was taped in Florida and
Martha Quinn hosted the band segments at Pleasure Island in Disneyworld. TJT won their
first show (with four stars!!) over a band called Tin Roof with "Too Long", and then came
back and lost miserably to Chris Eddy (related to famous guitarist DUANE Eddy, whose
playing was featured on the Art of Noise's remake of the infamous Peter Gunn theme)
with
"Spin." All that hype, and the band never even got to meet Ed McMahon. But
*Martha* Quinn was enough to inspire a song all by herself.
"Stage-Diving Brazil!" (1993?)
No one really knows what this was all about. There was a raving lunatic with a
video camera backstage one night at the Berkeley Square who wanted TJT to do a very
quick interview with him for his show in Brazil. The whole time he spoke to the camera, it
was in Portugese, and the only comprehensible words were "stage-diving brazil" and
"jenna tings."
This list could go on and on, but here are a few of the major ones: Lloyd Cole,
Elvis Costello, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Oingo Boingo, Pet Shop Boys,
The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths, Stray Cats, U2.
All the members of TJT have been involved with brief musical projects in the
past (including high school and/or college bands), but most of them didn't produce any
noteworthy results. However, some of the members are connected to a few side projects.
Ehren's older brother, Jason, has worked with Megadeth's Marty Friedman in a
band called Cacophony, and ex-Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth. Jason has his own
album out as well, "Perspective," which arose out of his own personal experience in
dealing with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Jason is a very accomplished musician, but ALS
debilitates the body so it is no longer able to carry out the instructions the mind gives it.
Most of "Perspective" was programmed one note at a time by Jason, using a Macintosh
computer with a MIDI keyboard interface. The rest was performed by other musicians and
several of Jason's friends and family (including Ehren), working with the material he had
already written. There is no other way to describe the album except as being really
majestic and beautiful, and a must-listen for anyone who appreciates music in general.
Mike sings vocals in another local band, FineLine, with longtime friend Ed
Clare. Their sound could best be described as "technopopdustrial" - synthesized music and
hard dance rhythms without the harsh, grating vocals that are signature within the
industrial genre. He also occasionally filled in as drummer for Murder-Death-Kill, which
disbanded for various reasons, but Ed has recently revived this project under the name
Burning Down. In the meantime, Mike can be reached through email.
TJT recorded the majority of Closer and Closer to Less at
'Smooth Papa's Greasy Groove House' in Oakland, with Bob Coover at the
engineering board. "Coov" (as he is known among his friends) has his own band,
Semideluxe, and TJT has often traded both supporting and headlining shows with
them -- once, Matt even provided backing vocals for a song during their set at Blake's.
Mike also had a short stint with them as drummer, and his handiwork appears on their cd,
"The Ministry of Chemistry" (track 3, "You Don't Want the Truth"), which is available
through the band at their shows or mail order.
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This page is maintained by Elaine Wong, who
can be reached at orchid@california.com
