Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Johnson.
Luke, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up a small town kid in snowy South Dakota, where my country-music-loving singer/guitarist father taught me enough chords and bass lines by age eight that I was able to play a few songs with his band in the local bars. I recorded my first album, “Jack Quacker Concert,” in my basement in second grade and took piano lessons, pretending to practice piano while actually playing Super Nintendo with the TV volume on mute. I was a percussionist and occasional guitarist in middle and high school bands, was in vocal and bell choirs, and later joined the pep band at this very nerdy engineering college I attended, all while dedicating the majority of my time to competitive golf. A swing change and a bout with a debilitating autoimmune disease soured my golf game, but a fellow engineering nerd saw me playing drums in the pep band at a basketball game and invited me to start a band. Three years later I packed all my belongings into a borrowed rusty ’93 Buick and moved to California, and before long was sleeping on an air mattress on top of cardboard boxes filled with 5,000 CDs of my band’s album, wondering when my bandmates would move there, too. The next year they did, and we had a dream few months of gigging and recording before we broke up. The guitarist, Shawn, and I formed a new art-punk band called Roosterhead that I’m still in; we’ve recorded three studio albums, a live album, an EP, and have appeared on a few compilation albums. Along the way, I learned the ins and outs of record production and engineering, and have recorded most of my friends’ bands at my home studio, Gadget Pelt Laboratory. I’m also in a Peruvian pop band, a folk band, a Britpop tribute band, an electro-rock duo, a secret identity band and I have a solo project in the works.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I write, play, and record music, usually adding a weird or over-the-top edge to every project, just to keep things interesting. I also customize instruments for my band and for my friends’ bands, usually using the most vibrant spray paint colors I can find. Painting instruments started out as a way to make my beat-up garage sale instruments look presentable, but eventually, I just wanted to customize everything I touched out of a desire to feel more connected with each object, and to give everything uniqueness. The world could really use more uniqueness.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
The most valuable advice I have is threefold: write down all your ideas as soon as you can, start working on them right away before you forget why they excited you, and be persistent enough to finish them. The power of completion is a real thing. If you don’t finish your project, what’s the point? Also, don’t forget to get out and see other artists when you can. Some of my most talented collaborators, biggest inspirations and closest friends have come out of just keeping my ears and eyes open and being curious about others’ art.
I often wish I had learned more about the business side of music, or been better at networking, even just delegating those parts of being an artist that I have weaknesses in, years ago when I first decided to take music more seriously. As it stands now, I need a day job (I’m a metallurgist doing forensic engineering) to keep me stocked up in musical gear and spray paint. I think that puts me in a pretty vast majority, though, and no matter how little free time I might have, I always find time for music and projects. It’s just what I enjoy!
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Most of the Roosterhead releases are on either Bandcamp, Soundcloud or Spotify, and a couple are on YouTube, too, including the Short Circuits album where our band filmed music videos for all 14 songs, all of which were approximately one minute or less in length! Albums I’ve produced for my friends can also be found on those websites. Some of my favorites are by Eggy Pop, Daryl Blake, Hyacinth Girl, the Bellhaunts and Briana Harley, so I’d recommend looking those up.
People are welcome to email me about producing their music or to commission any instrument customization work their imaginations can conjure up. One time I even custom painted a friend’s bicycle in the design of one of the Roosterhead instruments, so I’m generally up for anything. Music-wise, I want to make records that are true to the artist’s vision, and hopefully, surprise them with how exciting they can sound.
Contact Info:
- Address: Gadget Pelt Laboratory, Inglewood, CA
- Website: www.roosterheadmusic.com
- Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/roosterheadband
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/roosterheadmusic
- Other: roosterhead.bandcamp.com
Image Credit:
Claire Weaver, Maria Morris
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