Lady Robotika

Fun interview with Jane and Bill and Rock Book Show

New interview with Jane over at Retro Junk.

Caps: What were your pop-cultural likes growing up?

Jane: I loved music, especially the pop rock of the 60s. My favorites were The Beatles & The Monkees. My oldest brother thought I was a dope for liking both! I get his point…now. I loved watching Star Trek on TV with my family.

Caps: What were your school days like?

Jane: School was way easier back then and I breezed through it. Homework took maybe ten minutes, then all the kids would roam the neighborhood looking for adventure. We swam and played all summer long. I remember my childhood as extremely idyllic.

Caps: What inspired you to become an entertainer?

Jane: I always loved singing but I never thought I could actually have my own band until the punk movement started. The DIY spirit allowed me to form the Go-Go’s, even though i didn’t know what i was doing.

Caps: What jobs did you hold before entering the entertainment business?

Jane: I mostly waited tables, then while in design college, I started working in the garment industry as a pattern maker, and assistant to a designer. That was around the same time we started the Go-Go’s.

Caps: The punk rock scene seemed to be often misunderstood by those outside of it (i.e, the punk rock episode of “Quincy”). What movies or TV shows do you feel have the most accurate depiction of the punk rock
scene?

Jane: None that I’ve seen!!

Caps: What were the early Go-Go’s gigs like?

Jane: Drunken, chaotic, a blast! We knew everyone in the crowd then.

Caps: What was the inspiration behind the song “Our Lips Are Sealed”?

Jane: I was having a long-distance relationship with Terry Hall of The Specials. He was engaged to another woman, but claimed to be in love with me. Oh, the drama! He sent me those lyrics and I took it from there!

Caps: “Vacation” is a song about a troubled relationship, yet when it’s heard in movies and TV shows, it’s usually used as a backdrop for scenes of people relaxing. Does that ever bother you?

Jane: I never even think about it anymore! It just seems like a great, summery pop gem to me.

Caps: One of my favorite songs from your solo career was your duet with Sparks on the song “Cool Places”. What was it like to work with them?

Jane: I was a huge fan of Sparks and madly in love with Russell Mael when I was in high school. When the Go-Go’s got famous, we contacted them and I got the opportunity to work with them. They are such smart, funny, eccentric guys. It was kind of a dream come true!

Caps: Something that’s gained popularity on the Internet in recent years is the literal video, where classic music videos are made fun of because of the disparity between the images and the lyrics. Do you worry that
somebody might do that to any of your music videos?

Jane: I LOVE literal videos. They totally crack me up.
I think my favorites are “Total Eclipse of The Heart” and “Love Is A Battlefield”.

Caps: The song “Inside A Dream” was a song that helped guide me through some rough situations. I’ve had a lot of problems in my life, and I’ve really been inspired by lyrics like: “Only the dreamer can keep the hope alive. I’ll work and pray and sweat and slave until the dream is realized”. Did you intend the song to be a piece that inspires people to survive bad situations, or was it just a regular song?

Jane: No, I really thought it would be neat to write music that inspired and uplifted people. I vacillate between being a very positive hopeful person and an utterly depressed person, so I appreciate music that makes you feel good!

Caps: If I were to look in your CD collection, what 5 titles would I be most surprised to find?

Jane: Andrew WK, Cole Porter, Ella Fitzgerald, Rammstein, Hank Williams Sr.

Caps: What 5 artists have you always wanted to work with?

Jane: David Bowie, Neil Finn, The B52s, Jack White, John Cameron Mitchell.

Caps: Do you feel that your recent injury will affect your performing abilities in the future?

Jane: At physical therapy today, they told me I may NEVER recover full use of my leg. That was a very depressing thing to hear. Right now I’d be thrilled just to be able to walk normally, let alone PERFORM!

Caps: As an actress, one of your most notable film roles was playing Joan Of Arc in “Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure”. What was it like to work on that movie?

Jane: That movie was a ton of fun, because all those “historical figures” were played by character actors, who are always so entertaining to hang out with. I never dreamed the movie would be so popular. In fact, it sat on a shelf for several years and almost never came out at all.

Caps: Several years prior, you had a quick role in “Clue” as the Singing Telegram Girl. I’ve heard a lot of interesting stories, many of them horrific, about Peter Guber and Jon Peters, the executive producers of that movie. Did you ever meet them, and if you did, what were they like?

Jane: No, my part in that film was so minor, I never really met anyone, except Tim Curry, who I’d actually already met before.

Caps: You’re well-known for your love of fetish culture. Many people are creeped out by that scene. What would you say to somebody to get them to understand its’ appeal?

