Thought I'd follow up with my friend Jasmine Cain and see what she's been up to. She's busy living the DREAM!
Tell me about the awards that you won this year.Well….it’s not the Grammy’s, but it’s what the Grammy’s wish they were.
Just Plain Folks is the largest awards show in the world honoring all unsigned artists out there worldwide just trying to do it themselves. All winners are chosen by somewhere around 50,000 members of JPF who are singers, songwriters, composers, musicians, and music listeners just like us. You are literally voted in by your peers. This year there were 560,000 song submissions and around 42,000 albums. That’s a lot of songs to screen! All songs are submitted by the artists through the request of the JPF sponsors: Disc Makers, Taxi, and CD Baby. They are then put into categories and all JPF members are free to vote on their favorites. Final nominations are announced and those are voted on again to determine the winners. This year we were nominated in 4 categories: Best Contemporary Song, Best Rock Song, Best Hard Rock Song, and Best Rock Album.
The nominations themselves are such an honor but on top of that, we were the first artist asked to perform at the awards ceremony. We gratefully accepted and packed in 30 of our friends, family, and fans in the Wild horse Saloon in Nashville on August 29th. It was awesome because the whole band’s families got to meet for the first time ever. My mom even flew in from South Dakota to attend!
We were hoping to pull at least one award away that night but we walked away with 6 awards!! Not only did we win the 4 categories we were nominated in, but we also won 2 “Founders Awards”, which included Song of the Year (“Give Me Love”) and Female Artist of the Year. It was such an epic evening and I got to meet some of the most talented people from around the globe.
Are these the most awards you and the band have won?Not only is this the most awards the band has ever won, it’s the most awards that have ever been given to one artist in the history of JPF. We hold the record on that now. In 2004, our first album “The Inside” won 2 JPF awards and we couldn't believe how lucky we were. This was truly mind-blowing.
What has the band been doing? What gigs have you played?The band has decided to take a 2 month break during the winter months to kinda regain our sanity and try to stabilize our finances. In 2003 when I recorded my first album, we toured hard to promote that with totally different members in the band and by the end of 2005, we had completely self-destructed because of the grueling schedule we kept. I was a nervous wreck trying to keep my alcoholically enhanced band mates from being arrested because of their antics and I was turning into Superbitch! It wasn’t who we were so I took a break and told the boys to meet up with me in a year and we would pick up where we left off. Nobody showed up but me. So I started a new band and put out another album. Now we are in the same position we were in when I decided to take a break last time, except nobody has lost their mind just yet. I’d like to stop a little before that breaking point and not take as much time off so we don’t completely use momentum. Everyone in the band is still totally onboard but we are all looking forward to the break. We need it pretty bad.
During our hiatus, we will be writing for the 3rd album, doing a few acoustic shows here and there, and trying to secure an position as an opening act for a national touring band. I’m also looking to pitch “Give Me Love” to country artists in hopes that someone can do more with it. It’s a country music hit song if I’ve ever heard one and I’m not the only one that thinks that.
I’ve also decided to pair up with as many powerful hit songwriters that I can convince to co-write with me to kinda stack the deck with our 3rd album. It’s time to take it to the next level.
Are you working on a new album?I have one more year to pay off the loan from my last album. It takes me 3 years to pay off the $20,000 I take out to do each album. After my last payment is made, I can take the loan out again and do it all over. We have written 4 songs for the new album, but we will end up writing around 50 and choosing our top 10 for the album. A lot of thought goes into the song selection. It all depends on what we want to say. My first two albums were incredibly intense and though provoking. I have to decide whether I want to stay on that path or write in a little lighter way. We are throwing that back and forth right now.
I also have plans to use some of the most stellar producers out there for this album. Jeff Tomei is a close friend of mine from Atlanta who did albums for Matchbox 20, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, and many more. He and I have just always been on different wavelengths when it came to the recording. Every time I was finally ready to buckle down and work, he was involved with something else. This time we have vowed to make it work…even if only for a few songs.
Bob Marlette is my other smoking gun. He produces some of the most monsterous albums out there. Saliva is his pet project. He writes, produces, and even performs a lot of the instruments on those albums. He also works with AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sevendust, and currently is working on the new Filter album. He’s a freak of nature!! Plus, he’s a good ole Midwestern boy from Oklahoma. Who knew?
