Concert review: Actress Pinkett plunges into the heavy metal fray

By MALCOLM VENABLE, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 22, 2006

NORFOLK - Jada Pinkett smith has a lot working against her as the frontwoman of a metal group.

For one, she's a woman, performing a style of music that's all about rage and angst and aggression - thus dominated by men. She's black too, making her a little bit more of an anomaly in hard rock.

Yet potentially the most damaging factor remains that everybody knows her as the A-list actress and wife of Hollywood titan Will Smith. In the public eye, she's supposed to be on the red carpet in Jimmy Choo slingbacks, not diving into a mosh pit.

Yet Pinkett smith nonetheless has entered the musical fray, devoting an apparently sizable amount of energy into her group Wicked Wisdom. The group, which appeared at The NorVa on Saturday night as an opening act for headliner Sevendust, formed about 2003.

Like other celebrities in rock bands - Keanu Reeves, Kevin Bacon and Russell Crowe, for example - Smith had to endure the sometimes cruel mocking and skepticism that consumers and bloggers dish out when celebrities cross genres.

For whatever reasons, though, Pinkett smith soldiered through it, and Wicked Wisdom is now on the road promoting their first album, due in February. And even though she has the endorsement of fellow Hollywood types (Tom Cruise is said to be a fan), has survived her first tour and has finished another album, the fact remains that people really want to know whether or not she's authentic or just exercising her right to have an eccentric, marketable hobby on a whim.

The verdict? Wicked Wisdom has room for improvement, but it's off to quite a fine start.

The band's music, it should be noted, sounds as close to awesome as metal bands get. It includes drummer Philip Fisher , one of the founding members of the respected funk-metal group Fishbone, as well as Cameron Graves, Pocket Honore, bassist Rio and guitarist/keyboardist Korel Tunador.

Wicked Wisdom's sound is a frenzied, frantic, mostly traditional take on metal, although some traces of funk exist . Their bass and drum lines are nothing less than infectious.

The only potential problem, as noted earlier, is Pinkett smith as frontwoman. Don't get confused: She's a captivating performer with a commanding stage presence. But that's just the thing: You can't be entirely sure her hair-

tossing (a lot of it, too) isn't all attributable to her acting training. Either way, she exhibited full control of her band and the crowd: Nearly everyone in attendance threw up cheers and "metal hands" after her songs.

Musically, Wicked Wisdom's songs are dead on, yet they do leave room for graduation lyrically. A few songs, such as "Yesterday," border on the pat. Yet seldom do groups hit every mark initially, and having two out of three - good music, good performance - ain't bad.

Ultimately, there will always be people who will resist Wicked Wisdom because it's led by a Hollywood actress. All Pinkett smith can do to counter skepticism is what she did tonight - put on a good show, sign autographs and hope that by winning over a few people at a time she'll earn her stripes like everybody else.

Jada Pinkett Smith in metal band

Jada Pinkett Smith in metal band Wicked Wisdom lets her 'get down and dirty'

By STEVE TILLEY - Toronto Sun

It's not easy being a movie star who also plays in a rock band. Just ask Keanu Reeves.

So Jada Pinkett Smith did exactly that, when she decided to moonlight from acting and try the whole raunchy rock goddess thang, fronting a band called Wicked Wisdom.

"Keanu really helped me get an understanding of what I was doing, and what was going on," the actress turned metal queen said of her Matrix movies co-star, who plays bass in the not exactly acclaimed rock act Dogstar.

Raunchy? Metal? Yes, we're talking about that Jada Pinkett Smith. Married to some dude named Will, starred in Collateral and Ali and The Nutty Professor, looks like she'd weigh about 100 pounds soaking wet.

But when the guitar-and-drum-heavy band takes the stage at the Phoenix on Monday, opening for Atlanta groove-metal meisters Sevendust, the 5-foot-nothing Pinkett Smith will growl about darkness and death and breaking some mother-you-know-what-er's neck. Um, is this the same nice lady who voiced Gloria the hippo in Madagascar?

"It gives me an opportunity to express that other side of myself," Pinkett Smith said in a phone interview from Florida, where the band was playing a string of small club dates this week.

"I can give you the cute red-carpet flair, but there's also another side of me that likes to get down and dirty. That's the side I prefer, actually."

Many a Hollywood star has dabbled in the music game, but for every J.Lo there's a Russell Crowe, a Bruce Willis or a -- no offence to your pal, Jada -- Keanu Reeves.

"He was the first person to tell me, 'Jada, this is going to be rough. People already see you one way, and it's going to be very difficult to break that. Just know now you're going to be up for a lot of criticism.' "

Here's the thing, though. Her band Wicked Wisdom isn't bad, not bad at all. Pinkett Smith has the pipes and the presence, and the talented group is anchored by drummer and original Fishbone founding member Philip "Fish" Fisher.

"It's not a hobby for her, I'm not a hobby musician," Fisher said. "It's not about the Hollywood actress at all. What would a Hollywood actress be doing playing such underground music?"

Good question, actually. Wicked Wisdom cycled through sounds and lineups for nearly four years before arriving at the raw but melodious flavour of metal they're playing today. Veterans of last summer's Ozzfest tour (after Sharon Osbourne extended a personal invitation to perform), they're poised to release their first CD next month.

But where does Will Smith figure in this equation? According to some gossip mags, the Fresh Prince is scaling back on movie work so his princess can be a rock star.

