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Johnny's Body - The Musical Misfits of Waco's Rock Scene
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http://www.centexreview.com/home/johnnys-body
When one thinks of Gatesville, one usually thinks a...http://www.centexreview.com/home/johnnys-body
When one thinks of Gatesville, one usually thinks about the Federal Prison System or The Drive-In. One usually doesn’t think of the city as a breeding ground for music. All of that is about to change, with the release of Swing Low, Rock ‘N Roll by Johnny’s Body (see last issue for a review of the record).
Johnny’s Body is a six-piece band that throws all styles of music into the pot, stirs it up, and serves it to you in a tall glass over ice. I recently sat down with the band, and over Lone Star and cigarettes we discussed everything from musical influences to the state of the industry.
Band Members: Ben Rhudy, Jordan Rhudy, Megan Harris, Carrie Martin, Ronnie Martin, Taylor Branch
Question: When was the band formed?
Jordan: The band was formed sometime in 2007.
Megan: The band now, as it stands, has been in it’s current configuration since March of 2008.
Jordan: It started out as a two piece with just drums and guitars with Ben. I’ve known Taylor, Ronnie and Carrie forever. I was in a punk rock band called Garage 34 with the guys. I knew Megan since I was little, but I didn’t really know her. After Garage 34 broke up, I started doing this solo thing where I was just writing songs and playing guitar and then everyone eventually just jumped on board. It just happened. When Carrie first joined the band she was new to all of it. Carrie as an individual has definitely progressed.
Carrie: I don’t think of myself as a musician at all.
Ben: Jordan just really started doing this thing where he was recording stuff on his computer, just making beats.
Ronnie: It was mostly interpretative dancing until Jordan started putting words to it.
Megan: And then it became synchronized swimming.
Question: The name “Johnny’s Body”. Where did it come from?
Entire Band: It has absolutely no meaning whatsoever.
Jordan: No, it has meaning to it but...
Megan: Where did the name come from? I don’t even know.
Jordan: Actually, the name does have meaning but we can’t divulge. You’ll have to ask management. (laughs)
Ben: It has meaning in that Johnny is a name and Body is a noun. And it’s possessive. It’s all face value.
Jordan: We’re a very literal band. There’s no hidden meaning to anything.
Megan: I think it’s like we’re all body parts.
Question: Who are your personal musical influences?
Ben: Wilco, The Decemberists, Johnny Cash was a big influence, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Jordan: Johnny Cash, The Clash. The Clash have always been what my idea of real rock ‘n roll is. Tom Waits. Waits has never done anything wrong musically in my mind. A lot of the old blues stuff like Howlin’ Wolf. Baby Gramps influenced my beard. Old school country and blues, stuff like old Appalachian murder ballads.
Megan: I’d have to say that most of my musical influence came from my grandmother. She taught me how to play the accordion when I was three. She then taught me to play the piano and the trumpet so I’ve been playing those instruments for about 25 years now. As far as bands that people have heard of, I love Muse, Arcade Fire. I’m really influenced by Opera. I’m a huge fan of Luciano Pavarotti. Jordan got me into Jolie Holland. I love Gwen Stefani and I don’t care what anyone says.
Carrie: Can I take a pass on this question? I was honestly going to say Muse and Arcade Fire. My grandmother taught me how to play piano when I was young so I’d have to say church music.
Megan: Carrie is a musical snob. (laughs)
Jordan: The old baptist hymnals, they way that they sang them you could tell that they really believed in what they were singing.
Carrie: I grew up in a Baptist church so I played all of the stuff out of the hymnals..
Ronnie: Someone that you probably never heard of is Margaret Becker. She’s a Christian artist and she taught me how to sing because I sang on her album. Roy Orbison really helped me out a whole lot. Monty McGomery. Les Claypool a bit. I admire his passion for the bass. I’d also have to say Crosby, Stills and Nash. Tears For Fears has been a part of my life forever.
Taylor: The Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, The Eagles, Neil Young. That’s the stuff that I’ve always listened to. The inspiration for the stuff we’re doing now is..
Jordan: A lot of Lone Star and cigarettes. (laughs)
Question: How hard is it for a band like yours to come out of Gatesville?
