Those who regularly follow this blog know that I'm in a FB group titled Female Christian Rock & Metal. In that group, I learned of the band Saving Jackie. Today, I'm sharing an interview with their vocalist Jenny Ramirez.
One thing you'll notice: Under normal circumstances, I use first and last initials in my interviews. But since Jenny and I have the same initials, I'm using first names, as well as different colors so it's easier to follow who's speaking.
JEFF: Let's start with introductions. Who's all in Saving Jackie? How would you describe your music. And if you had a one sentence mission statement for the band, what would it be?
JENNY: Hi thank you so much for this Interview.
The band consists of: myself as Front woman, my brother Anthony J. on drums, John Cortez on Bass/Backing Vocals and Rick G. on Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals.
I’d describe our music as Rap/Rock. We’ve been compared to Rage Against The Machine, 311 and Guano Apes. Our sound is powerful and has intense drive.
These are very tough times that we’re going through and our band Saving Jackie has a positive message to overcome.
JEFF: Looking at the website, it sounds that you, Anthony, and John founded a band called Jackie On Acid in '98 which had a five year run. The three of you returned to music as Saving Jackie in 2019. How do the two bands differ, and what was the catalyst during the 16 year hiatus? And who's Jackie?
JENNY: Both bands have the same sound but totally different message.
We were much younger in Jackie On Acid. We didn’t have families yet and speaking for myself I wrote out of anger, hurt and pain. Personally, I had some major issues I needed to confront within myself.
When we stopped the band is when I began getting better. Although I loved the band it was just time and I think we all felt it.
After Jackie On Acid, I started to attend church and I began volunteering/serving in many ministries through out the years. The only ones that kept communication was my Brother and I because we’re siblings.
Time flies by and we’re all doing Family life. I needed that break.
Now that I’m in a better place mentally and my heart has changed, I wanted to start a new band. I’d bug my brother about forming a new band. He finally agrees and we placed our ad out and John (former bassist) responds to it. We formed Saving Jackie January 2019. We kept Jackie because of our former name but our message this time is completely different. It went from rage and anger to victory and triumph. From Jackie On Acid to Saving Jackie.
JEFF: Of course one thing that impacted basically everything was COVID. What effect did the pandemic have on the band, both in establishing your ministry and its effect on the creative end (such as songwriting)?
JENNY: We played our first show December 2019 and in early 2020 COVID hit. No one expected that. Anthony’s the mastermind behind a lot of what we do. He has great ideas. When the Venues were closed and we couldn’t perform in public anymore he booked us with International shows online and booked our Interviews. We completed 2 official music videos "My Faith Is Larger" and "It’s Critical." We also completed an EP and an Album and recorded our Christmas rendition of Winter Wonderland. We took band pictures and got all our media sites up and running with a band website.
Also during COVID, my health made many unforeseen turns. But on the upside it gave me time to face these Doctor/Specialist appointments and also allowed me time to rest and heal. I was diagnosed with cancer early and I had some much needed surgeries. Going through that directed my writing. I write about my struggles but also how I triumph. As the Pandemic is stopping shows we continue to push forward in other ways.
JEFF: While on the subject of items out of our control, what are the greatest challenges you've faced since the band's rebirth/redirection? Likewise, what are some of the greatest blessings? Where do you find the greatest encouragement and support?
JENNY: The greatest challenges are canceled shows. I dislike canceling, but in these cases we had to because of COVID. We love performing and having fun on and off stage but everyone's health is very important to us. Again I can’t say it enough how blessed we are to meet so many people around the world. I feel like I’m at a place now that I’m where I’m suppose to be in and I’m fulfilled sharing my life.
Our greatest blessings? Well, one example we got to play a festival in Poteet, TX during COVID and it was also broadcasted LIVE online. Many people saw us through that and we’ve built friendships with people like Aaron & Dave from Rock Salt MuzKast Experience and Daniel Streety, the singer from Bred 4 War, just to name a couple. We’ve met many musicians for the first time coming back as a new band. Our encouragement and support: Our Families are great supporters through it all. We also encourage each other in the band and keep up with each other like a family through the week with text messages. Also we get messages from fans around the world telling us how our music has encouraged them.
JEFF: Your page mentioned you did a couple of virtual festivals in Columbia and Mexico, and also a show in Brazil. What were those events like?
JENNY: Yes, they were all amazing. We performed LIVE at a local studio here San Antonio, TX and had it broadcasts on our Hosts' pages. Before the virtual festivals, it all started with an Interview with Jesus Es’ Mi Rock hosted by Walter Cardozo in Chile. That was our first time out of the U.S.
Shortly after that, we performed a Virtual Festival for Exodofest in Mexico with Miguel Salazar, LowFest in Columbia with Jose Batero and had a Video Presentation for Bora Curtir Show based out of Brazil. It’s amazing to see how the music is growing and reaching out as it has. We never imagined that to happen.
Speaking for myself it’s surreal. We are super grateful for all our friendships and we can’t wait to tour outside the U.S. and meet everyone in person. We’ve been invited to a few places already.
JEFF: Thank you for your time. How can we keep up with your band? I know your EP "It's Critical" came out this past year. Any other projects or festivals coming up?
JENNY: You’re very welcome, thank you so much for having us.
You can find more information about Saving Jackie on https://linktr.ee/savingjackie
All our Social Media outlets are available there along with our Band merchandise and links to our upcoming shows and future interviews.
We’re going back into the Studio this March to record 3 new songs and we’re getting ready for our first mini tour this July. We’ll be rocking in Dallas, Oklahoma and then Missouri. Follow us for more information coming very soon.
Again thank you so much for this Interview and thank you everyone for the love and support, stay safe.
No comments:
Post a Comment