Will Johnson Interview

Brad: You grew up in Missouri?

Will Johnson: Yeah, the first 12 years of my life.

BT: And you went to high school?

WJ: In Texas.

BT: What kinds of concerts were you going to? What was the scene like around you?

WJ: Around that age, I was going to…good lord. Typical junior high and high school kind of shows, maybe Van Halen or Huey Lewis and the News. But then, after a while the baton started getting handed off to punk rock shows, then it became smaller venues and you know Soul Asylum, Hüsker Dü, something like that.

BT: This was in Denton?

WJ: I was living in Killeen, TX, but the closest place to go to see shows was Austin. It was only an hour drive. There was a venue there called Liberty Lunch, and they would let me and my underage friends in, so I’d see a lot of shows that way.

BT: You’ve got the Minneapolis bands represented there.

WJ: Yeah I got to see the Minneapolis bands come through. I got to see the Replacements around that time for the first time. That was like ‘86, ‘87. So yeah I was lucky to be in proximity of Austin.

BT: When did you start playing drums?

WJ: When I was probably about 4 or 5 I think. I got a toy drum kit from my father at that age and kept with it.

BT: Was it awhile later that you started playing guitar?

WJ: Yeah, I think I started playing guitar when I was 16 or 17.

BT: Dave Grohl is a great drummer, but he doesn’t play drums in his own band. Has that ever been an issue for you, when Matt’s playing drums, that you want to step in?

WJ: Oh man... Never, I’ve really never had that urge. I do have the urge to play drums, I love playing drums. But I never feel some overwhelming rush of “just let me do it,” because he’s (Matt Pence) such an incredible and astonishing drummer.

BT: You do play on some of the records.

WJ: I do, I play on some of the recordings. Often times it’s a result of his encouragement. I love doing that, I really do have fun playing drums on our recordings, but rarely do I find myself insistent on playing a part.

BT: Do you guys record live or more piece-meal?

WJ: We kind of piece-meal it. More times than not we build it up like a big old cake. Sometimes we’ll cut guitar and drum parts live, but we’ll stack it up over the course of a day.

BT: Every one of you plays more than one instrument, how do you decide from song to song who is going to play what? Is it just what sounds right?

WJ: Yeah, it seems kinda like a cop-out answer, but generally that is kinda the way it goes. Someone picks up something and if they’re inspired by the instrument that happens to be in their lap, then that’s what we wind up going with a lot of the time.

BT: You’ve written and recorded a ton of songs. How do you know when it’s time to go into the studio? You also write while you are in the studio?

WJ: These days I’m writing a lot in the studio, and I’m kinda warming up to that. I’ve always written a little bit in the studio, but with the Centro-Matic side of Dual Hawks the majority of it was written right in the studio, in the moment. So lately we have done a lot more writing in the studio than I ever did previously. Honestly, it’s just a matter of knowing when that next, maybe six weeks, two months advance notice of having some studio time… It’ll definitely be in the back of my brain, and I’ll start picking away at parts and a lot of the time 50% of the recordings, these days, is written in the studio. I may show up now with six or seven songs that I really like and the rest of it we just let the record evolve with all of us there. It seems like it takes on a natural birth better that way than, “Hey, here are our 15 songs, we’re gonna do these.” I guess it feels natural doing it this way.

BT: A lot of people never have these issues, but when you started performing was there any stage fright or hesitation to put your own songs in front of people?

WJ: There was pretty significant hesitation when I first started playing under the name Centro-matic. That was before we even had a band, so I would play under the name Centro-matic solo. The only reason I had that first show was because my best friend is a promoter in Denton and he went ahead and booked the show and made up fliers and posters and everything, and said, “Hey I know you’ve got material and you’ve been thinking about playing out. I’ve got you a show two weeks from tonight.” And I insisted, absolutely not, I’m not going to jump on the stage and play. And he said, “It’s too late, I’ve already made posters and fliers and everything, so you’re committed now.” Initially I though, “Wow what an asshole thing to do.” But in hindsight it was probably the right thing to do, I’m glad that he did it. It kind of kicked me in the ass and got me ready to play.

BT: Before that you had been drumming right? That didn’t really prepare you?

WJ: Not for standing with a guitar. With the drums I felt like I could hide a little bit and could just become part of the backdrop. Standing up there singing was weird for the first little while. I had glasses at the time, and I ‘d always take the glasses off so as to just blur everything. So I couldn’t see the whites of people’s eyes, I could just see figures. That made it a little easier.

BT: I’ve noticed that Patterson Hood sort of carries the flag for you guys, and I think I saw Derry deBorja at the show last night…

WJ: Yeah, he’s right over there.

BT: What is it like to have that sort of respect from your peers?

WJ: …It still really strikes me. It just means a lot, it keeps me inspired as a writer, and it keeps all of us inspired and hopeful as a group. I’ve known Patterson for eight or nine years now and we’ve become really good buds actually. We just talked for about a half an hour earlier tonight. Sometimes I’m still taken aback that I get to be friends with some of very favorite musicians and songwriters. It’s nice to be able to call and say hey let’s go hang out or have coffee or make a record or whatever we might want to do. It still kind of floors me.

BT: They were just here with the Hold Steady, there some… real moments. I read somewhere that he wants to tour with you guys again next year. Any plans?

WJ: We tried for some stuff in January and February, but due to personal schedules and everything we can’t all commit, so we’re just going to do three shows in Athens in January with them. And then, take a look into next year, see what everybody’s schedules are looking like. Anytime we get an excuse to all hang out together, we do, be it recording or a couple one-off shows or a tour, we try to make an effort. He and I are talking about doing some recording together next year.

BT: And you’ve backed him on some of his solo stuff, live stuff. 

WJ: Yeah, that’s correct. Scott Danbom and I have played on his solo stuff and on Drive-By Truckers stuff. Yeah, just about any excuse we get to hang out we’ll try to take advantage of it.

BT: We always like to ask people what they are listening to at the moment.

WJ: These days I’m listening to this new eccentric soul compilation, from the Brotherman soundtrack, which finally got released after 30-plus years.  Been listening to this girl Sarah Jaffe, she’s a Denton songwriter, a really, really amazing songwriter. Um…Constantines a little bit, I’ve been liking them a lot. What else… there’s one that I’m totally blanking on, that I keep going back to and back to… I keep going back to that old DJ Shadow record, Introducing.

BT: Do you get a chance to go see a lot of shows?

WJ: These days not so much. Coming up I’m going to be home for about two and a half months, so I’ll finally get a chance to get to go to shows and not have to load in.

BT: Is there any significance, I noticed last night that you changed clothes between sets?

WJ: I’ll usually shed a layer, but no there no real costume change or anything crazy like that. The most extravagant thing is maybe I’ll change into a pair of tennis shoes for Centro-matic. But, there’s no overwhelming change of face or anything like that. It does take a few minutes to shift gears between the styles of music, and say “OK, now we’re gonna turn it up…”