Mona Tavakoli ’02
Raining Jane is an up-and-coming, eclectic rock-folk band based in Los Angeles. Mai Bloomfield, Becky Gebhardt ’01, Chaska Potter ’00 and Mona Tavakoli ’02 function as a complete democratic unit, with each woman contributing equally to both the art and business of the band.
Together now for more than five years, Raining Jane gigs regularly at L.A. venues such as The Troubadour, Genghis Cohen and Temple Bar, where they recently finished a four-month residency. Last year they broke out of California with full-fledged multi-state college and club tours, opening for acts such as Guster, Rasputina and Bonfire Madigan. In November 2003, the band won third place out of 420 entries in "Acoustic Live," a singer/songwriter competition held at Westwood Brewing Company. Also that year, Music Connection Magazine named Raining Jane a "Hot 100 Unsigned Artist."
Armed with copies of the new album stuffed in every pocket and crevice, Raining Jane is taking its music around the country, playing shows from New York to San Diego. Guiding their journey is a passion for music and desire to make a difference in the world, one song at a time.
1. Describe your music for people who haven’t heard you yet.
Raining Jane songs are inspired by a variety of life experiences. Lyrical content is both comedic and serious (usually not at the same time). Lighter subject matter includes regrettable fashion choices, disappointing birthdays and Internet love. Other songs reflect on topics ranging from personal relationships to global politics. An overall message of positivity is carried throughout the music.
Our music can roughly be described as an eclectic combination of influences ranging between Ani DiFranco, Fleetwood Mac, Sleater-Kinney and The Fugees. Our instrumentation centers on guitars, drum kit, bass and cello, but what seals the deal on the trademark Raining Jane sound is our three-part vocal harmonies. Guitarist/cellist Mai Bloomfield and guitarist Chaska Potter share lead vocals, drummer Mona Tavakoli sings back-up vocals and raps, and bassist/guitarist Becky Gebhardt sometimes sings and rocks the sitar. Mona is also known for ripping on the cajon (a wooden, rectangular drum originating from South America).
2. How did you meet?
It’s a little complicated, so we’ll try to make it as brief as possible.
Before Raining Jane there was Chrysalis, a band that included two other Bruins who are no longer in the group, and Mai – (the lone Banana Slug in the group).
The band spotted Mona on campus playing cajon for a UCLA flamenco group and asked her if she played kit and wanted to be part of their band. She accepted.
Chaska was in the audience of a Chrysalis show at Coffee Bean in Westwood. Her friend took her there because she had heard about Chrysalis and thought Chaska should hear the band. At that show, Chaska spontaneously joined the band for their rendition of “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac (a cover we still play). She was in.
Becky and Mona had become friends while working together in the residential halls as a PA and RA, respectively. When Raining Jane’s bassist quit in 1999 (just after re-naming the band) Mona brought Becky in for an audition. They liked her.
3. The music business can be tough, good songwriting and talented performers are just part of the equation. How did UCLA prepare you for the artistic and business sides of the business?
None of us majored in music, but we all took music performance classes whenever we could – either in the ethnomusicology or world arts and cultures departments. We actually were all in a class together once – West African drumming.
Mona played cajon with a flamenco dance group. Becky took several music classes, including about two years of sitar with world-renown sitarist Shujaat Khan. Aside from direct instruction in music, there were plenty of opportunities to perform on campus, which helped develop our talents. We performed at Westwood Plaza many times, and in 1999 as the first band to ever win Spring Sing's Grand Sweepstakes.
We picked up some skills that help with the business aspects too. Being students encouraged discipline and prepared us for an atmosphere of competition. We were all good students and had to learn to excel in academics while moving the band forward and having fun. Our majors have helped. Mona studied economics and communications (she handles band finances and all college booking), Becky was an English major (she does most of the copywriting), and Chaska uses her degree in psychology to keep us all mentally fit. Mona and Becky’s experience programming in the residential halls has helped us a lot in booking shows at other colleges. Becky also was part of the UCLA Performing Arts Student Committee, so she learned about booking bands and all the logistics involved.
4. You have toured across the country. Any good road trip stories?
We’ll categorize these for you.
- – This isn’t really a story, but we sell hot pink Raining Jane panties, and it has become a recurring theme for people to don the panties outside their pants at our shows. A little weird yes, but mostly just hilarious.
- – We flew out of L.A. to tour on the east coast. We left for the airport in three cars, but then mid-route got a call telling us to turn around. We accidentally left Mona behind! Luckily, we were only a few blocks away.
- – In Spokane, Wash., we played at a college with an Arizona band. We were on a similar college circuit and crossed paths a couple times. One night, as a prank, they threw toilet paper all over our 15-passenger van and wrote embarrassing slogans on it. We drove it all the way back to the rental place in L.A. with the writing still on it.
5. What undiscovered acts does Raining Jane recommend?
Off the top of our heads, Ray Lamontagne and Nellie McKay. There are so many great independent or little-known musicians out there, and we encourage everyone to look for good music online, patronize local music scenes and support indie music.
6. How hard was it to give up your day jobs to pursue your dream?
It’s hard to decide between two things you love. But all of us know that music is our biggest passion. We can’t pass up this chance to pursue our dream of making a career in music. At least we’ll know we tried no matter what happens, and that we’ve accomplished a lot already. Quitting day jobs altogether took some time and some risk, but now we’re all in the same boat.
There is a greater sense of freedom, but also some uncertainties in the beginning. This will drive us even more to make the band a success. It’s not the end of the world to quit our day jobs; rather it’s an exciting new beginning, and we feel privileged to make this move. We want to give it our all now because we can always go back to the 9-to-5 later.
7. It's great that you make a point to come back to UCLA. What draws you back to campus?
Pure love for the school. The three of us were involved in a lot of campus stuff, from residential life to Mona being Josie Bruin, and Chaska being a star player on the women's volleyball team. We were very connected to the school when we were students, and we still are as alumnae.
UCLA helped foster Raining Jane’s early career. We appreciate this very much and will never forget our roots. The UCLA community has been extremely supportive. We still know a lot of people who work and go to school on campus, and so we get invitations and requests to play. The best example of this would be Take Back the Night. We’ve been invited back to perform at this UCLA event every year for the past – we’re starting to lose count – eight years I think. Finally, it’s a business strategy. We can’t lose touch with one of our strongest fan bases. By playing on campus, we build our fan base while reaching out to young music lovers.
Visit Raining Jane at their website.
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