Jordan: When we started playing punk rock, that was the hard part. A bunch of kids in a small town playing punk rock with mohawks and piercings and tattoos doesn’t really go over in a place like that. We started causing some trouble and got people talking. The stuff that we’re doing now, people are really getting into it. It’s a nice change to sort of be accepted.
Megan: The music we’re playing crosses generations. There are all types of economic walks of life.
Jordan: We’ll play in Gatesville and a 90 year old guy will come to the show and get into it.
Ben: We’ve been heckled before. We’ve been walking down the street in some small town and people were calling us names.
Question: You guys played in Marlin, which is primarily an “old school” town. How well did that go down?
Jordan: That was kind of the turning point for me. It was a place called The Watering Hole. It was strictly a “boots, Wranglers, and Cowboy Hat” bar. We walked in there. Even though we do a lot of the old school country stuff we’re still a primarily rock and roll band. We’re not used to being accepted by that crowd. They really got into it. You can always win ‘em over with a Johnny Cash cover.
Question: Tell me about the new CD, Swing Low, Rock ‘N Roll.
Jordan: We recorded it in Lockhart at Troubadour Studios. A lot of the songs I wrote solo acoustic. There were only a couple of songs that we recorded collectively as a band.
Megan: What was interesting about it is that up until lately we had never actually really rehearsed as a band. It was sort of: “Hey, you wanna show up here?”.
Taylor: I think that’s what made it interesting. When we went into the studio we had never really had a full band rehearsal so I think it made the CD a bit more pure.
Jordan: That’s the rock ‘n roll aspect of it. You never know who’s going to play what next.
Ben: The CD isn’t really formulaic. When you listen to it, all of the songs are really different. Every part is a little different. You’re not expecting parts of it when it comes. There are parts that are really sparse and then there are parts that have a lot of instruments. That’s just kind of how it came together.
Jordan: We went into the studio with no expectations of how the album was going to sound. I think you can tell. It’s basically that we took it up a notch as a band in the studio.
Megan: We’d all played in different bands. I’d played in different bands for fifteen years and I’ve never walked into a band that had such a connection. We just kind of looked at each other and we just felt it.
Carrie: We just kind of stitched everything together.
Jordan: That’s what’s so rare about this band. It’s so hard to find someone that you have such chemistry with and you’re friends with.
Question: Who produced the record?
Jordan: Stephen Collins was the engineer. He pushed all the magic buttons.
Ben: He gave us a lot of encouragement.
Jordan: He played the mandolin on one of the tracks and sang on one or two of the tracks.
Question: Izzy Cox is featured on the record, right?
Jordan: Yeah. One of the songs is sort of a back porch thing, just a lot of people singing along and stomping their feet.
Megan: I was doing a show with her one weekend in Austin. Izzy was hanging out and she asked to come along to the studio and sang on the track.
Question: How does it play having someone who plays trumpet and accordion in a rock ‘n roll band?
Jordan: That basically accents what we do. It spins it in another direction. Where you wouldn’t think an accordion works, it works.
Ben: The first song on the CD, you wouldn’t think that a rock band would have a backing accordion
Jordan: Imagine The Rolling Stones having an accordion It doesn’t really mesh in your head but it’s something we started doing and it just kinda worked. It really adds something different.
Megan: I think it goes back to the chemistry. We all have different ways that we play our instruments. It might not be like the bass, guitars or drums but each of us plays our instruments differently. I’m kinda like the weirdo that holds it all together. It’s kinda like the filigree on the icing on the cake. We’re all the icing and the cake.
Question: The band is a lot heavier live than on the CD. Was that intentional?
Jordan: I don’t know how much of it was intentional and how much of it just happened but I think that every live show should be different.
Megan: I think as far as the live thing goes, we just throw ourselves into it and we get so excited.
Jordan: That’s sort of the punk rock influence coming out.
Taylor: I think that was sort of the hard part. When we first got together there were only four of us. Recording was always a far shot. We focused on 110 percent on doing a great live show. Now, if we tried to hold ourselves back we couldn’t.
Jordan: We can’t hold ourselves back live.
Ben: Sometimes we have to dial ourselves back a little bit.
Question: What have been some of your favorite places in Waco to play.
Band: The Jubilee Theater.
Jordan: The Jubilee Theater was our roots.
Ben: That’s the only place that both Garage 34 and Johnny’s Body have played and gotten a good response.
