“I’m the aural equivalent of a carnival geek. I make unlistenable 'rant' records where I bellow incoherently over an instrumental backing track. I’m usually severely intoxicated when I do this and the recorded results are uniformly cringe inducing to me”. ~ Ross Johnson
It had been a while… a very long time. When was my last assignment? Was it with Psychotronic Video magazine? The Timothy Carey Interview? Jeez, I been out of circulation that long? Too much R&R (Rest and Recuperation, not rock &Roll) and geeze-balls I guess, all the while, the man in the black pajamas, was out there, growing stronger. How do I write about Ross Johnson, Memphis’s rebel Icon, to a jaded hipster LA crowd, concerned with only the latest rehash of more and more obscure punk/new wave or now this no wave? I say No way! EMO? I say E, NO soldier! When did all that happen? And to think, on my watch, why didn’t anybody wake me? Or perhaps I lived on the wrong avenue. Don’t get me wrong I like the Yes, yes, yes’s, but for all the wrong reasons, from the Briefing that told me why I was supposed to not like them, and like DNA, flux information sciences and the LIARS, nope, sounds like counterfeit reconnaissance, now maybe Boston’s The Lyres / DMZ with Mono-man, now you’re talking about a worthy adversaries! But hear it was, and handed to me on a silver platter. I’m guessing they picked me because of my Memphis Education. I knew the inhabitants, the customs, and the cuisine. Apparently a member of the band Panther Burns, had gone off and made a record of his own. “Make It Stop! - The Most of Ross Johnson” on Memphis’s Goner label. Just 2 clicks east of the river, the river, ha yes, we shall meet again! I was a huge fan of Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, attending barge concerts and counter-fests on the River, in the basement garage of the Holiday Inn, Prince Mongo’s Planet, and various Cotton Lofts on Front Street, oh and of course The Antenna club. And now Ross, who had worked with everyone from Alex Chilton In the summer of 1978 Ross played with Alex Chilton in a band called the Yard Dogs, Then on Chilton’s swampabilly masterpiece, ‘Like Flies on Sherbet” to Jim Dickinson, Peter Buck, Jim Duckworth, The Gibson Brothers, Monsieur Jeffrey Evans and Jon Spencer (who based his entire career, and sound on Chilton’s, “Flies on Sherbet” as far as I’m concerned)
But then The LA Record showed me the quote at the top of the page. What had happened? Then they asked me, in a very covert manner if I would be willing to head out, locate Ross in Memphis and interview him. I hadn’t even been to Memphis in a good 10 years! Yet I found myself saying yes before I could think about it. The next day found me loading my 65’ Thunderbird with notes, Compilations and this new CD of His. What little money we had for the trip was blown away like a fart in a wind tunnel, in Las Vegas by my tagalong sweetheart. You never know when a gal is a gambleholic till the chips are down, Hell I should’ve known by her hooking up with me.
Thankfully she was a truck-stop lot-lizard so while I hustled pool we recouped some of our nest egg. We did that all across America, while at dusk going over Ross’s dossier in the back seat of the Bird. He played on a very impressive list of recordings, But unless you abided in Memphis, Tennessee from 1978 to present, or heard the opening track on Alex Chilton’s, “Flies on Sherbet” with Ross singing and adlibbing, spurt of the moment lyric’s to “Baron of Love part II” or his astounding drumming on the Chilton classic “Hey Little Child.”, or been a fan of Tav Falco’s Unapproachable Panther Burns, or are familiar with various Memphis based musicians like Jim Dickinson, Peter Buck, Jim Duckworth, The Hellcats, The Modifiers, Monsieur Jeffrey Evans or Jon Spencer (who based his entire career and sound, on Chilton’s, “Flies on Sherbet” So put that in your chalice and raise it) perhaps you read about him in Robert Gordon's It Came From Memphis (which just skimmed the surface of the 80’s Memphis scene), or heard the soundtrack with Ross performing "Wet Bar" with Bukowskish/ leaving Las Vegas eloquence, if you haven’t done any of this, then the name Ross Johnson might not mean much to you, but for those of us who are initiated into the weird world of Ross, it’s like a secret brotherhood! Like the first Beats to hear Lenny Bruce or Lord Buckley or among the first enthusiasts to “get” Andy Kaufman. Or the first kid to play “I am the Walrus” backwards. Johnson played with Chilton, but his best work was when Alex, Tav and Ross founded The Panther Burns! His stylized drumming can be heard on songs like “Pass The Hatchet” “Blind man” “Brazil” and “Cuban Rebel Gurl” Their first long sot after single’s “Drop your Mask”/ “She’s the one to blame” (Reissued on Long Gone John’s Sympathy Label) and the live single “Red headed Woman” “Train Kept a rollin” on Frenzi. Also of Note are the albums “The World we knew”, “Suger Ditch revisited” the vary esoteric “Red Devil” and Larry Hardy’s, “In the Red” release of “Pantherphobia” which explored a more bluesy Panther, all of which we listened to non-stop as we crossed the Rockies.
