Podcast Transcript
Announcer
00:00:01.659 – 00:00:28.149
Welcome to the Takin a walk podcast music history on foot No podcast covers music storytelling like taking a walk If you like what you hear please share it with your friends We’re available at Apple Podcasts Spotify Podcast Playground or wherever you get your podcasts on taking a walk buzz knight covers all genres and eras from new artists to Hall of Famers and everyone in between
Announcer
00:00:28.42 – 00:00:51.819
On this episode we welcome an artist who’s been working at his craft his entire life Johnny Polonsky is a multi-instrumentalist a singer songwriter and a record producer He’s worked with Johnny Cash and he’s been produced by Rick Rubin His new release on Loose Groove Records is called The Rise of the Rebel Angels We welcome Johnny Polonsky on the next takin a walk
Buzz Knight:
00:00:52.06 – 00:00:57.31
Well Jagshemash Johnny thanks for being on taking a walk albeit virtually
Jonny Polonsky :
00:00:57.509 – 00:00:59.06
all right thanks for having me
Buzz Knight:
00:00:59.81 – 00:01:17.019
So congrats on the Rise of the Rebel Angels your eighth album And it’s amazing thinking that you already have your ninth album in the Can already Um What’s your creative process that leads to so much great work
Jonny Polonsky :
00:01:17.379 – 00:01:27.33
Well I mean I’ve been my the first record I put out came out in the mid nineties So 89 that’s not that many really Um but
Jonny Polonsky :
00:01:27.669 – 00:01:32.18
I just write a lot you know I I’ll go through phases too Um
Jonny Polonsky :
00:01:32.83 – 00:01:56.989
sometimes I’m I’m gonna I’m always kind of messing around with whether whether it’s guitar or keyboards or just kind of playing around with ideas or working on I’m always sort of tinkering in some way and sometimes it’s very uh the full thrust where I’m like really actively writing either just because I feel like it or because I have a project that I’m working towards Um
Jonny Polonsky :
00:01:58.18 – 00:02:26.389
I just like doing it so I do it you know what I mean Um And it’s something I don’t know I’ve always just been drawn to writing songs and making music and it’s still endlessly fascinating to me It’s sort of like that cliche of like the more you know the more you realize how much you don’t know And it’s just mysterious and fun and like I mean even if it’s very um
Jonny Polonsky :
00:02:26.69 – 00:02:45.08
I mean it can be anything you want it to be you know it’s like um and it’s what I do is basically just chords melody and words you know what I mean And with that simple I don’t it’s not really a formula it’s just three ingredients like you can kind of do anything and I love all sorts of music
Um and I love
Jonny Polonsky :
00:02:48.83 – 00:03:09.139
uh well I don’t like being bored you know that that’s something that is a constant um I get frustrated very easily Um so I’m always looking for ways to stay engaged and I’m interested in life in general and in the music I make um just finding ways to
Jonny Polonsky :
00:03:09.889 – 00:03:37.789
just keep things going and and keep getting better and keep you know getting better at the craft and just learning from the people I you know I have lots of heroes and just people that really inspire me and and you know continuously blow me away whether they’re alive or dead or friends or whatever You gotta do something You know what I mean Like what are you gonna do it just like work your dumb job and pay your rent you know what I mean Like we’re lucky people that get to
Jonny Polonsky :
00:03:38.419 – 00:03:42.699
make stuff I mean anybody can make stuff really you know what I mean So I just decided
I’m gonna do it
Buzz Knight:
00:03:47.029 – 00:03:50.02
do you remember that first time you picked up a guitar
Jonny Polonsky :
00:03:50.619 – 00:04:02.86
Um I don’t remember the very first time but I was in fourth grade and my teacher Mr Spanberger used on Fridays used to bring out uh his acoustic guitar and he would play us
leaving on a jet plane John Denver and who do like like you know old folk songs erie canal and stuff like that Um and sometimes Beatle tunes and I was completely in love with the Beatles Like ever since I was five like long before I started playing my parents had a pretty good record collection pretty big record collection And I I gravitated towards the remember those the red and blue Greatest Hits of The Beatles that came out sometime in the seventies
Jonny Polonsky :
00:04:29.13 – 00:04:57.679
Yeah I was completely enamored of the red one I was totally obsessed I you know brought it upstairs and had like my little you know portable record player and that’s all I did was like listen to She loves you over and over And um and when Mr SpenBurger started playing I don’t know that I don’t even know if it was necessarily a light bulb going off my head It was just sort of like oh like you can actually do this you know and um so I wanted to learn how to play guitar
