"I went into the CD totally dry," local songwriter Jayne Sachs said recently, sitting in Oregon Emporium on a blustery February morning. Between sips from her large cup of coffee she discussed the severe case of writer's block she endured before recording her excellent new album, Sutures.

"I'd never experienced that type of dry spell before, and I thought it was over." Sachs said. "I was devastated. I didn't think I had any more songs in me or anything to say. I was writing, but I wasn't happy with how it was turning out."

She credits bass player Scott Shiverdecker with providing the key to moving through the blockage.

"I was worker on an older song, 'Occupy Your Mind', and he suggested I try to sing the hook at the beginning," Sachs said. "It was such a simple idea, but something happened that changed everything and got me out of my writer's block. I don't know why, but it did, and it was a really important transition."

The majority of the material on Sutures, Sachs' fourth full-length album, was written after this in a wave of creativity, and the results are amazing. "Fragile (Drops of Anesthesia)", "Twisted Ballerina", "When It's Dark" and other cuts are powerful and self-assured, betraying no signs of their painful beginnings.

Sachs' captivating power-pop songs received an added emotional boost from Nashville-based producer Lij, who provided lush but subtle arrangements.

"Lij is a very hands-on producer." Sachs said. The guys had a hard time seeing where everything was going. But now they've all said that Lij had this vision they couldn't quite see, but they are so happy with how it turned out."

"I'm just happy to write again and to be able to perform," Sachs said. "That's really what drives me. The writing, the performing and recording are all really important to me, and if I didn't have one of those things in the equation, I don't think I would do it.

"I wish I was one of those people who is happy just to write, but when I write a song I always visualize performing it," she continued. "When I perform it, I visualize being in the studio with it. If one of those elements was missing I don't think it would be enough for me to continue."

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Jayne Sachs
By Kris Neises, Dayton CityPaper, February 23, 2005

One can't help but be inspired when talking to Dayton's veteran singer/songwriter Jayne Sachs. On Sutures, her fourth record to date, she exposes herself through 11 hope-filled tracks layered in intelligence and beauty. Referred to as the "queen of indie pop" by her fans, Sachs lives up to the hype and delivers a mature and extremely personal record that current fans will embrace and new fans will love.

"The title, Sutures, means mending what was to what could be, and I think that sums up the record for me," Sachs said.

12 years ago, Sachs was a 97X-posure winner and labeled "The Best Unsigned Band" in the country by Virtually Alternative magazine. Sachs has come a long way since then in both her songwriting and her life.

"This album was the first time ever I thought to congratulate myself for making it through things that I have gone through and making it to where I am today," Sachs explained.

This theme of self-praise and hope is most evident in the record's finale, "Celebrate Yourself." This is a slow, acoustic-driven pop song with an ear-pleasing melody and smart, open-ended lyrics such as, "Lay your head down on your ashes."

"'Celebrate Yourself' was the last song I wrote for the record," she explained. "The ashes refer to the hard times in our lives and how they have shaped us and made us who we are."

With a big heart and an honest pen, Sachs tells stories of triumph such as in the song, "Give Me Your Eyes," a dynamic song about Johnnie Wilder, Jr. (formerly of the 1970s/80s band Heatwave) and his life after a car accident left him paralyzed.

"I met Johnnie and was just really taken back by him as a person," she recalled. "'Give Me Your Eyes' was written after watching Johnnie and his wife together and is about being in a relationship with a quadriplegic and how they can still complement you and give you what you need, just in other ways."

"Give Me Your Eyes" is an emotionally uplifting highlight on the record. It begins with a finger-picked guitar and synth accompanied by Sachs' soft-spoken voice floating from speaker to speaker, singing "Give me your eyes/ I won't blink."

The album explores other areas of relationships and change. On the title track, a catchy, upbeat, perfect pop song, Sachs proclaims that, "When two hearts combine for so long you can't leave without leaving some."

"'Sutures' was like the first hopeful relationship song I have ever written and really says a lot about how my writing has changed over time," she said.