Jane: Ha! That’s a bit like trying to convince someone who hates the taste of chocolate that chocolate is delicious! To each his own, I say. What goes on between consenting adults is nobody’s business but their own!

Caps: Something else you’ve become known for in recent years is being the subject of the comic book “Lady Robotika”. What drew you to being involved in the comic scene?

Jane: I’d been attending comic conventions for many years, as a fan of sci-fi, and then later, as a celebrity, for autograph signings. I met my writing partner Bill Morrison at a convention, and we became besties really quickly. Being two creative types, we wanted to collaborate on something. When Bill suggested a comic book with me as the superhero I jumped at the chance! Who wouldn’t?!

Caps: Considering how busy you are, what would be the perfect day off for you?

Jane: Sleep late/breakfast at a good restaurant/hike w the dogs/lunch at a good restaurant/nap/cocktails/sci-fi movie/dinner at a good restaurant/bed. Can you tell I like eating and sleeping a lot??!!

Caps: If you could go back to your youth with the knowledge that you have now, would you do anything differently?

Jane: I would definitely be a less-depressed teenager. I thought life was completely pointless when I was in high school, but just a few short years later I was having the adventure of a lifetime in a successful rock band!

Little mention over at Living Life Boomer Style

Sex, Droids & Rock ‘N’ Roll

She’s been a famous rhythm guitarist with the Go-Go’s. She’s been a singing telegram girl, Joan of Arc, a choir singer, a voice actor, and an alien. She’s Bowled for Boobies to raise money for those with breast cancer and she’s helped animal charities. Now Jane Wiedlin, aka Jumping Jane Drano, adds another identity to her CV—a comic book heroine. Wiedlin’s alter ego is Lady Robotika, a superhero cyborg.

Super Powers

The comic series she co-created with Simpsons artist Bill Morrison relates Wiedlin’s adventures when aliens abduct her. The reptilian beings experiment on her and transform her into a cyborg. Wiedlin eventually becomes the super-powered Lady Robotika, heroine of the cyborg slaves. Like a futuristic lady Robin Hood, she thwarts the plans of the evil alien monarchy by day and rocks the cosmos by night.

A Graphic Novel

Wiedlin says, “When we’ve released all six issues, we’re going to bind them into a hardback graphic novel. I also have an album’s worth of songs inspired by the comic, so I want a special issue of the graphic novel that comes with music. I’ve got about 12 or 13 tracks and they’re very Jane Wiedlin, and semi Go-Go’s-esque.”

According to an interview published in Billboard, Wiedlin says she may launch a Lady Robotika musical next year in San Francisco.

A Blossoming Franchise

Lady Robotika could lend itself to a blossoming franchise. Who would not want to see Lady Robotika video games, an animated or live action series or movie, or a Lady Robotika action figure? She is already featured on a fabulous T-shirt.

Lady Robotika has her own rock band with music specifically recorded for the story by Wiedlin, including the brilliant songs If Girls Ruled the World, Push You, Transmission Twist, Gonna Make You Fall, and Go Outside. Could a Lady Robotika CD be in our future? In any case, this cover of a special edition Lady Robotika graphic novel would make an ideal album cover.

Attention Humans

Issues Number 3 and Number 4 are available for pre-order online at North America TFAW or UK’s Forbidden Planet. Or go to your local comic shop and put in an order. To locate your nearest comic book shop, go to Comic Shop Locator or call 1-888-266-4226.

New interview with Jane and ChicagoPride.com

Jane Wiedlin first made her mark as the rhythm guitarist of the history making 80′s band the Go-Go’s. Jane wrote the Go-Go’s biggest hit “Our Lips are Sealed” from a love letter she’d received. She also co-wrote some of the GO-GO’s biggest hits including “Vacation” and “Head Over Heels”.

Jane left the Go-Go’s in October of 1984 to persue a solo career. Her self-titled first solo album,was released in May of 1985.

In 1988, Jane released her second solo album “Fur” which spawned her top ten hit “Rush Hour” and the song “Tangled”, was on the sound track for “Pretty Woman”, one of the biggest selling soundtracks of all time.

Wiedlin has also acted in movies and provided the voice for several characters on TV and the big screen, including

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Her other roles included Joan of Arc in the comedy “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, a singing telegram girl in the film “Clue” and the White Fairy in Golan-Globus’s “Sleeping Beauty”.

After a series of reunions during the 1990s with the Go-Go’s, Jane put together bands such as Frosted and Jane Wiedlin and the Downtown Sensation. In April 2009, Jane connected with director Steve Balderson for Stuck! – an homage to film noir women in prison dramas. Co-starring Karen Black, Pleasant Gehman, Susan Traylor, and cult icon Mink Stole.