Jonny Polonsky :
00:04:58.57 – 00:05:03.149
Um and my hands were too small I was only I guess nine
so he suggested my parents to get a get me a Baritone Ukulele which is the top four strings of the guitar Um And so they got me that and I just taught myself like I just got a Mel Bay Chord book and
you know I I borrowed Mr Spen Burger’s uh book of he had this awesome book of lyrics like the chords written over it And
I totally went to town like I I would do it for hours like hours you know what I mean Like when you’re a little kid and and the kind of focus you have when when you’ve got
Johnny Polonsky :
00:05:39.26 – 00:05:49.72
just nothing you know what I mean Like you just just you just living your life and going to school Um so I was completely obsessed and that was an incredible feeling Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:05:50.709 – 00:06:09.149
so I don’t remember the first time I played a guitar I’m sure he let me you know sit down and mess around with it Um but after I learned you know a few songs you know I would I would get up and perform for the class to and like Duran Duran and stuff like that But that was one thing too Like it’s it’s sort of interesting in retrospect like I didn’t really buy that many records growing up
Johnny Polonsky :
00:06:09.549 – 00:06:37.95
but my mom would always buy me sheet music I like I would ask you know I would want the sheet music which is kind of cool Like it it it was sort of strange to me realizing you know years later like like my record collection wasn’t huge really like at at the start but II I wanted to do it you know like I wanted like I I watched you know tons of MTV like radio was around but I didn’t really listen to radio so much It was really I I was the you know the prime candidate for MTV generation I was um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:06:38.42 – 00:06:44.739
eight when it came out um that’s all I did I would like sit down in the basement and like I don’t know I
Johnny Polonsky :
00:06:45.66 – 00:07:12.39
I mean I remember distinctly I would watch like 68 hours of TV like every day Like I I don’t know how I like managed to fit that all in like and still go to school Like I watched so much TV growing up I don’t I don’t even own a TV now but like I learned so much just from watching MTV And you know theme songs were great back then I mean I don’t know how they are now but like they were really good you know like like good times and the Jeffersons and
Johnny Polonsky :
00:07:12.869 – 00:07:17.42
um I mean Quincy Jones wrote the theme to Sanford and Son you know what I mean Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:07:18.01 – 00:07:25.6
God welcome back Cotter John Sebastian uh incredible themes Um So I learned
Johnny Polonsky :
00:07:26.119 – 00:07:34.279
I I had a great guitar teacher too This guy Jeff Jacobs who I I studied with for about two or three or four years maybe
Johnny Polonsky :
00:07:34.79 – 00:07:35.429
Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:07:36.019 – 00:08:05.929
and he taught me some theory and you know um he was a huge influence too like he turned me on to Frank Zappa and the mothers of invention And um it was just you know and he would just kick my ass like I never practiced and he was just like an an older you know he’s a teacher he was my teacher and he was just somebody that uh even though I really never practiced like it was just I learned a ton just from being around him and and the few times I did practice you know
Johnny Polonsky :
00:08:06.26 – 00:08:08.39
But um what was the question
Buzz Knight:
00:08:09.579 – 00:08:32.159
Well you grew up in um an amazing area in Chicago Uh and you got to visit um in your teen years some pretty amazing venues Talk about what it was like being a teenager going to the metro or to the Riviera or the the Aragon What was that Like
Johnny Polonsky :
00:08:32.53 – 00:08:37.19
Incredible I grew up in Wilmette which is two cities north of Chicago along the lake
Johnny Polonsky :
00:08:37.57 – 00:08:43.809
Um There’s Chicago Evanston where Eddie better is from and uh will met
Johnny Polonsky :
00:08:44.619 – 00:08:45.559
and uh
Johnny Polonsky :
00:08:46.28 – 00:08:54.07
one of the great things about me is that it’s the last stop on the l train you know the the the train the subway or whatever Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:08:54.739 – 00:09:14.51
