i dunno if this song is also by this group, but i came across this other Jack Johnson on Kazaa....
OKAY, HERE'S THE HISTORY LESSON: The boxer, JACK JOHNSON was the first black man to win the world heavyweight boxing championship. Now, we're talking 1908, almost 40 years before Jackie Robinson stepped to the plate in the majors, and the world was not ready for a baldheaded brother from Galveston to step into the ring and start swatting suckas like flies. They were definitely not readyfor his in your face attitude (JACK JOHNSON was the prototype for Muhammad Ali's trash talking bravado) or for his insistance that as a man he had a right to live and love whomever and however he wanted. Papa Jack simply did not fit into the confines and expectations that turn of the 20th Century American society held for Blacks... And don't think he didn't catch ten kinds of Hell for it. JACK JOHNSON, the band doesn't fit the concept of your everyday, ordinary thang either. Paul Cochrane and Kurtis McFarland started writing and recording music in 1993. The idea was supposed to be "What if Jimi Hendrix sang and played guitar with a hip-hop group," but the result was something completely different. They tried unsuccessfully to put together a band for over a year, but continued to record in their living rooms and garages and warehouses. On the strength of their 4-track demos and a live performance at label owner Corbin Dooley's wedding, they scored a record deal with San Diego based indie PC! Music Company. In an effort to make a kick-ass first recording, they flew in the funkiest human being they knew, drummer Simone White, formerly of Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (currently of Fuzebox www.mp3.com/fuzebox) and found a ridiculously fluid 20-year old bass prodigy in now Nashville session player Ethan Pilzer. These cats got together in the spring of 1995 to make "Round One," a defiant, political, funky, album in just four days of rehearsal and recording. From jump it seemed the planets were aligned against them. They rented rehearsal space in a rundown warehouse in Murfreesboro,TN where they were rained on (INSIDE!) and locked in by mistake. The engineer who tracked the album was on them snorts and got arrested leaving the studio after the second night of recording. Still they were on a quest to finish tracking in those four days while Simone was in town. You can hear the urgency and anger in the rhythm as they lashed out musically against the forces that were attacking them. Simone delivered a funk assault with an energy that rocked the house that is A Cut Above studio in Nashville. Ethan's slinky, silky bass grooves showed a maturity far beyond his years. Master guitarist Paul whipped the group into a frenzy ripping brilliant track after brilliant track. Kurtis McFarland's soul-dipped vocals shouted and whispered the rage and blues that burned inside him. The results were magical, a unique heavy rock sound dripping wet with Southern funk and alternative hip-hop. . PAPA JACK was certainly smiling down on this young quartet, determined to scrap and fight through every inch of the adversity that faced them. These guys were ahead of the curve bringing the hip-hop loops to rock and making it swing. Socio-political statements and sweet love tunes... They couldn't call it rock cause it was too soulful. They couldn't call it R&B because of the distortion. Sitting around the kitchen table at the studio, Paul informs everyone "It's Distorted Soul." That phrase fit the music and the feeling that these young artists harbored about life. Well, they took some pictures and Simone flew back to San Francisco. Rather than join a band, Ethan went on to become one of the most sought after hired guns in Nashville. Paul and Kurtis fought on for two more years playing with several brilliant musicians like Tres Biles, Jerry Judd, Percy Person, Rico Campbell, Steve Hazelwood and the Hamilton Brothers. They enjoyed some local and regional success with the single "HIT" in the summer of '96. That song and another, "Blondie's Squad Car" were included in the movie BARB WIRE, Pamela Anderson Lee's bust-out cinematic performance. Still they quarrelled with the label and their management about the band's direction. Those frustrations and their inability to crack that ceiling that holds so many stellar bands on the local level caused the group to implode in the spring of '97. Much like their namesake, who died before his time in an auto accident, the band JACK JOHNSON, in their efforts to remain true to themselve and the music somehow skidded out of control, crashed and burned. However, unlike many fighters (and bands) who continue to take a pounding when they should quit, these guys knew when to hang up their gloves. These recordings remain as the only recorded testament of the blood, sweat and tears that were shed in the name of JACK JOHNSON. Kurtis got married, grew his hair, changed his name to Nadir (www.mp3.com/NadirDistortedSoul), and moved to Detroit. Paul has chosen to undertake the more difficult role of fatherhood and is pursing a second degree in engineering. They still play together from time to time, but both of them express regrets about the fate of JACK JOHNSON. There is some appropriate quote about the squandering of youth that many would insert in this space, but the men who fought and played with JACK JOHNSON did it for the shear love of the music. Given an opportunity to go back, they certainly would do things differently, but they all would do it again. You always hear boxers and musicians alike say, "It's in my blood. I have to do it." The bumps and bruises along the way are medals earned in battle just like the awards and accolades we all work so hard to attain. Take a moment now to listen and enjoy the power and energy, the poetry and finesse that was JACK JOHNSON. |
