www.justjinx.com
Pop / Rock / Pop
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"<----Renegade "
Chicago, Illinois
United States
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28365
Last Login:
5/1/2008
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| www.justjinx.com: General Info
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| Member Since | 8/14/2004 | | Band Website | justjinx.com | | Band Members | Jinx "Fearless Renegade"
Visionary of Sorts
Front Chick
Songwriting Apprentice
Master of the Ridiculous & Absurd
Kenny "Fearless Badass"
Songwriting God
Spelling Bee Champion
Precious Moments Collector | | Influences | Melodies and creative word play | | Sounds Like | Jinx's voice with instruments playing in pre-arranged patterns that we think sound cool | | Record Label | None yet, cause we're picky about our friends | | Type of Label | None |
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October 14 - CDs are not dead....really.
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October 1 - Things that don't go together
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| About www.justjinx.com |
Written by Steven Campbell:
One look at myspace and it's obvious that rock star wannabes are everywhere, and sometimes you might find one in the most unlikely of places.
My interview with Jinx was in one of those unlikely places - a fraternity house built back in the late 1800s. Aesthetically perfect ivy climbing the exterior stone walls, bike racks filled hap-hazardly with bikes, sidewalks covered with 8 x 10 sheets of computer paper secured in place with masking tape to announce a myriad of activities, students casually meandering in all directions -- you are immediately aware that you are on a prestigious college campus.
I stand before a massive wood door, nestled into a meticulously crafted stone arch, the architecture before me humbles me with its rich history. The door opens and I am greeted with a huge smile by a girl who is stunningly beautiful: her blue eyes sparkle in the sunlight, her waist length wavy brown hair is streaked with what seems to be natural golden highlights, her smile is a bit reminiscent of Julia Roberts, big and wide, and I am immediately star struck.
Jinx is casually attired in jeans, a black t-shirt with a no smoking sign printed upon it that proclaims "There are cooler ways to die," and black converse all stars which I can't help but find amusement in, the heels of her shoes seeming to announce to the world that she is "all star."
She leads me up an uninviting back stair well to the third floor, where it is un-characteristically quiet for a fraternity house, room after room empty, messy and lifeless. We're just about to enter one of the rooms when further down the corridor a boy pops out of a room and excitedly greets her with "Jinx!" She excuses herself from me, and stops to discuss plans to attend an upcoming basketball game. Upon watching the two interact, his enthusiastic greeting is more understood -- she is warm, fully engaged, animated, and charming. Within a few moments she parts ways with the boy and we enter a bedroom that is clearly the domain of two boys, not that of a young female rock star in the making.
Jinx attends Northwestern University in Evanston, a suburb just north of Chicago. She is majoring in Art and Communication Studies, and when pressed as to why she's not majoring in music, she responds, "You don't need to waste a good education on things that you can learn on your own. Art and communication make the most sense when I think of being in music for a lifetime."
Jinx is one of forty Evans Scholars at Northwestern University; Evans Scholars are a small select group of college students who have been awarded an Evans Scholarship (a full ride) from the Western Golf Association. The scholars, as they are called past and present, live in a shared residence, a chapter house, (where this interview took place) with the same type of political and social structure one would find in a fraternity. In fact, Evans Scholars are members of the Inter-Fraternity Council, but the thing that sets Evans Scholars apart is that they are co-ed. This was not always the case, however, back in 1930, when professional golfer Charles "Chick" Evans, Jr. first established this trust for golf caddies, which in keeping with that time period, were strictly male. But in the year 2006 women, like and not so much like Jinx, make up less than 10% of the caddie work force and less than 5% of all Evans Scholars.
I look around the room and ask Jinx why we're not in her room, she explains, "The girls aren't allowed to live in the house; there aren't enough girls to fill an entire floor and they're (the WGA) not down with the idea of a co-ed bathroom." The female freshman and sophomore scholars live in dorms while the juniors and seniors are allowed the option to use their housing allowance for apartments, which is what Jinx has elected to do. However, the social interaction that the house provides is too enticing to be ignored, and thusly, Jinx spends most of her free time at the house interacting with the other scholars. "Even if I'm just studying, I'd rather do it here than alone in my apartment. The thing about the house that draws you in is the unexpected, you just never know when someone's going to do or say something funny, or suggest a game of Frisbee or a snowball fight, and if I'm at home I'd miss out on that!"