The psychological summary on file had him labeled him as “Rockabilly” with slight “Psychobilly” tendencies.
As we entered Texas we played AMF(American Musical Fantasy) Theme from a Summer Place/Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying 7” (Sympathy for the Records Industry) Also on the Goner Release and one of my fav’s! As we entered Arkansas the native land of Ross, we grooved to comp’s of Jeff Evans/Gibson Bros./’68 Comeback/AMF
I put on this new record, from Little Rock to Memphis I-40 E….It felt as if the river was sucking me towards it, it already started to feel like Memphis … at least in my mind. True there is a ten-year nonattendance in my life, and a bit of 2K tardiness, But Alas, I’m alive and well to hear something, well something I always hoped for, but never ever thought would come about.
Something truly amazing! Beyond a doubt: Original, Funny, Rocking, Beautiful, Scary, and more then anything honest. We laughed, I cried, we rocked and most importantly we connected with the Artist.
Something I thought was long gone.
Now I could make more crude and silly comparisons like I’ve seen in other reviews to Hasil Adkins, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, The Dancing Outlaw “Jesse White”, Jack Star, King Uszniewicz, or the latest craze The Devil and Daniel Johnston. (Listen there’s no Devil in that boy, trust me, I’m a god-damn Bona fide lay-Jesuit Exorcist, The only devil in that boy is deviled ham) But those guys god bless em, are mostly one-dimensional and fit into the Novelty bin. Shit do they still have novelty bins? The bin where they put Allan Sherman records, “My Son, The Nut!” LOL, that one still cracks me up…Ross is not Novelty and not insane, actually he’s probably one of the smartest, funniest people I know, sure he has his demons as we all do. Now let me tell you about his drumming, make some casual comparisons…. say the Ventures' first drummer, General George T. Babbitt, Jerry Lee Lewis’s Tarp Tarrant! The late & larger-than-life Country Rockers drummer Gaius “Ringo” Farnham, The Cramps Nick Knox, The Gun Club’s Terry Graham and Sandy Nelson, Let There Be Drums! Another possible title for this would be “Let there be Ross.” But there is more to Ross then any of the aforementioned. He’s only 50% drummer, and the rest is insightful, outlandish, idiosyncratic Ranting! The results are Rockin’, funny, a tad fearsome and well scary. Or what Ross describes on the record as a sense of uneasiness and discomfort, that’s why I used the Kaufman comparison earlier. I like that feeling, it makes me feel alive. But not until now can you hear what was going on between and behind the songs and albums, and in the background, during the course of the last 30 years that Make It Stop! covers.
We were about to cross the bridge into Memphis; you could smell the river and see the city on the bluff.
Wow and only 21 hours since Las Vegas, that bump of somethin’ we did off that strippers butt really feed the kitty. It just goes to show you, don’t leave before the miracle happens!
