Proving her metal

By SONIA MURRAY

Cox News Service

Friday, January 27, 2006

ATLANTA — Jada Pinkett Smith: The TV star ("A Different World")
turned movie-theater draw ("The Matrix" sequels, "Collateral," "Set
It Off") turned almost scary, throaty, horrorcore frontwoman for
five-member metal band Wicked Wisdom.

You read that right — metal.

And yet on her warm, huge bus scented with Mainstays candles — Fresh
Petals, to be exact — the diminutive Pinkett Smith hardly seems like
one of the head-thrashing opening acts on Atlanta band Sevendust's
tour; singing songs like "Yesterday Don't Mean [Expletive] Today"
and "Bleed All Over Me." Except for the all-black ensemble. And the
sweat pants. Oh — and then there's the Mastodon T-shirt (a nod to
the Atlanta band she toured with during Ozzfest.)

Before she joined drummer Phillip "Fish" Fisher (formerly of the
band Fishbone), lead guitarist Pocket Honore, bass guitarist Rio
Lawrence and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Cameron Graves on stage at
the Tabernacle, Pinkett Smith and her bandmates shared their
thoughts on:

Why there are so few metal bands with women, blacks — much less
black women — leading: "There are so many different reasons," said
Pinkett Smith, whose band's debut CD hits stores Feb. 21. "But what
the real deal is is that there are a lot of black people that listen
to all types of stuff. It's just about us putting forth the effort
to expand those boundaries that have been created around us. We just
have to broaden that image. You'd be surprised how many black folks
are hip to metal. "Even here," continues Fisher. "As far as my
history and coming to this place, I remember a band called Follow
for Now. They carried metal. And that was in the '80s. I know about
Whild Peach ... If you're always looking to the mainstream to expose
you to everything, then that's what you're going to find. But there
are always people of color playing just about every genre of music.

What Wicked Wisdom aspires to be: "Just putting out some real good
music and opening up some ears," said Honore. "That's the whole
thing: Pushing music to the limit again. Taking chances. Music is
art. It's sonic art. And if you look at music, every song is like a
white canvas. And you get a fresh set of colors each time. So you
should try to create something fresh every time. Try different
colors. Different textures. Like Slipknot, God Forbid and John
Scofield."

"Kanye West is doing a little something," Pinkett Smith
continued. "Meshell Ndegéocello — she pushes. And Ani DiFranco
always pushes. She will flip it [on] every CD."

What Wicked Wisdom means: "Ahhhh, Wicked Wisdom," said Pinkett
Smith. "OK. Wicked: West Indian term. Bad meaning good. Wisdom
meaning woman. So 'one bad woman' is one version of it. Then Wicked
Wisdom [also means], no matter your economic background, color,
education, what-have-you, we all are pawns in the game of Wicked
Wisdom ... Just the idea of the certain ways that things are set up,
ways that we're educated, ways that we're taught to perceive things
in the world, to me, is part of the Wicked Wisdom idea. And how we
as individuals have to evolve and break those boundaries that are
created for us so that we can become individual thinkers. So that we
can be free thinkers. So I wanted the band to be called Wicked
Wisdom in order to keep that in the consciousness of the audience."

Who they figured Pinkett Smith was before they met her: "I've always
thought that she was very talented and that she had a lot of
integrity in everything that she does in terms of what I saw on the
screen," said Fisher. "Me being the last member to join the band, I
had an opportunity to watch them play over the years so I've watched
them grow; and at a particular point, I saw that she was dead
serious about doing this. And she was performing with a particular
kind of professional intensity that made me want to be a part of
it ... Where she is now isn't where she started." "I remember seeing
her on some TV show and I just knew at some point I would have some
kind of connection to her," said Lawrence. "It just seemed like a
destined thing."

"Did I have an impression of her before I started [in this band]?'
Honore began. "No. Then when I first met her she like put me in the
headlock. [Laughs] I thought she was very sweet. Showed big heart.
Big intent. A little scared."

"A lot of scared," interjected Pinkett Smith.

"She had more heart than anybody I know," Honore added. "I didn't
really have an impression of Jada beforehand," said Graves. "I just
always think of Jada as the girl from [the movie] 'Inkwell.'"

"With the big eyebrows!" added Pinkett Smith.


Sonia Murray writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.