ION INDIE MAGAZINE December 2014, Volume 7 | Page 63

By Mark Uricheck
Chances are, if you’re composing music as early as elementary school, there’s a great likelihood that such
skill, and the artistry that usually accompanies it, will serve you into adulthood. Such is the case with
vocalist, songwriter, and tour-de-force performer JANE TRAIN. The Queens, NY-born, current Northeast
Pennsylvania resident, who cut her teeth musically growing up in the clubs of Northern New Jersey/New
York, remembers the first time she put pen to paper with the intention of crafting a melody: “I was about ten
years old, and a friend and I were just hanging out, and we wrote a song together,” she recalls. “After that,
though, I wouldn’t create my own songs for another nine years or so.”
Train’s musical evolution and to-and-fro journeys into the great unknown of the entertainment business
makes for an interesting story, as these rather innocent beginnings would lead to a myriad of opportunities–from recording with ex-RAINBOW vocalist JOE LYNN TURNER, to backing LIZ PHAIR on a “Lilith Fair” tour,
to acting on television programs like “Sex and the City” and “30 Rock”.
Her latest, and perhaps most important artistic statement, can be found on her newly released debut solo
album, “Diary.” The album is a monster, in more ways than one. We’ll get to that in a bit, as we continue to
delve into the background of the Jane Train timeline. “I really considered myself a keyboard player until I
was about 18,” she continues in an exclusive interview with ION Indie Magazine. The powerhouse vocalist
now synonymous with club-filling cover acts like her current top-draw, M80, never thought she had what it
took to take her voice to the next level. “I really didn’t think I had any special talent in that area,” she
amazingly admits. “So, between the ages of 10 and 19 I played keyboards in a Led Zeppelin tribute band. I
actually also played keyboards around that time in a Yes tribute band. So I really just thought of myself as a
keyboard player.”
It wasn’t long after this period that Train was “discovered,” in a sense, by ex-BADLANDS/BLACK SABBATH
vocalist RAY GILLEN. It turns out that Gillen would stoke Train’s confidence into pursuing her vocal abilities,
transforming her into the performer she is today. “He was only in a cover band at the time,” Train recalls of
the career-inspiring moment. “Our bands used to play the same circuit in New Jersey, and we were just riding
in a car together--another girl and I were singing in the backseat. He just turned around, and when I opened
my eyes, he was looking at me smiling. He said, ‘You know, you’ve got a really great voice!’ I was like ‘Oh my
god, RAY just said this to me?’ (laughs).”
Building upon from this epiphany, a friend of Train’s had asked her to front a cover band, so she was, for a
time, playing keys as well as singing. Not long after, Train, the woman who lists her biggest vocal inspirations
as JOURNEY’S STEVE PERRY and KANSAS’ STEVE WALSH, would form her own original band, then moving
on to her second—LITTLE SISTER--who actually opened for Hard Rock acts like SKID ROW. The wheels were
now in an unstoppable motion for her as a front woman. “After that, I didn’t touch keys,” she says. “I was
like, ‘This is great, now I don’t have to carry anything (laughs).’” Train mentions the band Little Sister as a
particularly important stepping stone in her career--fronting that band giving her the motivation that
perhaps, success was within reach. “We became pretty well-known in the area,” she remembers. “Opening
up for people that were more successful at the time sort of gave me hope that I was just at the door. The
reason that I know a lot of successful people is that I feel I belong there. I don’t mean that in an egotistical