As one of the few REAL live bands in SL, The Jimi Lanley Experience blends live preformances in RL with the visual experience only SL can offer. Jimi wanted to bring his RL experience as a professional musician into Second Life and went on a hunt for an all-female backing band, to accompany him with the live recordings of his side project band. He soon found the perfect lineup in Juliet (drums), Ninee (bass) and Gypsy (keyboard) and built a stage for the purpose, filled with lighting, pyrotechnics and all the goodies you can imagine, all portable and can be put up at any venue.
The band only needed a few rehearsals before they were ready for their first gig. The response was so great that the four of them decided to continiue the “Experience”.
The difference between The Jimi Lanley Experience and most other live artists in SL is that they can focus on giving you the real visual experience by having four members there to control it without having to give you the false studio feeling of playing other peoples music. Jimi’s expansive experience really shows in their performance, as he blends the live recordings with the effects on stage perfectly, making it feel like you are really watching a live band perform live, in real life. It is a real band, performing live that you hear and it is real performers you see on stage, not just some parked avatars on poseballs.
Jimi started out touring with various cover bands over the east coast of Australia before settling down in Melbourne in the early 90’s. He then co-founded The Truth, known for such radio hits as My Heavy Friend and Secrets, with the constant touring and two albums they released in their 5-year career. After The Truth decided to walk their separate ways, he worked as side guitarist to some of Australia’s most successful artists, among them being Tina Arena that he toured Europe with as sideact to Bee Gees. After returning to Australia, he got to play with Australia’s biggest selling act, John Garnham, who also later covered Jimi on his next album.
To this day, Jimi is still working with some of the greatest artists in Australia.
After joining Second Life in 2009, after listening to an audio book by Philip Rosedale (founder of Second Life), he happened to have a month off between tours. After playing around for a bit he saw many live acts in Second Life and wanted to do something like that, but different. He wanted to combine the live feeling of the live artists and the visual experience of the scene artists, and so he did. With the British classic rock he grew up with, he set up the stage, got his friends in on it and since then he have never stopped touring, neither in RL or SL.
When asked “What is your favorite thing about The Jimi Lanley Experience?”, Jimi responded:
Well there’s two sides to it really. On a personal level, it feels like a real privilege to be able to do what I love for a living. I’m thankful for that every day, because I believe it is quite rare to have that opportunity. On the other side, it is very fulfilling to know that you are contributing to an audience having a good time, making them feel something emotionally from the music, and perhaps in some way relieving some of the stress from their everyday lives. There is a lot of satisfaction in seeing that, and knowing that you can contribute something positive back into the world. It’s a blessing, really.
If you’re not in Second Life, you can still get the full experience of Jimi Lanley by checking out his instrumental album called Out Of My Hands on Bandcamp and if you want to know what they are about in SL, he was kind enough to record a video with The Jimi Lanley Experience here.