Janet Vodka

Janet Vodka is a rarity: a horn-powered alternative pop/rock band that doesn't specialize in ska-punk. Unlike the vast majority of rock bands -- alternative or otherwise -- Janet Vodka has averaged around 14 or 15 members and has usually had enough people onboard to qualify as a big band. But Janet Vodka doesn't play the sort of music one ordinarily associates with big bands; the ambitious East Coast outfit doesn't sound anything like Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, or Buddy Rich. Janet Vodka is very much an alternative pop/rock act, and their influences range from punk, jazz, and Latin music to '60s pop and British Invasion rock. The Talking Heads have affected their recognizable sound; so have the Violent Femmes, the Sex Pistols, the Dead Kennedys, and Frank Zappa (among many others). Ska has influenced some of their horn arrangements, but they aren't a ska-punk band à la the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, King Prawn, or Reel Big Fish. Ultimately, ska is only a minor influence for Janet Vodka, whose work has tended to be quirky, eccentric and left of center. And contrary to what some might assume, there isn't really anyone named Janet Vodka in the band -- Janet Vodka isn't an actual person any more than Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jethro Tull, or Jesus Jones were actual people. Janet Vodka was formed in Yonkers, NY (just north of New York City) in October 1998 by bassist/producer Ron Caswell and lead singer/guitarist Chris Sauer, who writes the band's material and has a sneering, punky vocal style that hints at former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra. Before Janet Vodka, Sauer played with a New York-area band called GLIM (which often opened for the late singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley, Tim Buckley's son) and performed as a solo artist as well; in 1997, Sauer opened for Patti Smith (as...