Nashville freelance writer Rick Moore, a contributor to American Songwriter Magazine, the Nashville Music Guide, Las Vegas Review Journal, and many publications nationally, recently interviewed Rewind's Janice and Lorraine Mami.
 

RM: Good evening! Nice to see you both again!

Lorraine: Hi. Nice to see you as well.

Janice: Good evening.
 

RM: Not just as a reporter, but equally as a fan, I've watched the two of you over the years in various bands, together and separately, fronting as well as backing up other performers. What comes through now with Rewind is that you're finally in complete charge of production, from top to bottom. It shows in your enthusiasm and in your onstage performances. How is it different now for you?

Lorraine: It feels good but it scary! (Laughs) It's true--it feels scary and exciting at the same time! Everything falls on the two of us now! If something goes wrong, we take the blame. When you have a manager, everything gets filtered through them. Now, we're the entertainers and the manager! But it's a nice feeling knowing you're in charge of everything, from the music on up.

Janice: We have total creative freedom. That's very rewarding. From publicity and marketing to scheduling rehearsals, picking material and musicians--it's on us. We've always had a say in those things, but now, we make all the final decisions. We're putting the type of band onstage that truly represents what we want to project.
 

RM: How did it come about that the two of you stopped performing together for a while? And how, if in any way, did that help each of your individual development?

Lorraine: Our case was a little different, we really didn't want to stop performing together. We thought it was a bad thing at the time, but looking back now, it really was a good thing. Our situation was a little different.

Janice: We were on the road almost constantly, and I wanted to start a family and didn't want to travel for a while. Lorraine wanted to keep the band together, so they kept traveling. You have to go where the work is.

Lorraine: When that happened, I had to start singing all the lead vocals. Prior to that, I was content singing backups most of the evening and singing lead for a few songs now and then. When we came back off the road, I was a totally different performer. It made me come out of a shell, helped me grow. And without question, that experience forced me to become a better vocalist.

 

RM: Tell us a little about your background. I know you two came from a large musical family.

Lorraine: That's true. We're from New York, and there's 9 girls, 4 boys. Seven sisters sang, Two of the boys played instruments, and our brother Michael had a spot in each set where he'd come up and sing a few numbers.

Janice: We eventually moved to Florida where we started doing weddings, benefits, proms and such, then eventually came out to Vegas. Here, we put a band together and started working professionally, on a full time basis.

Lorraine: That's when we performed as The Mami Sisters, with Michael guesting. As life happened, we all got married, had families, and sisters came in and out of the group. Eventually, we all went our separate ways. But we always reformed in some fashion, over the years, Now, it's Janice and I leading the way with Rewind.
 

RM: Give us a glimpse behind the scenes. What all goes into putting a band like Rewind together? What are some of the things your audience may not be aware of?

Lorraine: It's a lot of work, but it's fun getting there. It's a long process, a good feeling. It's a little rough sometimes, but knowing you're putting out a good product--it's all worth it. It's something we really believe in, so it doesn't feel like work. We love what we're doing and since we do have full control of everything we're doing, there's a ton of responsibility.

Janice: It's a lot of long hours. It involves everything from picking material, planning everyone's schedules, all of the business side of things;publicity photos, the websites, promo packages, etc. There's no shortage of things to do!

Lorraine: Everything from buying equipment, to renting rehearsal space, organizing rehearsals, you name it. The work never ends, really. You're completely responsible for the show the audience sees, and the songs they'll be hearing each set.

 

RM: Speaking of material, I've noticed Rewind performs a much wider variety of songs compared to most other acts.

Lorraine: I think has a lot to do with us growing up and listening to a wide variety of music. We would sing everything that came on the radio. We had an open mind when it came to music. We didn't stay in one genre. When we got older, it was automatic for us to include that type of variety in our shows. It keeps things interesting.

Janice: I agree. We've loved such a variety of music all of our lives, and with Rewind, we get a chance to really demonstrate that in our shows.
 

RM: One of the focal points of Rewind is your rich harmonies. Being sisters, your family blend obviously plays a huge role in creating the unique sound that people are hearing.

Lorraine: True, there is a special blend you have with a family member, but beyond the natural blend, working all these years together, you know each other, you know exactly what each other wants to do, vocally. But you can work with anyone who has a good ear for harmony and blend with them just as well. I've played in bands without Janice and had other girls singing backup for me, and Janice has done the same thing. And those blends were good as well.

Janice: But yeah, there's a special blend you have with a family member. And with your sister, you can get through a lot more off-stage difficulties. You can have a knock down-drag out, and get right back on stage!

Lorraine: (Sings "blood is thicker than water!") (Laughs!)