The room we're in is where she spends most of her time at the house -- she has food in the boys shared personal refrigerator, her purse thrown on the one boy's bed as if it were her own, her jacket on the back of a desk chair, and her books share space on one of the two desks. A Hamster named Fatty lives on a dresser in the closet; she awakens him from his slumber and takes him out of his cage to show him off "Isn't he the fattest hamster you've ever seen?" I agree, he looks like a small orange dog, a very, very small orange dog. There's a look of pure joy on her face as she talks to the hamster and pets him, she exudes charisma and seems unaware of this fact.
"Would you like to hear what I'm working on now?" Before I can respond, she plops down with familiarity in front of a computer that's obviously not hers. She opens a playlist and clicks play, in a moment, her latest recording, "The Ledge," is filling the void of silence in the frat house. I listen while she somewhat quietly sings along. "It's quite good," I say, she responds with a wry smile and a very matter of fact "I know."
"The Ledge" is the only cover song Jinx has on her impending album, it was written by The Replacements back in the mid nineties, and at the time, MTV would not air the accompanying music video due to content. "The Ledge" is a song that takes on the subject of suicide in a very matter of fact manner. There is no pandering to those who are faint of heart, nor will you find a happy ending, it is simply a mirror to the emotions of utter despair. The fact that this song was not aired seems to upset Jinx, and as she speaks about the song, you get a glimpse of the deep passion that lies within this artist. As the song winds down, she turns it off prematurely and says, "This song is a huge hit, I know kids everywhere are going to love it." It is her hope to help "The Ledge" find the recognition she feels it deserved and never got.
She fervently displays pure disdain for this music industry that she so desperately wants to be a part of. It galls her that songs like "The Ledge" were and will be stifled for content while songs like 'My Humps' are given a blessing by the "music industry gods," as she sarcastically likes to call the anonymous people who rule the business. "Tits and ass are cool because they're proven money makers, but suicide? Shhhh." She whispers, "Suicide is very bad unless it comes with a happy ending, because that's what real life is like you know? Happy endings for everyone!" The sarcasm in her tone is thick. "I hope to challenge the industry," she says, "the industry, particularly when it comes to my demographic, tends to follow what is safe and easy, hence why we have Hillary Duff, Kelly Clarkson, and Ashlee Simpson singing song after song about boys." She rolls her eyes in exaggerated exasperation.
As out of place as she looks in a frat house, she is equally out of place as a pop artist. The lyrics in her songs show a sarcastic sense of humor that toy with subject matter that no self respecting, mainstream pop girl would go near. She loves to challenge the hypocrisy of humans; she particularly enjoys taking on people who practice religion in church, but not out of it, and politicians who talk out of both sides of their mouth. "Burrows," a song written in the heat of a frustrated moment following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, is an upbeat, catchy pop melody that gets stuck in your head for days upon one listen. At the same time, it crosses all lines of political correctness with lyrics that metaphorically throw punches fearlessly; you'd never hear Hillary Duff singing, "Little black spots in a puddle of mud, it took you 24 hour just to die in a flood."
This business that panders to the consumer and takes no risks has a love/hate relationship with this girl who rebelliously and enthusiastically taunts it for amusement. On the one hand, some industry insiders want to see her make it and attempt to guide her -- it is their hope that she will be able to instigate a little bit of change. But as with anything, change isn't always welcome, and some industry insiders look forward to watching her struggle and ultimately fail.
Some of the same people who cheer Jinx on have been known to call her the next Joni Mitchell, but she scoffs at the thought. "Joni is a legend, the consummate artist, I see why they think that and I am totally humbled by the comparison, but I have a long way to go before I'll even be able to look at Joni's footsteps, let alone walk in them."
