Q&A: Jane Doe Defies Conformity with Unfiltered Album ‘Found’
DEFYING EASY GENRE CATEGORIZATION – Jane Doe has returned with their sophomore album Found, a ten-track release that ushers in a new chapter for the band. The band has never shied away from embracing its unique identity, and with Found, Jane Doe continues to defy expectations, blending raw emotion, humor and a deep connection to their audience. As the band proudly proclaims, “angst knows how to do its taxes,” it's clear that they have mastered channeling life’s frustrations into art that resonates deeply with listeners.
Their music carries the weight of nostalgic influences – grunge, punk, classic rock – while pushing forward into something new, raw and unapologetic.
At the forefront of the album is the fierce single “Dig a Grave,” a face-melting grunge rock anthem that harkens back to the moodiness and dirty energy of the 90s alternative era. The track roars with gritty guitar riffs, fierce vocals, and an unmistakable attitude that makes it a standout.
Accompanying the single is a cinematic music video that perfectly captures the essence of the song’s dark thematic undertones. Directed by an experience-meets-innovation father-daughter duo, the visual is heavily inspired by the works of Stanley Kubrick. The vibrant visuals and sardonic bite evoke a style that is as bold as it is unsettling, staying true to the band's desire to push creative boundaries.
Jane Doe is not your typical rock band – far from it. Fronted by a defiant and outspoken frontwoman, the band has always been a voice for those who feel they don’t quite fit in. Their music isn’t just about rebellion; it’s about connection, about screaming and singing the things so many of us feel but don’t know how to express. Frontwoman Izzy Kay taps into a wellspring of emotions that resonate with a generation that’s grown up feeling both out of place and empowered to create change.
Found is cathartic, unfiltered, and steeped in the angst and disillusionment that comes with navigating an imperfect world.
At its core, Jane Doe’s music is a celebration of individuality, and Found is their most powerful expression of that ethos yet. From the biting commentary of “Dig a Grave” to the softer moments of introspection sprinkled throughout the album, the band proves that they are unafraid to dig deep into the human experience, to unearth truths that are both uncomfortable and freeing.
LUNA: You just released your newest single “Dig a Grave.” What is the inspiration behind the single and how have your personal experiences helped shape its creation?
JANE DOE: The song is about how there's a tendency for all artists, not just musicians, but writers and visual artists, actors and musicians alike, to view and exercise and futility to try and create your magnum opus. Like, what is your “Stairway to Heaven?” What is your “Free Bird?” And how that is only something that's going to hinder your creative process if you're constantly searching for what your enormous thing is going to be. The song is about how that's not a healthy way to be a musician, and so that's at least from a lyrical standpoint where it comes from.
LUNA: “Dig a Grave” is one of the lead singles off your album Found. What can listeners expect from you in this new era of music?
JANE DOE: They can expect something more polished that comes with our sound now. It's bigger. It's more well rounded. There's a lot of different sounds that are coming from our album. There are face melting songs on there. There are softer songs. There are acoustic songs. It’s a lot more variety, and our sound is just more mature from it on all fronts. I think this album too, compared to the first one, there's a lot more ebbs and flows and peaks and valleys. We have slower songs. We have “First & Last,” which starts on acoustic guitar and then kicks in as the song goes on and “Pages” does the same thing. A listener would be like, ‘wow, this isn't just a band that's trying to just recycle old styles and old sounds, but they're trying to channel all the their influences and everything that they love and that they find unique and genuine, and put that into something that nobody's heard before in a very unique, polished, mature way, both musically and production-wise.’ We had a lot of people behind us too that I think deserve credit and helped to elevate the songs. It's a team effort.
LUNA: What is the inspiration behind Found and what did the creative process behind the project look like? How did it evolve from the initial idea to the final version?
