‘Jane’ looking forward to a little more road time

Monday, April 22, 1996

Band brings ‘melodic’ mix of musical genres to Luna Park
tonightBy Sona Stepanian

Daily Bruin Contributor

Amanda Kravat, lead singer and guitarist of the New York-based
band Marry Me Jane, got her first taste of rock stardom while
dealing with a case of food poisoning in Austin.

"I was vomiting on the side of the stage where they couldn’t see
me and the guys were doing some roaring solos and I hear the crowd
roaring and I’m going ‘Now they don’t know what I’m doing so it
must be something the guys are doing,’" she recalls. "I feel like a
rock star now, like we passed some test," she adds with a
laugh.

Kravat, along with band members bassist Brad Albetta, lead
guitarist Dan Petty, drummer Richard Pagano and Tim Beattie on lap
steel guitar and the harmonica, are playing tonight as part of the
Spring 1996 Rolling Stone New Music CollegeTour at Luna Park.

"Marry Me Jane," the band’s self-titled debut album features a
sound bordering on a multiple of musical genres. And the addition
of a lap steel guitar and a harmonica have made it more difficult
to categorize this band as a simple mix of rock and pop.

"I used to say we sounded like Tom Petty live, but we don’t
anymore," says a label weary Kravat. "I just call it (our music)
melodic."

Pagano, along with Kravat, credits a lot of their sound’s
uniqueness to the lap steel guitar. "It just grounded everything.
It’s such an earthy instrument and it made it sound that much more
earthy and organic," says Pagano.

Movie going audiences got a chance to sample some of Marry Me
Jane’s eclectic and soulful sound because 10 tracks off the band’s
album landed on the soundtrack for Tristar’s motion picture "If
Lucy Fell."

"We were really scared about getting too closely associated with
the movie," says Kravat. "But it was a big deal and a lot of other
bands want to kill us now."

Their dynamic mixture of acoustic guitar with Kravat’s
emotionally fused vocals seems to be winning over concert going
audiences as well.

"We’re way more rocking live then we are on the record," says
Kravat. "We have a good time and I think that’s why audiences are
tending to be so responsive."

Marry Me Jane, which was formed about three years ago, seems to
be slowly building it’s own fan following. And Kravat and company
are fully aware of the hard work involved in making it in the music
business.

"We’re working our asses. I had no idea how much work this
involved. You live in a van and a bag, shitty motels and you drive
all day," says Kravat. "But it’s a blessing. We worked really hard
to get here and we’ll have to work 10 times as hard to get
further."

But all the long and boring hours logged during their road trips
have actually helped the band’s song writing.

"The road is so boring that we have to amuse ourselves by song
writing," says Pagano. "When you tour it changes your sound a
little bit. It’s a bit more aggressive and dynamic and there’s more
input from everyone now. When Amanda originally came to us, she had
a lot of the material already written and as a band we wrote four
songs together that got on the record. There will be a lot more
influences from the other people in the band."

And with influences such as the Who and the Beatles, David Bowie
and southern rock, Marry Me Jane’s next album promises to be as
musically diverse as their first one.

"It’s such a gas that we get to do this for a living, even
though it’s not much of a living yet," says Kravat. "If we’re lucky
we’ll get to spend the next year in a van."

CONCERT: Marry Me Jane plays tonight at 9 p.m. at Luna Park.
Tickets are $7. For more info call 310-652-0611.