Just Jenny

A former Child Star, Jenny Lewis is Now All Grown Up and Fronting the Successful Saddle Creek Band Rilo Kiley

Medium [April 2003 Issue 1.04]

by Bobbi McCollum

"I was just like any kid," Jenny Lewis, lead singer of Rilo Kiley says. "I went through phase after phase of trying to find exactly what it was that I could help define me and that I could feel like I was part of. I think rock music ultimately was the voice of that. It gives you such great comfort when you're going through those awkward moments growing up. It just gives you the perfect way to identify with someone in your language."

The down-to-earth 27-year-old singer has made a place for herself on the indie music scene with her unique voice and narrative lyrics. But for Lewis, music is more than a passion; it's a family gene.

"My whole family, we've always sort of been involved with music," Lewis explains. "I was born in Las Vegas because my parents had a lounge act there and they did like a lounge circuit. My father played harmonica. My mother played bass and sang. They also had a drum machine and they did Sonny and Cher covers. They did one original song. My older sister, she's like 8 years older than I am, she started singing with them when she was 6 or 7-years-old. So I think music was always going on. That was always the emphasis. It was always a great outlet for family strife. Whenever we were upset with each other my mom would put on a record and we'd sing and get over it."

When Lewis was just 5-years-old, her family packed their bags and left the glitter of Las Vegas for the questionably hip San Fernando Valley in California. "It's not very cool to be from the San Fernando Valley," Lewis says. "It's sort of looked down upon and growing up you never really wanted to admit that you were from the valley."

Nevertheless, wherever she went, there she was. San Fernando became the backdrop for Lewis' youth. "My entire youth is characterized by [the word] awkward," she laughs. "The sort of valley versus city mentality I think sort of carried over into my adult life."

At 10-years-old Lewis starred in Troop Beverly Hills, but that fact didn't necessarily make her the most popular kid in school. "Some people were definitely excited by that fact, but then I always went to public school so then there were certain kids that definitely wanted to beat me up," Lewis says. "So I sort of toed that line of being nice and cautious as well because I didn't want to get my ass kicked... People would sometimes see me and think that they know me from like a long time ago like 'Aren't you cousin Danny's sister from Hoboken New Jersey?' I'd be like 'No.' I was never really like associated with one thing specifically, so I definitely was not a childhood star. I think it gave me a lot of experience and what a fun thing to have part of your life."

Stopping to think, Lewis recalls another less than ideal childhood moment. "I met this kid at Magic Mountain, which is a theme park out here, and I had a big crush on him," she says. "I was like 12 and he was goth and always talking about really depressing things and joking about suicide. You know when you're 13-years-old and listening to someone like Morrissey it's got to sort of come out in some way. My mom was eavesdropping on our conversation once and she heard him talking about all these dark things. She's like 'you can't listen to this music anymore.' So I wasn't allowed to continue listening to that for a brief period of time."

All grown up now, Lewis enjoys watching 'The Big Labowski' repeatedly, cooking creatively and continuing her musical pilgrimage. Her music grows as she experiences life and reflects upon it. "Obviously relationships are a big focus because they're always so damn confusing," she says. "It helps to write about them; maybe figure them out a little bit, figure out yourself a little bit in the process. Touring is a great opportunity to watch the changing landscape and gain more input for songs."

The relationships that have really had a powerful effect on Lewis' music have had an even stronger effect on her spirit. "I think being in a serious relationship for a couple of years was the most rewarding experience, the hardest, but also the most interesting," she says with sincerity. "It gave me the opportunity to learn a little bit about myself...The lessons sort of run the gamut. I realized that maybe I didn't have to be so afraid of getting to know someone or letting someone get to know me. It kind of gives you a little more confidence when you've got a partner."

For now, Lewis calls Los Angeles home, although the atmosphere can be a little less than ideal for her lifestyle. "L.A.'s a weird place," she says with assurance. "It's kind of based on this mentality that people are going to come to Hollywood or Los Angeles and become famous, so a lot of the focus is on record contracts and managers and big negotiations. We've never done that. We've never had a manager. We weren't really interested in that stuff. We just wanted to play music and play the kind of music that we wanted to play. I didn't want to be told necessarily to wear a half shirt and come up with a retarded dance routine."

Rilo Kiley has found a unique niche for itself amongst the L.A. music scene. Possibly even more unique are the acts the band books to open for it. A Jimmy Hendrix impersonator came to Lewis' mind. However, it is unlikely that he'll be hired to open for Rilo Kiley again because he got so drunk during the show he couldn't remember the words to 'Purple Haze.'

Some openers are better than others. Take former member of The Pixies, Dave Loverling, for example. "He's only doing magic now," Lewis says, recalling the excitement and nervousness of meeting him. "He's not playing drums anymore, and so we have him come open up for us with his magic act. [Meeting him] was unbelievable. My hands were trembling. I was terrified to be around him."

Aside from drunken impersonators and nervous encounters, the band faces challenges within. "I think it's just like the communication within the band," Lewis explains. "This is always the hardest thing. We all get along well, but it takes effort to communicate individually what we all want, whether we're arranging a song or figuring out what the fuck we want to eat everyday. It's like, 'What do you want to eat?' It's like this constant, not struggle, but dialog that we have and we just get better, it seems, at talking to each other and making it work as one unit."

Whatever the band is doing seems to be working. The members have shared their music with people across the country and the band is gaining popularity. "Success is kind of hard to gauge," she says. "I would consider us to be extremely successful, because we're actually playing our music...I just want to be uncompromising when it comes to the songs. I think that art and commerce, it's difficult to melt the two, especially in Los Angeles. It's commerce and music for money and creating something so you can sell it to people. I think the independent spirit is the reverse. Creating something and if it's good and if it's honest, then people will come to you, then that's just a bonus. In the music business, it's inherent because it's a business when you're making and selling records. But it's not necessarily the priority.

As Rilo Kiley continues to tour and record the band continues to experience unforgettable milestones in its career. "We've been together for so long that every year it seems like there are 10 or 15 moments that seem like they can't be topped and they are," Lewis says with excitement oozing from her voice. "Like the first time we played and more than two people showed up. Blake and I were just like 'Oh my God! I can't believe it.' And then when we made our first record and pressed it, that was another amazing thing. The first time we had a vinyl record - that was a huge thing and I totally sobbed on the vinyl. And then we played with the Breeders. To sort of stand that close next to Kim Deal, one of my true heroes, it definitely freaked me out. Putting out a record on Saddlecreek was also a huge, wonderful thing for us."

Moments like these can be a little hard to handle if you're the emotional type. "I get sentimental and I weep at any given moment," Lewis admits. "I'm always the one sobbing in the movies. The other day I rented 'The Bridges of Madison County.' Man, it was like two and a half hours straight of just sobbing open mouth."

But when Lewis is performing, crying is not an option. "It's like a different state, because I'm remembering what I'm playing on guitar," she says. "It's just like a completely unique state - totally focused and totally zoned out at the same time... I mean you feel different songs on different nights depending on what you're going through, but it seems like every time there's a way to get back to the original feeling. The entire band, we all sort of know each other so well, and we all kind of feel the same parts in the song, so it's like kind of this group catharsis. It always feels pretty organic and pretty east to identify with the song."

But at the end of the day, when all is said and done, Lewis knows what is truly important to her. "The most important thing to me is family, friends and love," Lewis says. "I hope to have a happy, healthy relationship one day and be in love with someone that's like my number one focus. I want to be a better person. I want to be able to be of service to people, be able to help people out and not self-destruct. Making music is a great thing to explore all of those things within the songs."