Vains of Jenna was a Swedish sleaze metal band formed in Falkenberg in 2005. They later moved to Los Angeles, though most of the band members now reside back in Sweden. In January 2012, the band confirmed on Facebook and MySpace that they had "mutually and amicably" decided to disband.
History
Vains of Jenna was formed by four young men from Sweden. At that time, the two youngest members of the band were 18 years old. They were offered a chance to play at Crüe Fest Hollywood in January 2005. The band accepted and traveled to California for the show. Only one disc had been recorded at that time: a four-song demo containing "No One's Gonna Do It for You", "Hard to Be Vain", "Heartbreak Suicide", and "A.S.A.D." Heartbreak Suicide ended up becoming the band's most popular song.
Vains of Jenna captured the attention of Stevie Rachelle (Tuff singer, and the owner of hard rock website Metal Sludge) during their first ever performance in America, playing at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood during the charity event Crüe Fest Hollywood. Rachelle offered the band a demo deal and a manager's contract 48 hours later. Rachelle booked the band to record at Redrum Studios with his friend former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke producing. The band had only been in Los Angeles for one week when all this took place.
After spending the winter in Sweden, they toured the United Kingdom in the spring of 2006. The band lived in guitarist Nicki's Volvo station wagon for a month between playing gigs around London and surrounding cities. In May, the group relocated to California. The band toured coast to coast, and in many cases were not old enough to play bars they were booked in, which had a minimum age of 21. This would sometimes leave half the band in the van outside, only to be let in to load up on stage, play, and then leave at the end of their set. One of these such tours was when Rachelle flew the band to the East Coast in the summer of 2006, where they played 1st slot in support of UK band Teenage Casket Company and The Erotics from New York. During the American East Coast tour in July 2006, the run was cut short, as Bam Margera of the show Jackass had recently signed the band to his Filthy Note Records label. Margera invited the band to his mansion to shoot a video for the song "No One's Gonna Do It for You", which Margera produced himself, and used "Don't Give a Damn" as the theme song to his upcoming MTV series Bam's Unholy Union. The band was featured in two episodes of the show.
Articles in Spin, Metal Edge, Revolver, Blender, Hustler, and other international print magazines followed. They found themselves on TV shows such as Jackass Number Two on MTV, and LA Ink, featuring good friend and fan of the band Kat Von D. The band was a guest on her TV show, and at the MusInk Festival in Southern California, where she appeared.
Lit Up/Let Down, the band's debut full-length album, was released in stores on 24 October 2006. In early 2007, manager Rachelle called another old friend Bobby Dall of the band Poison. Rachelle had heard about the band's plan to tour in the summer with special guest Ratt. Rachelle pushed Dall to add the young band to the tour. After months of calls, the band was initially added to the side stage on several of the Live Nation produced events. As the tour grew closer, White Lion encountered some legal troubles and had to pull out. Since White Lion had to drop out, Rachelle pressured Dall to move his band onto the main stage for the Summer 2007 tour. After some time, it finally happened, and Vains of Jenna was added to the main stage for the entire North American 2007 summer tour. The band also toured the US on the Viva La Bands Tour along with Cradle of Filth, Gwar, and CKY in fall 2007. In late 2008 and early 2009, the band toured parts of Europe, including the UK, Italy, Scotland, Denmark, and Sweden. This included a spot on the Sweden Rock Festival in June 2009. Vains of Jenna then returned to the United States to record a new album. The new disc was produced by Brent Woods (Wildside). It included a cover of "Refugee" by Tom Petty, among other songs. The band released a new song, "Get It On", on iTunes in July 2009. On 15 September, Vains of Jenna released their second full-length album, The Art of Telling Lies. The band filmed a video for the first single "Get It On", and a second video with director Noah Shulman (Kings of Leon) in New York City for the following single "Mind Pollution".