Jordan: Little hole in the wall bars where you think they’re going to kick the crap out of you and they really get into it.
Question: When you know that you’re going to be playing to a crowd that isn’t necessarily going to get into your music is there anything that you deliberately do to make them more accepting.
Jordan: I think so. It’s kind of those situations where you don’t want to be something that you’re not but you also want to be all things to all people. When you play places like that, if you have a longer set you play more old school country covers. If we’re playing to a crowd of punk rockers we try to keep it more upbeat and more aggressive.
Megan: We definitely cater to the audience.
Question: Outside of just the music, when you’re playing to an audience that’s pretty mixed and they have preconceived notions about your lifestyles how do you handle that?
Taylor: When we played at The Watering Hole in Marlin, we didn’t really change what we do we just hooked them from the start with something that they knew. From there on, we could play what we want.
Jordan: We definitely gauge the crowd.
Megan: We try to cater to the commonality of the audience. Say there’s a bunch of older folks and a bunch of younger folks and hillbillies and punk rockers we’ll say “Hey, everybody likes Johnny Cash.” If it’s a mainly punk crowd we’ll say “Let’s bust out some Clash.” If it’s mainly an older crowd, we’ll gear our set to the gospel sound.
Jordan: We try not to censor ourselves. If there’s anything in a song that we think might offend, we definitely watch what we say.
Question: What is everyone’s favorite song on the record and why?
Megan: Breaking Into Churches. It’s the most powerful to me. It starts off real gentle and then at the apex of it, it gets so powerful. It’s like a wall of sound. Even now when we play it, I get all “Yeah”.
Ben: I think my favorite song is Where You’re Headed. It’s such a fun song. It has a lot of percussion, so it’s automatically my favorite. (laughs)
Jordan: That was one of the songs when we played in the studio, we were just blown away.
Question: Did you ever actually break into a church?
Jordan: Yeah, I spent a couple of years living out of my car and out of the drive-in in Gatesville. For some reason the Baptist church left their doors open and I recorded in there.
Question: Jordan, how hard is it for you to play in a band with your brother?
Jordan: It’s weird when you’re working with your brother. You grew up together and you know what’s going to push each others buttons. You know what’s going to set each other off. We’ve had our spats in the past.
Carrie: It happened in Garage 34. (laughs)
Ben: In the old band there were times when I would throw drumsticks at him.
Jordan: He used to have a temper, but luckily he’s gotten over that.
Megan: It’s not just Ben, we all have our tempers and have our ups and downs. I mean, I’m not the easiest person to get along with by a long shot. We’re like the island of misfit toys. Somehow we all hang out together and our misfit aspect fit together and balances each other out.
Ben: It’s kind of cliche to say that we couldn’t play with a band with anyone else but it’s true.
Megan: I’ve played with fifteen or twenty bands and none of them have lasted more than six months.
Jordan: Playing in a band is like being married. It’s kind of one of those things where “Who else is going to put up with our shit?”.
Megan: We’ve had five shows in a week and we’ve been up each others butt and we still get along.
Question: Who are some of the artists in Waco that you like?
Megan: ManGirlManBand and I’m bummed that they broke up. Nicole Long and Kat Dixon are amazing.
Jordan: I really like The Tastydactyls.
Question: What are your day jobs?
Ronnie: I’m a stay at home father.
Carrie: I’m a pre-K teacher.
Megan: I’m a theater manager and freelance writer.
Jordan: I deliver pizzas. For a while, I worked at a plastic medical factory making molds of body parts. Ben still works there.
Question: If you guys weren’t playing together is there any kind of music that you could see yourself playing?
Megan: If we weren’t all together I wouldn’t be playing. I’ve gone years without playing and I become a bitter angry person. It’s only when I’m playing music that I become easy to get along with. That’s part of what I need. I’m stuck out in Gatesville and if I didn’t have these guys I wouldn’t be playing.
Jordan: If I wasn’t in this band I’d probably be doing something that no one would want to hear. I’d probably be in a room playing a pump organ and banging on trash cans.
Ronnie: I’d say the same for me. I’d be writing and singing songs about squirrels and chickens. Stuff that no one would get. Actually, I’d probably be doing Crosby, Stills and Nash kind of stuff. The singer/songwriter thing.
