Why This Nashville Indie-Rock Band Is Singing About ‘Jane Fonda’

By Joseph Hudak

Joseph Hudak

Nashville’s indie-rock scene is having a moment. Bands like New Translations, Flight Attendant, and Snooper, who just performed on Rolling Stone’s Rock Tour with Die Spitz, are yet again showing that Music City means all music — not just country. (Check out the rock takeover that happened during this year’s CMA Fest.)

Lombardy are also part of that group. One of the most eclectic bands on the scene, the four-piece mixes rock, punk, and hip-hop, and have earned a reputation for unpredictable concerts. At one show, they took the stage dressed like The Sopranos’ Christopher Moltisanti, in suits and foam neck braces; at another, they donned athletic jerseys.

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And in the music video for “Jane Fonda,” off their debut album Catch a Buzz, Not the Fuzz, they slip into Eighties workout gear to partake in some choreographed calisthenics.

“When we were going into this album cycle… and thinking about the Eighties and Nineties, one thing exclusive to that time period was the mail-in aerobics video series that you get for $9.99 plus shipping and handling,” bassist Seth Renfrow tells Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast.

“Jane Fonda is the retro fitness icon that we all aspire to be,” adds singer-guitarist Mike Scott, who co-wrote the song with Renfrow.

Lombardy, which also features drummer Steve Mascarello, performed a live version of “Jane Fonda” following their Nashville Now appearance. Renfrow says it’s really a song about community, particularly the one they’re helping foster in Nashville. “It’s about going to [East Nashville bar] Mickey’s and getting a shot with my partner, who I think looks like Jane Fonda, and going downtown, smoking a jay across the pedestrian bridge, and watching the tourists.”

For guitarist Jonathan Plevyak, the song is also a way to embrace the fun side of playing music, which can be in short supply when trying to get ahead.

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“Being an indie artist, there’s so much grind and hustle, and you have to be your own graphic designer, social media person, that sometimes having fun with your friends gets lost in the shuffle,” he says. “‘Jane’ is the embodiment of that.”

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