Jack JohnsonJack Johnson plays the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in Byron Bay on March 29 and 30.
Visiting the world's most beautiful beaches, an acoustic guitar under his arm, it seems Jack Johnson has just about the ideal existence. Combining his love of surfing with his passion for music, he has made a splash in the parallel universes of pro-surfing and the music industry.
Growing up in Hawaii, Jack Johnson was surfing the pipeline by age 10 and had scored a sponsorship deal with Quicksilver before he even left school. He moved to Santa Barbara to study film at the University of California, eventually opting out of competitive surfing in favour of a more creative lifestyle. Teaming his talents for surfing and film making, he began to travel the world making surf movies. He racked up film credits including All For One and The Show, even scoring the odd music video. His foray into music began when he would entertain his surfing friends during work trips to Indonesia and Australia.
By chance he met up with surfer Garrett Dutton, who happened to front college act, G. Love & Special Sauce. Dutton was so impressed by Johnson's song Rodeo Clowns, that he recorded it for the band's 1999 album Philadelphonic. Rodeo Clowns became a hit and Jack Johnson had inadvertently caught the attention of several record labels.
Not interested in musical super-stardom, Johnson's debut album, Brushfire Fairytales, was released on the minor label set up by Ben Harper's manager/producer, J.P. Plunier-Enjoy Records. The album features Johnson's soulful folk spiced with blues and hip hop. Ben Harper even makes an appearance on Flake.
As Jack explains: “I met JP when I was making surf films, and he would come and watch some of the footage that I was working with. He invited me to some of Ben's shows. I'd already been to a bunch of Ben's shows before I ever met him, but he invited to come backstage and meet Ben after the show. About a year after I knew JP, I got a four track tape that I'd made and gave one to Ben as well. They liked it a lot.”
“Brushfire Fairytales was recorded about a year and a half ago, in a studio in LA. We spent about a week doing it, seven days. The whole thing was pretty quick. I was getting married and going on my honeymoon.”
“It's just kind of folk music I think with some other flavours through it that the other guys in the band kind of bring in. The drummer's really into Cuban, kind of like Latin rhythms and thing. The bass player's into hip hop and reggae. I think it's sort of funky folk.”
The album features all original material from Inaudible Melodies, which opens the album, to the psychedelic leanings of Bubble Toes.
Jacks muses on the process of songwriting: “It kind of comes and goes. Sometimes I write a bunch in a week and then I won't write anything for a few months, depending on the situation. If I go and make a surf film, sometimes I have a guitar and sometimes I won't. I can go a while without playing. If I haven't travelled then I get kind of stale and I don't write much. I write more when I travel. With the surf films, you surf and film during the day and then you have a lot of time to sit around at night.”
Even with his musical success, Jack is still committed to making surf movies in the loose mould of Endless Summer and its sequel. He's already garnered considerable acclaim for his movies Thicker than Water and The September Sessions.
“They're actually kind of similar to those ones. There's different kinds of movies. Some focus on just tricks and things but we try and document the travels and we shot it all on 16mm film instead of just video. We travel to a lot of different locations. A lot of movies don't have interviews. It's all about surfing and music, so we try and incorporate dialogue and stuff. We try and get across the feeling of surfing and travelling to find surf, the exploration of it.”
Tough surfing and filming keep Jack busy, fans are eagerly awaiting the release of his follow-up to Brushfire Fairytales.
“I'm going to try and record this summer coming up. That was only my first record, the Brushfires one. I'll have to see when I get in but I think the songs, although they have differences, I write them all on acoustic guitar. I'm not really trying to change much. I'll pick songs that will make me feel good.”
“As far as the music career goes, I don't really have too many ambitions. For me, getting to open up for bands like Ben Harper and playing in festivals with people like Taj Mahal down at Byron Bay last year, that was as far as I've ever dreamed, getting to play with the people I like. Anything from here is fun. I try and keep the attitude that if it all starts fading tomorrow it won't change anything.”
