Vains of Jenna - History

History

Vains of Jenna was formed by four young people from Sweden. Their common influences include Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Nirvana, and Hanoi Rocks. At that time the two youngest members of the band were 18 years old. They were offered a chance to play at Crüe Fest Hollywood in January 2005. The band accepted and traveled to California for the show. Only one disc had been recorded at that time, a 4 song demo containing:

1. No One's Gonna Do It For You
2. Hard To Be Vain
3. Heartbreak Suicide (the song that got them to Hollywood)
4. A.S.A.D.

It was not until after Crüe Fest that they had a Manager or recorded with Gilby Clarke.

Vains of Jenna captured the attention of Stevie Rachelle, the owner of hard rock website Metal Sludge during their first performance in America playing at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood during the charity event Crüe Fest Hollywood! Rachelle became the band's manager. After touring the United Kingdom, the group relocated to California. The band toured coast to coast and in many cases were not old enough to play bars they were booked in which had a minimum age of 21. This would sometimes leave half the band in the van outside, only to be let in to load up on stage, play and then leave at the end of their set.

The band then recorded some demos, which were produced by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke. A tour of the American east coast followed in July 2006. The East Coast tour was cut short as Bam Margera of the show Jackass signed the band to his Filthy Note Records label. Margera invited the band to his mansion to shoot a video for the song "No One's Gonna Do It for You," which Margera produced himself and used "Don't Give A Damn" as the theme song to his upcoming MTV series Bam's Unholy Union. The band was featured in two episodes of the show.

Articles in Spin, Metal Edge, Revolver, Blender, Hustler and other international print magazines followed. They found themselves on TV shows such as Jackass 24 on MTV and LA Ink featuring good friend and fan of the band Kat Von D. The band was a guest on her TV show and at the MusInk Festival in Southern California, where she appeared.

Lit Up/Let Down, the band's debut full-length album, was released in stores on October 24, 2006.

Since the band White Lion had to drop out of the Poison and Ratt Summer 2007 tour, Vains of Jenna filled in for them on the tour. They toured the US as a support act and then went on to feature in the Viva La Bands Tour along with Cradle of Filth, Gwar and CKY in fall 2007.

In late 2008 and early 2009, the band toured parts of Europe including the UK, Italy, Scotland, Denmark and Sweden. This included a spot on the Sweden Rock Festival in June 2009.

Vains of Jenna then returned to the United States to record a new album. The new disc was produced by Brent Woods (Wildside). It included a cover of "Refugee" by Tom Petty, among other songs. The band released a new song, "Get It On," on iTunes in July 2009. On September 15, Vains of Jenna released their second full-length album, The Art of Telling Lies. The band filmed a video for the first single "Get It On," and a second video with director Noah Shulman (Kings of Leon) in New York City for the following single "Mind Pollution."

On March 15, 2010, front man Lizzy DeVine and Vains of Jenna announced that they were parting ways. Less than a week after Lizzy's departure, the band hired Cast of Kings singer Jesse Forte as the new front man. In August, Vains of Jenna released an EP with a new song, "We Can Never Die," and new versions of "Everybody Loves You When You're Dead," "The Art of Telling Lies" and "Better Off Alone."

In October 2010, the band returned to the US to begin the "We Can Never Die" tour and played shows in South America. In November the band entered the studio with producer Adam Hamilton to record a "special edition" covers album for Deadline Cleopatra Records. The album, Reverse Tripped, was released on April 5, 2011. The first single/video is a cover of Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You." A radio edit is included called "Forget You." "Reverse Tripped" was followed by a 54 city North American Tour, and an equally long European tour.

On January 21, 2012, it was announced that Vains Of Jenna lead singer Jesse Forte joined Lynch Mob (soon after this announcement their old lead singer returned, leaving Jesse out of Lynch Mob). Several days later on January 26, the following message was posted on Vains Of Jenna's official Facebook & Myspace pages: "Vains Of Jenna calls it quits. After 7 years, we have amicably and mutually decided to end Vains Of Jenna. There's no drama behind the decision. We simply feel like it is time to move on in our lives and close this chapter. It has been a truly amazing journey for us over the years and we are grateful for the opportunity to do what we've done with this band. A huge thanks to everyone involved, all of our supporters, and of course all of our fans from around the world. We love you. 1,2,3,4 THE END!!! Nicki, Jacki, JP and Jesse."