Ok, so back in 1981 Andy Kaufman and I came to Memphis. (Johnny Legend the rockabilly Rasputin was wandering around here too.) I was given a ticket for an Aero-plane by the US Navy to attend Memphis State and get me some electronic book learning. Now I was Boo Hoo-ing about having to leave LA during its punk heyday, the 80’s were going to be far-reaching!!!!!! (I thought) boy was I off beam; but little was I to know I would stumble into one of the coolest counter-culture scenes going on; I wouldn’t call it punk rock. Cause nobody dressed like inbred limeys, or talked with fake British accents like the LA poseurs I’d left behind did, no Mohawks, maybe a safety pin or some glitter in a beard. Just crazed southerners, who’d been inscribed or marked in ‘78 by the Sex Pistols and The Cramps playing and recording there, the result was Memphians gone 2000 maniacs, and working themselves into frottage frenzy. It wasn’t like LA there or even NYC. Memphis was poor, had racial tension, in the Bible belt, all the things the Clash were singing about was happening in Memphis, and not on Melrose. So I hunted down the first Punk venue, the newly christen Antenna Club, formally know as The Well. There I witnessed the real deal, The Modifiers were on stage, an amazing blend of MC5 and country and Iggy Pop, and the lead singers name was Milford. It was bring your own booze and you only had to be 19 to drink. Next up was The Panther Burns with Tav Falco and Alex Chilton who I knew from producing The Cramps! A strange man named Ron Miller on upright bass and Ross Johnson wearing a strange hat with little balls hanging from it on drums, I knew his beat, It was Rockabilly, in fact they were playing smokestack lightnin’, which is “Primitive” by the Cramps. During the bands many stops and starts for broken strings and what Tav called “tuning our guitars, a decadent European concept that we sometimes indulge in.” Then it was Ross’s stage, ranting or striking up a riff with Chilton, or later Jim Duckworth, (who went on to play with The Gun Club a bit) then Ross threatening to give an audience member a suppository, it was brilliant. And everyone seemed to get it. The place was filled with characters, I was introduced to a guy named Bill who did all the Big Star cover album covers, it was years before I realized it was William Eggelston. Tav introduced me to Charlie Feathers the king of Rockabilly, and said, “Yeah, the Cramps even do his songs.” And people like Cordell Jackson. Then before you knew it Charlie, Alex, Ross and Bubba would be up there playing “one-hand loose” “Wild Wild party” and the creepiest version of “Knoxville girl” that would have sent goose bumps down Bryan Gregory’s ass. As they say in Memphis, “it was a stone grove”.
Ok….Now the songs on this collection span ’79 to present, Ross’s work with Chilton, Panther burns, The Gibson Brothers, 68 comeback, the hot rod gang, Jon Spencer and more, yet there is no discontinuity cause it’s all Ross. From the opening track Barron of Love about Elvis’s death in the bathroom, with Chilton yelling, “get in here before this stuff coagulates”. “The Wetter the Better” speaks for it’s self with its “Tramp” riff. And Ross’s constant reminder of the dangers of women; The Anti-Jonathan Richman of Relationships. Then the Hasil Adkins/stardust cowboy track “Monkey faced Rockabilly Girl” But I doubt very much Ross was imitating either artist, it’s more Crampish, infact “Rockabilly Monkey-Faced Girl” and “My Slobbering Decline” are some of Buck's first work outside of R.E.M. (Amazingly, when the tapes were discovered in late 2007, Buck had total recall of the sessions and the songs; Ross has no recollection of recordings whatsoever).
Also one thing I forgot to mention is Ross is a Librarian at Memphis State, now Memphis University. He has rarely toured, he played LA once to my knowledge at the Lingerie club in 82? Anyway he stayed with my wife and my mom and I, my mom cut his hair and she still asks about that polite gentleman to this day. “Nudist camp” is a kinda coming of age story put to RL Burnside’s Snake Drive, a Panther Burn Favorite. “Mr. Blue” is a side-splitting back and forth between Ross and Jeff Evens, dealing with racism and dog biscuits.
A southern sissy/ Theme from a summer place, is my favorite cut….
“Yea, I went to a summer place once,
had on a 2 piece bathing suit as I recall,
The boys and Girls laughed at me,
You know why?
Because I was weak and afraid,
People can kinda sense that stuff you know,
When your weak and afraid.
I guess I still am and always will be,
It’s the essence of the man; I’m weak and afraid,
Weak and Afraid, look in my eyes you’ll see it; Fear.
Weak and Afraid, it’s a lifestyle I live by”
The Beautiful instrumentals on the record provided a much-needed relaxing recess from the next bombardment.
A Cover of The Gentrys’ hit “Keep on Dancing,” which Ross turns into a reflection on the embarrassing nature of ass whoopings.
“Shall We Pop-A-Top?” A riotous Evans/Johnson monologue.
Then:
“Signify,” is a showstopper! Not since Saint Augustine penned his, “Confessions” Has a human being bared his soul so honestly.