Ben: It’s funny that you ask me about that because I kind of feel like the least musical and least creative out of the whole band. I’d probably be working an 8 to 5 job.
Jordan: I did the solo acoustic thing and it really didn’t work. What fun is it touring as a solo artist? I don’t see myself as a control freak but the style that we play, I sorta do have all my fingers in it. I like being involved but I can’t be in a band with people that didn’t have the same type of feel or type of vibe that I do. I couldn’t do it.
Ben: That’s what keeps this band cohesive. We all have the same desire.
Jordan: It’s a total group effort.
Question: How does the music come together? Does one person come up with an idea and everyone contributes?
Jordan: This record is all songs that I’ve written. With the next record we do it’s going to be more of a group effort. I want to take less the responsibility for the songwriting. This is a band. It’s not a vehicle for me as a solo artist.
Ben: Swing Low, Rock ‘N Roll is an introduction to the idea of Johnny’s Body, to the concept. Now that the concept has been established we’re moving into another area.
Question: There are two different versions of Poor Boy, the fast version and the Barroom Version. Why two different versions of the same song on the record?
Jordan: That was all Stephen Collins. He suggested we do it. We originally just planned on recording the fast version. We were a little tipsy in the studio and Stephen nudged us in the direction and it worked.
Carrie: That’s my favorite song on the record.
Megan: What’s funny about Poor Boy is that it started really slow.
Jordan: I originally wrote it as a Woody Guthrie-type folk song. The whole song is about only having enough money to buy booze at the bar. Giving up everything that you have just to feel good.
Ben: As a musician giving up your guitar is a big deal.
Carrie: We’ve all done it. We’ve all pawned our instruments to buy booze.
Question: Do you consider yourselves a Waco band or a Gatesville band?
Megan: A Gatesville band.
Ben: A lot of bands will say that whichever big city that they’re closest to, that’s where they’re from to be more known but we’re a Gatesville band.
Megan: When I first moved away from Gatesville when I was 13, I would tell people that I was from Waco because nobody knew where Gatesville was. Unless you have a mama in prison you probably don’t know where it is.
Question: What is your focus right now?
Jordan: Honestly? I’m ready to record another album.
Ben: From the business standpoint, we want to start promoting and selling all the albums that we printed. We want everyone in Central Texas to have heard of Johnny’s Body.
Megan: Taylor is in the middle of lining up a big tour.
Question: Any “South By Southwest” plans?
Jordan: It’s possible.
Ronnie: There are so many fish biting at that bait.
Ben: We have kind of an outside show as far as SXSW goes.
Jordan: We’d love to play but if we don’t, we’ll worm ourselves in there somehow.
Question: What direction do you see the band taking in the future.
Ronnie: One of the things that we’ve talked about is unifying the sound and pinpointing the direction that we want to go. But it’s dangerous in a way.
Jordan: Nobody wants to pigeonhole themselves in a certain style and that’s what I’ve always been afraid of, labeling yourself something and then if it’s a label that people don’t like, they won’t listen to it.
Ben: We live in a very cataloging society. Everything is organized and there are so many different bands out there everything is filtered and organized and categorized. You Google rock band and there are so many different styles out there.
Jordan: I’ve always told everyone that we’re a rock band but now you can’t just say that you’re a rock band.
Megan: Yeah, people will want you to play some Skynyrd.
Jordan: It’s hard because if you’re a marketing agent, how do you label us? We’re so diverse and all over the place.
Ben: We want to be the jello of the music industry. Is it a liquid? Is it a solid? We can’t get ahead of ourselves.
Jordan: With a record as diverse as we have it’s easy to book shows but it’s not easy to market.
Question: Where do you see yourselves three years from now, either as a group or separately?
Jordan: We’re going to all end up snorting coke off of dead hookers. (laughs)
Taylor: My goal for the next two years is staying alive.
Jordan: Honestly, the way that we’re progressing we’re just trying to fill out our sound. Right now we’re kind of all over our place with all of our style because of all of our different influences. I think that three years from now we’re going to have a pretty steady sound. Honestly, I’m thinking we’ll be a little more aggressive, a little more rock ‘n roll.
Ben: The challenge really for us is that with all these different influences and the diverse way that we play having a consistent sound and style but keeping that uniqueness in the music.
Jordan: That, and making a million dollars.
