Shock Rock
Former L7 member and current Shocker frontlady, Jennifer Precious Finch, is ready to get Warped.
By Erik Fong

If you do a search for “Jennifer Precious Finch” on a little place often referred to as “the Internet,” you’d better clear some room in your schedule – you’ll have a lot to look through. And it’s no surprise, considering how busy The Shocker’s frontwoman has kept herself since breaking into music with L7 at only 18 years old. A former San Francisco resident, Precious spent a few years in the Haight/Fillmore area in the mid ‘80s, taking Visual Basic programming classes on some device called an “Amiga” at San Francisco State. Today, not only does she sing and play guitar for what can officially be called “the greatest band named after a disgusting four-finger, two-input sexual stimulation technique,” but she also runs her own web design company, hosts a site featuring some of her photography, and has joined the elite ranks of sleazy record company moguls as the proud owner of a brand new independent label, Little Pusher. The label’s first release: The Shocker’s debut, so subtly titled Up Your Ass Tray.

With new drummer Noah Shain in tow, Precious and The Shocker will join the Warped Tour for a few dates, including July 12 at Pier 30/32 in San Francisco. Calling us from her home in Los Angeles, Precious spilled the beans on her L7 days, her obsession with Shaun Cassidy and George Thorogood, and her feelings on her 69.6% annoyance rating on AmIAnnoying.com.

What are you bringing with you on the Warped Tour?
A couple pairs of t-shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, a bag of clean socks and Cosabella underwear.

Any items of sentimental value?
My sentimental items are my bandmates. They’re wonderful. I can be anywhere with them.

Aww. Who are you looking forward to meeting at Warped?
Andrew W.K. Is he for real? I don’t get if he’s media or if he’s real, or if he’s even human. I also want to see the Rancid guys; I see them around L.A. a lot.

Andrew W.K. is awesome. So how did you get into web design?
When I was in Other Star People, I took some time off to go to a technical college. Not to learn programming, but software – Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark, Dreamweaver. And within that, I also learned HTML and Javascript. Then they gave me a position to teach at the school, so I started teaching, and what I thought I was going to do was work at a company between tours – then, of course, there was a depression. So I ended up just starting a specialty niche company. I thought I’d be perfect for doing entertainment web sites – I know bands, I know record labels – but no one had money, so I ended up working primarily with small manufacturers doing very high-end, stylized sites. Most of my sites win design awards – they’re very highly stylized. So right now I’m doing a site for American Graffiti Tattoo in Sacramento. But at the same time, I’m also doing one for a woman who has show poodles. It’s great for me because it’s absurd and diverse.

You started a label as well. How did that come about?
We were in the studio recording – and I don’t wait for no one – we put together some friends, studios, people we knew, resources we knew, and I started getting deal memos from smaller labels. That was definitely the goal since we already knew we were on the Warped Tour and we wanted to get something out by the time [it started]. But even the smaller labels couldn’t move fast enough, and I looked at the deal memos and thought, “God, I could just do this myself.” There are challenges, but there are no difficulties. You know what I mean? So I hooked up with Oglio Entertainment, they do mostly comedy records. They’re doing my regional marketing and I’m doing everything else.

Going back to your L7 days – what do you think is the most important lesson you learned during your time with them?
You’re really hitting on some pretty intense shit. When I left L7, I went through a grieving process. I think the most important thing I learned was to have confidence in myself and that it’s more important to be in an interdependent band – where all people come together with their own strengths independently to create something great – rather than a co-dependent situation. My role in L7 had a lot of strange codependency things going on. It was very intense being in L7 – very emotional, like a private club, an “us versus them feeling” that propelled members through hard times.

Being a woman in rock, I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of terrible pickup lines.
No, are you kidding? Guys are scared of women in rock. Obviously I’ve heard many in my life, but honestly, none of them have really come to me. Although I myself have some good pickup lines. The ultimate pickup line when you’re a musician on the road and you see someone that you fancy is, “So, do you have to work tomorrow?” Because that implies… [laughs]

Nice. Tell me something about you that might surprise people.
I don’t know. I don’t have a really good perception of what people think of me. Does that sound weird?

Yes.
Do you know how people perceive you?

Yeah. I’d say people think I’m annoying. Speaking of which, 69.6% of all visitors on AmIAnnoying.com find you irritating. Would you agree with that consensus?
Wow. I don’t think I’m annoying. I don’t know – I haven’t even done anything in years! How would anyone find me annoying? [laughs] Wait till they hear this record. God, they’re going to run with their hands on their ears. [sounds of a dog barking in the background] Hold on, I have to stifle a small Pomeranian… Oh, here you go. No one knows I have a Pomeranian.

Adorable. What’s the most shameful CD that you own?
Oh my God, I have so many. Here’s the most shameful: George Thorogood.

That’s not that bad.
To some people it’s horrible, because it’s blues bar band stuff. It can be pretty shameful. What do you think is shameful?

I think Avril Lavigne is shameful.
I think it just means you got a free CD.

Not everyone got it for free; she’s sold several million albums, so someone out there had to pay for that shit. What else in your collection is shady?
I have a huge record and CD collection, but a lot of the shameful stuff has been weeded out. What was shameful at one time, like Shaun Cassidy, ended up being hilarious. Or ABBA. That’s not really shameful.

Shaun Cassidy is shameful. Did you have a crush on him?
It was the first concert I went to. I think I was 4 or 5 or something, very vague memory. My second concert was The Tubes. It wasn’t their heyday, it was way after, but it was totally exciting.

Courtney Love: insane or misunderstood?
Insanely misunderstood. [laughs] Totally insane. And misunderstood. You know, insanity is often defined as doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. She’s insane. I don’t know if she’s “psychiatry insane,” but she could be. I’m sure psychiatrists think she’s insane. Certain parts of her brain are just completely overactive. She can read a book and quote lines from it. She has an insane ability for memorization - completely no ability to live her life on life’s terms. She can never remember her keys. We used to work on that – “Okay, stop. You’re walking out the door, do you have your keys and your money?” She’d say, “Yes!” even though she didn’t have them.

If you could go back in time 10 years and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Get the cork out of it. Stop being so annoying. [laughs]

69.6% of all people would have appreciated that.
You know, that’s really not that big of a margin.

That’s 7 out of 10; that’s more than half.
I know it’s more than half, but it’s not much more than half.

It’s 19.6% more than half. That’s almost three-quarters.
Who else is on AmIAnnoying.com?

Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda…
Oh, I’m in awesome company.

Purchase The Shocker's latest album, Up Your Ass Tray, through Amazon.com.