So I would I mean starting around 12 years old I would go into Chicago I’ll tell my parents I was going to the library But really I was I had this older friend named Cleo Patrick That was his real name I was I was about 12 he was like 28 29 something like that And he was a Jimi Hendrix imitator I was completely obsessed with Jimi Hendrix Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:09:15.19 – 00:09:23.63
And so I would go I would take the train like two hours like deep into the ghetto Like the worst part of Chicago is Jackson and Carlos just like uh
Johnny Polonsky :
00:09:24.75 – 00:09:43.78
yeah it’s just like a really bad section Um And we would just hang out in the basement and he had like a whole wall of vintage Marshall Stacks and old Stratocaster and Fuzz puddles It was incredible And I I so I do stuff like that I would go to I mean not quite when I was 12 but like a little older I would go to shows
Johnny Polonsky :
00:09:44.409 – 00:09:55.27
um at the Metro I’ve I mean I’ve I I spent like years at that club I remember seeing the the chili peppers in 1988 That was a mind blower
Johnny Polonsky :
00:09:55.78 – 00:09:57.049
And I used to
Johnny Polonsky :
00:09:57.669 – 00:09:59.45
I guess around 14 or so
Johnny Polonsky :
00:10:00.2 – 00:10:20.479
I um I started going in the afternoon like I would show up for sound check not at the Metro but like a like a bigger place like the Riviera I would just dress all I just dress in black anyway back then But like I would just dress in black because I notice all the security guards dressed in black So even though I was 14 like nobody questioned me Like they they just assumed it was like a short security guard or something
Johnny Polonsky :
00:10:20.919 – 00:10:37.89
I would go to sound checks and like I I’d started making tapes and I would you know use it as as an excuse to go backstage and meet people I was just telling someone this the other day I went I went to so to a Sonic youth sound check on the dirty tour in uh early nineties I was much older by then I was like 19 or 20 But um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:10:38.729 – 00:10:50.619
I I went backstage after the sound check and and talked to Thurston Moore and I was like can you get me on the list He was like why you’re already here And I was like I I know but I need to go home and have dinner with my mom
Johnny Polonsky :
00:10:51.5 – 00:10:57.909
And so I did like I I left and went and had dinner with my mom and came back for the show and he put me on the list A total gent
Johnny Polonsky :
00:10:58.69 – 00:11:24.369
It was an incredible show Um But yeah I mean Chicago I don’t know how it is so much now II I haven’t been back in a while but um growing up there was really incredible The Riviera the Aragon which I ended up playing opening for Audio Slave like many years later which was incredible Um The VIC I I used to live kitty corner from the VIC on on Belmont and
Johnny Polonsky :
00:11:24.58 – 00:11:34.26
yeah great venues It was a great time in in music and in the culture in general Um But yeah I was really lucky like if I have lived in a different city
even one city over it would have been a lot harder to get into the city
Johnny Polonsky :
00:11:38.929 – 00:11:52.78
Well I mean there was still like the Amtrak but that was outside of the block from that too That was just a lot more expensive That was like eight bucks A ride I think each way and the L was like I think like 75 cents or something like that
Johnny Polonsky :
00:11:53.5 – 00:11:54.13
You know
Buzz Knight:
00:11:54.489 – 00:12:09.44
you almost um created sort of AM B A program by accident with your um your crazy 411 calls that you used to make Can you talk about some of those 411 calls I love that story
Johnny Polonsky :
00:12:09.919 – 00:12:18.26
Yeah I mean back when people had landlines and you’d call 411 directory information you’d just say what city you wanted and give the person’s name
Johnny Polonsky :
00:12:18.88 – 00:12:23.33
Um that was more like I was around I guess 17 or 18
Johnny Polonsky :
00:12:23.89 – 00:12:29.679
I was listening to Tom Waits the the album Frank’s Wild Years which I really loved
Johnny Polonsky :
00:12:30.27 – 00:12:36.289
and I really fell in love with the guitar player Mark Ribo His playing was just incredible to me and just so
Johnny Polonsky :
00:12:37.01 – 00:12:38.429
creative and
Johnny Polonsky :
00:12:39.07 – 00:12:57.059
outlandish and really funny and and I I just had a feeling and this is my insane teenage thinking but I was like I bet he’s really nice and really smart and really funny and um he’s gotta live somewhere right You know and he’s you know he’s legendary now but back then you know not so much early nineties
Johnny Polonsky :
00:12:57.59 – 00:12:59.32
So I just called Four on one and
Johnny Polonsky :
00:12:59.919 – 00:13:09.38
