Jag Tanna Serves It Raw

12/23/08 4:40pm

by Trevor Morelli (CHARTattack)

Watch enough reality television and you'll soon realize people tend to act differently when cameras are around.

Former I Mother Earth guitarist Jagori Tanna knows this all too well, and is doing something about it. He's created a series of documentaries titled The Rawside Of..., with the goal of showing the world just how interesting, unusual and difficult a real career in the music industry can be. The show is currently airing on the Independent Film Channel.

I catch Tanna engrossed in the riffs he's recording for J.D. Fortune's new solo record. Luckily, CHARTattack rang him up at the right time and managed to catch him with the headphones off. He's super-excited about the TV show and feels it's important for people to tune in.

CHARTattack: What made you want to make the transition from being a musician to a filmmaker?
Jagori Tanna: I think I need a little more on my resume to consider myself a filmmaker. It's kind of a natural evolution, really. You think of ways to diversify your own creativity. I find it no different than putting a record together.

After IME winded down, I kept my hands in a lot of different things. As a band, we never had a show where you could just sit and talk about what was going on. On tour, there were times when we looked at each other and thought, "Ah, I wish someone was filming this." There's so many areas of other people's lives that I wish people could witness.

So how did you decide which bands and artists you wanted to feature?
The music is one thing, but the real reason I have to hook up with certain bands is because they have something interesting about them.

For instance, Matt [Drake, lead singer of Dodger] is a repo man during the day. He gets off work and rehearses with the band at night. He never sleeps. He comes home from rehearsal and just keeps writing. He has this existence that I just don't understand. You see him by the end of the show and it's three days of no sleep.

What surprised you the most about any bands that you featured on the show?
Nothing. Every band is so different and they wouldn't be there if there wasn't something interesting about each one of them. But nothing shocks me because I've already lived it. All of these things they're going through, I had to go through. It's interesting because every artist has all of these problems in common.

Have you had any feedback on the show so far?
The feedback has been awesome just because it's a real thing. There's no fluff and you're learning things about these artists that you won't see on any other network. People watch it and go, "You know, I didn't listen to this band before, but I want to listen to them now."

The goal is that even if you're not a fan of the music, you'll be a fan of the artist after you watch it. You'll be rooting for them and you want them to do well.

Damn you, basic cable. Any chance this is coming out on DVD?
Oh, yeah. I don't know exactly how that works, but that's the idea for sure.

Why should people check this out?
I think it's important because it's another vehicle that's good for bands. Any music fan can connect with this. And it's important for artists in general to have a solid artistic vehicle they can be proud of, almost like their own album.

The biggest thing for me, too, is that the band is happy. They're like, "This is cool because it's something we get to be more a part of," as opposed to music videos and things. I loved that, to be able to foster a partnership between awesome directors and awesome bands. There's a lot of room for creativity.

What's next for Jag Tanna? More TV? More music?
I've got a million ideas. It's hard to pinpoint. Most of them are music-based, like writing songs.

I'd love to get a second season of this going for sure and develop more ideas. CDs are one thing, but to see bands in this way is different. I also get to score the music, so I'm getting to stretch my legs by playing, too. Producing albums has been a bit of a maze, but it's all really exciting.