After the release of her last CD, 2000's Velveteen Girl, Sachs experienced every artist's worst nightmare, writer's block. She thought she might've been done with music altogether until she wrote the beautiful piano ballad, "When It's Dark," about how in showbiz the word 'dark' means a night where there isn't a show. Her inspiration returned and a flood of songs came as a result.

"Writer's block doesn't mean the artist isn't writing, it just means the artist thinks everything he or she is writing sucks," Sachs said.

A mother of two, Sachs had to really work to find time to write for the record, doing most of it late at night, locked in her closet so she wouldn't wake up her kids, or humming lyrics and melodies at the playground while pushing swings.

"Being a parent and a musician is a challenge because they really conflict with each other," she said. "I really try to find a middle ground."

Sutures will be released on Friday, February 25, at Canal Street Tavern, during which Sachs will be joined by her backing band, Steve Van Etten (guitar), Scott Shiverdecker (bass), and Kelly Morelock (drums). The band has been with Sachs for more than a decade and joined her in Nashville to record Sutures.

"I love my guys," she said. "And we just have such a great understanding with each other."

Read the article on the Dayton City Paper Website
E-mail Kris Neises at contactus@daytoncitypaper.com

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Jayne on Jayne

Veteran musician, singer and songwriter Jayne Sachs and her band have produced quality alternative pop/rock music since the 1990s with respect for originality and freedom of expression.

"Other musicians have told me that I tend to break 'music rules' with my writing. I don't know the rules to begin with, so I'm not aware of breaking them," Sachs said. "But every single bandmate I've ever had has said the same thing. It's now been dubbed the 'Jayne thing.' I'll take it. Also, if longevity counts as 'special', we've been together for almost nine years. It's almost unheard of for bandmates to want to play together for so long, especially in support of a singer/songwriter. But Scott, Steve, Kelly and I have a special and important connection, which I think translates to our stage dynamic. It's natural."

Over the years and after performing countless live concerts, Sachs has found music to be her steady, solid foundation in life.

"With every chunk of my life, music has played the leading role in shaping and molding that time period," she said. "Something as quick as a smell or a taste of something can trigger a memory. Music calls up the very emotion of the memory, however bitter or sweet. To me there is nothing like the physical reaction that music creates, even if it feels like a kick in the gut..."

When questioned about the issue of Sachs performing as one of the only long-running female musicians in the Dayton area, she attributed it to musical dedication rather than anything else.

"I never look at it from female eyes only," she said. "As far as my band is concerned, I just consider myself to be one of the guys, or maybe I consider my bandmates to be one of the girls. Yeah, that's better. I don't think any of them have a problem with a female leading the project and fronting the band. There are no negative egos here. Plus, we've achieved a lot of good things, which I think only strengthens the bond and band."

"The thought of living without writing, performing and recording is almost unbearable," she added. "Not to sound dramatic, but I would deeply grieve without this personal relationship to music. A certain something would die inside."

http://www.daytoncitypaper.com/print.php?sid=292

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Velveteen girl Jayne Sachs Returns to the scene

By Leslie Benson, Dayton City Paper, May 29, 2003

After having taken a year of absence from the local scene, vocalist and acoustic guitarist Jayne Sachs and her alt. pop-rock band have decided it's time to return to the job they love most - performing music.

"I'm a singer/songwriter who plays either with my band or solo," Sachs said. "When I'm performing solo, the songs are played just as I wrote them, naked and exposed. With the band, a lot of muscle gets added to the bone."

Steve Van Etten (electric guitar), Scott Shiverdecker (bass) and Kelly Morelock (drums), complete the project's foundation, having aided Sachs in fulfilling her musical visions since 1994.

"The guys in my band are truly great friends, and I love hanging out with them," Sachs said. "We haven't been on the road together for a few years because we're all raising families." Certainly not the stereotypical rock band, the members of Jayne Sachs take time to take care of their families and personal lives, devoting as much time to that as they do to their love of creating music.

A guitarist since childhood summer camp, Sachs and her bandmates each have stories to tell about their first encounters with music.

