The Jennifers Interview, Part IV: John Irvine

By Mike Faloon

Given that the number of band members named Skizz outnumbers the number of band members named Jennifer (Skizzes - 1, Jennifers - 0), have you considered a change of band names?
Nope - I don't want to ever be referred to as "John Irvine (ex Jennifer)", and we don't want to confuse our fans and make it any harder than it is to keep up with our music.

Did you mean "don't ever want to be referred to as John Irvine (ex-Skizz)?"
No, but that is a funnier response.

I've asked the other guys what makes your songs fun to play. What do you anticipate they'll say? (Apologies in advance for any similarities between the format of this question and those used on The Newlywed Game.)
My songs are really only "my" songs in the strictest "ASCAP" way of defining a song - lyrics + melody = song. While I write those for the most part, the arrangements, the specific guitar, bass and drum parts, and the order and feel of the material - are written by the band as a whole. So Joe Stone, for example, probably has a lot of fun coming up with and playing his specific chord voicings and guitar riffs, because they weren't dictated to him. Also, I think there is a lot of variety to Jennifers songs. I think we avoid sameyness more than a lot of bands manage to. There are a lot of bands where if you've heard one song, you've pretty much heard them all. I think the variety makes Jennifers songs more fun to play.

What are the pros and cons of outliving so many Baltimore bands?
It's fun being Dracula, because you get to rise from the dead. Or maybe the Frankenstein monster is more appropriate, because there are different parts added to the original body to keep it alive. The cons? Well there's the fear of fire thing. It is also sad thinking of all the bands that we've played with who've passed on - I miss playing with the Kicksouls. It seems like every few years we need to find a new crop of local bands we like to play gigs with, and who fit our style, as bands break up or move out of town on us. It is nice though, not being a young starry-eyed band with big dreams just ready to be crushed by the reality of the music industry. I'm personally comfortable with where we're at. We don't owe anyone anything, we have complete control of all of our songs, and if this internet thing turns out to be all it's cracked up to be, then we should have no trouble getting our music into in the hands of people around the world who would enjoy it if they heard it.

When you won the 1995 MTV Beach House Band Contest you turned an $89 investment into $8000 worth of equipment. That's a 900% return. What did you do with your two grand? Any thoughts of working with Eric again?
I personally bought a vintage Gretch Duo Jet which turned out to be a complete lemon (as a lot of 50's Gretches were.) Wish I'd bought Apple stock instead. We would love to work with Eric again - he is doing some really amazing things - but he's extremely busy becoming a world famous experimental film auter. And with all of his film festival responsibilities and musical involvements, Skizz can barely find time to work on his own films. I think it's more likely that we'd pair up with another young film student who'd want to work for $89. I have some great video ideas mapped out if there's one reading this right now. Drop us an email.

The Jennifers
You're My Star, dir. Eric Dyer, 1994