The Johnny Ill Band on Kaboodle Records + Interview

I've been listening to the Ill Band's full length since I picked it up many weeks ago now at their Moon II show, but these early singles Johnny had at the show are equally as good, with a little bit more of a raw sound, some messing around with vocal effects...the origin story of that crisp, minimal masterpiece that is Ask all the Doctors.

On A-Side's "The Doctor" Johnny is almost poking fun at himself on this one, delivering the vocal in the exact opposite of how I'm used to him sounding on the big record...rocking out, almost screamy metal, some sort of blues style, cutting himself up. The bleating vocals, of this manic, spaz doctor, and when the guitar distortion lines up with these howls of vocal, it's pretty great, still minimal as anything and all I keep hearing is a Devo new wave sound in everything, but I think that's just me. The strumming here even is off at one point, a little slip of the pick in this take...and they left it there! Hell yes, it all gets a little out of line, and says nothing about the musicanship. These are conscious choices, like that intro to "new Years Eve" on the full length.
"Makes Them Feel Good" gets a little country with a bendy, almost slide electric, lyrically, it's JIB perfection:

Don't listen to the people that you live with

because, you need to do whatever makes you feel good... we've all got our own things, some people like to write about 7inches because it makes them feel good. Exactly.
It's everything that's great about the Dead Milkmen why I'm a little guilty of not revisiting Big Lizard in my backyard enough, what am I too cool for that album now? Hell no! They're making clever simple points that aren't too jokey, but are really specific...that's a fine line, and they nail it every time. Bitchin Camaro?
That modern art over there don't hate it, I don't get it either, but the guy that made it really cares about it, and you don't have to try to understand it. It won't make you stupider. But this is as catchy as a line dance, they've got the music part completely covered.
B-Side's "Television personality" is a spazzy track with a see/saw manic rhythm, and again, I can't hear anything but those new wave influences, like the Feelies, not going as pop as Talking Heads or anything, but it's that goofy messed up robot style. Malfunction, malfunction. Messing with the vocal more on this one, he's got a lot of range for being so deceptively straightforward.
The last one up, "Rocketship" is the most rockingest interlocking guitar melody about leaving on a rocket ship, that's it, and that's great.

We had better rocket ships in the '80s.

Just like "It's The Future" track on the full length, this is another lament about technology. I don't think we can really blame scientists...the future with no diseases and free energy and holograms just never seems any closer. It feels like the future is just going to be exactly the same as it is now with different clothes and celebrities, that's basically it. Still The Johnny Ill Band makes it sound pretty fun, like 'hey lets get excited about this again'. Nasa's gone? That's all I used to dream about as a kind...what's going to happen when you take that away? The children should listen to the Ill Band...THIS is what rockets were like.

Very proper, exact timing notes on the sleeve, 4 songs pressed onto black vinyl, with an inner screened red sleeve, machine stamped with numbers from Kaboodle via X! distro.

Have a listen to this interview with Johnny and the Ill Band, the sexagon is revealed, these early singles are discussed, pete talks about his organ sound, and Detroit. 19min.

Johnny Ill Band at Moon II • 1-27-12

Got a chance to catch Detroits, The Johnny Ill band at Moon II over on the Hasidic side of south Brooklyn Friday night, and ended up meeting one of the guys outside who helped to build out the raw space not more than 6 months ago. They've got a Silent Barn type space over there with a balcony and your choice of PBR or glasses of champagne....really keeping it classy.

When Johnny goes on tour, they have a lot of people and equipment to think about - the multiple levels of keyboard, two guitars and bass, and thank god for Paul's somewhat minimal drum kit because all of this already can't fit into one van. This has to be laid back bunch just getting off on playing these straightforward psych-pop observations, or they would have imploded miles and miles ago. It's also surprising that the deceptively minimal sound of "In the Wintertime", came out of this big band combination. They're really paying attention to the details, which don't ever overwhelm the songs, especially the two tiers of organ which Pete uses sparingly and keeps this well out of the usual raw garage sound which they otherwise are successfully going for.

I think Johnny's not trying to sell the performance, or this post-garage minimal feel....this isn't a crafted persona...and I mean that in great way. Like Wounded Lion, Johnny Ill Band is that combination of the mundane bits of life while turning it into a good time sounding party. They aren't afraid to possibly sound ridiculous and at the same time make this track about the future something you want to hear more than once. It's not as easy as it sounds to carry a song about living in the garage or hating the wintertime as obvious as these songs are. This is a sort of a reinterpretation of the slacker aesthetic in the '90s and, although this might sound like that on first listen, Johnny really cares about these mundane observations. It's not with a punk attitude when he's talking about posture, you should really try to do something about it.
This storytelling style delivery of Johnny is at it's best on "Used to be Confused" combining a solid bassline, thumping along kick beat, and stabs on the organ. Johnny is straightforward laying the lyric down, not too emotional, when he raises his voice on the end of a verse it's just to fake the enthusiasm. Let's not get carried away.



Their recordings are almost documenting the compulsion to create, and thank god Johnny is talented, and trying to temper some of this smarty pants instrumentation with an barely emotional vocal about his washing machine. When he sings about it being stolen because of where he lives, it's not with any kind of hatred, he isn't railing against injustice when he says he has to hide his things, it's just the way it is.
In winter, you can't play baseball, it's a fact.
It's done with this kind of naive openness, not the way some friends on facebook overshare their daily details, but in the way that he's really got a compelling personality that isn't trying to glamorize anything...it's almost a challenge for The Johnny Ill Band to see if they can pull this off musically. Matt and Cree have to come up with a little extra, the single note solo and the bassline hook is going to be brutal, just as raw as humanly possible. Pete on organ isn't going to ever overplay his hand, almost winding up into a windmill with the time he's got in between chords, a perfect compliment to these concrete personal details.

Johnny was nice enough to have copies of their amazing full length, Ask All the Doctors on Urinal Cake Records which I have been listening to nonstop, plus a couple of singles on Kaboodle Records and Italy Records. They've been flying under the radar for far too long for me and I got a chance to see Matt Larson from the B-Side in person and that was exciting.

They're currently on their way back to Detroit after wrapping up this mini-tour and I hope that the washing machine is fixed or at least not stolen because they've got some major laundry to do.