you know um I think I just assumed he lived in New York or something because you know back then pre internet you didn’t really have any information to anybody especially if they were a little more obscure
Johnny Polonsky :
00:13:09.94 – 00:13:28.549
and he was in the phone book So I just called him up and made friends and you know told him I was a teenager from Chicago and I was a huge fan I would just pepper him with questions and he was real gracious and helpful and answer everything and you know I started sending him tapes and he loved them It was and that was an incredible too just having
Johnny Polonsky :
00:13:29.07 – 00:13:38.289
um the support and encouragement of somebody older than me who was way more experienced and someone I really looked up to and whose music I really loved
Johnny Polonsky :
00:13:39.239 – 00:13:39.94
Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:13:40.71 – 00:13:43.13
And you know in retrospect like
Johnny Polonsky :
00:13:43.659 – 00:13:50.26
I think it’s natural if you’re really serious about doing something to seek out a mentor that wasn’t I I wasn’t intentionally doing that and I wasn’t
Johnny Polonsky :
00:13:51.109 – 00:13:58.2
it did end up being networking I guess but I I wasn’t thinking about that at all It was just like I love these people like I want to know them
Johnny Polonsky :
00:13:58.96 – 00:14:05.45
you know like when you’re a kid and you think because you know someone’s music you know them or that you want to know them
Johnny Polonsky :
00:14:05.989 – 00:14:11.619
Um And a lot of times it does work out that the art and the person are are very similar Sometimes not
but I have very few experiences where
it went awry And I mean a lot of those people some of them are are you know are are old dear friends now Like I was a huge frank Zappa fan I remember getting uh stealing a couple 100 bucks my parents stock drawer so I could buy uh first center tickets for his last tour in Chicago Um and a couple of years later I I called director assistant for Scott Tunis the bass player
Johnny Polonsky :
00:14:40.809 – 00:14:51.53
just because II I would watch this The the the live video does humor belong in music over and over again Me and my brother would watch that and he uh you know scott out of everybody for some reason seemed
Johnny Polonsky :
00:14:52.229 – 00:15:16.869
very extra vibrant and funny and just an incredible player And I don’t know I was 18 I was like oh I I know that guy So I called him up and he’s one of my oldest dearest friends you know we became great friends Um and that’s a thing you know it’s like music really does bring people together you know I mean these are like really ridiculous circumstances but
Johnny Polonsky :
00:15:18.059 – 00:15:30.65
I don’t know II I don’t I never understood why people no one else really was doing that you know And now it’s easy it’s never been easier to reach people but it’s also never been harder to reach people because all you have to do is just ignore an email
Buzz Knight:
00:15:32.109 – 00:15:38.89
I think it’s a fantastic story because it shows your passion for your work and it shows that you’ve got some balls I
Johnny Polonsky :
00:15:38.9 – 00:15:45.63
love it you know Yeah I was just in in love with music and and really enamored of of these musicians and I just wanted to
Johnny Polonsky :
00:15:46.34 – 00:15:48.88
know them and learn from them and you know
Buzz Knight:
00:15:49.84 – 00:15:54.859
tell me what your experience was like uh at the Berkeley School of Music in Boston
Johnny Polonsky :
00:15:55.489 – 00:16:13.309
I mean Berkeley I just went to let’s see Ok so I graduated high school I went to a semester of Northern Illinois in Dekalb Illinois And I just slept most of the time because I had mono and I also was completely uninterested in school And um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:16:14.02 – 00:16:17.71
and that was right when Nirvana hit and I I was just you know
Johnny Polonsky :
00:16:18.229 – 00:16:30.94
it was just a really incredible time and that’s really when I I went into overdrive which just like calling people up and sending them my tapes and I was you know recording a ton and just very fertile creative period
Johnny Polonsky :
00:16:31.53 – 00:16:32.299
Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:16:32.89 – 00:16:53.38
and after a semester I quit and joined this band called White Fat Farm which is an incredible band Um they were a lot older than me Well at the time you know I was 18 uh they were like mid twenties late twenties I learned so much from being in that band for I mean no one no one’s ever heard of them It’s like they they never released any music but incredible songs
Johnny Polonsky :
00:16:54.049 – 00:16:55.32
and just uh
Johnny Polonsky :
00:16:56.27 – 00:17:15.04
