Spinning Jenny officially formed in 2007. I say offcially because that's when I joined. I'm Benji, the drummer. We didn't call ourselves Spinning Jenny at the time, though. I wanted to call the band Claire (so online, we could be eClaires) but Shane and Chris both nixed that one. We kicked around The Grass Skirts, mostly me and Chris, before Shane came up with Spinning Jenny. Shane would NEVER have accepted The Grass Skirts anyway. If you want to use that name, go ahead. I still think it rocks. You can't have eClaire, though.

We had all been in bands before, sometimes with each other, sometimes not. Several of us had even given up music for some crazy reason that only made sense at the time.

Chris was the driving force that got Spinning Jenny...spinning. Despite law school, marriage, children, Army Reserves, employment and any number of distractions, he kept playing music. It's harder than it sounds. Trust me, I know.

Without him grinding out the days and remaining a productive musician, I doubt any of us would be playing in a band, any band, today. Maybe Kenny Mann would be playing. Maybe.

Chris and Shane had been playing together for a while--I don't even know how long--when their bass player moved out of state. Chris just called me up one Friday and asked me to play. I was like "Tonight?" and he was like "Every Friday man". The call came out of nowhere and wasn't anything I was expecting. I'd been a non-musician for over a decade. But I bought some drums and Shane (the ex-drummer) bought a bass.

We had a great time playing but we all new we were still looking for something. And we knew Kenny Mann. He was another one of us, one of the guys who didn't join one of the "in" bands when they were "in".

After a lot of thought--who knows what he was thinking about--he joined the band. Initially it was slow but come on, he was the new guy and wasn't making waves (or loading equipment. Of course that hasn't changed). Once he got his feet on the ground, he ran. Spinning Jenny has been a lot better for it.

We like to say that our sound is schizophrenic because our influences are so different. We grew up in the eighties and whether we loved it or hated it, that music left it's imprint on most of what we do now. The thing is, a sound that changes with each song either marks you as different or is your kiss of death. We're still waiting to see...

Listen to our songs and tell us what you like or don't like. We need feedback. Sometimes, a little distance from the music helps to see and hear what's not working. So loan us your fresh ears and fresh insights.


Check us out at our band's site or on MySpace:

http://spinningjennyband.com/

or

myspace.com/spinningjennyposse