Shiverdecker, who listened to Alice Cooper as a kid, insists that to succeed as a musician, "You have to have a complete love of music, have a sense of humor and certainly not take yourself too seriously." He seems to follow his own advice.

"During Halloween when I was 11 years old, I had an old Fender copy bass and I came out of my bedroom dressed like Gene Simmons of Kiss and spit Crest toothpaste all over my face, shirt and bass. It really scared hell out of my mom!"

Guitarist Van Etten found his musical spark after he "wired a speaker in reverse and taped it to the inside of an old banjo my dad had in the garage. I plugged this into the mic input on a reel-to-reel recorder and out to speaker. Instant rock hero!" he said.

Drummer Morelock found his talent by accident, having stumbled upon a natural sense of rhythm the first time he sat down at a friend's drumset and pounded out the rhythm had been troubling over.

Now adults raising children of their own, the bands looks forward to performing tracks from Velveteen Girl (2000), and other new live songs in the works.

"This is first and foremost Jayne's project. The band's job is to help her present her work. Jayne's job is to listen to our input and choose which direction to run in. We trust her instincts and she trusts our art," Van Etten added.

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TheChickenFishSpeaks

2001 MUSIC REVIEWS

Jayne Sachs - Velveteen Girl - CD (Peer Productions)

I have to admit that I've been a fan of Jayne Sachs from the beginning when it was just her and her guitar. I had actually kept in good contact with Jayne in the beginning, then things happened to me (job loss, moving, marriage, divorce… the usual) and I lost contact with her. I actually caught up with her again for the release show for this CD. While I transformed from the skinny Elvis to the fat Elvis, Jayne was looking good as ever. And her music is nothing short of awesome.

Jayne's music has an acoustical pop feel with the loveliest of vocals that have just a hint of deviance in them. She also has a band helping her along, which does a wonderful job of giving each song that extra kick. The lyrics are great and the overall production quality is top notch.

You need to pick up this CD just to listen to the tune "Rain" which kicks off this release. I can't wait to see Jayne live again and when you get the chance to see her yourself, it's a treasure. {Mite}

http://www.thechickenfishspeaks.com/2001s.htm

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Jayne Says...

Dayton's Jayne Sachs looks to take on the music world on her own terms

Interview by Mike Breen, Dayton City Paper

Deciding to play music - not just in the basement, but with full-on promotion, live gigs and releasing records - may sound easy for someone who's never tried it before. But when singer/songwriter Jayne Sachs entered the field of music a mere three years ago - two years after her first attempts at songwriting - she was at least somewhat prepared for what was in store.

The Dayton-based performer - a confessed longtime fan of showtunes - says she's always been way into music, with the first inklings of songwriting coming when she would sing along with the radio as a child "and make up my own words to the songs." Later in life, Sachs entered the business world, working for a Dayton television station. That experience, Sachs feels, gave her a grasp on the commerce side of the music biz, giving her a leg up on a lot of musicians who are scared away from the business surrounding art. But, she says her main approach to the "shmoozing" aspect of the industry isn't anything you learn in school. "In those situations, I say exactly what I think, I don't bullshit," she says.

All this is a pretty good head start for an artist, but that still didn't prepare her for her first show ever. "I was so nervous," she says. And who can blame her, given that the show was an industry showcase at New York's now-defunct New Music Seminar at the CBGB's Gallery - a smaller room next to the legendary NYC Punk club.

That kind of high profile response to the music of Jayne Sachs seems to be consistent. Almost immediately after her first few gigs, Sachs won the local band competition sponsored by 97X, got asked to several more industry showcases, started getting regular airplay on radio, and garnered salivating press quotes, including being named one of the best unsigned bands in the land by a L.A. magazine and getting a positive response from the national trade paper The Album Network. Sachs says that reading reviews of her work has been one of the more initially unnerving aspects of her career so far.

"It's been kind of unusual, hearing what people have to say and write about me," says Sachs on her initial reaction to press response. "It's weird because you don't know whether to laugh or cry."

The critics response to Sachs has been mostly favorable, but over the years, she's drawn lazy comparisons to whatever female artists are happening at the time.