Megan: The best case scenario is that we’d be on a record label and have a couple of CDs and tours under our belt. The worst case scenario is even a good scenario if we’re all still playing together. We’re such good friends and we do it because we love playing music and we love playing together.
Jordan: I hope to see things get bigger. Bands are liars if they say that they don’t want more people to hear their music. Why would you be in a band? You want to make a living off of what you do. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Ben: There are some independent punk bands that we’ve seen live and we ask them how they do it. They’ve been in the business for ten or fifteen years and their goal is just to break even.
Jordan: As long as we’re not starving three years from now we’ll still be playing music.
Taylor: The worst case scenario is the best case scenario because we’ll still be playing music and drinking beers. It’s kind of a win/win situation.
Jordan: There will always be plenty of back porches to sit on and play.
Ben: You can chase after it and it can still fail. Life happens. Maybe something big will happen.
Question: What would you say was your favorite show to play or your favorite experience as a band?
Megan: The Granbury show. The trip to Abilene was fun, just hanging out together in a car.
Taylor: I’d have to say for me was the studio.
Jordan: I agree. Just going in and recording a full album as a band.
Megan: It was kinda like summer camp.
Question: If you could tell everyone out there why to buy your CD, what would it be?
Megan: Because my mom says I ride my bike real fast.
Ben: Our grandmother likes it and she doesn’t like anything. She hates everything.
Ronnie: You’ll love at least one song. After it was finished I listened to it with an open mind and I absolutely loved at least one song.
Question: Where is the CD available?
Jordan: It’s available on iTunes, cbaby.com.
Megan: johnnysbody.com
Jordan: It’s also available from us personally. If you know us, we can sell you a CD.
Megan: At our shows.
Jordan: Studebaker’s Pizza in Gatesville.
Question: Sell the band in 30 seconds.
Ben: If you listen to Johnny’s Body your hair will grow faster, your dreams will come true and we will grant you three wishes. If you listen to the album you’ll find a song you can attach to. You will find that the lyrics are meaningful and honest. Music is a reflection of the life around you. That’s what the new record is.
Jordan: You should buy this album if you like Johnny Cash, if you like The Clash, if you like country, if you like old school punk, if you like Tibetan monk chants. If you want to hear songs about a lonely homeless guy living outside of a theater set to music, buy this album. If you don’t like the lyrics listen to the music.
Megan: If you’re looking for something that’s new and innovative coming out of Waco but also has a nudge back toward the past and our roots here in Central Texas. With one foot in that and one foot in the future then this is what you want to check out.
Carrie: The music has a lot of layers. It’s fun, it’s catchy, it’s deep, it’s witty. If you like to see girls play, if you like to drink Lone Star, then you’ll like our music.
Ronnie: The one thing that I’m most excited about and it pretty much sells it is that if you were to get hooked to what we’re doing, it’s the evolution of where were going. Jordan is a very creative person and he’s always getting inspired by different things. It’s not necessarily where were it, it’s where were headed. The product is good right now, but just wait and see. I think that something we never realized is coming up.
Ben: If you want to be a part of something. The album is full of heart and it’s full of honesty. You won’t find anything fake about it.
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REVIEW - "Swing Low Rock & Roll"
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Hailing from Gatesville, Johnny’s Body
combines the roots rock of The Smithereens
with the punki...Hailing from Gatesville, Johnny’s Body
combines the roots rock of The Smithereens
with the punkish rebellion of The Clash.
Throw in a bit of Johnny Cash and lead
singer Jordan Rhudy’s love for Tom Waits,
and you have the recipe that makes up
“Swing Low, Rock & Roll.”
The album starts off with “Shaky Hands.”
A theme song for any kid growing up
in a small town with dreams of starting
over, “Shaky Hands”features prominent
accordion work by Megan Harris. If there is
a single released from this record, “Shaky
Hands” should be it.
Next up is “Poor Boy (Barroom).” “Poor Boy”
is featured twice on the album, frst as the
“Bar Room” version, which is an old school
swing version featuring violin and trumpet.
The second version is a much more up-
tempo rocking version. I actually prefer the
“fast” version, but I’m glad that the band
decided to feature both versions.
“When The Chariot Swings Low” is old
school Johnny Cash. A tale of a young man
waiting for the grim reaper, the track features
only Rhudy and a mandolin. Lyrically, this is
one of the strongest tracks on the record.
