Johns steps up to the mic and starts singing a capella, before stopping to request a different microphone as the current one sounds “a bit boxy”. Set up in stage formation, the vibe is warm, friendly, and not nearly as fraught as you might expect of the final rehearsal before a live debut. After some small talk, he leads the way into one of the complex’s studios, where the newly-assembled members of his solo band are running through the song he’ll be performing at the APRAs, “Preach”. (He initially planned to do none.) Dressed in a loose-fitting, moth-eaten singlet, his black jeans hiked up above his calf-hugging black boots, the first thing you notice is how healthy he appears: lean, tanned even, with a shock of sandy-blonde hair that looks like it’s been styled not to look styled. At the end of May there will be two full-length shows at the Sydney Opera House for the Vivid Festival, the success of which will determine whether Johns does any more gigs in support of Talk. Rewind a month, and he and his seven-piece band have gathered at a studio in Sydney’s inner-west to rehearse for the debut performance of his solo material, at the APRA Awards in Sydney on March 24th. “That was the turning point after years of experimenting, so let’s do something to mark the occasion.” His girlfriend of three years, Estelita Huijer, got a tattoo of a tiger at the same time, a shared ritual to mark the moment when Johns started work on his solo debut in earnest. That theme extends to the back of Johns’ neck, where a tattoo of a lion’s head reaches from the top of his spine to the base of his hairline. It’s really tacky and artificial! But everything that implies the animal kingdom is all there.” “There are leaves everywhere, and trees in the house, plaster dogs and lions. “Me and my girlfriend have affectionately named it ‘The Jungle’,” he laughs. It’s a shame, not only because so much of his debut album, Talk, was recorded there – often with Johns in his pyjamas (“I was feeling quite slinky,” he chuckles) – but because the interior design sounds fucking bonkers. Two days later, on a distinctly sunnier Friday morning, he’s still without water and electricity, which is why we’re sitting in a booth at Surry Hills eatery The Winery as opposed to the lounge room of his house, where this interview was originally scheduled to take place.
0 kommentar(er)
