What the hell was Lit bassist doin' in Jani Lane's solo band??

[REO Cokewagon]

What the hell was an alternative bassist doin' in a hair metal singer's solo band??!!!

This guy was just a kid in 2009 but he was rockin his ass off!!! This is Kevin Baldes from Lit!

Fuck aznsquirt for not pointin' this out!!! FUCK U AZNSQUIRT

Great clip but pay attention at 3:42!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVNiG5H-IrI

This is what the fucker looks like now: Nothing alike!!

[Rob Lane]

Kevin was the PERFECT fit for Jani's band. Before LIT they were called Razzle and one of the biggest bands on the Strip in the early 90s.

He would have been 37 in this live Jani Clip!

[StateOfShock]

Jani was close friends with the Lit guys.

[aznsquirt]

Fuck aznsquirt for not pointin' this out!!! FUCK U AZNSQUIRT

Damn, I'm pretty sure I listed the band members names but I should've pointed that out. Awesome, huh?

As mentioned, I know Jani knew the Lit guys back in their Razzle days, I'm guessing they were buds for years and it just worked out.

Phenomenal band.

[gtshark1]

I saw him in Lynch Mob as well.

[FreddyFender]

The Lit guys started out as a hairmetal band, and (like Pearl Jam) they somehow pulled off sneakily converting to a grunge/90s rock act without anyone noticing.

So I imagine Warrant spoke to him way more than the Seattle sound.

Just looked at their Wikipedia: one of their early members died in the GW Station fire. These guys were Sludge to the core. Probably had rooms full of E'Nuff Z'Nuff demo tapes and Kiss action figures and shit.

[aznsquirt]

Obligatory Razzle link if anyone wants to hear it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz0zVz94dQA

Def a solid act.

The song that starts at 4:21 sounds a LOT like Warrant, and AJ sounds a lot like Jani here, imo

[demolition23]

The Lit guys started out as a hairmetal band, and (like Pearl Jam) they somehow pulled off sneakily converting to a grunge/90s rock act without anyone noticing.

So I imagine Warrant spoke to him way more than the Seattle sound.

I get your point, but Lit were never grunge, and Pearl Jam were never a hair-metal band (you may be thinking of Alice in Chains?)

[FreddyFender]

The Lit guys started out as a hairmetal band, and (like Pearl Jam) they somehow pulled off sneakily converting to a grunge/90s rock act without anyone noticing.

So I imagine Warrant spoke to him way more than the Seattle sound.

I get your point, but Lit were never grunge, and Pearl Jam were never a hair-metal band (you may be thinking of Alice in Chains?)

Before they were Pearl Jam, they were Mother Love Bone, which were like 50% LA Metal and 50% what would become the Seattle sound.

[demolition23]

The Lit guys started out as a hairmetal band, and (like Pearl Jam) they somehow pulled off sneakily converting to a grunge/90s rock act without anyone noticing.

So I imagine Warrant spoke to him way more than the Seattle sound.

I get your point, but Lit were never grunge, and Pearl Jam were never a hair-metal band (you may be thinking of Alice in Chains?)

Before they were Pearl Jam, they were Mother Love Bone, which were like 50% LA Metal and 50% what would become the Seattle sound.

I dunno, Mother Love Bone were glammy, but otherwise didn’t have a lot else in common with hair metal to me.

Besides, only 2/5ths of MLB went on to PJ and both of them had played grungy garage rock with Green River too.

[skunklovestiger]

Jani was close friends with the Lit guys.

Keri Kelli who was also in Jani's solo band has always been very close friends with the guys from Lit. So it was just natural to ask his friends when Jani was putting the solo band together. Plus they all come from the same area

[alleyrulez]

I dunno, Mother Love Bone were glammy, but otherwise didn’t have a lot else in common with hair metal to me.

musically, Mother Love Bone were closer to Mötley than they were to Mudhoney.

my opinion.

[Black Stuff]

Playing bass?

[MetalSludgeCEO]

The Lit guys started out as a hairmetal band, and (like Pearl Jam) they somehow pulled off sneakily converting to a grunge/90s rock act without anyone noticing.

So I imagine Warrant spoke to him way more than the Seattle sound.

I get your point, but Lit were never grunge, and Pearl Jam were never a hair-metal band (you may be thinking of Alice in Chains?)

