Dead Boy Productions

 

08/24/08
Hell Cesar

Dead Boy Productions Interviews Johnny Nightmare

Johnny Nightmare introduces yourselves?

Dax: Well, we are Johnny nightmare from Denmark and we play NO BULLSHIT psychobilly. he he. I play the double bass and do the vocals.

Butch: Guitar and screaming. 

 So tell us a little brief history on how Johnny Nightmare came to be?

Dax: I was contacted through a friend of mine that two guys wanted to start up a psychobilly band, and they asked him to ask me. I refused right away because the time wasn't there. I played in a punk rock band at that time. After a month’s time I came to think about how great it would be to play psychobilly again. I thought that I would give it a shot, but it had to be fucking great. So we met up at a bar one night and talked it over and got drunk. After three/four rehearsals I was convinced. A month after I quit the other band.

 What inspired the name Johnny Nightmare?

Butch: Well Johnny refers to Johnny Cash and all the Johnny's from the old American movies - westerns, film noir etc. The word psychobilly was originally used for the first time (as far as I know) in the Cash song "One Piece at a Time" - so we wanted a Johnny. It represents the rockabilly side of the band, while Nightmare represents the psychotic side of the band.

What are your influences?

Dax:Thats a hard one; so many things. First of all I like a lot of psychobilly. Favorites include D.A.G., some Meteors, The Quakes. I’ve never really been into metal. I like some early punk rock. Some old obscure rockabilly things. I really like the Pogues, especially “Rum, Sodomy and the Lash”. I really like Hank Williams, some Johnny Cash, but really, music for me needs to have an edge to it. It needs to hurt you in a way and there’s many ways that can be done. “Alone and Forsaken” by Hank Williams is just as powerful as any hard and fast psychobilly tune.

Butch: Quakes, D.A.G, Meteors, Mad Dog Cole, G.W.C, Nekromantix, Klingonz the list is endless, but also stuff like Ennio Morricone and horror-movie soundtracks. I just made a riff inspired by "Twin Peaks".  

Why do you guys choose to play Psychobilly?

Dax: For me, psychobilly has always been my favorite music style. As I said before, all the elements of music that I like is represented in this style. I really like the whole thing about it especially the "no politics" unwritten rule. To me a show is about having a good time and at the same time a relief from the irritation/aggression you have built up from everyday life. A psychobilly show means letting out a lot of energy and being with people who share your interest.  

Butch: I love everything about psychobilly - it allows me to mix rockabilly, punk, surf and horror riffs. What more could a guy ask for?

Tell us about the new album and the recording sessions?

Butch: The drums were recorded at a local studio. It took one night to record, so we went to a punk rock show afterwards and got pissed hehe. Dax recorded double bass and vocals at his house. The guitars were recorded at my apartment and later re-amped at a studio. We chose to do it this way, because it's cheap and allows us to record whenever we want to.

How did your first shows go?

Dax: Thats a funny story actually. We wrote about ten songs. (this was in summer 2007) and I was just surfing the net one night and I came across THE QUAKES MySpace profile. I saw they were playing in Flensburg/Germany on a Friday night together with a Danish rockabilly band called TAGGY TONES. I asked the guy from the club if we could play too. He agreed. When people came to the club we discovered that we actually were playing at some sort of rockabilly/car club party, which only hired THE QUAKES. So the Taggy guys went on and went down really well. So, it was our time to play, and since it was our debut concert we played a little bit faster. Maybe we were a bit nervous after all. So we went crazy on stage and scared over half of the crowd away. The few psychos there liked it, a great after party though. he he he

Butch: haha yeah we play too loud and too fast for the rockabillies.

 How did the crowds respond to Johnny Nightmare?

Dax: Since then we go down really well. We did a great show at the PSYCHOMANIA RUMBLE this May in Berlin.

Butch: Yeah, Psychomania was a blast, and besides scaring the rockbillies on our debut show, we made the psycho's wreck!

