jeff laine

I like to be introduced to the band before each performance because I am never certain who will be on stage. I usually start out by saying, "Hello, I am Jeff Laine"

Born in Detroit, Jeff was raised on Motown and the MC5. He relentlessly badgered his parents to get him a guitar. They relented shortly after his eighth birthday. He soon began playing in rock bands with kids from the neighborhood. One stormy afternoon, Jeff and former band mate Doug Fieger drove a red Karman Ghia to Los Angeles. Neither came back. Fieger formed a band called the Knack which produced one of the 80s biggest hit records for Capitol (“My Sharona”). Jeff came under the tutelage of Grammy winning blues and soul legend, Etta James. Her advice was simple and direct”It ain't if you're good. It ain't if you're badit's if you're happening.” Etta's guidance was not lost on Jeff when he became lead singer and principal songwriter for sophisto-punk band Hollywood Underground. Their live performances became the stuff of legend as much for what happened off the stage as on it. When his first wife, super model and fashion designer Mag de Laine lost her life to cancer, Jeff fell into a manic state of disorienting depression. He took to living on the fringe of sexual propriety and documented his experiences in a series of graphic songs. Soon, a self produced EP began getting airplay on LA radio as Hollywood Underground's loyal, but twisted legion of fans grew dramatically. At this point Apache/Capitol Records, stepped into the picture, signed the band, and quickly began hyping it as the next “can't miss” sensation to hit pop music. The first single, Jeff's autobiographical tale of incest and lust, was aptly titled “Blue Taboo”, but mainstream radio programmers felt it was a little to edgy for their play lists. When they had the same reaction to the follow-up, “Little Runaway”, the band and the label looked fate straight in the eye-and neither blinked. Apache Records went out of business, the members of Hollywood Underground went their separate ways. When he'd spent his last record company dollar and exhausted all his label contacts, Jeff simply rolled up his sleeves and went to work as a bus boy in a Santa Monica burger joint. A short lived attempt to supplement his earnings as a street singer on the Venice boardwalk ended when he was promoted to “world's worst waiter” and got fired from his gig. It didn't take Jeff very long to figure out that he needed to write and make music full time. Back on the boards in local LA clubs with the exotic hybrid hard rock motorcycle band, Poetic Justice, he attracted the attention of William Smith, a.k.a. “Smitty”, one night while performing at the world renown Whiskey a Go-Go. The legendary producer and keyboard player for John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart admired Jeff's no-nonsense songs and uncompromising stage presence and assembled a hand picked rhythm section from the bands of Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young and Dwight Yoakum to create “Western Love Affair”, which was recorded for 3M Entertainment. It was to be the last record Smitty produced before his untimely and tragic death. . Returning to the theme of Hollywood heartbreaks, Jeff enlisted the help of longtime friend Venetta Fields (the voice on Pink Floyd's “Dark Side Of The Moon) for duets and backing vocals for the recording of “Weeping Women”. The video which accompanied the stirring title track, gained universal critical acclaim and aptly capturing Jeff's explosive performance. Jeff emerged with a renewed spirit when his son, Maximilian, was born. He followed a new voice within and ventured to San Francisco where he studied Classical music and symphonic composition. The libidinous punk and bad boy rocker found himself enthralled by Stravinsky and Beethoven and he returned to LA to record Ghost, an intensely personal four song EP that's a Gothic blend of traditional folk musical forms coupled with his haunting lyric poetry. In 2002 Jeff enlisted the aid of producer Magic Kramer (Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, the Paladins) his long time friend from Hollywood Underground and began work on “long way to go”. After a year in the studio the CD was finished and released. “Long way to go” heralded a new mastery in Jeff's songwriting. Encouraged by broadcast radio and critical praise throughout North America and Europe, Jeff returned to performing in Los Angeles. Never one to do the same show twice audiences never knew what to expect. Some times Jeff would have a full band of famous musicians on stage. Some times he would just show up with his acoustic guitar and a harmonica player. “People already have the Cds, or they can get them. They can listen to that whenever they want. When people come to see me I want to give them something different. A moment that may only happen once in a life. For me, that's the only reason to perform live.” 2006 marks the arrival of “Blues Vein”. Produced by Chris Julian and Robert Vaughn, this new CD is a radical departure from his previous recordings. Thick soundscapes and heavy musical layers surround Jeff as he winds his way through the bare bones of fragile compositions that lay all of our lives naked before us. It is filled with chunks of blues, rock'n roll and folk. There are stories, mysteries, images and back breaking rhythms. “Blues Vein” reaches right down and grabs you with the constant presence of a true balladeer and a voice that is as original as a fingerprint.

last week I played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California - that was a challenge

Johnny Cash, Iggy Pop,

1961 Gibson J-45

Anything goes