"I am a girl, You know. Sometimes I listen to Destiny’s Child" - JK

Like the hyperactive love child of Wendy O Williams and Howling Wolf, Jill Kurtz can rage the stage as a trigger-happy blonde tigress high on ampage and glory, or she can moan through a drawling blues number like some finger picking swamp lizard. It all depends on where the action is. From her days as the guitar slinging motherfucker goddess in glam punk/ arena metal hybrid Caged Heat, to her current incarnation as solo acoustic artist with stories to tell and bruises to show off, Jill is a restless, reckless ball of relentless energy, feisty wit,and authentic, gut punching rock and roll. With her first solo record, "No Moleste" due out on Twisted Rico records this month, and a big time Danger Rock band, the narcotically titled "Blow" in the works, I figured it was time to get down to the brass tacks of the Jill Kurtz("Chilly" to her friends) experience We met up in some platinum jive sushi-bar, and I tell ya, her street rep and onstage persona, the "Bad Ass Sex Kitten" prone to fist fighting and drink spilling, belies the sweetheart of the neon rodeo I talked with. But that’s cool, I’ve had enough chicks throwing bottles at me to last a life time.

Yeh. I started playing guitar at 18. I always wanted to when I was younger, but people would go, ‘Go away, you’re just a little girl’, so finally I said ‘Screw it’ and got my own guitar. I learned how to play, not really with the intentions of being in a band, just for my own satisfaction. Then this guy asked me to be in his band, and I’ve played in bands ever since.

Well at first I was terrified. Our first gig was booked, and there was no bass player or drummer…this was at the Rat. I heard a tape of the sound check, and I was singing horribly off key. But the gig was fun anyway, and I kept playing with Ashera after that.

I don’t think it was a matter of convincing anybody, it was just like, ‘yeh, we got a band’, and that was it. The guy I was playing with was really good at bullshitting. It was fun, I had gotten the bug to perform really early on. I’d been around bands a lot, so it’s not like playing was some big mystery for me.

I did all the songwriting in that band. I always wrote songs- I didn’t really imagine playing them for anybody, but I always wrote them anyway.

I guess you could say that I did. I started to feel like I wanted to go in another direction musically. At the same time the drummer was moving to California, so I thought, instead of finding an eighth drummer, it was a perfect opportunity to break away, and try something different Go in a different direction.

Something more blues-y. Which didn’t necessarily happen.

Like with most of my bands, Ashera went through a lot of people. Seven drummers, you know. There was a lot going on in that band, probably enough for three or four bands, but I’m not one for thinking up new band names.

Yeh.

We needed a name for the new band, because we were playing on the radio that night, and we didn’t have one yet. For the record, they despised the name at first, but it grew on everybody. We’d joke about the movie, and I think it came from that. From the outset, though, they were all really into the outfits.

I think it was hilarious, it was so b-movie. And they all looked awesome in the outfits.

There was a lot of people in and out of Mach 2. A lot of people that did their time in the Cage. ( a lengthly explanation of the many brave soldiers ensues…see the Idiot’s guide to Caged Heat) and then finally that version of the band crashed and burned, And then there was the burned out, old, tired guys I hooked up with.

Right. The guys that thought they were so much more than they are…

I think with most of the people in Ashera and Caged Heat, I’m still on good terms with…except for some of the people in Mach 2, and I have to take the blame for that. I really fucked up with that band.

I broke every rule that you’re not supposed to break in a band…

You know, The Rules…I was being self destructive, crossing lines and boundaries…I would say that those guys love me, but I wouldn’t say that it ended well. I wouldn’t say there was any animosity there. I would say there was strange animosity going on with the guys in Mach 3 though.

I’ll go on record to say that. One of the guys I’m still good friends with, but the other two are two-faced, vindictive assholes, who, to this day, are doing things that are annoying, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. They were only in the band for such a short amount of time, and I was really good to them. I mean, I might not have been at my best as a person at that time, but they cancelled shows, they totally flamed out. They were the band I was with right after ‘Serious Action’ came out, so they ended up with a lot of press, they got their pictures taken a lot, but they only did two or three shows with me, and they cancelled the rest. They demanded like, publishing rights…what publishing rights? It’s just sour grapes, they said I was gonna crash and burn in hell…

I was without a band, and I’ve got these gigs to do, and in comes these nice, young, unjaded kids…

It was great, because after the last guys, I was like, God is tested me, like, what have I done? I’d just had it, I was jaded and pissed off, but I still had the will to go on, so those guys were great. They weren’t these weirdos asking me for publishing, they just wanted to fun and play music, and that’s why I got into this, to have fun.

Well, they had their own band, and they had jobs, too. They were young, and I guess it comes down to me needing a higher level of commitment. I didn’t want to take away from their band, so I moved on. They could probably have used Caged Heat more to their advantage, but that’s their story, You know?

Right after the first lineup of Caged Heat fell apart, and I got the second one together, and we started getting popular, that’s when I shaved my head. I didn’t know if it would even look good, I was just having one bad hair day too many, so I skulked over to the local barber, and I told him to take it all off. Luckily, I found that I had a good looking head. You never know what your going to end up with, I could have ended up looking…

Which is not true, by the way. I mean, I’m feisty, so if you want to provoke me, I’m sure you’ll get a reaction, but I’m a woman…I don’t want to hurt anybody.

Oh, there’s been tons. Trouble just follows me, I guess. The thing with that guy at the Noise awards is, he just wouldn’t shut up.Guy from Hip Tanaka.

Exactly.

Well, I like to make a gracious exit. I hate long good-byes.

Sometimes. Sometimes I might even break out an Ashara song, depending on my mood, but all this time I’ve been writing songs that wouldn’t have worked in Caged Heat, or whatever. I’ve got a lot of songs, man.

We’re going to find out a lot of things. This record is really personal, it hasn’t been easy. I feel really exposed, like people can just take what I’ve done, and rip it…but you know what, fuck it. If you like it, great, and if you don't…

I think they’ll like it. It’s got a lot of harmonica on it, and that was something that people really liked in Caged Heat…I think it’ll be interesting to hear people’s reactions.

No, it doesn’t. A blues-guy wouldn’t say that.

Well, it’s totally got a blues feel to it, but that’s because I’m playing with people that are more blues than metal.

Yeh, why? I don’t know if I really have the blues. Have I been troubled by other people in my life? Yeh. I wouldn’t claim to be the happiest person on the planet, though I certainly have good times. I don’t think that most people that play in bands are the happy-go-lucky sort of folks. Hey, can I have a cigarette?

Honey, you couldn’t lead me down that path. I’ve already been there, and I don’t belong…