(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville at Union Chapel in London!
Texas Monthly: Six Degrees of Will Johnson
by Andy Langer
How the Centro-Matic front man’s knack for making friends and introductions helped turn Denton into “the new Austin.”
Will Johnson. Musician. Yes, sir, I do.Earlier this year, those were the answers Will Johnson gave to a U.S. Customs official as he returned from a European tour. The first two questions were standard: Name? Occupation? The third was clearly off-script: Do you make a living doing that? Not a question the official would have likely bothered asking Steven Tyler. “I suspect he was a little disappointed he wasn’t meeting a rock star,” Johnson says. “And if you’re not a recognizable rock star, you can’t be making a living, right?”
Scorpion Out Now!
Will’s first solo record in 8 years is available now!
You can get it at your local record store or on-line.
Direct from Undertow
Download $6 // CD $9 // Vinyl $14
iTunes
USA // Canada // UK // Germany // Japan
Scorpion is available worldwide on iTunes.
Search for “Will Johnson Scorpion” in your country.
VIDEO: You Will Be Here, Mine
My finding of the Galassi Brothers is a trophy etched with fortune, oddity, beauty, and space. Hailing from just outside Petersburg, Illinois, these two Otherworld siblings and I diligently forged a friendship unbreakable by many large bears. In the Fall of 2004 I was in our attic, looking through a box of pride, when I found their heads. I posted two different listings in the Greensheet for their bodies, carefully jarring and preserving the heads in a concoction of ice and Gogurt. The ice represented the brothers’ solidarity, composure and calmness, and the Gogurt represented a type of yogurt that is eaten on-the-go. After seven weeks, Blue Man Group contacted me, stating that they had the matching bodies in good condition. A union and meeting place was agreed upon to reassemble the components. Boomer and Adam, in their newfound and at the same time, original conditions, immediately went on to artistic victory, writing and creating films such as Troubadours and Salt Creek County.There were more conduits, though.
In 2006, I found Tahmus Rounds on the sepia-drenched, cooling dusk of a late September sunset. Bossman and I had driven some nineteen hours from Texas in a Nissan, and he greeted us at the steps of an early 1970’s A-frame home. He was without a shirt, but wearing decorated wings. We embraced, agreeing upon common connections while two Springer Spaniels played at the base of the steps. The sun went down, the quadrant was complete, and we quietly made inner blood pacts to create things whenever time allowed.
Under a ceiling of Hurricane Isaac’s spinoff storms, we recently spent an afternoon flirting with the ambiguous but tender relationship between two individuals, and taking advantage of access to a fully charged golf cart.
– Will Johnson / September 2012.
Scorpion Featured on KDHX
In the eight years since his last solo release, Will Johnson, leader of Centro-matic, has been far from idle. “Scorpion” is the sound of a prolific songwriter digging deep inside for more.
[ READ MORE ]
Scorpion Featured on Paste!
Whether it’s fronting Denton, Texas bands Centro-matic and South San Gabriel or performing as a solo artist, Will Johnson stays close to his music. That statement rings true with the Sept. 11 release ofScorpion, his first solo album in eight years.
[ READ MORE ]
Scorpion Listening Party at Vintage Vinyl
Hear “Scorpion” at Vintage Vinyl and you could win a test pressing of the record! Free Schlafly Beer will be served!
Saturday, Sept 8 @ 3pm – 4pm.
Vintage Vinyl – St. Louis
6610 Delmar Blvd
Saint Louis, MO 63130
Scorpion: Pre-Order Now!
Will’s first solo record in 8 years will be released on September 11.
Download the first song from the album: “You Will Be Here, Mine”
For this project, Johnson has decided to cut out the middleman and self-release the album direct to fans via Undertow Music/Thirty Tigers. Scorpion was recorded in the wooded outskirts of Denton, Texas, at the studio of longtime bandmate, producer and engineer Matt Pence. Also lending their skills to Scorpion are multi-instrumentalists Scott Danbom (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, Sarah Jaffe), Howard Draper (Tre Orsi, Shearwater, Okkervil River) and Magnolia Electric Company’s Mikey Kapinus.
Unlike Centro-matic’s Candidate Waltz or Johnson’s last solo album Vultures Await (both of which were written well in advance and recorded using carefully conceived arrangements), Scorpion documents the genesis and germination of its songs. “A lot of them,” Johnson says, “Were written in the studio, right then and there, in the moment. I enjoy capturing those initial gut reactions in songwriting. It doesn’t always work, but when it does—you capture the song in such a raw, unique form.”
Johnson is hitting the road this fall in support of Scorpion, with his friend and New Multitudes collaborator, Anders Parker, playing a mix of traditional club shows and intimate acoustic living-room sets.
Tickets for Living Room Shows on sale now!
Tickets for venue shows are available from the venue websites.
THU Sept 13 – Mobile, AL @ IMC / Satori Coffee House
FRI Sept 14 – Waverly, AL @ Living Room Show
SAT Sept 15 – Birmingham, AL @ Living Room Show
SUN Sept 16 – Atlanta, GA @ Living Room Show
MON Sept 17 – Athens, GA @ Living Room Show
TUE Sept 18 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
WED Sept 19 – Baltimore, MD @ Living Room Show SOLD OUT
FRI Sept 21 – Philadelphia @ Living Room Show
SAT Sept 22 – Rosendale, NY @ Market Market Cafe
SUN Sept 23 – NYC @ Mercury Lounge
MON Sept 24 – Boston, MA @ Living Room Show SOLD OUT
TUE Sept 25 – Montpelier VT @ Living Room Show
WED Sept 26 – Buffalo, NY @ Living Room Show
THU Sept 27 – Cleveland, OH @ Living Room Show
FRI Sept 28 – Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
Sat Sept 29 – Saint Louis @ Off Broadway
Tue Oct 2 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Theatre
Wed Oct 3 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
Thu Oct 4 – Austin, TX @ Cactus Cafe
