Wicked Wisdom

Wicked wisdom


By NICK ROGERS
A&E EDITOR
Published Thursday, February 09, 2006

Jada Koren, AKA Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith has robbed banks, fought for futuristic freedom and sent an apocalypse-minded demon back to hell onscreen.

She's earned her rep as "the tough chick in Hollywood."
Still, as Pinkett Smith puts it, it's a "whole 'nother get-down" for this 5-foot-nothing front woman to unleash a torrent of p.o.'d guttural growls with hard-core metal band Wicked Wisdom.

"MTV sprouted from my generation, and I would look at Metallica and Guns 'n' Roses, see Axl out there and say, 'Why don't we have any chicks that do that?'" says Pinkett Smith, who uses the musical moniker Jada Koren (her middle name) and goes on to name-check Meshuggah and Phil Anselmo of Pantera.

A black woman fronting a metal band isn't a novelty; the shaved-bald Skin led the now-defunct Skunk Anansie back in the 1990s.

Pinkett Smith is just the only one who forged a formidable movie career first, married superstar actor-rapper Will Smith and is associated more with red carpets than black metal. Still, there's much to back up her insistence that this is no well-funded, whimsical holiday from Hollywood.

Wicked Wisdom is willing to hold the No. 4 spot on a five-band bill for this Sevendust tour and play smaller cities such as Springfield. This isn't, of course, to say star power hasn't shown up on the road; Sevendust singer Lajon Witherspoon has been amused by crowds who crane their necks during his band's set when Will Smith has followed his wife's tour to several stops.

But there's nothing Big Willie Style about Wicked Wisdom's music - the Pantera-esque blast of double bass drum and guitar of "Something Inside of Me" and, on "Cruel Intentions," Pinkett Smith snarling like the creature she vanquished.

"About four years ago, I just decided, 'Before I leave this planet, I have to have an opportunity to do this,'" says Pinkett Smith, who pens Wicked Wisdom's lyrics. "I planned on putting the band together, playing around (California). I never knew it would grow into what it grew into."

Pocket Honore, lead guitarist and musical director for Wicked Wisdom, says Pinkett Smith was very "excited, yet nervous" when a mutual friend brought them together. Her enthusiasm encouraged the longtime R&B/hip-hop session man to pass on touring gigs of that genre.

Rio & Pocket


"I just kind of got burned out on doing the R&B/hip-hop stuff," says Honore, who has played with Patti LaBelle, Ice Cube and Eric Benet. "(Jada) said she wanted to do rock, and I said, 'Cool.'"

Aggressive sound came gradually to Wicked Wisdom, which dallied with harder-edged pop, soul and alternative styles before guitarist Cameron Graves came on board in 2004 and encouraged the band to tune down the instruments and give the really heavy stuff a shot.

Cameron Graves, AKA Wirm


Wicked Wisdom (which also includes original Fishbone drummer Phillip "Fish" Fisher) was as shocked as the Ozzy faithful when the band was asked to join 2005's Ozzfest on the second stage.

Phillip Fisher, AKA Fish


Pinkett Smith says it was only natural that metal fans had difficulty reconciling her being there, and each night, Wicked Wisdom only had 20 minutes to prove itself. There were plenty of preconceived notions and tense taunts - Honore says a New Jersey show was particularly rough, as bird-flipping fans in the front row really riled up Pinkett Smith.

"After that, we said, 'It's time to move onstage. We can't just stand here,'" Honore says. "The one that turned it around was in Chicago. It was our first headlining show in the rotation, and we played that first song and it just went off. That was the longest day we signed autographs on the tour."

Since then, Wicked Wisdom has been a featured musical guest on "The Late Show with David Letterman," of which Pinkett Smith says, "David doesn't get too excited about much of anything. When he was smiling, it was, like, 'Wow, we must have really did something tonight.'"

And on Feb. 21, the band's 10-song, self-titled debut CD hits stores. But Pinkett Smith already is looking forward to scaring off the sophomore slump with an even harsher sound.

"Even this particular album is just a launching pad," Pinkett Smith says. "We want to get even heavier than what we've done now."


Nick Rogers can be reached at 747-9587 or nick.rogers@sj-r.com. Staff writer Daniel Pike contributed to this story.

For more info on Jada Koren Pinkett Smith, visit www.thejadapages.com