Ep. 9.1 Matt Johnson
Download MP3Jeff interviews legendary drummer Matt Johnson who played on Grace, toured with Jeff Buckley and had a phenomenal contribution to success of that band. Matt discusses his influences, approach to drumming, what he likes about bass players, and some of the spiritual and inspirational aspects of Jeff Buckley.
Part 1 of 2
A note to our listeners: This is an expanded version of this interview. The video version is available at:
https://youtu.be/PkKqM9hVw3I
Come back next week for an in depth interview about Jeff Buckley.
For this season's final episode we have the great drummer himself: Matt Johnson. Matt played drums on Grace and toured with Jeff Buckley all through the world. Many of the guests on Everyone Has A Jeff Buckley Story have spoken about Matt and have given him substantial credit for the phenomenon that Jeff Buckley is and was. I wanted to find out what his drum influences were and how he got to the place he was in when he joined Jeff's band and recorded an album that Rolling Stone says is the 147th greatest album of all time and David Bowie considered the greatest. We also go into recording, playing with live acoustic instruments, what Matt looks for in a bass player, how he approaches triple meter, what his drum teacher told him when he was 11 years old and how he is still on that first drum lesson.
Thanks Matt. It was an honor to speak with you!
Theme Music "Kanga Roo" from Mystery White Boy
"What Will You Say" and "Mojo Pin" from Glastonbury 1995
Co-edited by Konrad Meissner
Hey! Did you know you can contact Matt for lessons or recordings (what he calls underdubbing)?
Click here to learn how to get in touch with him:
https://soundbetter.com/profiles/182750-matt-johnson
"From recording the seminal cult-creating album Grace with Jeff Buckley to years of touring with the beloved St. Vincent, I've worked with a wide spectrum of artists over the past two decades including Rufus Wainwright, Angus and Julia Stone, and recently Miike Snow.
I'm originally from Texas but living in New York City opened up the most opportunities for developing a drumming career. I've recorded and played with Rhodes, Jade Bird, Teddy Thompson, Jeff Taylor, John Mayer, Dan Mangan, Dean Wareham of Galaxy 500, Tal Wilkenfeld, Will Stratton, Elysian Fields, Cones, Dope Lemon, Martha Wainwright, The Walking Who, Gabriel Kahane, Chris Stills, Anna Calvi, Duncan Sheik, Vivian Bond, Harper Simon, Keren Ann, Gerry Leonard, Reeves Gabrels, Tom Freund, Beth Orton, Suzanne Vega, Rickie Lee Jones and Miirrors.
I have also have worked with great producers such as Marius Devries, Rick Rubin, Simone Felice, Andy Wallace, Eric J, Andrew Wyatt, John Agnello, John Alagia, Thomas Bartlett, Tony Buchen, Tony Visconti, Tony Berg, Ben Harper, Hod David, and Kieran Kelly."
Matt uses:
A note to our listeners: This is an expanded version of this interview. The video version is available at:
https://youtu.be/PkKqM9hVw3I
Come back next week for an in depth interview about Jeff Buckley.
For this season's final episode we have the great drummer himself: Matt Johnson. Matt played drums on Grace and toured with Jeff Buckley all through the world. Many of the guests on Everyone Has A Jeff Buckley Story have spoken about Matt and have given him substantial credit for the phenomenon that Jeff Buckley is and was. I wanted to find out what his drum influences were and how he got to the place he was in when he joined Jeff's band and recorded an album that Rolling Stone says is the 147th greatest album of all time and David Bowie considered the greatest. We also go into recording, playing with live acoustic instruments, what Matt looks for in a bass player, how he approaches triple meter, what his drum teacher told him when he was 11 years old and how he is still on that first drum lesson.
Thanks Matt. It was an honor to speak with you!
Theme Music "Kanga Roo" from Mystery White Boy
"What Will You Say" and "Mojo Pin" from Glastonbury 1995
Co-edited by Konrad Meissner
Hey! Did you know you can contact Matt for lessons or recordings (what he calls underdubbing)?
Click here to learn how to get in touch with him:
https://soundbetter.com/profiles/182750-matt-johnson
"From recording the seminal cult-creating album Grace with Jeff Buckley to years of touring with the beloved St. Vincent, I've worked with a wide spectrum of artists over the past two decades including Rufus Wainwright, Angus and Julia Stone, and recently Miike Snow.
I'm originally from Texas but living in New York City opened up the most opportunities for developing a drumming career. I've recorded and played with Rhodes, Jade Bird, Teddy Thompson, Jeff Taylor, John Mayer, Dan Mangan, Dean Wareham of Galaxy 500, Tal Wilkenfeld, Will Stratton, Elysian Fields, Cones, Dope Lemon, Martha Wainwright, The Walking Who, Gabriel Kahane, Chris Stills, Anna Calvi, Duncan Sheik, Vivian Bond, Harper Simon, Keren Ann, Gerry Leonard, Reeves Gabrels, Tom Freund, Beth Orton, Suzanne Vega, Rickie Lee Jones and Miirrors.
I have also have worked with great producers such as Marius Devries, Rick Rubin, Simone Felice, Andy Wallace, Eric J, Andrew Wyatt, John Agnello, John Alagia, Thomas Bartlett, Tony Buchen, Tony Visconti, Tony Berg, Ben Harper, Hod David, and Kieran Kelly."
Matt uses:
- Istanbul cymbals
- Tama drums
- Vater sticks
“Everyone Has A Jeff Buckley Story” is created, recorded, edited and produced by Jeff Haley. Co-Produced by Konrad
Shine Light Podcasts is Executive-Produced by Chris via biointegrity.net
The BioIntegrity community has helped fund protection of more than 320,000 acres of old growth tropical forests since 2014. Those efforts are helping to save thousands of species from extinction, keep more than 85 million tons of greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere (enough to offset Austin, TX's community carbon footprint for 5+ years), institute land occupation rights for more than 400 Indigenous communities around the world, keep the planet cool, and more. Chris is also co-founder, creator and executive editor of AllCreation.org, a living archive of faith and spiritual practice views on human relationships with Earth's other species and environment. AllCreation has more than 400 posts exploring sacred texts and contemporary views, and is currently read in +150 countries. Visit biointegrity.net and allcreation.org for more info.
https://allcreation.transistor.fm/
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Creators and Guests
Host
Jeff Haley
Jeff is a bass player, educator, husband, dad, and friend who really loves making podcasts including the "It's No Secret" podcast about his band Twang Twang Shock A Boom. He hangs out with drummers a lot. Born in Texas, workshopped in New York.
Producer
Chris Searles
Chris Searles is a native Austinite and founder/director of BioIntegrity, a research-based advocate for protection and restoration of Earth's biospheric integrity. He devotes his time to producing content, events, and education that facilitate "biospheric literacy" and investments and actions which support the most effective solutions to our global climate and species extinction crises. Chris is also starting a new aspect on local, tree-based, drought reversal soon. Visit biointegrity.net and allcreation.org for more info.
