Interview With JOHNNY BOOTH
You’ll remember them from Metal Injection’s “Slay At Home Festival,” where multiple metal bands performed an online concert for fans at home during COVID-19. Way before “Slay At Home Festival,” JOHNNY BOOTH from Long Island hooked our ears to their latest album, Firsthand Accounts and their widely, well received single, “Left Hand Assurance” last year. We are looking forward to having Johnny Booth on the Bloodcast post pandemic to discuss their upcoming video and new music releases. Until then, get to know the Hardcore Metal band in our interview with them and Bloodlines’ Phil Ryabkin.
PR: The band name Johnny Booth is unique. How did everyone decide on it?
JB: The original name of the band was “John Wilkes’ Booth” which was meant to be a joke… Just a random booth owned by a guy named John Wilkes. No one really got the joke and it honestly wasn’t even that funny to begin with. We played around with a lot of different names to replace it, but we ended up liking the fact that it wasn’t a traditional “metal band name”. So we decided to drop the confusing apostrophe and just called ourselves “Johnny Booth.”
PR: How did it feel to be featured on Metal Injection’s “Slay At Home Festival”? How did the amazing opportunity arise for Johnny Booth?
JB: Being a part of Slay At Home Fest was an awesome experience. There were a lot of great bands and artistic minds featured throughout the whole thing. When Frank reached out to us about being involved, it was at the height of the lockdown in NY and we thought it was a really creative way to make the best of a bad situation.
We’ve had a good amount of people find out about us because of our set on the festival and we’re really grateful for the opportunity to have been involved. Frank has been a supporter of what we do for a while now. We met Frank a long time ago, when we played shows with his band Meek Is Murder.
PR: From listening to tracks like “Thief” and “Bury the Rose” I can certainly say that Johnny Booth is up there with Nu-Metal fusion influences and the likes of Alpha Wolf, Vein and Cane Hill. I also hear some old school progressive metalcore influences from The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between the Buried and Me & Converge.
We’d love to know which major bands influence Johnny Booth’s music.
JB: I think if you asked each band member, we would all give you a different list of bands and artists. Each of us draw influences from different places, but there are some bands that we all love and originally drew inspiration from to start this band. Definitely nailed it with The Dillinger Escape Plan, BTBAM and Converge.
The Mars Volta, Every Time I Die, Architects, Pantera, The Chariot, and Deftones are some others that had a real impact on us from the get-go and helped shape our sound in the beginning. We also listed to a lot of chill stuff and hip hop which I think seeps its way into our sound as well.
PR: What kind of audience does Johnny Booth have in terms of live performances since coming into the metal scene?
I’ve noticed that over the past several years your group has opened up for acts like Cro-Mags, Deafheaven, Stray from the Path, Recon, Texas in July and Kaonashi.
Has playing with such a diverse set of bands opened you to newer fans and potential sound experimentation?
JB: We’ve been lucky to be able to play with so many different sounding bands. It’s helped us get in front of people who are interested in all kinds of sounds and are out there looking for new kinds of music. We’ve always tried to stay true to ourselves and have our music come out organically.
That being said, I think our live energy and performances allow for us to fit on all sorts of bills. Thankfully, our catalog allows us to curate our setlist and cater to the overall vibe of the show we’re going to be playing. Some of our favorite shows are the ones where every band brings a different genre to the table.
PR: Getting to “Firsthand Accounts.” What sort of topics did Johnny Booth touch base on when writing this album?
JB: This album in a lot of ways was a callback to the way we wrote our first LP, Connections. Firsthand Accounts has a lot of overarching themes, like Connections does. We wanted to keep the lyrics relatable but also relevant to the specific time period we were writing about.
We talk about the current political climate in America that we find ourselves in. We discuss the downfall of truth in this country and how people can live in an echo chamber online, feeding into the worst versions of themselves. Generational tyranny and the use of religion to oppress people from being truly equal.
We also like to tie personal events with some of these larger themes. Mental illness runs deep in my (Andrew) family and that’s something I have always written a lot about. For example, “14 Years Past 80” deals with the suicide of a close family member.
We pack a lot of different themes into our lyrics but most of all, they have to be relevant and try to make the listener feel what we’re feeling.
PR: In the gear realm, are there any specific tunings used on any tracks in Firsthand Accounts What gear is the band using for performance and tracking?
JB: Firsthand Accounts actually has 3 different tunings used throughout the record. The majority of the album is in Drop A tuning. The last track, Follower is in Drop C. Asymmetrical and Left Hand Assurance are in a Drop C tuning, except the low C is dropped down to an A.
Right now Ryan is playing a PRS SE 277 baritone guitar and LTD EC-256 through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. Adam is playing a PRS Mike Mushok Signature Baritone and a Fender Telecaster through a Peavey XXX.
Nick is playing a custom bass made by Renna Guitars on Long Island which (looks and sounds amazing) through a Mark Bass rig. Scott has been working with SJC Drums for a while now and plays a custom kit he designed. We’ve got a lot of love for the crew over at SJC.
PR: When we first heard about you guys last year up until now, your fan base has grown significantly! Currently as an unsigned metal band, what method of promotion and marketing has Johnny Booth been able to take advantage of to reach a larger fan base?
JB: We really focused on our strengths during this promotion cycle and just trusted ourselves. We are very lucky to live in a time where smaller or unsigned bands can really compete with bands and organizations that have a lot more money and resources.
Two of us in the band are graphic designers, and we have a lot of marketing experience between all members, so we try to use our own skills and resources as much as possible. That really helped stretch our budget, allowing us to focus more on music videos and social media strategy.
Our biggest advice to any band would be to lean into everything you do 100%. Identify and use the strengths in each band member and reach out to as many people as you can through social media platforms to make personal connections as much as possible.
PR: What direction do you imagine you’ll take for the next album release?
JB: What we’ve learned from our last promotion cycle is that pushing singles has a lot more reach in the short term. We’re hoping to get a few singles out soon while we continue to write for our next full length. As far as the writing goes, we’ve always tried to be honest with ourselves and not go into it with a lot of intention to sound a specific way.
PR: With the current outlook on how quarantine has affected life so far, especially for the music industry, what are major plans for Johnny Booth in the near future or current projects?
What does the tour schedule hopefully look like in the next year?
JB: COVID-19 has hit the music industry really hard and it definitely affected our timeline, but we haven’t stopped creating or moving ahead. We’ve already recorded new songs and are preparing to release new videos in the next few months.
The logistics of touring are really difficult to figure out at this time, considering the situation in America right now and each state essentially operating as its own country. We miss playing live shows more than anything. We can’t wait to get back out there as soon as we’re able to.
PR: Huge thank you to Johnny Booth for interviewing with us at Bloodlines! Is there anything else you can announce before we close out?
JB: Check out our latest video for Left Hand Assurance, follow our social channels for updates on our new singles and please vote against fascism in the USA this November.
Stay tuned for a future post-quarantine podcast with Johnny Booth and check them out on Metal Injection’s “Slay At Home Festival” and their music video for “Left Hand Assurance” below!
FOLLOW:
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/johnnyboothmusic
- Instagram: @johnnyboothny
- YouTube: JohnnyBoothTube
https://johnnybooth.bigcartel.com
