Album Notes

The provocatively titled song “Gallery Whore” was inspired by JANA PERI’s love of art gallery openings. “I’ve always enjoyed going to opening parties in NYC for the free wine and schmoozing just as much as the art,” PERI admits. “However, the narrator of the song is not me. She’s a character based on me who has questionable values and is much more of a social climber - maybe even a sociopath. She’ll go to any length to get what she wants. I love the idea of putting elements of myself into a character, but inflating them to the point where I’m essentially creating a monster. It’s so much more fun to be naughty. And the ‘whore’ in the song is not a prostitute in the Biblical sense. The lyric is sung with a wink. The ‘Gallery Whore’ is someone who knows how to sell herself. She’s very determined, but she doesn’t take herself too seriously. She’s in the game for fun just as much as she’s in it for profit.”

The music for “Gallery Whore” is a bit of a departure from the straight-forward, guitar-based pop/rock songs for which PERI is known. “It’s definitely more of a new-wave-y, disco/rock style song in the Blondie vein. The bass and drums are elemental to the sound of the song. I wrote the bass line on keys first, knowing that I wanted it to be played on bass guitar, and then built the rest of the song around it. I don’t usually write that way. I wanted the song to be very stark, percussive and danceable, but was adamant that I didn’t want any synthesizers or anything cliche. It was very important to me that the instruments should sound human. My co-producer/engineer, Peter Kohl, likens the style to a punk band playing a disco song, which I think is an apt description. We looked to bands such as The Clash for inspiration and layered on a lot of percussion in the final mix.” Also unusual in the song are the improvised lines of monologue, heard softly under the last verse that PERI describes as “headphone candy.” “That’s my acting experience coming through,” says PERI. “We needed something to break up the rhythm and a song about art should be a little avant-garde, don’t you think?”

“Gallery Whore” was recorded at Serious Business in NYC and Beautopia in Astoria, NY and was produced by JANA PERI and Peter Kohl. The song features JANA PERI on vocals and electric guitar, Jacob Callis on bass guitar and Rob Holm on drums and percussion, with additional guitar by Peter Kohl. Photography for the ‘cover art’ is by Maro Hagopian and the Andy Warhol-inspired design is by Natalie Woodson who also designed the guitar logo t-shirts that are available for sale on PERI’s website.