Why did you decide to change the cover of Locks and Keys?I changed every bit of the artwork. When I met with the graphic artist I hired to do my artwork, she was working for Gibson Guitars and was really on top of her game. I was very impressed with what she had done. However, when I gave her the photography and artwork for Locks & Keys, she became distracted with other events in her life and I could see that it was HER life she was projecting in the artwork instead of mine. It was dark. Not only did I not have a chance to approve what she had done, but she was 2 weeks late in getting me the file and I didn’t have time to change anything at that point. To make matters worse, she charged me more money than we had agreed on and refused to give me the files until I paid her. It was a nightmare.
I take ALL parts of my album VERY seriously and this wasn’t what I wanted. My own grandmother said she couldn’t listen to the album or look at it because it was so depressing. People started asking me if I was sick or depressed and if I needed help. It was an eye-opener. I’m a very up-beat fun girl, so I decided to change all the photography and artwork to show how I really am instead of what was projected by the graphic artist. Nobody really understood the necessity of that when I did it. It was an additional expense and we couldn't’t really afford it. But every time I tore open an album to sign for a fan, I wanted to tuck it under my arm and take off running to keep them from having to be exposed to that. I didn’t want them to get the wrong idea about me.
After I got the new artwork done, I opened up the first one and popped the CD into my car and just flipped through the booklet….which is exactly what I would do if I was buying a CD myself. For the first time, it actually fit. I worked for me. It shows who I am and it’s fun and colorful. I love it now.
Will you be at the next Sturgis Rally and if so have you worked out any venues?Good question. I had a pretty tough card thrown my way this year about a month before Sturgis. I lost my home. Broken Spoke decided to “keep things fresh”. They felt like people were getting burned out on Jasmine Cain. I can understand that to some extent, but I’ve learned throughout the years that people come back year after year to see the same bands they saw the year before and introduce their friends to their music. It’s literally how we’ve built our fan base to what it is now. I was heartbroken to say the least and then sent scrambling trying to find a gig in my own hometown!! I booked shows at Monkey Rock that just didn’t work out for us. I ran into an issue with the sound company there because they just couldn’t seem to run their own equipment. They shut my microphone off for the entire show and killed the speakers out front during our performances. It seemed almost intentional. I’ve never had to deal with anything that bad in my life. It was very unprofessional.
Broken Spoke Campground was very gracious and offered us a couple of shows out there but we were rained out for both of those. And the only other gigs we had were in Rapid City for Murphy’s Bar which was just purchased by a couple friends of mine from when I was at Full Throttle.
I’m really hoping to find my new home in Sturgis and I’m thinking that a legendary hometown Sturgis rocker might need to join forces with the legendary Buffalo Chip. We can both be legends together. I was offered a stage from Rod Woodruff for this year but I turned it down because the Broken Spoke still had a hold on me. When they told me to find a new gig, I turned to the Chip but they had filled all their stages at that point. I was too late. I don’t want that to happen again. Besides….if I was there all week I could’ve caught Steven Tyler and kept him from bustin’ his ass and I could’ve sang for Buckcherry when their singer’s voice blew out! They need me there….they just don’t know it yet!! Ha ha ha.
Where will you be playing this fall and winter?In my room….by myself.
What's been going on in your life besides the music?I’m glad you asked. For the first time in my life, I’m engaged. Bean’re has swept me off my feet like a knight on a chrome horse. He really does share the secrets of my soul. I’m easily bored so it takes a special kind of guy to keep me guessing and keep me laughing. Bean’re is one of a kind and I’m all over it. I’m not letting this one get away. He cooks breakfast in the morning, he doesn’t mind mowing the grass, he’s hot, he’s hilarious, and there’s never a dull moment. There’s only a few things we have to work on….like leaving dirty socks everywhere and stealing my hairbrush. We had been dating about a year and he said he was going to propose to me. Then he asked me if I wanted a ring or a motorcycle….so of course, I took the bike.
Anything else you would like to add?Yeah, I got a question. If Bean’re and I have children….would they be Bean’re babies? Just checking. We could make millions on the black market!
Favorite band names:
Goodbye Kitty (as opposed to Hello Kitty which I find annoying)
Violent Hippies (they greet each other by saying “Fuck you, Bro”.)
And…..I think I have the Swine Flu. My eyeballs hurt.
****Follow Up to this interview - Sadly, Jasmine and Bean're parted ways. Did she keep the bike?****