Jane continued to tour with the Go-Go’s throughout 2000. In 2009, the Go-Go’s announced their “Happily Ever After Farewell Tour” to be held in July, only to later cancel the tour due to ACL tears in both of Jane’s knees. She suffered in a fall while on a hike near her San Francisco home. Jane’s lastest endeavor, a comic book called “Lady Robotika” written with Bill Morrison, famous as being part of the Simpsons/Futurama team for the last 20 years, is the adventures of a woman, basically Jane herself, being abducted by aliens and turned into a superheroine off to fight the evils of the galaxy.

She is now writing issue number three and took some time out to chat with ChicagoPride.com about it!

AM: Congratulations on your Lady Robotika comic book! You are now writing issue three. Tell me a little about this project. How did it came about?

JW: I met Bill Morrison, my writing partner, at the SuperCon comic convention in San Jose 3 years ago. We became good friends almost instantly and wanted to collaborate on a project together. Bill is famous as being part of the Simpsons/Futurama team for the last 20 years so we decided to create a comic book about a superhero based on me!

AM: What do you like most about what you have accomplished so far? You’ve had great reviews about Lady Robotika. Are you happy with the way things are going so far?

JW: There have been a lot of exciting happy moments working on Lady Robotika. I was nervous at first because I’d never written a comic; In fact, I hadn’t even read very many comics, but when I dove in and started writing, I found it felt very natural. It came from the same place in my brain/soul as writing songs. In fact, now it all makes sense to me, since songs are basically 3 minute short stories, and comics are illustrated short stories.

So, I find the act of creating absolutely thrilling. Besides that, holding the first issue in my hands for the first time made me cry, I was so happy! I find it very rewarding to think of an idea, work on that idea through fruition, then hold the finished product. I’m kinda simple that way!

AM: Where do the story lines come from?

JW: We created a story arc when we started 3 years ago that would explain how Lady R came to be. It starts out firmly rooted in my real life, then veers off wildly into my fantasy world!

AM: Any undertones of what’s going on with Lady Robotika that’s going on with Jane Wiedlin?

JW: It’s more what is going on in my head. My whole life I’ve been obsessed with sci-fi, with robots, aliens, outer space, flying saucers, you name it! To be able to work in a medium where I get to write about these things is beyond fun!

AM: When you started this project, did you know all the time and energy and process that goes into making a complete comic issue?

JW: I had no idea. It is a herculean task making a comic book this beautifully done. I love the artwork so much, but of course I can take ZERO credit for that; it’s all Bill and the artists that help him like Tone Rodriguez on Issue 1 and Jeff & Phil Moy on Issues 2 and 3. There are so many people involved in the process of comic book-making. Besides the pencillers (sketches), there are the inkers (finished drawings), the colorists, the letterers (who put in the dialogue bubbles and all else to do with printed words), the cover artist, PLUS the writers of the stories (that’s me and Bill) and then the editors & publishers and all the business people after that! It is insanely expensive to make a product that retails for $3.00! Bill & I are just stubborn and in love with Lady Robotika, and hope to keep telling her story, while she basically bankrupts us!!

AM: Tell me a little bit about your writing and developing Lady Robotika with Simpsons illustrator Bill Morrison. What is the process?

JW: First we created the arc of the first storyline (how Jane W becomes Lady R). Then there is the “constructional” work, of splitting the story into 6 separate issues, then splitting each issue into 22 pages of story, then each page into multiple panels (usually 1 to of art. This is just the MECHANICAL part of the story telling. Then you have to have a great story that stands alone for each issue, and be able to tell it through pictures and a limited amount of words (mostly dialogue).

AM: You go to alot of the Comic-Con Conventions. I bet you have met alot of freaks, right?

JW: Not really. Mostly people who are geeks (like me!) are kind, thoughtful and respectful. I have met lots of people I admire, and made many good friends there.

AM: I know that you are a HUGE Sci-Fi fan. You’ve written songs about it, been in Star Trek, are an avid collector and now have a comic book about it. What is it about aliens and the far away gallaxies that excite you?

JW: The idea of other worlds and other life forms completely different to our own is very appealing to me. I am an explorer at heart.

AM: Would you ever “hook up” with an alien if you met one?

JW: HELL YES! And if any came to Earth and offered to take me away with them, I would definitely go!

AM: What are some of your favorite Sci- Fi series and or movies?

