Rick Johnson (photo: Kevin Nunn)
By Matty Weaver
Hailing from the western shores of Michigan and settling in Grand Rapids, Rick Johnson is no stranger to the punk music scene at large, having done plenty of stints with his current band, Mustard Plug, as well as his solo project, Rick Johnson Rock and Roll Machine, while also running a small record studio called Cold War Studios and working audio for a multitude of clubs, both in Grand Rapids and abroad. His newest project is called Sharkanoid, a collaborative effort with ska legend Dan Potthast (MU330).
Tell me about your new project, Sharkanoid.
We booked a couple of shows with Dan Potthast’s old band, MU330, and we just became really good friends. I read this Guided by Voices biography, and a lot of their early songs were written when their lead singer found a yearbook. He didn’t know anybody in the yearbook and he decided he’d write a song about a random person. So Dan and I took our significant others’ yearbooks and picked people out of it at random and wrote songs about what we think they’re doing now. We did it like five years ago. We’ve just been sitting on it for a really long time. Two years ago, we were finally able to meet up and record it. We recorded the drums here [in Grand Rapids] and the rest of it in LA at a studio we got to use for free. Now it’s out.
Any other interesting tidbits about the band?
Jay VanVeen [of Cain Marko] played drums on the Sharkanoid record. Finding solid people to play music with is super hard, and I know two drummers in town that I always use for stuff, but then Jay is over here and I’m like, “I’m going to use Jay.” He killed it. He’s super good. I think his drum tracks took four hours for 12 songs and it’s all super good. It is never that easy.
It is difficult to find people to play music right now. There’s an ebb and flow to the Grand Rapids scene.
It’s the same with everywhere in the world. The peak is where these kids are interested in doing “this thing” and for most people that’s a fad and then it’s, “Oh, I’m 25, and I need to get a job.” Once that group of people is no longer there, what’s next? It’s that 18-25-year -old person that really makes the scene. Those people move on to something else and then the next demographic comes in. For awhile in town the big thing was Cain Marko or anything that Kevin Nunn [of North Lincoln] did, and then that stuff was huge and then I didn’t know what the next big thing to move in was. Have you seen Heaters? That Heaters scene seems to be the next thing.
Emo punk and garage rock/psych rock seems to be picking up recently.
See, I missed that whole thing because I was on tour. I was just gone. Like La Dispute: where did this band come from? I don’t know any of the people in this band. How do I not know these people? They’re huge. I don’t know how that happened.
How is your studio, Cold War, going?
The way that I look at it, the genesis of me having that space is that my girlfriend and I moved in together and I just had so much gear. I put it in a spare bedroom and I kind of had the mindset that if this starts moving out of the bedroom—if I start acquiring more—I need to get another space and then that happened. Mustard Plug got kicked out of the house we were practicing in, but the landlord owns the place next door and he was like, “Hey, just move your stuff over here.” It was too much money and we couldn’t afford it, but I said, “I can build this thing and we can make it work.” My whole thing is that as long as I have enough money to keep things going, I’m happy. I never really want to look at it like a career, because when I do I’ll make bad decisions. I don’t really wanna do hardcore bands or emo bands. They’re not gonna like me, I’m not gonna like them. I’m pretty selective of what I pick. So far, it’s been good, but I’m really bad at business and I don’t really advertise; I don’t have a business card. It’s all word of mouth, but it’s been six years and I’ve never worried about where the money’s gonna be to pay my really cheap rent. It works out, I guess. I’ve got to do cool things and record cool things with friends.
And you also did audio at High Dive for Fest 13?
I did. It was very last minute. I don’t know if i’ve ever been that burnt out in my life. The first day I got up at 7 am and drove from Tampa to Gainesville, then did sound from 3 pm until 2 am with no breaks. The next day was kinda the same thing, but I had one 20-minute break while PUP was playing. The cool thing about that venue is that it sounds like a rock club. It wasn’t that difficult at all. All the bands were good; when the band is good and the room is good… sometimes bands are bad. [Laughs] A recording can be amazing, but sometimes you’re not a good live band, especially these days with studio tricks that are running rampant. When you go see a band, you don’t want to feel that the band is bad. You’re gonna blame somebody else; you’re gonna blame the sound guy. I don’t usually have to deal with the bullshit that much and I didn’t have a problem; it was easy. On Saturday and Sunday, my best friends were there. I basically got to hang out with my best friends. It could have been worse; I could have been doing something stupid.
Sharkanoid’s Have A Great Summer is out now on Community Records.
Mustard Plug’s Can’t Contain It is out now on No Idea Records.
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