this guy Mike Smith who’s the singer and songwriter uh I I mean I would still be writing songs and playing guitar obviously if I hadn’t been involved with them but he he’s been as influential on me as anybody John Lennon or Jimi Hendrix or whoever I I did that for about seven months and quit
Johnny Polonsky :
00:17:15.67 – 00:17:20.15
and I was just sort of floating around and my aunt from Boston came to visit
Johnny Polonsky :
00:17:20.66 – 00:17:23.54
and I was just sort of aimless not knowing what to do with myself
Johnny Polonsky :
00:17:24.06 – 00:17:30.739
And she suggested going to Berkeley which I really had no interest in But by that point
Johnny Polonsky :
00:17:31.319 – 00:17:32.78
I’d been a band was
Johnny Polonsky :
00:17:33.42 – 00:17:44.619
David Bowie and Re Gabs and the sales brothers I knew Gabre lived in in Boston I think we might have already been friends by then I forget he was he was another person that was a huge early supporter
Johnny Polonsky :
00:17:45.319 – 00:17:48.5
I called him up and was just you know we send him tapes and
Johnny Polonsky :
00:17:49.25 – 00:17:57.42
um same thing as rebo just like you know ask him 1000 questions and he would answer everything and just very very supportive of what I was doing
Johnny Polonsky :
00:17:57.989 – 00:18:21.609
So I was like yeah I’ll go to Boston You know I had no intention of really I didn’t I didn’t care about the school I just wanted to be close to Reeves So that’s what I did So I went there a couple semesters and I went to classes and everything But I I really uh a apparently they’ve put a lot of money into it and it’s it’s supposed to be a good school now But it was a dump when I was there I had a guitar teacher who suggested I quit
Johnny Polonsky :
00:18:22.5 – 00:18:46.439
Um so I I really didn’t care Like like my and my roommate had left so I had this huge dorm all to myself and all I did was smoke weed and listen to Pavement and my Bloody Valentine and record on my four track and hang out with my friends And um and I hooked up with Reeves Like he was really really great Just took me around and introduced me to everybody in his circles I had a community and I started playing with other people and
Johnny Polonsky :
00:18:47.14 – 00:18:48.959
yeah that that was a great time
Johnny Polonsky :
00:18:49.719 – 00:18:56.859
Yeah So the school you know I I really didn’t learn much of anything from Berkeley but I had a good time
Buzz Knight:
00:18:57.819 – 00:18:59.29
So you did the um
Buzz Knight:
00:19:00.01 – 00:19:03.92
infamous uh iphone demos Um
Buzz Knight:
00:19:04.56 – 00:19:16.859
and um do you think now if you did those iphone demos that um because of technology changing with the phone they they would have been much different at all
Johnny Polonsky :
00:19:17.579 – 00:19:24.069
I mean you know when you’re a kid especially like you just use whatever you have at your disposal you know
Johnny Polonsky :
00:19:24.599 – 00:19:25.4
Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:19:26.78 – 00:19:38.04
sometimes sometimes I wonder what it’d be like being a teenager Now It be it’s got to be so bewildering Like there’s just endless choice of everything and so much craziness in the world more than ever But um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:19:38.67 – 00:19:43.38
yeah I mean I feel really lucky that all I had was a cassette four track
Johnny Polonsky :
00:19:44.079 – 00:19:55.06
and a broken mic from Radioshack and a you know a handful of instruments at home And um it’s you know limitations force you to use your imagination and to
Johnny Polonsky :
00:19:55.959 – 00:20:15.42
you when you have you know there’s nothing wrong with technology Like ev every tool is just a tool So it’s great Like I I and I’ve got pro tools now on my computer and you know I’ve got a program that’s got quite literally I think like 10,000 sounds or something like that So it’s amazing to have all that at your disposal But it’s um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:20:16.15 – 00:20:24.65
it was really great for me and especially learning how to make things work with very few uh options
Johnny Polonsky :
00:20:25.16 – 00:20:30.91
So I don’t know like II I like both but I I do miss I’m always kind of trying to uh
Johnny Polonsky :
00:20:31.54 – 00:20:51.76
get back to the state of mind of when I was just starting out and you know my mindset back then was just I’m I’m just messing around like I’m just trying stuff I think that’s a great way to approach things When you don’t take things too seriously then you can really do anything and you can go anywhere and you’re not bound to any style or any kind of anything you know especially like once
Johnny Polonsky :
00:20:52.05 – 00:21:18.949