The compilation’s liner notes alone, thousands of words penned by Andria Lisle, John Floyd, Jeffrey Evans, Robert Gordon, Tara McAdams, and Johnson himself, are a must for anyone interested in the secret history of Memphis’ underground music scene of the past three decades.
Ross like me had his bouts with Alcohol, “I’ve been going back to AA over the past year and a half, and I’m having fewer and fewer binges. I drink a lot less these days. My problem with AA is that it’s too political and too religious; I don’t go for those reasons. What I go to AA for is to keep a bottle out of my mouth. The good doctor has put me on Campral, a drug that decreases cravings.”
Strange I thought to myself, in Silverlake where in AA, Johnny Thunders and Keith Richards were mentioned more then God.
My gal and me were getting close; we could feel him pulling us up Madison Ave.
The smell was in the air; I knew he was here, but where? All my Memphis cronies were now living in exile in Europe, or scattered by Katrina down in New Orleans. I could probably write Goner and find out. Memphis had changed very much indeed. The old Antenna club was closed. Beale Street was all gussied up like a New Orleans/ Disneyland/ brothel. But even in the short time I was there, I saw a very cool scene. There was Goner Records on Young Avenue, the old Shangri la records was still there on Madison, near the old Antenna club. The Hi-Tone Café on Poplar looked like a pretty good venue, I drowned my woes with a Dr Pepper, actually it was a substitute called, “Mr. Skipper”, that night a guy named King Louis or something was playing. So after a majestic full slab of “Dry Ribs” at The Rendezvous’ and a good nights sleep at The Peabody, we went out looking. I hit up my old pal Disco Felix (the huggy-bear of Beale Street) and he told me where to find Ross. I made a call and there he was at The Buccaneer (Midtown) on Monroe, effortless as that, and we both sat down and knocked back some Iced Tea’s.
(MMM) - Well Ross, Congratulations on the new CD are you happy with the way it turned out?
(Ross) - I don’t care much for the aural portion of my record, but I do genuinely like the liner notes though. Wish we could market them separately from that horrible sounding CD or start leaving out the disc entirely.
(MMM) - It’s a shame more people have never seen you play live with Panther Burns or anyone outside of Memphis, do you want to talk about that?
(Ross) - I rarely went on the road because I had/have a fulltime job as a smalltime academic librarian at The University of Memphis and was unable to take enough leave to do the really long tours. I did part of the first European tour in 1987, but I usually opted out of the jaunts that lasted more than a few days. Mostly it was my job that kept me out of the van, but I must confess to being a rather comfort loving bourgeois kind of guy who did not like sleeping in station wagons or on the floors of fans next to the cat litter box in the kitchen. I always admired the SST bands for forging that touring circuit and hardly ever spending money on motel rooms. However, I liked sleeping indoors and eating cooked food, and a lot of Panther Burns tours were not for the faint hearted or delicate. I always joked that the band that started a Burns tour was never the same one that finished it. Someone always seemed to opt out on the road rather suddenly and then Tav would have to scramble to find a replacement. He always did. I look back now and often wish that I had quit my crappy library gig and done all the tours, awful and otherwise, but I knew at the time that I was simply not up for the rigors of the road with Tav. I’m glad I didn’t lose the job because I have so much child support to pay these days. I doubt that I would like seeing the inside of a Memphis jail for nonpayment of child support to my two exes. Such a sensitive, delicate flower then and now, oh yeah.
(MMM) – Do you ever think you will do another project with Alex?
(Ross) - About Alex, just let my few words about his git player prowess stand. No, I don’t think he and I will ever work together again. The last time we did a decade ago in New Orleans I was almost too drunk to drum and we started playing around noon at an art museum! I blew that friendship and musical partnership years ago. Just another familiar regret.
(MMM) - If it’s any comfort I had an akin incident with Alex and I don’t think our paths will cross anytime presently. Kinda sad, I learned by no means to get too close to your idols, it can be heartbreaking.
(MMM) - Anywayz, since you hardly went on the road, did it ever bother you when Tav would play Memphis with other drummers? I remember once he had brought Jim Sclavunos of Lydia Lunch, Jesus and the Jerks, and “Bad Seeds” fame down from NYC to play drums and you just set up your drum kit in the audience pointed right at him and played along, was that planned? I know I felt a bit of tension in the air. I also saw a recent video of Panther Burns in Memphis and there you were again just playing along with the new drummer, did you ever feel at all jilted?