First it was Sheryl Crow - not quite accurate since Sachs' music leans more towards a less-glossy, Alternative-type Pop. And, of course, more recently, there's been the Alanis Morissette comparisons - off the mark because, well, Sachs doesn't yelp.

But the oddest linking came when a writer called Sachs a cross between a lighter version of some obscure female Folk artist and...

"Annette Funicello," Sachs says with a laugh. "That's one of those laugh and cry situations. I didn't quite know what to make of that one."

This year came another stepping stone - the freshly released debut CD Faye's Flower. The album's 11 tracks are wildly addicting and refreshingly dynamic - running from cooing Funk-lite, to punchy Pop, with a tinge of Folk flavor and a sincere Rock burn, with all the styles oozing seamlessly from song to song and brought together by Sachs' rolling melodies.

Faye's Flower was released by Sachs, but she is still actively seeking national distribution and/or the coveted record contract. When asked if being based in middle America as opposed to a coast might hurt her chances of getting wider exposure, Sachs says she feels that being a Daytonian won't hinder her shot at greater things. But her inspiration wasn't the Breeders or Guided by Voices, but someone a bit more funky.

"When I was growing up, I lived next door to Pee Wee (Ralph Middlebrooks) from the (legendary Funk band) Ohio Player," Sachs says. "Just seeing how well they were doing, that really gave me the idea that you could be successful playing music even if you're from Dayton."

Issue 2, Vol. 41, - Aug. 29-Sept. 4, 1996

http://www.citybeat.com/archives/1996/issue241/music1.html

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SPILL IT

By Mike Breen, Cincinnati CityBeat

Scream Dream

Dayton-based singer-songwriter Jayne Sachs will be in Cincy Friday to host a Queen City release party for her dazzling new CD, It's a Scream, at York St. International Cafe.

Though Sachs' previous release, Faye's Flower, was a magnificent blend of Pop, Folk and Alternative influences, It's a Scream shows Sachs taking that mix to an even more satisfying conclusion. Whereas Faye's featured tracks that were solid and consistent, Scream's songs have a depth that pulls the listener in even further, emanating a creeping, haunted quality that befits Sachs' sound perfectly and also succeeds in giving the music a more soulful edge. It's a Scream is Sachs' first effort featuring the production talents of legendary producer Kramer, who Sachs met at one of the many music conferences she's attended. Kramer, a member of the seminal Avant band Bongwater, has produced a litany of big and small name artists at his Noise New Jersey studios, where Sachs recorded It's a Scream.

http://www.citybeat.com/archives/1997/issue349/musicarticle4.html

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XRAY CINCINNATI
Issue II
November 2001

By: William Messer/Contributing Editor

Last August, an XRay editorial delegation visited the Main Street Music and Arts Festival in Over-the-Rhine to sample the edible, visual and acoustic ambiance. A short, strong rain had dampened festivities briefly, thinning the crowds and making meandering easier. Three stages had been set up to showcase a variety of musical talent; but it wasn't until near dusk, upon reaching the third stage, an uncovered platform in Electra's courtyard, that what the delegation sought was found.

Jayne Sachs' four piece band from Dayton, Ohio, was in the midst of an energetic set, its energy contained by the walled courtyard, drawing us in. We settled into still wet garden chairs to watch Sachs prowl the stage, rhythmically scratching her guitar, hair falling in her face, growling lyrics of intimate intensity, visually reminding of Patti Smith, or even a female Neil Young. But the voice, more melodious and personal than Smith's ever was, also barked and cried, playing more with the notes' relation to the words' meanings, reminding of Alanis Morisette (whom Sachs acknowledges as a liberating early influence).The song's tempo increased as Sachs' lead guitarist swayed deeply, leaning into his instrument, and the bass player bounced energetically, while Sachs tilted her head back and opened her throat to take the song to its crescendo. We knew we'd found our location for the evening.

The band then launched into the first song on its new Velveteen Girl CD, "Rain." The words, almost spoken by Sachs, begin, "I feel a bone about to break again/ I feel it weakening/ I got a closet full of phantom pain/ just hanging there." Sach's musicality may pull you in from the street, but it's her mind that pulls you further, into her .

