Ex-WARRANT Singer JANI LANE: 'Cherry Pie' Has Stood The Test Of Time

Sleaze Roxx recently conducted an interview with former WARRANT frontman Jani Lane. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Sleaze Roxx: When can your fans expect the release of "Jabberwocky"?

Jani Lane: Those songs, I don't know because I haven't really even sat down with my label, which is Immortal (Immortal/Sidewinder is the label ran by the band INCUBUS). I haven't sat down and talked with them about it either. So, it is really a matter of releasing SAINTS OF THE UNDERGROUND, doing a healthy "Get people to know the band" tour. We're not going to go out and blast everywhere that has electricity but we will probably go out for four weeks in the U.S., two weeks in Europe, and a week in Japan to let people know it is out there. Than we plan on, as soon as everybody's schedules allow, doing another SAINTS OF THE UNDERGROUND record cause I write with Keri Kelli like that! (Snaps fingers) We write really well together. It has really been a juggling act right now. I have some other, kinda big exciting things coming up in the next year that I am planning on right now but it's a little too early to really get into but I'm gonna be doing some studio stuff that, I think, is pretty exciting, so we will see.

Sleaze Roxx: So, SAINTS OF THE UNDERGROUND is not just a one-off type of a project?

Jani Lane: NO! It originally was going to be that but we liked making the record so much together. We liked the songs, that you know...I think it is kind of healthy because Keri, really I mean, Alice Cooper has a really regimented schedule. They're out from May till October 31st...Figure that, it ends on Halloween every year!! (Laughs) So, Keri really has to plan for his projects but it is also good for him to do something besides the Alice thing. Obviously with Alice, I am probably putting words in Keri's mouth but I think he likes to have other creative outlets besides that.

Sleaze Roxx: Of everything you have written, from WARRANT, "Jabberwocky", "Back Down To One", SAINTS and so on. What do you consider your best song or what are you most proud of?

Jani Lane: I don't know! I'm like anyone else. I'm sure people who write, paint or whatever. They think whatever they just did is their best. Than in hindsight, after it's been around for a while, you think maybe it wasn't quite the earth-shattering composition that I thought it was!! I give a lot of credit to "Cherry Pie". It has stood the test of time. It's a little catchy. It's a little tongue-in-cheek. It is probably not the most complicated song I have ever written but to write a song that is used as a measuring stick for a genre of music. I mean, it is kinda like that song, "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Girls Girls Girls", you know, those kind of in-your-face, blatant sexual tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top kind of songs. It's stood the test of time. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is another one of my favs as is "Song & Dance Man"! I have favorites for different reasons. "Stronger Now" is a song from "Ultraphobic" that I originally wrote to go on "Dog Eat Dog" but didn't make it but I thought it should have!! I think it is a very well written song. The new song I have for my next record called "Salt Water" is probably one of my favorites EVER that I have written.

Sleaze Roxx: For those who are reading this and are thinking of hitting one of your shows, can you give them an idea of what to expect?

Jani Lane: It is just a balls-out "best of WARRANT" I like to say! That's what it is. It's all the songs I wrote and sang with the band that I really like playing live. I have the freedom now to pick my own set list and say these are the songs I really like. We've thrown in some of the old favs like "Big Talk", "Train Train" which of course I didn't write, it's a Shorty Medlocke tune (Note: the song was made famous by Shorty's son, Rickey Medlocke and his band BLACKFOOT),"Mr. Rainmaker", "Hole In My Wall" is one of my favorites that I make sure we do. We open with "A.Y.M.", that was, out of the newer songs. That song just always is a great opener with good energy! It's pretty much a balls-out, the "best of WARRANT" tunes, I think. The rest is icing on the cake. We get to throw in a little of (the album) "Back Down To One", occasionally on a blue moon, we will do "Serial Killer" off "Saints Of The Underground", just because we all like that tune!

Read the entire interview at www.sleazeroxx.com.