it’s easy like once once you start putting stuff out in the world to um pay too much attention to how people might perceive you or what you’ve done in the past it might have gotten a good reaction or whatever none of it matters really I mean it’s great like like I want II I put stuff out because I want to reach people And I love when I do when they respond positively you know the point is just me doing my thing And regardless of like how people respond
Johnny Polonsky :
00:21:19.53 – 00:21:32.55
you know sometimes they like it because they don’t But all that really matters is just me living my life and just like doing what I wanna do which um sounds overly simplistic but can be very difficult to really uh
Johnny Polonsky :
00:21:33.219 – 00:21:34.609
pull off sometimes
Buzz Knight:
00:21:35.579 – 00:21:42.81
What’s your take on artificial intelligence Uh now in in and around um recording music
Johnny Polonsky :
00:21:43.42 – 00:22:03.41
It’s interesting Um I’ve listened to a few of those tracks and you know it’s kind of funny you know hearing whatever like John Lennon singing an Oasis song or something like that I don’t know it’d be interesting to see what happens with it I don’t have any I mean people are some people are freaking out about it the same way people freaked out about drum machines like they’re gonna replace drummers and it’s just another tool
Johnny Polonsky :
00:22:05.479 – 00:22:10.63
hopefully they won’t replace humans on the planet But um other than that
I don’t really have I don’t really have much of an opinion on on a I it’s still such early days I mean I check it out every once in a while but I’m not overly obsessed with technology Like I never have been like II I love guitars and you know I have enough knowledge with
Johnny Polonsky :
00:22:27.369 – 00:22:41.92
um computers and pro tools to do what I need to do But I’m not like a pro tools whiz and I’m not a programming whiz I I just know enough to do what I want to do and sometimes not even that much you know Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:22:42.52 – 00:22:47.439
so I’m not you know technology is interesting but a after a certain point I don’t really care
Buzz Knight:
00:22:48.839 – 00:22:54.92
Your first moment you met Johnny Cash and then ultimately worked with him Tell me about that experience I
Johnny Polonsky :
00:22:54.93 – 00:22:57.91
never met him I had the opportunity to meet him Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:22:58.839 – 00:23:09.14
I I was I went to a cash show at the Pantages Theater in L A Beck was opening That was an incredible experience I was just out in L A visiting I I wasn’t living there yet
Johnny Polonsky :
00:23:09.65 – 00:23:13.959
but I was already on American on the label
Johnny Polonsky :
00:23:14.689 – 00:23:33.689
Um And Rick came up to me and asked if I want to meet Johnny Cash I was really drunk and I fool She said no like I then you know internally I was like oh I can’t meet Johnny Cash I’m too drunk you know which is ridiculous like thinking that you know Johnny Cash is gonna judge you for being too drunk It’s like thinking that Lemm is gonna judge you for being too high on speed or something like that
Johnny Polonsky :
00:23:35.29 – 00:23:50.89
I I really wish I would have met him but um I didn’t but um I ended up playing like years later like 2020 I guess 20 years ago almost 2 2004 2005 Um I was living in L A
Johnny Polonsky :
00:23:51.479 – 00:24:18.3
I had reconnected with Rick Rick Rubin He asked me to play um there was uh I think like 60 un unreleased songs in various forms of uh completion It was me and Smokey Hormel who’s a great guitar player and bass player and he’s played with Beck and Tom Waits and um Mike and Benmont from Tom putting the heartbreakers and this great guitar player named Matt Sweeney
Johnny Polonsky :
00:24:18.77 – 00:24:23.089
Um all of us were in Rick’s basement which was converted to a studio
Johnny Polonsky :
00:24:23.63 – 00:24:30.829
and for about I guess two weeks before Christmas and two weeks after Christmas we just plowed through about 60 songs
Johnny Polonsky :
00:24:31.64 – 00:24:37.989
That was an incredible experience you know I mean just playing with those players alone was really
Johnny Polonsky :
00:24:38.989 – 00:25:06.13
amazing Um It’s just so easy That was one of the things that was so um surprising I guess Well not so surprising but like a pleasant surprise Like wow it’s just like so easy to play with these people and you know it’s just very everyone’s just so good and there’s no egos and people just do it You know what I mean There’s no uh stumbling over doubt or trepidation or anything like that Um just playing music
Johnny Polonsky :
00:25:06.81 – 00:25:23.579
