Jane Lee Hooker exploded out of New York City in 2015, with members having spent time playing in Nashville Pussy, Bad Wizard, Helldorado, Lez Zeppelin, NYC punk rockers The Wives & Plasmatics offshoot New Hope. The band released a revved up album of Blues covers titled ‘No B!’ in 2016, and were immediately signed to legendary German Blues label Ruf Records. ‘Spiritus’ followed in 2017 and found Jane Lee Hooker touring extensively in support of these records – performing to packed houses across the US and Europe including Germany, France, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic & Luxembourg. While Jane Lee Hooker’s blend of rock, blues, punk, R&B & soul pays respect to the greats of the past, this is a band that lives fiercely in the present tense. JLH’s fiery performances have made them a must-see live act, and feature the dynamically muscular lead guitars of Tracy ‘Hightop’ & Tina ‘T-Bone’ Gorin, the rock-solid rhythm section of bassist Mary Z and drummer Lightnin’ Ron Salvo and the full ranged, soul-scorching lead vocals courtesy of Dana “Danger” Athens. In a world full of manufactured bands and live shows backed up by hard-drives, Jane Lee Hooker play rock ‘n’ roll the way it’s meant to be played – loud and with uncompromised passion. You can easily feel that Jane Lee Hooker loves to play live and share their music with their fans around the globe.
I had the pleasure of catching up with Hightop ahead of Jane Lee Hooker’s upcoming set at Atwoodfest 2023 on July 30th as they help close the party out. It has been too long since JLH has been to Madison and Hightop misses this place as much as we miss them. The love of how they feel when they rock with us is shared and highly reciprocated, and now they’ll be back where it all beGan. Since it has been a bit since they last rawwwkkkked with us, we talk about what songs (especially the newer ones) we can expect to blow us away live in Madison, and how the ‘tune up’ went as they just got back from a wild time in Europe. I have no doubt if the first time you catch Jane Lee Hooker is when they hit Atwoodfest 2023, you will walk away, maybe head bangin’ away with a feeling of some new rockin’ friends coming into your lives.
Photo By: Rob Carter
