Calvin Johnson Interview

Calvin Johnson, from Beat Happening.

By Alex Pasternack


Calvin Johnson’s short-cropped coif and placidly detached face, with the most ironic monotone to match, make him look and sound like the drill sergeant for some hipster army, circa 1983. Well that’s basically what he is. It is a complete coincidence that that the year I was born was the year he birthed Beat Happening, one of the most influential bands of the so-called post-punk era and perhaps the best do it yourself band since the Tuvan throat singers, easily courting pop, rock and punk styles with often nothing more than a guitar, drum and microphone. This was likely why Nirvana and Beck and Modest Mouse and [insert really good band here] requested his musical and psychic accompaniment during their early starts on his label, K Records. Based in Olympia, WA, the label not only produces and releases underground luminaries like the Microphones, Mirah, and the Blow, but serves as a kind of safe house for twee-folk and hippiester artists in the area, who write, make and listen to music while wearing t-shirts made with the studio's print and silkscreen materiel. Calvin is currently working on INSERT STUFF and his present project, Dub Narcotic Sound System, which is louder and more abstract than Beat Happening--but just as beaty. And beety.


{still waiting to get sound clip of him talking about beets}


You mentioned the vegetable. What is the significance of percussion to you?

I think percussion is an important and often overlooked aspect of a musical endeavor. It’s difficult to find a good percussionist, you know. Every drummer thinks they can play percussion, but they can’t.

What does that mean?

It means they might be able to play drums, but percussion is a totally different intstrument. It’s like if you’re the clarinetist and you pick up a saxaphone: there may be some similarities, but just because you’re a good clarinet player doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good saxaphone player. And I think its similar with percussion, you can make an analogy between drums and percussion. It is a rhythmic instrument but it has completely different characteristics.

We’re talking about all sorts of percussion instruments...

Yes, mostly hand percussion. Maracas, castanets, vibraslap, tamborine.

Do you have a favorite among those?

I do like the vibraslap a lot.

What is that?

Its the thing that sounds like a rattle snake.

Why do you like that?

It sounds like a rattle snake.

That makes sense. What are you doing now, in a day-to-day way, at K records?

I’m working on lots of records. We’re working with Beth Ditto right now on her new record. Recording it. Recording a new Calvin album. I’ll be recording Woelv when she gets back to town.

Are you doing the same things you were doing 15 years ago?

I’m doing a lot more of recording of the artists now than I did 15 years ago. I did some of it then. But. We didn’t have our own studio at that time. It’s easier now to do the recording, because we have access to our own equipment.

What is the studio like?

Dub Narcotic studio. We have a 2 inch 16 track and a half-inch 8 track.

Is this a place where artists hang out?

Phil or Mirah, they just have their own keys. Kayla from the Blow. A lot of things happen there. Silk screening and things like that. It’s a space big enough to accomodate multiple tasks at once.

What do you think about the community aspect in an affair like a record company—is that lacking in the music industry in general?

Well, I don’t know. That’s certainly something we’ve cultivated. It’s important to me. Many of the labels that I admire have some aspect of that in their history...

Such as...

Sun Records, Staxx, Studio One. Lots of different soul labels. Motown, definitely had that. Lots of labels had that in the past. I think it’s. It’s. It seems less usual for a label to have their own studio in which things are based around—Parker is everything ok?

Holding up a pile of cash. Do you have any more singles?

Can you talk to Staci?

Yeah.

Ok.

Is there a distinction for you between producing an album, recording it, and participating in its music?

A lot of times I’m just there. As with the last Jason Anderson album. I wasn’t really involved in the production of that record but I was certainly around a lot, so he would be like hey, sing on this, so I would. Same thing with the Microphones, when he was making his albums, I wasn’t involved in the production but he would say, Calvin, could you play guitar on this song?
But with people who I’m more involvled in recording, it’s up to them.

Is there an aspect of this entire endeavor that you like more than anything else?

I just like the ability to spend time with creative people. It’s very rewarding.

How does the touring fit into the whole industry for you?

The artists taht we work with, touring is how they earn their living, pretty much. They don’t make it from their record sales. Not directly from their record sales. Phil is going to sell quite a few records at this show, and he’ll make a lot of money from that. But just in general, if he was never to play shows and never sell his own records, he wouldn’t make enough money off his records to live off of. But he can go out and play shows, and he makes more money off the performances than he does off the records.

Do you consider yourself to be a celebrity?

No. I don’t think that I am celebrated in any way.

Do you want to be?

I am quite comfortable not being.

You have had some interaction with some bands that have become household names. Pause. Wonders how he will phrase this question. What do you think about that? Great, just great, he thinks.

I’m glad for them. It seems like its working out pretty good for them.

That’s not something you would ever want?

I think I’m doing okay.

That’s good. Um. Well, I guess that’s it. Wait, what are you doing these days?

I’m DJing. It’s fun to do. I love to play records. But it’s ultimately not very satisfying.

Why?

Just because you’re playing records. This is much more...fun.

What’s going to happen with Beat Happening? Any future plans?

We don’t have any plans. Issac Brock just called us to ask if we would play All Tomorrow’s Parties, because they’re curating it this year. But it’s just not really comfortable for us to do things like that, so—

Why?

We haven’t played shows for a long time. So if the first show we played was something ridiculous like that, it might just be a little much.

But it’s not out of the question?

No. Lord knows. And He’s not telling.

The Lord.

I’ll have to interview him.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

You’re welcome.