and a lot of those songs never got released Either a bunch did So I’m on I think it’s American four and five and which is maybe like 20 songs or 25 songs But yeah there’s a there’s a bunch that’s still unreleased
Johnny Polonsky :
00:25:24.089 – 00:25:50.099
Um that was an amazing experience That was surreal I mean I grew up listening to Johnny Cash You know I remember driving around we met you know just like listening to the Sun the Sun recordings And um yeah I played on the last song he ever wrote like the 409 or is it 309 I always forget there’s a beach boys song The 30940949309 That that’s the Johnny Cash song 409 is the is the Beach Boys song
Buzz Knight:
00:25:50.65 – 00:26:01.26
You must have learned a lot from Rick Rubin uh in your in your time with him Um what did he teach you about Sort of looking inward
Johnny Polonsky :
00:26:02.26 – 00:26:07.18
I mean I learned a ton from being around Rick Um for me the most
Johnny Polonsky :
00:26:07.829 – 00:26:33.4
obvious things that come to mind are just you know when making a record just surrounding yourself with the right people he just hires I mean there’s a lot of great musicians in the world There’s a lot of people that can do it It’s just about hiring the right people for the particular project And he’s just really good at like a casting director Like you know it’s just like you get the right people for the part and it’s pretty smooth sailing like he doesn’t really
Johnny Polonsky :
00:26:33.979 – 00:26:35.28
say much
Johnny Polonsky :
00:26:35.869 – 00:26:38.63
because he hires the right people that that kind of know what to do
Johnny Polonsky :
00:26:39.16 – 00:26:51.43
But when something needs to be said he’s very clear and direct and you know exactly what he means He’s very articulate and especially for a non musician like I think he plays a little guitar but like he’s basically a non musician
Johnny Polonsky :
00:26:52.01 – 00:26:58.63
but he’s way more articulate when it comes to talking about music or arrangements than
Johnny Polonsky :
00:26:59.359 – 00:27:11.93
almost every musician I’ve ever played with I I also used to um I was the guitar tech for audio slave for a couple of years and I was around when um that’s how Rick and I reconnected because he was producing their second record
Johnny Polonsky :
00:27:12.449 – 00:27:14.089
and I had become their guitar tech
Johnny Polonsky :
00:27:14.91 – 00:27:28.13
So I was there you know every day when he would be in pre-production with them So that was really interesting watching him dissect the songs and um and obviously they’re great songwriters anyway great band But he would just
Johnny Polonsky :
00:27:28.81 – 00:27:42.31
make suggestions to see just to mess around and and experiment and and see if they couldn’t make it better if they tried this or this If we move this move this here maybe try a bridge maybe take away a bridge you know all these little um suggestions
Johnny Polonsky :
00:27:43.089 – 00:27:51.26
I guess that’s it really it’s just surrounding yourself with the right people and just communicating very directly And there’s never
Johnny Polonsky :
00:27:52.0 – 00:27:57.829
is a really nice person you know what I mean Like you never get a there’s not a shred of like
Johnny Polonsky :
00:27:58.599 – 00:28:06.949
dictator VD or anything like that But he’s very much in control Like he’s it’s kind of carries this weight of like he’s the man
Johnny Polonsky :
00:28:07.969 – 00:28:19.969
but he’s not arrogant you know So it’s nice to that’s what you want you want you wanna you know what in that kind of situation like you wanna feel like somebody’s steering the ship even if we’re all like a part of it and contributing
Buzz Knight:
00:28:20.81 – 00:28:26.54
you’ve had such a a fascinating group of people that you’ve uh you’ve been around
Buzz Knight:
00:28:26.75 – 00:28:54.069
uh through your career Um I I think of you know Frank Black and and Pete Jon and you know just this incredibly you know diverse group Um Is there somebody that you’ve recently discovered uh that’s of a more uh vintage uh nature that you just got turned on to And is there someone conversely brand new that you’ve just gotten turned on to
Johnny Polonsky :
00:28:54.599 – 00:29:01.579
He’s this great Japanese guitar player He’s he’s dead and out Takashi Terauchi
Johnny Polonsky :
00:29:02.15 – 00:29:19.26
It amazing surf guitar player Um Great I mean like tons of albums Like they’re all on Spotify and they’re all in Japanese So I have no idea what the titles are but um excellent guitar player and like really creative and just strange wonderful Um
Johnny Polonsky :
00:29:19.91 – 00:29:28.15
And uh as far as contemporary bands I recently fell in love with Fiddler I love this band Fiddler They’ve got a bunch of records Just a great
