AUDIO "Do Right" [282k MPEG-3] or [388k WAV] "Fill in the Blank" [260k MPEG-3] or [357k WAV] "Lazy Boy Dash" [270k MPEG-3] or [371k WAV] "String of Pearls" [297k MPEG-3] or [408k WAV] (Courtesy Island/Def Jam Records)    VIDEO Jimmie's Chicken Shack: "Do Right" music video (Courtesy Island/Def Jam Records) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

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Wednesday, October 06, 1999 1:00:31 PM EST

By Jamie Allen
CNN Interactive Senior Writer

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Jimmie Haha, leader of the band Jimmie's Chicken Shack, isn't afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve.

An example: He's sitting at an outdoor table of a busy Atlanta restaurant, his dreadlocks pulled up into a khaki Gilligan's hat. Later in the evening, he and his bandmates will play another concert, touring their second major-label album, "Bring Your Own Stereo" (Island Def Jam, part of Universal Music Group). But at this moment, on this sparkling autumn day, Haha's heart is available for all the world to see as he talks about the ex-girlfriend who dissed him.

For the purpose of this article, this will be referred to as Defining Moment No. 3 in Haha's life.

"She dumped me right when our first record came out," he says, referring to "Pushing the Salmonilla Envelope," Jimmie's Chicken Shack's 1997 release. "So it made it quite a bittersweet experience. I spent 12 years trying to get a record out, then I'm like, 'I want to marry this girl.' And she dumped me.

"She was scared. She doesn't even talk to me now," he says, pausing to take a drag on a cigarette. "Some women have a talent for deciding if they want to hate somebody, they just do it. She was so scared, she got scared back into her grade school years, started hanging out with this guy that she went out with in grade school. Then she got pregnant and was forced to marry him. I think she lives in Boston and I haven't heard from her in two years."

Haha, 30, might not have heard from his ex-, but chances are she's been hearing about him, or will soon. Jimmie's Chicken Shack has a hit on its hands. "Do Right" is rising on Billboard's charts and getting play on MTV. And guess who helped inspire the song's lyrics?

The song is about a guy who, try as he might, can't seem to do anything right in the eyes of his lover. Haha says he likes to use personal experience in his songs.

"I think it's more endearing if stuff is true," he says. "I've always been affected by music that I feel people are feeling and living. It's almost like channeling. You just go with it. Whatever's in your head or heart comes out."

In other words, Haha is making a living wearing his heart on his sleeve.

'I was a total freak'

During the interview over lunch, Haha drinks a Coke and smokes. He tells funny stories and punctuates them with quick surfer laughs, making it evident where he got the nickname "Haha." (His real name is James Davies.)

The band name Jimmie's Chicken Shack, meanwhile, is a salute to Malcolm X -- it's the name of a joint the civil rights leader used to frequent before he found his calling. It's not often you hear of a white guy (Haha) paying tribute to Malcolm X, but then Jimmie's Chicken Shack isn't your ordinary band.

Made up of Haha (guitar and lead vocals), Che' Lemon (bass), Double D. (that's Dave Dowling, guitar) and Sipple (drums), the band elicits comparisons to everything from the Beach Boys to Bob Marley to Offspring. And Haha's not your average guy, although his parents tried to give him a traditional upbringing.

He spent 12 years in Catholic school in Annapolis, Maryland. To hear Haha tell it, most of his time there he frazzled the wimpled authority.

"I was a total freak," he says. "I got expelled from my school, but they had to let me back because I'm a good talker. I was the kid who walked around with no books and no pencils. I mean, I did well in school. I was just an unorthodox student in an orthodox school. We'd be in religion class and I'd bring stuff up that people didn't want me to bring up. 'What about this? Think about it ... .'"

Nos. 1 and 2

Back to those Defining Moments. No. 1 came early in Haha's life. It was second grade and he stepped onto the school stage for his first singing performance.

"I sang an a cappella version of a Beach Boys song called 'Surfin','" he recalls with boyish pride. "I was a little in shock because I was in front of 800 people. And I had this cardboard surfboard that I made and I threw it right when I started singing and it hit our principal in the head, this nun named Sister Anne. I was a little worried that I was going to get smacked by the ruler when I was done, but she was cool. I got a good ovation."

Credit Sister Anne's coolness and support from Haha's parents for keeping Haha on the music track. After high school he started playing in bands around Maryland, developing his own style and sound.

With various bandmates, Haha made two albums released on an independent label, before forming the current version of Jimmie's Chicken Shack. Things were looking up for him.

Then Haha experienced Defining Moment No. 2 in his life. He was 24, and his dad died of a massive heart attack at age 47. Clearly, Haha is moved when he talks about it now, and he's not afraid to say so.

"I could make myself cry if I think too much about it," he says. "We're kind of here for that. Everybody kind of forgets that ... part of life is breaking down and dying. It's kind of a reward, in a sense.

"I mean, who knows what happens (after death)," the unorthodox Catholic boy says, "but that's what we're here for -- to make room for everyone else.

"It'd be cool if he was around to appreciate the band's success. I could probably get a lot of strength out of having him smile and go, 'I'm proud of you.' But I know he is. He was always supportive. Luckily I got to have that kind of relationship with him before he died."

'Mutt rock'

Following Defining Moment No. 3 with the scared girlfriend, Haha has leaned on music. For "Salmonilla Envelope" the band toured for two years to support songs like "High," which found success on MTV.

In the interim, word spread about the ensemble's versatile sound, which Haha says was developed in the eclectic Maryland music scene.

"We would always play with a bunch of different kinds of bands," he says. "We played with a blues band or funk band or punk band. Every single kind of band you could think of we'd play with. I think everybody gets those influences from that area. It becomes like this big mutt. I guess we do 'mutt rock.'

"I think it's music that's attention-deficit-disorder-friendly," he says.

The mutt pedigree of Chicken Shack's latest release includes "Lazy Boy Dash," a melodic fusion of rock and funk, the reggae-jazzed "String of Pearls" and the love rocker "Waiting."

"There are plenty of bands that have albums where every song sounds the same," Haha says. "We don't need to be another band like that."

'Who is the love of your life?'

Eventually, the lunchtime conversation turns back to Haha's love life -- not so much as the subject of a hit song, but in terms of what the future holds for him. Haha slips into heart-on-sleeve mode again. You've got to give him points for honesty.

"I always tended to be the guy that'd be walking down the street thinking that the answer to all my problems would be a girl turning the corner and we'd run into each other and I'd fall stupidly in love with her," he says. "Whenever you look for it, it doesn't happen. It's the same thing with writing songs: Whenever you try to write a hit you're just going to write a piece of crap.

"I usually do get blindsided by love," he continues. "It's kind of fun. It should be an amusement park ride. 'Ride the Blindsider!' Everybody walks out stupid and talking crap. 'Man, but she was really cool!' 'Shut up!'"

Looking back, Haha realizes he has ridden an amusement park ride of defining moments and musical experimentation. He's still riding it, in fact.

"Everybody asks, 'Who's the love of your life?' The love of my life is all of them put together and I'm still collecting it all," he says. "So far, the love of my life has been cool. Her name is 'She.' The one with the eyes."