And then the rain returned. Slowly, at first, only noticeable in the lights, but growing as the song progressed. Sachs called for the rain to "fall down, come down, all down," and the rain complied. She sang tauntingly, almost sexually, "I wanna dance a little naked in the alley/ I wanna dare the rain to wash my face/ it's kinda dirty," as her clothes started to cling and her wet face gleamed. Although Sachs' later confessed to some fear of electrocution, she and the band increased their intensity, elementally exposed on this back courtyard stage (a little naked in the alley), accepting the rain's own dare. "Got a pocket full of change but I can't buy this town some rain/ fall down/fall down." As the rain now sheeted down, the band reveled in its successful rain dance. Sachs finished with arms outstretched, her music's echo mixing into the wetness of the air and the cheers of the appreciative crowd, huddled under the courtyard's protective cupola. It was a terrific performance, charged and memorable. ("Wow. I've never sang that song in the rain before," she said afterwards.)

Sachs wasn't through. She moved the band under the cupola and began playing acoustically. The sound grew as each instrument and mic was plugged in, each speaker connected, until it was as full as it had been from the stage, only here the performers were in the midst of their audience, within arms reach of us. Sachs remained confident and comfortable in these close quarters, even though a lack of lighting required using a pocket flashlight to see her playlist. Another band's cancellation meant she could play and play, delighting her audience.

Sachs has been performing publicly for eight years now, writing and producing her material, leading her own band, publicizing its gigs and recordings. Before this musically related activity, she wore yet another hat, as a writer/producer for a Dayton TV station, where she acquired a level of professionalism and media savvy most new performers lack. Back in 1995 she impressed XRay's own Amy McDonald (writing for another publication) with her maturity both as performer and promoter, and won that summer's 97XPosure contest "hands-down" (you can hear Sachs' "Cigar Song" on the 97XPosure compilation tape). For McDonald, and many other observers, it was only a matter of time until Sachs arrived at "the big time."

Instead, inexplicably, big time has been passing while Sachs has written new songs, shuffled musicians, released new CDs, and tried to get heard. The new release, Velveteen Girl, is well produced, visually and aurally, the recording done in Nashville (with overdubbing added in Dayton). But I can't help feeling what Sachs needs is a live recording. She writes from neuroses drawn from the same well as blues -- loneliness, rejection, broken heart, fear, depression, disillusion -- but pulled up with a self-twisted rope imparting a very personal spin, then delivered often with a clear, confident voice which belies and banishes these doubts. For me, this interaction most effectively persuades in person, enhanced by a diminutive but assertive physical presence. Additionally, her live songs are often more straightforward than the studio versions (which sometimes are too clever by half), in keeping with her own apparent lack of pretension.

Sachs obviously has evolved from making what McDonald called "post-punk pop confections driven by spunky lyrical twists," although her best work continues to provide catchy lyricism, and sometimes she'll borrow familiar phrasings or musical set-ups (Beatles and Velvet Underground are among the noticeably appropriated). Her vocal delivery and style remind a lot of Annie DeFranco. (Check out UBL.COM for more artists like this) But Sachs is at her best when she relies on her own voice's many personae, spoken/sung, from a whisper to a shout to full-throated vibrato. She clearly loves to sing and play, and her band enjoys supporting her.

Major success still seems just around the corner. But should it continue to remain elusive, the good news is that Sachs is achieving musical success on her own terms, and usually plays near enough to see live. Sometimes the longer it takes to become an overnight success the better able you are to use that success. Sachs' talent and enthusiasm still provide equal measures of promise and product, and Velveteen Girl breaks down in the same ratio. As she sings in "Freaky Broken," another of the better songs on the CD (along with "Good at This" and "Winding Down"), "I've been a freaky broken girl...I'll think about how I shouldn't think of this...I'll think about how sweet it never really is...I'll never be the same (quite sane) but I'll be fine, I'll be fine...until I'm not fine."

She is good at this, and she's fine. Catch her in local concert soon, while you can.