 

RM: A lot of your fans may not be aware of this, but you actually worked closely with Flash keyboardist Rick Daugherty on arrangements, and he did the keyboard work on all your recordings and backing tracks.

Lorraine: That's true. Flash (formed by former members of the British super group Yes) was recording their new album here in Las Vegas. Rick was splitting his time between those sessions and doing ours. He completely believes in Rewind and has supported us from the beginning. We're fortunate to have had him help us so much.

Janice: He helped us hammer out a lot of unique arrangements, and of course, his keyboard work is first class. He'll be playing on our CD's as well.
We also had a lot of help from Lake Tahoe blues guitarist Dan McGinty, and local guitarist Dave Dubuc. Lorraine also played keyboard parts on some songs as well as well as a little bass. I did some guitar parts as well. But basically, Lorraine and I concentrated on handling the vocals and doing the arrangements.

 

RM: And how are those recordings/CD's coming along?

Lorraine: They're coming along great. We're actually doing three different CD's at once, with each CD focused on a different style of music. Those will be available real soon.

Janice: You'll be able to pick those up at our performances as well as order them here at the website.

 

RM: Who would you each say are your biggest musical influences when you were coming up?

Janice: My biggest influences were Olivia Newton-John, Donna Summer, Jody Watley, Frankie Valli and Patsy Cline.

Lorraine: One of my early influences was Journey, I think Steve Perry has one of the greatest male voices in rock music. Karen Carpenter was huge for me. I read recently where both Shania Twain and Gloria Estefan were also huge fans of Karen's. I liked Tommy James as well. Later, I discovered Cliff Richard and really enjoyed his voice--his style of singing, and his music. He had some great writers. And of course, The Beatles. So I enjoyed quite a wide variety of influences, actually.

 

RM: How about currently. Who do you enjoy, including any of today's artists?

Janice: I like Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Journey, Bon Jovi--there are so many, really. I enjoy all kinds of music.

Lorraine: I like Nickleback and Daughtry. And I enjoy Adam Lambert--I like his style, and the way he performs. He's very interesting.

 
RM: How are the audiences of today different from the audiences you played to when you first hit Las Vegas?

Janice: Early on, we mostly played to younger crowds. These days, audiences are more wide ranging--all ages. What we do now is try to appeal to every age in our audiences. We perform a wide variety of music these days, more so than ever before, and when you do great material, audiences of all ages appreciate those songs.

Lorraine: It's really different right now. You have all the nightclubs, DJ's, etc. But we can only do the best we can do with our kind of music. Audiences of all ages are appreciative of what we do, so we're fortunate in that regard.
 

RM: So, given those differences, and the incredible growth of Las Vegas since you started playing here in the mid 80's, what do you do differently to entertain new crowds--a whole new type of Vegas tourist--especially when you have a room that may include people of three different generations?

Lorraine: We don't do anything different. The material we do lends itself to bridging generation gaps. Between TV shows like Glee covering all the older classic songs, and children growing up with their parents playing the CD's, and the popularity of classic rock radio stations, today's audiences are familiar with most of our material.

Janice: You can't escape the classic hits and great music of the past. It's used in today's movie soundtracks,commercials, it's piped in through every type of business from casinos to grocery stores. People never get tired of hearing great songs. And we never get tired of singing them. We're at home regardless of the age of any audience on any given night.
 

RM: Before we wrap this up, I have to ask this: Since a lot of Las Vegans still remember you both as part of the immensely popular Mami Sisters, is there any chance of seeing you perform with any of your other sisters in the future?

Lorraine: Yes. We've actually formed Rewind Music Productions, which can provide any size group for any occasion. I could easily see situations where for certain shows we would expand the group and other sisters would jump in. Those possibilities are always there. We could perform either as an expanded version of Rewind, or on certain performances, as The Mami Sisters.

Janice: Rewind is the nucleus. This is what Lorraine and I want to do. Our other sisters are more involved in raising children, having families. But they still enjoy singing, and it certainly would be possible if the situation was right. I could easily see that happening, as well. We'd enjoy that.
 

RM: And finally: When a young woman who wants a career in music comes up to you after a show to ask for advice (and you know that's going to happen!) what will you say?

Lorraine: Turn they other way and run!!!! (Laughs). The only thing I can really tell them is if you truly have a passion for it, just stick with it. You need to do live performances and perfect your craft. Just get out there and do it.

Janice: No matter what anyone says to you, keep singing if you really love music. It's a tough life in many ways, and the business will weed you out if you don't really belong. Perseverance, when pursuing any dream, is the key. Whether it's music or anything else--if you love it, go for it.

 

 

RM: Thank you for your time, and best of luck to you both.

Janice: You're welcome.

Lorraine: It was our pleasure. Best of luck to you as well!