JANE DOE: All four of us have really different musical backgrounds. Our song “Atlas” starts with a jazz drum beat and then melts into this grunge inspired riff. Our recording process was a huge melting pot of our team coming together because we, along with thousands of other artists, got really hit really hard by the pandemic. This was us rebuilding our foundation and trying to set ourselves up for success moving forward and putting a new foot forward in our music. This album meant a lot to us. My dad, Kelly, produced all of our music, and he passed away from an arduous battle with cancer in July. This is really just a big ode to him and all the things that he put forward for Jane Doe. We're really excited to keep moving forward and showing people why rock n’ roll is this ever changing landscape of music, and why we want to be part of pushing that legacy forward. Female representation is still really lacking in rock n’ roll. We don't get to see a lot of hard rock female-fronted bands in the mainstream, and that should change, considering that female presenting people make up a huge percentage of rock fans, and we want that to be something that's represented in our band is just visibility. People say rock music is dead or it's gone away, I don't think that's true. I think that there's a lot of other styles and influences that are in the mainstream right now. I almost feel like because of our passion for rock, and the fact that we all like different bands in that genre, it's almost like there's a responsibility we have because we have the talent to play and write music, it's like we need to be the pioneers to bring rock out of the out of the background and bring it back into the mainstream. We want to be the type of band and the type of style of rock that brings everybody together. One thing that I value a lot about our dynamic is that we have a very strong and healthy reverence for those that came before us that we intend to take forward with us.
LUNA: What’s your favorite song from the album and why do you love it? Is there a certain lyric or message that you gravitate towards the most?
JANE DOE: It’s like choosing your favorite child. “The Menu,” because the lyrics are very laced in humor and are about the female experience. The bridge is full of little surprises, and the more people listen to it, there are little things that they can hear in it with every new listen. “First & Last” has so many different parts to it. It starts off very acoustic and soft, but then it kicks in and has multiple harder sections. It's got a bridge and then it goes back to the softer part. There's even some piano at the very end in the recording, so I like all the layers of that song because I think that really defines who we are.
LUNA: What messages, emotions or story do you hope listeners can take away from Found?
JANE DOE: I think it's that matured angst feel. There's a lot of honesty. Our songs are brutally honest about my experience growing up, bullied for the way I looked, or just things that a lot of women go through as they get older, and songs like “Bullseye” are about growing up feeling like you're an other, and how as you get older, hopefully you learn to separate yourself from that and realize that those people were projecting. There's songs that are more epic, like “First & Last,” that are more about storytelling and “Straight to the Veins” is similar in that aspect. There's a little bit of societal and political commentary. Above all, it's just a fun rock album that we feel like there's a song in there for everybody. I think what I want someone to take away from the album, that's whatever they need to take away whatever they want, whether they listen to the lyrics and they connect with that, or they don't really listen to the lyrics and they just listen to the music or whatever they need. I think that's the great thing about music, is it's whatever you want it to be. It can be about whatever you want. As long as someone finds joy or comfort or whatever they need, then we've done our job.
LUNA: How did you celebrate the album release?
JANE DOE: We had a show at the Hawthorne Hideaway in Portland with a great lineup of bands that we were really excited to play with. A lot of friends came out, and then we're just going to keep pushing step forward. We have other videos that are in the works that will help support the album. We had a nice big breakfast and a couple cups of coffee and some dogs to play with, and that's how we celebrated our album coming out.
LUNA: What has been the reaction from fans and loved ones?
JANE DOE: Everybody's family has been incredibly supportive. My brother is our drummer, so he's obviously very supportive. My dad was incredibly supportive. He was our number one fan, and our whole team has just been pushing us along this whole way and encouraging us through everything. They're all so excited to have their friends listen to it. We've gotten some really nice reviews before, and those are rolling in, and we hope to continue to get those.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Luna?
JANE DOE: We have a Halloween gig at the Virgil with Sound the Groove that we're really excited for. We're all going to dress up as different members of Lord of the Rings, so that should be really interesting. We've never played a Halloween gig before, and we have a couple other gigs that we're just waiting for confirmation on throughout the rest of the year, and hopefully some big things that we're also waiting for confirmation on. Come to the Virgil. Our tickets are on our website, or you can DM us on Instagram, and we have some really great new merch coming out. CDs for the new album are available as well.
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