Although Jinx is outwardly a performer, she is no stranger to the business side of music. At the age of fifteen, she ambitiously, blindly plunged into the business, spending her time learning who the players were and how the game is played. Since that time, she has made many friends, as well as a few enemies, within the business. One of those friends is Tony Brummel, founder and CEO of Victory Records, a leading indie record label. "I like to say that Tony is like the Mike Ditka of music: he's a renegade spirit whose passion for what he does is unrelenting. What makes Tony great is that he plays by his own rules and wins; I like to play by my own rules as well, and I think that's why we're so fond of each other."
Tony and Jinx we're not always friendly -- she had been known to publicly crucify his music and his methods on a well respected, music industry message board, The Velvetrope (www.velvetrope.com). Despite that, there was no love lost between the two. Tony invited Jinx to his Chicago office one day and she remembers, "I was convinced our meeting was a trick! I was sure it was for the purpose of humiliating me somehow. I never would have expected to walk out of his office as friends!" Jinx hopes to follow in Tony's foot steps as she gets ready to put her music industry knowledge to the test with the launch of her own record label, Fish Out Of Water Records. Jinx excitedly exclaims, "I'm eager to work a record with a mere pittance of what a major would spend, that's how Tony does it and that's what makes him an industry leader. The problem with the music industry is that most people entrenched in it think you need millions of dollars to break an artist. I personally think all it takes is great music, a lot of hard work, and unique marketing strategies."
Jinx writes her music with a boy named Kenny who lives in Dallas, Texas. "We are an unconventional band of sorts" she says, "we do all the things a band would do minus the recording, playing out, and naming ourselves something that starts with 'The.'" Jinx and Kenny have been working together on "Crucify This" for two years now, but have yet to meet in person. "It's so strange to love someone as much as I do Kenny without ever having come face to face." Jinx met Kenny on the internet, which seems to be a recurring theme in her "exercise in futility and delusion," a phrase she coined one day when she began to feel as if everyone in the world was attempting to forge a career in music. She explains, "One day, I was about to type the words 'my career' in my blog, and at that very second, it occurred to me that most everyone in music, no matter if they're talented or not, refer to what they do as 'my career.' I felt there were far too many people with no talent walking the face of the earth saying 'my career in music,' and I didn't want to be lumped in with that group. So to amuse myself, I vowed to never call it a career again, hence the phrase 'exercise in futility and delusion.'"
Jinx has roughly three albums worth of songs, but to date, Jinx has only recorded a handful of songs. "It's difficult to put together the right team of musicians and or producer and get the arrangements done in a way that works for each song. It's kind of like putting a baby up for adoption, you want to make sure that you pick the ultimate parents for your baby."
Despite that, her album is only partly finished, Jinx has big dreams for her and Kenny's future in music: selling millions of records, going to the Grammy's, and demanding a goat, whom already goes by the name Pedro, from their future record label. Jinx excitedly jumps from her seat and laughingly says, "Imagine my attorney being all excited to close a deal, and right before I give him my final approval I say to him, 'Go back and tell them I want a baby goat of my choice, and demand it be un-recoupable!!'" It seems her motto for this business is a little bit of silliness and a whole lot of absurdity; "The more absurd the better," she exclaims.
Her most recent absurd plan for her future revolves around a desire to be the first artist to promote her music with nothing more than found items from home (or junk, as the case may be). So, if you're in Chicago this summer and you run into a beautiful young girl standing on a busy street corner laughing and passing out random paraphernalia like plastic silverware, hotel soaps, or rubber gold fish with her web address carefully hand written on each item, you'll know you've just run into Jinx.
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We're as cool as cool can get, uber cool if you will
We hope to sell 500,003 records so we can buy a goat and name him "Pedro"
Pedro will be the first goat in history to walk the red carpet at the Grammys
This cool chick in Texas wants to dye Pedro green for us and I think I'm going to let her
Our publicist is Alex, everything he says on our behalf is the gospel truth
I have not spoken to Alex in over a year so perhaps I need a new publicist
Our band name is not "Jinx" or "Just Jinx"
Kenny lives in Texas, but he's not a redneck
Kenny and I are also known as the "Dynamic Duo of Hate"
Our first tour will be at Home Depot Exits and we will be serving Margaritas by the salt blocks
More to come in time......
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