Q + A with Jayne Sachs

Tell us a little about yourself...

I was born in Springfield, OH on July 14th, which is also Bastille Day by the way. I have one daughter who will be 2 in January and another child on the way, due the first of April. My husband's name is George and we have three cats. My husband calls me "Hopper" and to tell you the truth I can't even remember why. He's never called me by my name. But Hopper has stuck for years now.

Who do you listen to?

My favorite band from the area is the Ass Ponys. I think Chuck Cleaver is an incredible songwriter. I think there is some good music coming from Dayton and Cincinnati.

What keeps you in Dayton?

Please come and rescue me if you get the chance. I would like to skip out of Dodge, but my husband's job is keeping us here at the moment. And I would miss my bandmates terribly if were to leave. But I'd like to go at some point in the not so distant future.

What are your inspirations and aspirations?

Passion is my inspiration and continuing to have it is my aspiration.

Your music is intimate-is the personal essentially self-reflection or intended as a bridge to more universal concepts, or both?

I don't have agendas for my music. I never try to write a song that people can relate to. My music doesn't happen for me that way. Some of the songs are indeed personal, and some aren't. No matter whether a particular song is about me or not, there is always an emotion in each song that I feel when I write it and continue to feel it every time I play it.

Has motherhood changed your music?

No, motherhood has not changed my music at all. Quite honestly it has made me have writer's block. I guess I write from a place of pain many times, and being a mother gives me so much joy that it has not been a source of emotional inspiration for music.

On your site you talk about your friend Randy and your thoughts about his death. How did this event affect your personality and your work?

To understand how my friend Randy's death has affected me, I need to take you back to my childhood. When I was just five years old, my mother was diagnosed with six months to live. She hung on for seven horribly painful years after that. While she was dying from breast cancer which had spread to her bones, my neighbor's mothers were also dying of breast cancer. (A weird environmental thing, perhaps). My father is the only living person from that block of houses, and even he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis during that time. It still remains a mild case, thankfully. So, you see, I experienced so much illness and death up close that I learned to not feel secure about health and well being from as young as age five. So, when my friend Randy was diagnosed with HIV and eventually AIDS, he hesitated to tell me because he knew what it would do to me. But one time when he disappeared for several days and I couldn't get a hold of him, he decided to tell me from his hospital bed what was going on. He live about a year and a half after that and he and I spent as much time together as possible. Randy's death (at that time, by his own hands) left me utterly amazed at his strength and courage. But Randy's dying process left me feeling even more insecure about the fragility of life itself and has made me even more paranoid today about getting sick and dying.

During the final year of my Mom's death, I stayed by her bedside instead of playing outside with the other children. I burned as many memories into my brain as possible about how she looked and felt to the touch and smelled. I took it all in. I soaked in all the ugliness of the disease and all of her beauty at the same time. I tried to memorize it all. Pretty heavy for a 12 year old. And the entire time she was dying, my sister and I were never told what was going on. But I still sat there and watched the person I loved and needed the most in the world deteriorate. And something made me permanently stamp it into my soul.

I think it was those days and those moments that turned me into an artist. And the music came later. I hope my music moves people in some manner. I hope listeners can feel the passion or a particular emotion I felt when writing it. And if they are listening to it "live". I hope we can feel these things together.

www.GoXray.com

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The QCA Quarterly Issue 3

No Pain, No Gain Jayne

"Music makes me most happy," said Jayne Sachs (pronounced Jane Sax), a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Dayton, Ohio who performs all her own original material.

Just three years ago Jayne, a graduate in Broadcast Journalism, had a career in television in promotion and marketing. Today, she has reached the top of the Dayton music scene and gets airplay on one of America's premiere modern rock stations. Jayne also has an Internet page with a song on it, and is considered to be one of the of the best unsigned artists in the country. We spoke with her recently about her quick rise musically and her career transition.

At 18, Jayne took a few guitar lessons and started writing music. It was at that point she realized she was obsessive about it. Growing up in Ohio, Jayne did a lot of listening to music, enjoyed plays, and musicals like "Oliver" and "Oklahoma." On a trip to New York she saw "Annie Get your Gun" on Broadway and fell in love with the music. She would dance around while listening to it and pretend to be on stage.

