I WAS born in New York but I ve been in LA since I was nine, so I m pretty much a West Coaster, admits Jennifer Batten. Blonde, behatted and clad in black, this freelancer might ve tempered her appearance somewhat since the big-haired days of the 80s, but she still retains the high-rolling deportment of a well-paid guitar-for-hire.
But despite being here in Dublin as a star player in the grand gaignd carnival that is Michael Jackson s HIStory tour, the woman sitting across from me in the lounge of the Conrad Hotel is refreshingly bullshit-free and eager to use every second of downtime to rustle up publicity for her second solo album Momentum, a flashy milange of world music, metallic virtuosity, jazzrock fusion and all manner of six-string pyrotechnics. In fact, she has a disarmingly cavalier attitude to the kind of protocolic parlour games practised by acts who ve enjoyed even a modicum of success, making the arrangements for this interview herself rather than delegating the responsibility to on-tour aides and arse-licking lackeys. Indeed, when I mention that I m going to the Henry Rollins gig in the Olympia, she duly runs up to her room fetch an extra copy of the CD for me to deliver to the hardcore troubadour.
Jennifer Batten first started making waves on the LA rock scene in the mid-80s playing everything from metal to blues to funk in a whole slew of bands. Her book Two Hand Rock and a series of master classes at the Guitar Institute Of Technology ensured that she soon became a regular feature in muso guitar magazines, but the guitarist got her big break when she was asked to join Michael Jackson s Bad tour in 87 and was retained for the subsequent Dangerous and HIStory tours. Her first solo instrumental album Above, Below, And Beyond was released in 1992, and following intermittent stints with the likes of Carmine Appice and a blues rock outfit called The Immigrants, she recorded her latest collection (scheduled for a late 97 release) with bassist Ricky Wolking and drummer Glen Sobel.
I put it to Jennifer that female artists are more likely to be found occupying traditional vocal roles rather than that of the prodigious plank-spanker.
Yeah, with solo guitar it s still unfortunately a rarity, she concedes. With grunge there s a lot of bass-players, drummers and singers. I mean forever there s been females that sing and play, y know, strumming, but we still have a ways to go. At the Guitar Institute of Technology I was the only woman in a class of 60 guys. Now there s 5% women, but still, that s a long way from 50. So how did she get into playing lead guitar?
Well, my dad is very much into jazz, he must have over 3,000 jazz records, so that was always in the house. The first thing that I remember completely knocking me out was The Beatles. I got my first guitar when I was 8 years old and my dad gave me an electric guitar for a starter. Most kids get acoustics so I felt pretty lucky with that. In my early teenage years I got really into blues, Lightnin Hopkins, BB King and John Lee Hooker, and once I figured out what those three chords were, I was in heaven, jammin along with records in my room.
This is your third tour with Michael Jackson. How did you land the job?
About a hundred people auditioned around 1987 and I was one of the lucky winners. Next thing I know I m on a trip to Tokyo playing to 50,000 people a night. The most I d ever played to before was 2,000 and that was a rare occasion. It was definitely overnight, a huge jump. There was stress but it was very internal. I didn t realise it until I started actually losing a little control in my right hand as a result of stress I d accumulated in my neck. But consciously I was just so excited about everything and the way he rehearses is so intense, especially on the first tour, that by the time we hit the stage, everything was second nature. What s the first chord of the bridge? or What s the next song? it was just so well rehearsed.
Was he involved from the early stages of rehearsal?
No, it was two months long. The first month all the band were in one room rehearsing, singers in one room, dancers in another room, and the second month was everybody together on a huge soundstage with the special effects and pyros and everything. It was a mindblower. I was playing with six different bands when I got hired for his gig and nothing ever was or will be as intense as this. As far as pop touring goes this is as good as it gets. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. At the end of Billie Jean Michael does an improvised dance by himself with just drums and I sit back and just watch him every night, and it is mind-blowing what that man can do with his body. It looks like rubber at times!
When he first walked into rehearsals, was there a tangible difference to the way you approached things?
Yes. We had heard that if he was happy with what he was hearing he d be dancing and luckily he started dancing right away. His energy is very infectious, it s very intense, he s a very creative guy and everybody just automatically rises to a new level. He ll interact with you at rehearsals, but once you re on the road his schedule is completely nuts, he s always got something to do, so we don t see much of him, except right before we go onstage when we have a group prayer, hold hands and wish for a good show and safe travel. Every once in a while he ll shut down an amusement park for us or have a dinner so we can actually see him behind the scenes.
So you actually get to socialise with him on a reasonably human level?
Yeah. I mean it doesn t happen very often he s so famous it s not like you can take him to a pub and hang out (laughs). Plus this time he s been going to Paris, he s got a place there where he ll commute back and forth from, so he s not in our hotels which is real fortunate cos the fans aren t outside singing his songs all night long. But we are ridiculously spoiled in the band. We get first class hotels which really makes a difference when you ve got a nice place to stay it takes away a lot of the stress of travelling so much. And he only averages two and a half shows a week so I get all the time in the world to work on my project, which is ideal. I got no complaints.
Michael Jackson has a well-documented history (!) of working with flamboyant guitar players like Slash and Eddie Van Halen.