Or not. "He's not scaling back jack!" Pinkett Smith said. "There are all these little tabloids all over the place talking about how Will Smith is putting his career on hold so his wife can pursue her music career."

Pinkett Smith says her husband is just taking a short break while getting a couple of other projects off the ground. But he also makes time to visit his wife while she's on tour, in part to check out the band, and in part to make sure nobody's checking her out. "If you leave your wife on the road for too long -- well, hey!" she said. "He keeps an eye on me and makes sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing."

Life in hell for Keanu Reeves

LOS ANGELES - Keanu Reeves’ life has gone to hell since he laid his “Matrix” franchise to rest.

First, Diane Keaton dumped him in “Something’s Gotta Give” for pudgy Jack Nicholson, who’s old enough to be Reeves’ dad. Then his idyllic serenity as a Zen orthodontist was shattered by a rebellious teenage patient in “Thumbsucker,” an independent flick that premiered at January’s Sundance Film Festival.

Now, Reeves literally finds himself in the abyss as the title character of “Constantine,” an antihero dispatching demons back to the underworld in hopes of erasing a mortal sin from his own personal checklist come Judgment Day. “Constantine” is based on the DC Comics’ “Hellblazer” series of graphic novels.

It’s the first lead role for Reeves since 2003’s “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions,” which completed the sci-fi trilogy. In between, Reeves took on supporting turns in director Nancy Meyers’ romantic hit “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Thumbsucker,” in which he plays a dentist who loses his inner calm in the wake of some comic vengeance inflicted by his young patient.

Coming this fall for the 40-year-old Reeves is “A Scanner Darkly,” adapted from a Philip K. Dick story about an undercover cop of the future who’s hooked on a drug that has given him a split personality as a narcotics dealer.

Directed by Richard Linklater, “A Scanner Darkly” was shot in live action, with the final film presented in computer animation created by digitally “painting” over the images.

Reeves also is preparing to shoot the romantic drama “Il Mare,” reuniting with “Speed” co-star Sandra Bullock.

AP: Did you grow up rooted in the Christian mythology “Constantine” is based on?

Reeves: I did not. I mean, I went to a Catholic boys school for a year, but that was to play hockey. Religion class was quite contentious for me.

AP: So did you have to research the mythology for the film?

Reeves: I really took it in-house. The Constantine character has a kind of flesh-and-blood practical look at things that would seem, other people would use the word, occult or spiritual. But here, demons are real. So for me it was more taking it from the film itself. I didn’t really need to go outside the piece itself to inform me because the perspective on it, what the character does, was provided by the script.

AP: He’s matter of fact about the demon world.

Reeves: Yeah, that was my take on it. Performing an exorcism was like changing your oil. It’s a drag, but necessary.

AP: What are your notions of heaven and hell, eternal damnation vs. eternal bliss?

Reeves: Well, I hope I get the bliss. And I know I’m going to have to work for it. But I’ve got to say, really, I have no kind of, can I say “secular religiosity”? ... I don’t have a denominational sight. I think, like in the stories that we tell, there is an aspect of the living life informing where we go. A transfiguration, there must be. Energy can’t be created or destroyed, and energy flows. It must be in a direction, with some kind of internal, emotive, spiritual direction. It must have some effect somewhere...I do think there must be some kind of interaction between your living life and the life that goes on from here.

AP: What would be your concept of a personal hell for all eternity? And don’t say a press junket that never ends.

Reeves: No, no, this is not hell. I guess living without love, without experiencing it or being able to give it. I think the aspect of that would be, that’s pretty strong punishment.

AP: “The Matrix” films and now “Constantine” have spawned video games. Is it strange to see a likeness of yourself in them?

Reeves: I think of it as, me performing Constantine is the same as the character Constantine becoming a video game. It becomes inspired by another kind of entity. It is surreal. But I did “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” They made a cereal out of it, so once you’ve had a cereal, it doesn’t get much more surreal than that. Surreal cereal.

AP: After “The Matrix” movies, you did supporting roles in a bigger movie, “Something’s Gotta Give,” and a smaller one, “Thumbsucker.” Was it a palate-cleansing thing to do supporting parts before taking on another huge project like “Constantine”?

Reeves: It was kind of an open-ended question of where is some good work to be had? I wanted to act, and these were projects that my manager and agents found, and so I went to some meetings and liked the people involved. Nancy Meyers, and to work with Jack and Diane Keaton. It was a really good role, something I hadn’t done in a long time. Light romantic comedy, I hadn’t done that for a while.

AP: How about a lead role in a light romantic comedy?

Reeves: Yeah, that sounds great. You got a script?

AP: I’ll go home and write one.

Reeves: There you go. Try. It’s very difficult, comedy.

AP: What kind of movie is more fun to go to work on in the morning, the big “Constantine” production or a smaller, more intimate movie like “Thumbsucker”?

Reeves: Sometimes, with the scale of a film, it’s like when I walked on the sets of “The Matrix,” especially in “Reloaded,” there was the city square, or in “Revolutions” with some of the machine world, you’re like, “Wow, this is a big playground,” which is fun to watch. But the acting experience and the collaborating and creating the world, working on the piece, they’re the same joys.

AP: Your thoughts on turning 40 last summer? Milestone, or just another birthday?

Reeves: No, it wasn’t just another birthday for me...It carried quite a wallop. I have all the classic symptoms. Reflection. Where am I now? Where have I come from? What’s important? Dealing with the moment of a different kind of feeling for mortality. Shifting of the body. Contextualizing or reevaluating behaviors and values. All those kinds of things.