<HotBands> Hi First of all, nice to meet you!   Richard has told me a bit about you and I will be listening to the CD this after noon, so some of my questions will be blind outside of what I read on your other websites.   How many years have you been at it?

<Jill> I began at age 2 My Mom was a backup singer with the Tommy Dorsey band, and put me on the road a bit with well known pianist, Dick Rodgers in the Northeast, took a teenage break & started rocking' in my early 20's.

<HotBands> So you've been raised around music your whole life.... I imagine you play most instruments also?

<Jill> Yeah, I play guitar & sing with my current line up but I do also play a little bass & piano.

<HotBands> How would you best classify your music style?

<Jill> I would have to say rock influenced adult contemporary....?

<HotBands> Any artists...BIG artists you've been said you remind anybody of?

<Jill> Well, Columbia House, one of my distributors, compares me to Heart (the band) & some say Stevie Nicks.

<HotBands> That (Heart) will go over good where I'm from (Seattle).  How many CD's do you have out currently?

<Jill> I have 2 CD's. One is national.

<HotBands> Any CD's in the making ?

<Jill> Yes one now as we speak...do you know anybody with a recording budget?

<HotBands> Richard does. That’s his end of things  :-)

<Jill> Ha

<HotBands> Richard and I will be discussing a  number of things today regarding video promotions as well as CD's sales.

<HotBands> You're resume has a lot of big-name bands. How did you get in with this crowd? For example: A lot of people that read this are new , young bands that want to know how to get to where you are. Is it just sheer persistence, or were you involved in some lucky breaks?

<Jill> I Rattled a lot of trees. Yes, I played the "A" circuit for a while & met most of them that way. I also was a partner in a night club & now in Forbidden Records. Ya know, buy your way in....

<HotBands> You sound like a pretty sharp business woman as well as a talented musician.  A lot of people don't have the drive you do to make it. Would you recommend that they find someone that can help them or to not quit their day-job?

<Jill> I always believe in following your dreams & "cause life is short, but I guess you should also keep the day job

<HotBands> It seems that the path you chose to get to where you are wasn’t keeping the day job, but really going for it either on the club end, the recording end or the artist end....you were involved any way you could. That’s a bit different of a day job than delivering pizza’s for example

<Jill> No, I can work a day job & work at night. The traveling isn't very possible, but I always got paid for gigs.

<HotBands> Do you tour much now, or do you promote more of yourself as a studio band?

<Jill> No, I'm searching for a booking agent.

<HotBands> How long has this incarnation of your band been in existence? New bands members, etc.

<Jill> I would say that I'm a solo artist & use musician's that are available for what I HAVE to do. Right now, I have Marlene Pederson on bass, Jack West (White Witch fame) on drums & for bigger venues, add a lead guitarist. Marlene & I have played together for about 5 years & off & on with Jack for a number of years

<HotBands> You had a couple songs on a recent film soundtrack?  What is the name of it?

<Jill> That's in the works now. I wrote the theme song & have 2 tunes from Welcome to Dreamfield (which is the name of my CD)

<HotBands> Welcome to Dreamfield... is the one that Ian Gillan produced?

<Jill> Actually he was executive producer & Steve Morris was producer along with me

<HotBands> How did you get hooked up with that calibre of players? (not to say you couldn't by your talents, but there are a lot of talented musicians that may never meet these type of people....let them know how you did it)

<Jill> I was playing a gig (solo) where Ian was hanging' out we met, etc. from there we became friends, & we he was interested in my record label

<HotBands> I know of a great quote that says "People say I'm lucky, and I say that the harder I work, the luckier I get". I like that because a lot of people probably don't have the drive to get out there and beat feet on the pavement getting the gigs you did.

<Jill> That's it!  My motto is "Never give up" my last CD title

<HotBands> What are your long-term goals as far as music goes?  Where you want to go with an artist career AND other ventures...do you think you'll stay in the music industry or retire from it?

<Jill> Once it's in the blood, it's ALWAYS in the blood!  I do want to hook a publishing deal, cause I have a large catalog of songs I've written, I love produce & play out. It keeps me young!  Always recording too. Retire is not in my vocabulary!

<HotBands> I One of the last questions that I always ask the new “Big" artists is:  If you could give any advice to the vice to the young up and coming musicians that are reading this, what would you tell them?

<Jill> Be seen, go everywhere you can, talk yourself up, do a GREAT recording. If you don't have the money for an entire CD, put it into one really GREAT song & PROMOTE yourself! One great song is better than a handful of crappy recordings.

<HotBands> So spend your time on producing something good?

<Jill> Yes absolutely!

<HotBands> Well, I'm going to edit this down and I want to thank you for the time to take this interview.

<Jill> Thank you!