(Ross) -The double drumming thing, that was me in my stage invader guise. Oh, I did feel jilted when Tav would bring in another drummer, but I would weasel my way in front of the stage and play along (or sometimes just show up and play w/out being asked). I was/am such a desperate performance junkie that I would do anything to be in front of an audience. I could justify it by saying that I liked to do something vaguely performance art styled by setting my kit up guerilla style in front of the stage and thereby confound audience expectations and blur the boundaries between performer and audience or some horseshit like that, but I’d be lying. I was jealous at being replaced and wanted to be a part of the band in the only way I knew: to just show up and drum along whether I was welcome there or not.
(MMM) - Tell us about the new Jim Dickenson project? He’s played with Dylan, the Stones, produced Big Star, The Replacements. How did that all come about? And what musicians would you like to have playing on it?
(Ross) - My new project came about due to the efforts of my “project manager,” Greg Roberson, former drummer of the Reigning Sound among other things, who set up the sessions at Jim Dickinson’s Zebra Ranch Studio just across the state line in Mississippi. Jim produced quite a few of the early Burns records and did a fair amount of live gigs with us too so I jumped at the chance that Greg set up for me. He also handpicked the band: Jon Paul Keith on guitar, Jeremy Scott on bass (also ex-Reigning Sound), Adam Woodard on piano and organ, and Greg on drums. Greg says that my first solo record took almost thirty years to complete while my follow-up took only a little over three hours to do. Dickinson redid “I’ve Had It” at my request and it sounds great to my ears in spite of my presence on the track. Of course, I ranted on this one too, but I also attempted to “sing” on several tracks. Not sure how I feel about that, but I hope it’s mildly amusing. Hell, it’s probably just pitiful.
(MMM) - How would you compare it to “Make it Stop!” on Goner?
Most of the Goner record was done live in the studio with me playing drums and yelling at the same time. A handful of the later tracks were done as vocal overdubs to a previously recorded track. I don't work with text very often. I have stock phrases and favorite theme areas, but my standard approach is to open my mouth and see what oozes out when I'm recording. When I get tired of talking then the "song" is finished. On the new Dickinson produced record, I did not play drums (Greg Roberson did and very well), but I did cut all my vox tracks live with the band (now known as Snake Eyes with Dickinson performing with them too). I consider this a collaboration with a band, Snake Eyes. I actually tried to listen to what the musicians were doing (a difficult feat for me) and reacted to their playing. I'm very happy with the music portion of the new recording, especially since I didn't play on it. I like not playing on my records. Wait, I did play maracas on one track like my real idol, Jerome Green. In fact, there's a great instrumental record by Snake Eyes there if you leave off my raving and slobbering.
(MMM) – Any Tours in the foreseeable future? I know you changed a few heads at South by Southwest.
(Ross) - No tours that I can foresee with my kid care schedule being what it is for next, oh, ten years or so. Looking for a label at the moment for the just completed Dickinson session.
(MMM) – Ross, could you talk a tad about Memphis in the late 70’s / early 80’s?
Memphis in the 70s and 80s...my, my, my, my...the place was/is cursed. There's something heartbreaking about this dump. You get stuck here. You get ruined here. Ruined in a way that's somewhat comparable to what happens to folks in New Orleans, except less heroin in Memphis. Plenty of self-induced personal tragedy...wait, you want to hear about the music scene during those years and there I was going all self-indulgent mythical and personal. Let's see, the music...like any other music scene at the time, it was full of folks aping national and international trends, but there was ultimately no hope for reaching any audience outside the city limits. Which made it insular as hell but hopelessness has its own rewards. Things seemed very important (like getting a shitty record deal and touring the toilets of America and Europe), but ultimately it was for naught. I like unhappy endings, by the way.
(MMM) - Well Thank you Ross, it’s been great seeing you again.
(Ross) – Likewise, Thank you Mike, for letting me wax self-indulgent all over the place.
As we said goodbye and as I prepared for my “On the Road” journey home, a little bit wiser, with my Gal. Then I’d discovered she’d run off. Unhappy endings, indeed.
