It's a good thing I'm not an actual writer, because the story of how my band met underground rock and roll icon and Coven lead singer Jinx Dawson sounds like poorly crafted fiction, the kind you'd have to alter because it's not even remotely believable.
My name's Jilly Weiss. I sing for the band We Are Hex. You've got to believe me; the tale I'm going to spin is true.
When our drummer and captain, Brandon Beaver, found out that Jinx lived in Indianapolis again, we knew we wanted to write a song for her. We found it in a witchy psych track that culminates in the refrain, "Goddamn the ghouls again / they fall like leaves when the summer ends," a perfect nod to she who is known as the High Priestess of the Left Hand Path. So we named the track "W.D.M.R.S." after the essential Coven album from 1969, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls. Then we booked time at the Lodge studio here in Indianapolis to record with our buddies Alex Kercheval and Tyler Watkins.
We finished that track, along with a few others and were listening back when Tyler said he had to take off for another session. We asked him who he was recording and he said, "some sixties chick," offhandedly. I looked at Brandon, and we knew it was Jinx. We just fucking knew. I said, "It's not Jinx Dawson, is it?"
When Tyler said it was, I pushed him across the room. I thought maybe he heard us talking about "W.D.M.R.S." or Jinx or Coven or something earlier in the session and was messing with us. Nope. We watched the security camera as her big black Cadillac pulled up and she stepped out in all black leather, motorcycle hat, upside down cross.
Holy shit.
We still had to finish what we were doing and she had an entire session to get through, but somewhere in there, Tyler brought her to meet us and listen to the track. She didn't seem to believe us at first that we'd written a song dedicated to her, but she dug it. By this point I think I had offered her something to drink like three times even though she said that she was just fine ... each time. Oof. I was nervous (typical), but decided to ask her if she wanted to add some vocals to our track. Beaver knew what I was going to say before I said it and was shaking his head "no" at me. We had a wordless argument with a lot of frowning, which I won. So I asked her.
I tell you, she listened to the song once, had me write down the one refrain, went into the booth and took two passes at it. Two! Nailed it.
Here's what you probably already know about Jinx Dawson: She introduced music crowds to the sign of the horns. Her band, Coven, held Satanic masses on stage. Charles Manson was photographed holding their record. Black Sabbath ripped them off.
And it's all true. But there is a lot more to the story of this musician, who should be a household name, and who instead leads a cult of record nerds like me. Jinx left Indianapolis in 1968, returned for several summers in the '80s to put on concerts, and returned for good in the early 2000s to take care of family. Right now, there's an energy building behind her. People are taking notice, digging into her history, listening to her classic cuts.
And the best part is, she's making music again.
Here's my conversation with Jinx Dawson, a living rock legend.
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