Johnnie Toney
Posted by chips on Jan 21, 2010
Johnnie Toney
21st January
Jamie
Johnnie Toney used to play with the Brummie outfit Cueball 8 *sigh* and, up until recently, that was where we knew him from: Johnnie Toney from Cueball 8. “I’ve started this whole thing alone”, he says, of his new solo project, “and it is possibly the strangest experience I’ve ever had! Good, but strange”. After seven years together, the guys split up at the end of last year having doubled in size since they first appeared on the scene as a three-piece, and appeared with Jimmy the Squirrel and Sonic Boom Six as well as Bad Manners, Neville Staple and the Beat. Oh, and Bryan Adams. Yes, really. In front of 29,000 people at Murrayfield stadium (where Scotland play Rugby). And they played weddings. In fact, Johnnie appeared just about everywhere with the band.
He wants to do more, though. “I have spent most of my career writing ska and reggae music and, as it is my first love, I will continue to do so. But I also have a lot of songs that I have written that were never quite right for CUEBALL8 so I’d like to experiment with those and see where we go”. In fact, next to Bradley Nowell and Goldfinger, he lists the Cat Empire, manu chao’ and even Zero 7 as influences. No surprise, then, that while there’s an easy going, rootsy vibe to his solo stuff it’s a teensy bit electro and has more ambience than Giant Bill’s Ambient Shack when there’s a half-price sale on ambience. It sounds mint, and seriously needs checking out. Bananatown grabbed Johnnie to find out what the crack is.
Hi Johnnie.
Hey guys.
What’s new?
Just about everything at the moment! We played our last gig as CUEBALL8 in our hometown Stratford upon Avon on Christmas Eve, and since then it’s been a whirlwind of new projects, opportunities and quite a steep learning curve with solo work. CUEBALL8’s last show was a fantastic night selling out the venue and partying till the small hours: Christmas Day was not a chirpy day, I can tell you!
True that. I guess a lot of this all feels pretty different at the moment? I mean, I’m not a musician but “alone” and “with people” are very different things, eh?
Absolutely mate, the way I’m writing now is a completely different process as I’m playing everything myself - even a brand new melodica (a little Christmas prezzie to myself). I mean before I’d just get an acoustic guitar and jam out a song, bring it along to a band practice and the guys would put their stamp on their section and we’d bash it out until it gelled. But writing in this way you have to start from the bottom building upwards and piecing together the song as you go. It’s a cool new experience and I think you end up with a good sound but I don’t think you could get any further away from being in a band.
It was a shame about Cueball 8. These songs do sound great, though. You must be excited that going it alone will give you the chance to work on them the way you want them to sound?
Dude, no one was more gutted than me about the whole CUEBALL8 thing. I mean, being in a band is like being in a family: you play music together but it’s so much more than that. You get to a stage where you know exactly what each other is thinking musically or personally, and that, as an education in life, is a wonderful thing, but nothing stays the same, you have to adapt and change with whatever life throws at you. I’m really excited about going it alone and it is a great chance to make music exactly how you want to, but I’m still going to jam with some of the guys and ask their opinion on the songs I’ve written - how would I know I wasn’t writing complete and utter shite! I had the privilege of playing with one of the best drummers on the UK ska scene, and he is one of my best friends, and the lead guitarist is now my brother in law so we’ll definitely be keeping in touch!
How different do you think the Johnnie Toney thing is going to be, and in what ways is it going to be different?
When I wrote songs for CUEBALL8 there was always an emphasis on trying to write bouncy, jump up ska songs that got whatever venue we played in hitting the roof! I still want to write songs like that, but I also want to incorporate and make room for some songs that i have written over the years that are great album tracks, ones you can sit down at home with your favourite tipple and really appreciate a great song. Manu Chao was always a great guy for doing that, and I’ve spent many an evening dissecting the mass of sounds he incorporates to make his masterpieces. If you ever get the chance to see him live, dude, you gotta do it, it’ll change your life!
Note taken. You’ve put “a lot of things” in the “sounds like” box on your myspace. Are there any surprising influences about to jump out on us?
I like so many different genres: if you ever listen to CUEBALL8’s songs they are so eclectic not just your standard reggae or ska tracks, which I think is why we had a problem getting picked up by labels such as Do the Dog as you couldn’t put us in a box. One track would have a true ska beat like Mirror in the Bathroom, and then the next track would whisk you away to the Mediterranean with heavy Spanish guitar solo’s and slutty muted trumpets! I like what I like and I think you start to bore yourself if you stay restricted within your music styles, so if its got a good vibe to it, I’m into it.
What are you looking forward to about 2010?
Well, I’m currently in the middle of setting up my own small studio and giving myself somewhere I can just hide away and play music constantly, listen to some crackly vinyl and immerse myself into music again. I’ve also been putting my music out through the joys of the world wide web - and landed a contract with Global Surf Industries Australia, so I now have my songs featured on the Noosa 2010 surf festival DVD’s and am getting paid for the first time in 7 years which is a very welcome anomaly (well if you will be in a band with 6 members you cant expect to get paid that much!) I’m also working with a guy called Phil Latham who owns Loosefims, a surf company that films documentaries for up and coming surfers - and he features unsigned artists on his vids. But most excitingly I’m in talks with Billabong Surf TV which transmits in America and Australia and am hopefully gonna get a foot in the door there with my music on the channel!
Wow. That’s really impressive. Hopefully it’ll work out. What do you think will happen next?
Well, I want to see where the whole surf video thing takes me as its combining the two things that I really love: surfing and music. While that’s ticking along I’m getting all my songs finished and recorded and booking some dates up. If a signing came up, I wouldn’t say no but then again who would?! I’m falling in love with the mistress that is music all over again and it’s the best feeling in the world - but don’t tell the wife, she hates being second best!