JW: Star Trek: especially The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, Star Wars: especially the original trilogy, Blade Runner, Firefly, Serenity, Battlestar Galactica (remake series), Dollhouse, Buffy, Defying Gravity, Galaxy Quest, True Blood, Total Recall, Terminator movies and TV show, etc etc etc. [laughs]

AM: If you could be any character past or present OR make one up of your own, in a STAR WARS film who would you be and why?

JW: Han Solo. He is a risk-taker and an adventurer, and he has is own spaceship and is super hot!

AM: Recently you were trying to save your Light Saber as you were falling down a 20 foot cliff… you DID save it didn’t you?

JW: I DID save it! My knees, not so much!

AM: Being that Prop 8 was just overturned in California, I wanted to ask: Do you think that there are gay aliens?… and what would they think of the way that there are limits on what gay and lesbians can and can’t do?

JW: There is documentation of homosexual behavior all over the natural world, of course it only makes sense that the natural world is more than just Earth. Any extraterrestrial species that had the brains to get to a planet as far away as we are would think it was ridonkulous to deny certain people basic civil rights based on who they love, in my opinion.

AM: The Go-Go’s came from the LA punk scene in late 1978 when there were all the freaks, misfits, homos and all the other people that didnt fit in… was there a huge gay movement in Calfornia at that time?

JW: I know when I joined the punk scene of Hollywood in 1976 it was a group of ragtag misfits, including girls, homos, artists and rebels. Most of us fit in more than one category. Much like the hippy movement of the 1960′s it was all about creative expression and being yourself. We just LOOKED a lot different than hippies!!

AM: What is your outlook on the entire Proposition 8 ordeal?

JW: There are so many people in this country with the most ARCHAIC attitudes about things, and the passing of Prop H8 is just one huge example of that. And now, even though the court overturned H8, the things I’ve read online indicate that there are millions of people out there who consider it their life’s mission to make sure others don’t get the liberties they so carelessly enjoy (and ABUSE). I think we have many battles ahead, still.

AM: Why did you decide to become a legally ordained minister? Are you avalible for weddings?

JW: When marriage became legal for everyone in California, I was very happy for my many GLBT friends and wanted to be able to legally marry them. Just when I became an ordained minister, Prop H8 passed and that right was once again denied my friends. I am happy that there are other states and countries that recognize same sex marriages, and yes, I am available to all orientations for non-religious weddings! If anyone would like me to officiate their marriage ceremony, they can go to my website, janewiedlin.com and click on “weddings.” I just lowered my officiant fee to celebrate the good news about Prop H8 being overturned.

Lady Robotika gets a little mention over at Star Trek.com

Jane Wiedlin is best known for her long association with the pop-rock band The Go-Go’s, but she’s done quite a bit of acting over the course of her career, too, including a quickie cameo as “Alien Communications Officer Trillya” in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. A recent injury put a temporary hold on a planned Go-Go’s farewell tour, but Wieldlin is busy with a comic book series, Lady Robotika, which she co-created with Simpson illustrator Bill Morrison. Out now, its title character is a superheroine/rocker who bears an uncanny resemblance to Wiedlin. Read rest of the article HERE.

Jane’s top 5 movies w/Rotten Tomatoes

Speaking to Jane Wiedlin on the phone, one might find it hard to believe the sweet and perky voice on the other end belongs to a sci-fi geek and punk rocker who got her start as early as 1978, when she and Belinda Carlisle first formed The Go-Go’s. One might also be surprised to discover that, after some acting and a solo singing career, Wiedlin reunited with her bandmates to tour, at age 42, once again as the Go-Go’s. This month, the band kicked off their “Happily Ever After Farewell Tour,” and Wiedlin released the first issue of Lady Robotika, a comic book starring herself as an alien-abducted rocker who is turned into a cyborg and forced to perform music. Sound intriguing? We thought so, and decided to chat with Wiedlin about her favorite movies and what it was like working on the comic. Read on for the full interview!

Blade Runner (1982, 94% Tomatometer)

#1 for sure is Blade Runner. I’ve been a big sci-fi geek since I was a little kid, and it was just done so well. It felt like that’s what Los Angeles was going to look like in the future, and you felt Harrison Ford’s turmoil as a blade runner. Everything about it was so real, and so cool, and everyone that was cast in it was so good in their roles, and so attractive. Even though the future looked spooky, it was also mesmerizing. Sean Young… Who knew she was so crazy? She was so great in that movie. And then when she finds out she’s a replicant, it’s so heartbreaking. I could watch that movie a hundred times and I don’t even care which version I see; I’m fine with the narration, I’m fine without the narration. It’s just a great movie. When you’ve seen it so many times, I guess it doesn’t matter. Like, it’s impossible for me to go back in time and see it for the first time without narration and see if it would have made it confusing or not, which, I guess, was the studio’s worry, that people wouldn’t be able to follow the storyline. But, you know, I’ll never know. [laughs] All I know is it’s the best science fiction movie ever made.