Another strong track on the record is “Sweet
On You.” With the feeling of a backyard porch
jam, the song is a humorous declaration
of love. I can see this song being a huge
crowd pleaser.
The album closes with “Breaking Into
Churches,” which is the frst single. I think
that I have found my new favorite Johnny’s
Body track. The song combines all of the
elements that make Johnny’s Body a great
band. “Swing Low, Rock & Roll” indeed.
The band is hosting a CD release party at
Art Ambush on October 18th
. The album
should be available for purchase at the
show. It is also available on iTunes. Buy the album and make the band rich. They
deserve it.
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Past, Present, Future: Johnny’s Body
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http://www.twogroove.com/blog/2009/09/25/past-present-future-johnnys-body/
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Johnny...http://www.twogroove.com/blog/2009/09/25/past-present-future-johnnys-body/
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Johnny’s Body is a six-piece indie rock/Americana group from right here in Texas. Every once in a while they throw in some interesting pop-punk tidbits. It’s a cool sound, the sparse melodies and drumming are filled in with the fact that, at times, all six members provide vocals. The new album from Johnny’s Body, Swing Low Rock N Roll, is coming out on October 1. Grab it at Amazon or iTunes.
We’ve got a short interview with them, as well as some song for you to listen to and rate. Check it out!
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1. Past: What is your musical background? What has led you to this point?
We got started at an early age with punk rock. Straight up nasty rock n’ roll was appealing to us. It still is. We’re all from the South, born and raised, so of course a lot of our musical roots come from what our grandparents listened to in the truck on the way to the hardware store. Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins and even Elvis. So basically what we have now is a combination of ALL of it. Our roots started showing more and more over the years. We spent so long trying to fight it. Now we embrace it. We don’t just accept it, we love it.
2. Present: Where are you at now in your career? What are you currently working on?
We’re definitely out of the formation years. The foundation is secure. Almost everyone in the band had already been playing together for the past 10 years. The chemistry was already there. That’s not to say we’ve stopped growing. Right now we’re just building. Writing more songs, recording, playing all the shows we can possibly play without goin’ braindead.
3. Future: What’s coming up for you? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Definitely a lot more shows. An East Coast tour with our friend, Drew Nix, is in the works for 2010. We’ve got a new album coming out very soon that we’re all so proud of. Basically, we’re just taking it to the next level. We’re gonna be doing this our entire lives, we have no choice, so we’re gonna run with it. Nothing else works. This does. 5 years from now, kids will be a little older, relationships will have come and gone, we’ll have grown up and changed for better or worse.. and we’ll still be doing this. We’ll still be on the road or in the studio. We’ll still be drinkin’ Lone Star on a back porch writing songs. Once again, we have no choice.
4. Where can people find more of your music?
It’s all over the place online. www.johnnysbody.com – myspace.com/johnnysbody – facebook.com (search Johnny’s Body)
I think we even have a Twitter!!
You can find show dates on all of those sites.
5. Anything you’d like to plug?
We’ve got a new full-length album coming out soon! “Swing Low Rock n’ Roll” will be released online October 1st. You can get in on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, Amazon.com, Napster and others. That’ll be followed shortly with the release of the physical album.
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Alumnus rocks in band for first album
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http://thebells.umhb.edu/2009/11/12/alumnus-rocks-in-band-for-first-album/
Over the past three ye...http://thebells.umhb.edu/2009/11/12/alumnus-rocks-in-band-for-first-album/
Over the past three years, a small-town rock band named Johnny’s Body has been gaining popularity in Texas and just released their first album: Swing Low Rock and Roll.
Most of the band members have been together for nearly a decade, starting off in a punk band called Garage 34, but decided to adopt a more straight rock style after gaining appreciation for the country and old-school rock music they listened to as children.
UMHB alumnus Ben Rhudy is the drummer for the band and graduated with a degree in mass communication/ journalism last year. While working on his bachelor’s, he was also playing at venues in the area, including Common Grounds, the Jubilee Theater and the Watering Hole.
He described their style: “Johnny’s Body is what I would call folk rock. It is a combination of old country and rock with kind of more of a modern take. We are really looking more towards the future with a foot in the past.”
He calls them “Johnny Cash meets the Clash.”