Jayne's obsession

One day, Jayne tuned in 97X (WOXY), a modern rock station in Oxford, Ohio. It was the first time she listened to an alternative rock station. "I get very obsessive with music, when it hits me it feels right, I tuned in and haven't tuned away since." Jayne heard that little voice inside and started paying attention to what was playing on this radio station. She hadn't been writing creatively and now there was this spark.

An idea turned her on, "The 97Xposure Contest," the radio station's annual song contest. In 1992, Jayne got together with her friend Kathy and they began playing. They called themselves "The Purrs." The two women played guitars and sang a song in two-part harmony that they had written, and submitted a tape made from a boom box to the contest.

The night WOXY played the best 20 songs from the contest, Jayne and Kathy got together with a bottle of champagne expecting to hear their song. When Jayne heard the first song, she realized that they were not in that league. Her first attempt was a disappointment, but she quickly realized that she had not yet committed herself to music. She had no band, was still doing TV, and she and her friend had never really "plugged in" together. Television did not satisfy the soul, so she decided to give her music a try.

Take two

Jayne was looking for a professional way to move forward with her music, so she hooked up with a guitar player who had a home studio. They brought in a bass player and with the use of a drum machine got some of her new songs recorded. Jayne learned about recording and technology, but especially, some really hard lessons about the business. Her fellow band members were studio musicians and they were with Jayne to make money. Again she entered one of her songs into the 97Xposure Contest and this time got into the Top 20. From there it snowballed; her band got media attention and the song made it into the final four-the buzz was happening.

Jayne was paying for the whole ride; performance gigs, studio time, everything, and making no money. Then it hit the guys that they might not be "the band" to record and tour with Jayne if she hit it big. They got very nervous-the fear of success? A label might not want them, only Jayne. Jayne didn't know how to deal with it. While she was researching what was the right thing to do, the guitar player stole all the master tapes and put them in a safe deposit box. To this day, he is holding them for ransom.

That's life

Jayne got back on her feet, started auditioning musicians and formed a second band. This time they discussed the business and the issue of copyrights up front and worked out an arrangement. Her goal for 1995 was to showcase the band, meet industry people and be a part of The 97Xposure Contest. Jayne bought herself a Mac computer and tried to learn more from those who knew more than her. She also wrote a lot of new material. The group had a very successful year, performed in St. Louis at the Mississippi Music Festival and was the First Place, Grand Prize winner of The 97Xposure Contest.

Then when it seemed as if nothing could go wrong, Jayne found herself going through something similar with her second band. This time, she had collaborated on a few songs with a band member and they shared the copyright. Unfortunately, the band members felt that their only real security was to be listed on all the copyrights. The band broke up. Jayne has learned the hard way about band insecurity and the nature of humankind.

This feels like home

Jayne assembled her third group and they really understand one another. This year's Jayne Sachs Band is off to another good start. They were chosen to perform at Cleveland's Undercurrents Music Conference, and Jayne has a new song included on the Undercurrents' CD compilation. Also, Jayne's band was included in Pepsi's Jammin' On Main music festival in Cincinnati, and on their CD sampler. As for what's next, Jayne hopes to get her album out, showcase the group, get radio play and gig more. Jayne feels that this time she has found herself the right band. The band is so supportive of the project that she feels liberated to be working with them.

Jayne is finally making her first album. She has been trying to record one from the beginning but hasn't been able to complete one due to all the band break-ups. Fortunately, Jayne has a supportive husband who comes to all her shows and wants to see her make it. When it became time to make a compact disc, Jayne came to QCA. She was very pleased with the work they did on the cassettes she won from The 97Xposure Contest. For that project, Jayne visited QCA and fine-tuned the cassette master with Donny Kraft, QCA's mastering engineer. Jayne has always heard good things about QCA and noticed that many CDs have been mastered and manufactured there. Look for her release this Summer.

http://www.go-qca.com/news_htm/i3.html

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