""""""""""""""""but Lit were never grunge""""""""""""""""

Not true... or not completely... their full length debut "Tripping The Light Fantastic" was WAY closer to grunge & much heavier than the follow up "Place In The Sun".

If you listen to TTLF, it's WAY more Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, etc... than what they became a few years later.

I personally LOVE this record... it's awesome! > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhOQtb9xBAE

I have known these guys since day 1, meaning the summer if 1987... I met Jeremy when he was 15 and in the band DREAMS and he handed me their flyer and invited me to their show, at the time his little brother Ajay was 13 and was following Jeremy around on Sunset Strip.

A year later Razzle launched with Ajay and his friends, and soon after Jeremy left DREAMS joining his little brother's band.

At some point Ajay handed me a flyer of RAZZLE at the Troubadour, and he said I laughed in his face and said "Good luck kid!" or something similar. His story, but I don't recall this. lol

I was at their show at Irvine Meadows for a 2-night SOLD OUT stand with NO DOUBT in August of 2000, and we were all backstage in the dressing room celebrating their success and arrival to the big stages... Ajay then tells this story in front of a room full... "I handed you a flyer and you said "Good luck kid, you'll never make it""... and everyone started laughing... then we all joked as they had went platinum and were playing a Sold Out show at Irvine Meadows and I was promoting a show at The Blue Saloon in North Hollywood (capacity 120). We've joked about that many times over the years.

These guys would come to TUFF shows often and be in the front row screaming for us to play "Good Guys Wear Black."

I can also recall Jeremy being the business guy and them coming to our shows and our TUFF MUFF MANSION apartments over the years asking us for advice, hanging out, etc... they were always good guys, hard workers and very committed to their plans.

Then at some point Jeremy called me up and said: "Hey bro... we're burning our mailing list, cutting our hair, changing our name to STAIN and we're not going to play the Strip anymore."

He literally said exactly that, and said they were going to do all they can to move away from all of what they had built, or was built based on the 80's, etc...

They had been playing in bands since they were all young teens, stayed in the game long enough, learned a lot, and eventually found the right mix of sound and image.

They signed with a small label in 1994/95 and were called STAIN at the time, but quickly learned about STAIND from Atlanta, and had to change their name, even though Ajay had already tattooed STAIN across his stomach! Ouch!

Jeremy said they had their 5 song Demo (E.P.) ready and the label wanted to release it, but they did not have a name yet... and someone lit up a cigarette, as they sat around trying to think of a name, and someone said "Lit", let's call the band Lit, and they did.

That E.P. came out in 1996, the debut TTLF was released in 1997, and "A Place In The Sun" dropped in 1999 and exploded immediately after KROQ was playing "My Own Worst Enemy" non-stop... so much so, the label had to move up and rush the release date from that spring, and pushed it out in February.

From the day I met him, til this day, was over a decade, like 12 years... so these guys DEF paid their dues, and earned it all!

While recording "A Place In The Sun", Jeremy invited me over to NRG Studios in North Hollywood, this was the fall of 1998 and he wanted me to hear a few of the new songs. We sat around eating Chinese food, and my main question was; "How the F#@k can you eat with that goatee hanging down?" Ha.

He then showed me as he had to hold it with one hand to the side and ate with the other. True story.

They played me a few songs, but the one I recall was the slower (ballad)... and I recall hearing the "You make me, you make me Cum, you make me Complete" chorus and thinking that was a very clever play on words.

The Producer was Don Gilmore, who had just had a big hit with Eve 6, and right after Lit, he did the Linkin Park debut, which went through the roof!

A few months after visiting their studio I was driving and heard "My Own Worst Enemy" on KROQ, and it was on fire... I immediately called Jeremy and said: "Dude! I just heard you on KROQ... the single is killing it!"

He was super jazzed and told me the song was exploding, the label was stoked and good sh!t was happening!

The next few years, they experienced the next level for sure, along with Sugar Ray (another band of former long hairs who found their sound in the late 90's).

All those Lit guys are great humans... including Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray... all deserve all the success they received, and none of them ever lost their Sunset Strip love!

Another 90's band fun fact, Chris from Less Than Jake is a HUGE hair-metal fan... he messaged me and told me he is on these boards too! Love it!

$tEvil

[aznsquirt]

I personally LOVE this record... it's awesome! > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhOQtb9xBAE

Listening to this now, I forgot how solid it is.

There's so much STP influence here, and I am positive that the second track "My World" was heavily inspired by RHCP - Warped.