The band was started by the two Rhudy brothers, Ben, who plays drums, and Jordan, on lead guitar and sings. Other members of the band are Megan Harris, who plays trumpet and accordion; Taylor Branch, who plays rhythm guitar; and Ronnie and Carrie Martin, who play bass and keyboard, respectively. All of them live either in Waco or Gatesville.
The band plays frequently in Central Texas, with the majority of shows in Waco.
Most recently, the band was invited to the Battle of the Bands in Austin, but was unable to participate due to scheduling issues. The band has also registered for South by Southwest for next year and is hoping to get a spot in the prestigious indie festival.
Their album, Swing Low Rock and Roll, has obvious influences from old country and classic rock, but still maintains a fresh, upbeat sound. The collection of 11 songs is diverse in its sound, crossing into mariachi, blues and punk.
The album truly shines at track 6, named “Poor Boy.” The song has strong lyrical value and is upbeat and catchy.
It is easy to find yourself humming many of Johnny’s Body’s songs long after the disc has finished.
“Sweet on You” digs into a more indie style, giving listeners some great rhythmic material. The song gives the band sort of a lovable feel, straying from their normal bluesy country-rock style.
“When the Chariot Swings Low” is masterful in its own right. The song is about what will happen when death comes knocking and is a great
homage to the beginning sounds of country. This piece is really set off by the slow banjo play.
The band accepted an invitation to play in April at the International Guitar Festival in Dallas, which is arguably the biggest guitar festival in the world.
In their three years together, the band has significantly grown in popularity and only looks to get bigger in the future.
Lead singer and Gatesville native Jordan Rhudy commented on their future.
“Five years from now, hopefully we will be touring nonstop and recording albums when we are not playing shows. As a band, that is the best time we have had together. It was like rock and roll summer camp,” he said. “We want a wider audience, more exposure and bigger venues. We would like to increase our audience tenfold.”
Rhudy also said that living in Central Texas has had a profound effect on their music.
“It helped me learn how to be secluded but not completely separated from the outside world. It has helped me shut out the things I don’t like and write good music. It has affected my musical tastes because I remember riding to the hardware shops with my grandpa listening to Johnny Cash. It helps you accept your roots.”
Information on the band can be found at johnnysbody.com.
Fans can also link to their album on iTunes and to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, where upcoming shows and band news are posted.
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Art Ambush to build artistic range offering indie music, creative art
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Lead vocalist of Johnny's Body Jordan Rhudy said he describes the band as a painting of a man with a...Lead vocalist of Johnny's Body Jordan Rhudy said he describes the band as a painting of a man with a guitar, sitting in the graveyard as the sun rises.
Johnny's Body is headlining the weekend of indie art and music at Art Ambush, located at 3523 Franklin Ave.
The concert will also feature American History Project, Mangirlman Band and Lesser Beggars at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
"Damn Ants," an art show by Sydni Honey, featuring music by Boogdish, will open 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Friday's show is $8 and Saturday's show is free.
"We're definitely a band with two sides," said Rhudy. "We're a serious band. We have serious things that we talk about, but we also like to dance and have fun."
Rhudy said he started playing solo after leaving the punk rock band Garage34 in 2006, when his writing no longer fit the band's style.
"Eventually, all the other guys in Garage34 -- we've been friends since we were kids -- pretty much jumped on board," he said.
Members of Johnny's Body now include drummer Ben Rhudy, bassist Ronnie Martin, guitarist Taylor Branch, alumna Megan Harris on trumpet and accordion and keyboardist Carrie Martin.
The band's sound retains some of the punk trends heard in Garage34, Rhudy said, but introduces an indie-folk and rock n' roll influence.
"A lot of people compare us to a mix of The Shins and Arcade Fire," he said, throwing in Tom Waits and Johnny Cash as influences. "We kind of take the old traditional style and add a modern touch to it, a little bit of something people can dance to."
Lyrically, Rhudy said he writes about all the things that nobody knows about but wants to know. Taking things that cannot be explained, such as love and death, and "(putting his) two pieces in," he said.
"Like I said, taking traditional music and putting a spin on it, I wrote a song called 'Where The Chariot Swings Low'," Rhudy said, drawing themes from the hymn "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" to express hard times. "It's spiritual music."
Rhudy said the band expects to release their first full length album in April.
supersonic
Shaky Hands