Showgirls (1995, 13% Tomatometer)

#2 is Showgirls. Again, a movie I’ve seen at least a dozen times, and I know that everybody gets it now, but I was a true believer right from the beginning. It is, really, the accidentally funniest movie I’ve ever seen. It never gets any less funny. There’s just something about watching Elizabeth Berkeley in that role, when she’s like flopping in the water like a fish, or when she’s in that club, and Cristal Connors pays her $500 to give Zack a lapdance, and she’s all flapping around on his lap. It’s so cringeworthy, but it’s so funny at the same time. And I’m normally not really a fan of cringey humor — shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm — I can’t even watch those shows because I end up running behind the couch, I’m cringing so bad. The thing about Showgirls, and how earnest everybody was, and how over-the-top it was — I just love that movie. I practically have it memorized.

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980, 99% Tomatometer)

I think #3 would be The Empire Strikes Back. To me, clearly the best of the six, like way, way ahead of the field — the six Star Wars movies, not my list — and here we go, Harrison Ford again. Harrison Ford was like my generation’s greatest leading man. He’s going to be our Clark Gable or whatever. He was so good. That movie just had plenty of story and action, and my problem with a lot of sci-fi is that it’s all action and not enough story, not enough character development, and not enough relationships between the characters. It’s all shoot-em-up, which is good; I think guys like that. But I like my shoot-em-ups with relationships and character development and lots of story. And, you know, lots of snappy lines done really well by the actors. Another thing is, it’s the last Star Wars movie before the cute came in. And once they brought the cute, it was like “Ugh! It’s too cute!” They should have made six movies for adults and six movies for kids, and then everybody could have been happy. I’m going to get death threats now, for criticizing… I kid because I love! [laughs]

Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home (1986, 83% Tomatometer)

The next one would be Star Trek IV, because it was the best Star Trek, and because I was in it. [laughs] Does it count as a plug if it was made a million years ago? I mean, it was the best Star Trek, so there you go. And it was about saving whales, which I would agree with, and it was the first time that they really let the characters get kind of funny and more relaxed, and I think that was a really good direction for them to go.

Galaxy Quest (1999, 89% Tomatometer)

#5, I’ll put Galaxy Quest. I know Galaxy Quest is not a great movie, but I love that movie, and I’ve seen it over and over and over, and I still love it just as much. I think Tim Allen portraying a Kirk-like character is so damn funny. I think that’s one of the best “fan” films ever made. And the fake Spock guy was great, yeah. That movie’s really funny. We saw it when it first came out — my family has a tradition of always going to a movie on Christmas afternoon, and we went and saw that one. It was such a great family moment, too. It brings back good memories.

New interview with Jane & Bill over at CBR.

Jane Wiedlin has been abducted by aliens. The Go-Go’s musician is breaking into outer space with aliens and robots aplenty in “Lady Robotika,” Wiedlin’s upcoming Image Comics miniseries co-written by Bill Morrison and co-illustrated by Morrison and Tone Rodriguez. In “Lady Robotika,” a fictional version of Wiedlin is abducted by aliens and transformed into a cybernetic life form thanks to extra-terrestrial technology. After arriving on the aliens’ home world, Wiedlin performs a concert, thereby causing a slave uprising against the alien oppressors. In the process, Wiedlin herself is reborn as a hero – a hero known as Lady Robotika!… read rest of article HERE.

Jane recently did a fun interview with Ghosty of That Modern Rock Show.

You can listen to it HERE!

Check out this interview w/Jane at Billboard.com

In July, the Go-Go’s embark on a three-week Farewell Tour, saying goodbye after 30 years as one of rock’s pioneering all-female bands. But between the July 22 San Francisco show and the band’s July 24 stop in L.A., guitarist Jane Wiedlin will rush down to San Diego to celebrate her next creative chapter: the “Lady Robotika” comic book series, co-created with Simpsons artist Bill Morrison. The series, published by Image Comics, launches at San Diego’s enormous annual Comic Con International with the first of six monthly issues.

The story stars Wiedlin herself as a rocker who is abducted by aliens, experimented on in her sleep, and transformed into a cyborg. Lady Robotika then becomes a super-powered heroine, defending the planet’s slave class against its evil Emperor…. read rest of the article HERE.