I think he s always looking for a certain energy to make his rock stuff come alive, says Jennifer, and the people he s recorded with are all multi-million sellers and that makes sense for a crossover audience. Y know, some of the headbangers who think Michael isn t cool enough, they ll get the record cos Van Halen s on it. Of all the solos, Beat It is the one that I don mind playing every night. I think it s one of the best solos of the 80s and it s still a challenge to try and get that thing 100% perfect, to get the harmonics to pop out exactly right and get the tonal qualities. I can remember to this day the first time I heard that solo, I was at a band rehearsal and they had the radio on and everybody s jaws just dropped. And I got the record, went home that night and tried to learn it but I just didn t understand what the hell he was doing. I picked up three different times determined to learn it and just gave up. But finally I got it, and it s obviously paid off in a big way.
Do you get a strict brief on how to look and act onstage?
I did in the beginning. I was so thrilled to have the gig I was just grinning from ear to ear all the time. And he said, Well this is the Bad tour so I want everyone to look tough (laughs). In fact he said, Just think of something that your father did to you that pissed you off when you were younger . And the first thing that came to mind was I love my father, I can t think of anything! He was thinking of something his father did that pissed him off. But I worked on my rock n roll snarl and now I don t smile too much, I realise it s an attitude he s looking for. I mean, Beat It is about y know, gangs beating each other up and there s a fight scene in the live show and on the video and it doesn t fit to smile, so . .
Was he specifically looking for a female guitarist at that point?
I never questioned him. I would hope it was my musical skills he was looking for. And he chose my image so I know it was definitely not the way I looked, I had brown hair and glasses. There s no way in hell I would ve dyed my hair platinum blonde for anybody else. But when it was something of that size I said, Sure, whatever you wanna do, mohawk, anything! He s looking to go beyond the ordinary and outdo himself on every tour and he had hired somebody to draw up a look for all of us.
On the first tour we had three different costumes that we d wear, and he spent a million dollars just on clothing for us it was so over the top, it was just unbelievable. There s well over a hundred people that travel with us, the talent out there is by no means just on the stage. There s lighting directors, laser people, cooks, make-up, wardrobe it s amazing. I can t even fathom every being in a position to afford to take those people out on the road. You have to sell 40 million records to do that.
Is there any room for spontaneity on stage at this level?
We actually try to get away with what we can, and as long as Michael doesn t complain we keep stretching every night. I m the only one that gets to get out there and solo, at the end of Black Or White and some of the ballads. It s 180 degrees for my gig, from 100% improvised to being a part player a lot. For 95% of the show I m a rhythm player and I get two minutes to solo every night out of two hours.
How does it affect you to see your employer on the cover of the tabloids?
That s been a real eye-opener for me, and it s really interesting-slash-sad to be with him for ten years and see him on the cover of every magazine everywhere in the world. I remember being in Cork that s one gig that really stood out for me because I walked down the street and every record store, book store and even clothing store had Michael-madness. And then to see tabloids to negative things basically because it sells papers and makes money, it s really sad. I haven t paid attention to em in years. You don t wanna know about it, it s evil, it s really evil.
England is one of the worst for tabloids, and America is no picnic either. Just the sad fact that people can make money on this stuff and millions of people not only buy it but believe it. Australia as well. With a lot of acts they love to see you come up and they ll support you all the way, but once you hit it they love to see you dive. It s crazy, it doesn t make any sense at all why you wouldn t continue to give support to people.
I don t really give it a lot of thought because it usually happens to people who get millions of dollars worth of record company support and heavy rotation on MTV. Especially since MTV hit, cos you get this heavy rotation, everybody buys the record and supports you, and they they re sick of seeing you cos you re always in their face.
Is there a strict code of conduct, particularly with regard to what you may and may not disclose to the press?
Yeah, we had to sign a contract that said we wouldn t disclose any so-called secrets . Which is pretty funny cos we don t know anything! I think, especially at the beginning of the tour, he doesn t want us telling the press everything that s in the show cos he wants it to be a surprise for everybody. And any financial things, which is pretty normal.
There seems to be a school of Michael graduates. Didn t Sheryl Crow join the Bad tour at the same time as you?
And Siedah Garrett was the next tour she s with the Brand New Heavies now. Doing an instrumental record is much tougher to sell than a vocal record, so I ve got a lot more hurdles to cross than those two girls, but to have him on your resume certainly doesn t hurt!
Both Sheryl and Alanis Morrissette have written about the LA casting couch/sexual harassment scenario. Referring to Jackson s manager on the Bad tour, Sheryl even sang Frank Dileo s dong/Maybe if I d let him, I d ve had a hit song . Were you ever the subject of that kind of attention?
No, I never made it to the casting couch, that s why my career has taken so long to take off! (laughs). No, I was never a part of that scene at all, only at a very low level and then I just turned the other way and said: See ya!
Is there anybody left that you d like to work with?
Jeff Beck, she says unhesitatingly. He s my guitar hero of all time. He called me in October of 92 and said, Let s do a record and after I peed my pants I started writing stuff. Actually, a few of the things on this record were written specifically for him. I was on the road still and I started just writing rhythm tracks and sending them to him, but I found out later that that s just not the way he works, he needs to write it then and there and be inspired by a drummer. I sent him tapes and he really liked a few things and wanted to do Zulu Wedding , but five years later nothing s happening, so I got itchy to put it out myself.
Could you tour with Michael if you didn t have your own solo career to pursue?
At this point, after ten years with him, I would not be satisfied just doing this gig. This solo project is very important to me and I m hoping as soon as this tour is over to get my band on the road. Hopefully, by the next time he calls me, I won t be available. Ten years is enough. n