 Does anyone in the crowd ever shout for you guys to play GWC stuff?

Dax: Yeah. We can't escape it. And don't want to. People shout for WE ARE ROCKERS, MASTURBATION, YOU BETTER RUN. It's ok and we don't mind. And of course it’s really an honor for me as a former member of GWC.

Do you guys end up playing GWC songs on request or ever planning on it?

Dax: We are Johnny Nightmare and we play Johnny Nightmare songs. Who knows. maybe in the future, but sure not for now.

This question is for Dax any chance of you playing one last show with the Godless Wicked Creeps? We who have never seen you would be very grateful. Lots of people in America barely discovered GWC!

Dax: No.

Has Butch been in other bands before Johnny Nightmare?

Butch:  I've played in a lot of bands over the years. I started out playing hardcore punk, but later moved on to psychobilly. So I basically grew up being part of the Danish HxCx punk underground, but needed some challenge and fell in love with psychobilly years ago. Besides Johnny Nightmare I have a side-project called Cuntgun666.

With you guys being in the music scene for this long what were your favorite band encounters?

Butch: This summer we met The Suspenders from Sweden. They played a fantastic show at the Psychomania Rumble 2 and afterwards we met them backstage - they have the exact same fucked up humor as we do haha. So we spent the rest of the Rumble shouting and giving each other  death threats haha. Meeting the Quakes was also a great experience. They are nice people and a fantastic live band.

Dax: We have a great friendship with the Silvershine from Hungary. We always have a great time with them. In the past I was in the states with GWC, and we toured with Barnyard Ballers. That was a great tour. We went down well from the beginning.

What are your favorite Horror movies of all time?

Butch: Oh, there's so many, but I have to mention Hellraiser, Evil Dead, Nightmare On Elm Street, Night Of The Living Dead, The Leprechaun, Killer Clowns From Outer Space, Nosferatu, the old Frankenstein and Dracula movies, Braindead, The Shining and of course Cannibal Holocaust.                  

Dax: I am too restless for watching any kind of movie. I remember RIO BRAVO, the western with John Wayne and James Dean. I like it because of the scene where John Wayne and James Dean patrol the streets in this little western town late one night. James Dean just returned from several years being away because of alcohol abuse, poker and a girl. So the local bandits (the Burdette brothers) make some trouble, and there's a gunfight. James Dean hits one guy who limps into a hotel/saloon kind of thing. So, John Wayne walks in at the back with his usual Winchester 73 rifle, and James Dean in the front. He walks in, a couple of guys hanging out at the bar. He asks if a wounded guy walked in here moments ago. They start picking on him, and ask if he wants a drink because they know he's weak at that point. So, he gets himself a beer. And here comes the good part: At the time that he is about to lift up the glass to drink, blood is dripping down in the glass from the balcony above his head. He pulls out his gun, aims up and pulls the trigger. The guy falls down. Yaaaaah. Butch is the movie man. he he he he

 So it's safe to say Johnny Nightmare is here to stay and already thinking of a second album?

Butch: Yeah, we are here to stay for sure. We are planning a split EP with Vulture Club from Finland. They fucking rock - so when they asked us to do a split, we said hell yeah right away. This will happen in the fall 2008 and be released by Jungle Records. Besides that the next album is already written. 8 strong songs have been recorded and demoed - as a part of the pre-production.  The new album will contain 15 songs and be out on Crazy Love Records sometime in 2009. Music-wise it's a mix of old school and modern psychobilly riffs, fast double-bass and manic drums. It's NO BULLSHIT PSYCHOBILLY!

Any plans of you guys hitting the States?

Dax: For sure. Next year when we get another album out, we will begin working on a tour and we can't wait.

 Where can people get your album and merch?

Through our company www.crazyloverecords.com or wait until the 15 of July which is the official US release date. You’ll get it through www.hepcatdistribution.com or amazon.com

 Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!