Johnny Polonsky :
00:29:28.729 – 00:29:31.16
really energetic fun
Johnny Polonsky :
00:29:31.68 – 00:29:36.89
kind of agro punk band very melodic from San Diego I believe
Johnny Polonsky :
00:29:37.439 – 00:29:38.41
I like them a lot
Buzz Knight:
00:29:39.119 – 00:29:41.319
So when you think of the um
Buzz Knight:
00:29:41.92 – 00:29:52.709
the beauty of live performance and you’re gonna be you just recently uh you know did the show in in Brooklyn and I know you’ve got other shows going on
Buzz Knight:
00:29:53.229 – 00:29:58.77
Does the electricity of live performance ever change in a different way for you
Johnny Polonsky :
00:30:00.0 – 00:30:00.27
Mhm
Johnny Polonsky :
00:30:00.869 – 00:30:26.38
I mean it’s always different depending on the venue and the crowd and but but whatever like like I mean you mean in terms of like now versus a few decades ago Yeah Uh not really I mean maybe I’m I’m more confident now and or just less full of doubt which I guess is the same thing You know what I mean It’s like you just go up and do it you know what I mean And not in a jaded way It’s just like
Johnny Polonsky :
00:30:26.949 – 00:30:38.089
I still get nervous sometimes but I think it’s a good thing It it’s really just sort of getting charged up and and I mean nervous might even be the wrong word It it I get nervous if if like
Johnny Polonsky :
00:30:38.719 – 00:30:52.05
I feel like my voice isn’t uh up to par or if if the band doesn’t know that if I don’t have confidence in the band or whatever but like I’m playing with really good players right now and I feel really good So we just go up and do it
Johnny Polonsky :
00:30:52.64 – 00:30:53.959
you know that’s it really
Johnny Polonsky :
00:30:55.03 – 00:31:15.339
So I yeah I I really enjoy it I I love playing live II I really want to get on tour That’s the ideal it’s just so expensive you know it’s really expensive to tour Um and there’s obviously got to be a demand or unless you’re getting on like a uh a tour with a bigger act So that’s that’s the quest right now It’s just trying to get on the road
Buzz Knight:
00:31:16.18 – 00:31:18.93
How did you get so comfortable in front of a camera
Johnny Polonsky :
00:31:20.119 – 00:31:22.119
Aren’t we all in front of a camera now
Johnny Polonsky :
00:31:23.609 – 00:31:25.02
You know Yeah True
Johnny Polonsky :
00:31:25.66 – 00:31:26.75
That’s just life
I don’t know I mean I’m not it’s I mean right now it’s not not a big deal but like in general like they’re very unnatural situations
Johnny Polonsky :
00:31:38.459 – 00:31:41.54
But um yeah I mean cameras are everywhere now So
Buzz Knight:
00:31:41.55 – 00:31:50.699
when you think about the uh the ninth album coming out um it’s gonna come out and it’s later in the fall right Uh either
Jonny Polonsky :
00:31:50.709 – 00:31:53.739
the fall or early next year One of the two
Buzz Knight:
00:31:54.319 – 00:31:59.489
And um do you feel it takes a different turn than your previous work
Jonny Polonsky :
00:32:00.329 – 00:32:08.91
Um yeah there’s a lot of guest stars on it There’s a bunch of guest drummers and um there’s an orchestra on two tunes which I’ve never done before
It’s got some of my favorite musicians of all time that are playing on it which is sort of and that I didn’t mean for it to happen It just kind of ended up that way
you know It’s a little more as succinct and focused in a way than this most recent record Not one’s not like
Jonny Polonsky :
00:32:26.5 – 00:32:54.05
better or worse or you know it’s just a different thing Yeah I’m excited for the next one to come out I’m writing for the 10th 1 You know what I mean Like I I’m excited for all of them Like I and I wanna put them out and have as many people hear them as possible But I’m always like looking forward to the next one and it never goes fast enough either I I wish you know like in the sixties you know I mean Beatles Jimi Hendrix people would release two or three records a year you know
Jonny Polonsky :
00:32:54.599 – 00:33:06.859
I wish we could do that now I mean we can but it’s just like it’s uh you can do whatever you want really especially these days It’s not just about releasing music I mean I’ve been releasing music for the last 10 years on my own
but it’s also trying to reach people and there’s it just takes time to you know getting uh a song license in a movie or a TV show or something like that or getting on a tour you know to really like build and get some kind of momentum Well I guess I guess it’s really more career stuff than you know it’s all interrelated but it’s to me it’s really just about reaching as many people as I can
there’s a part of me that just wants to release music all the time regardless of anything But I don’t wanna just release stuff in a vacuum Like I’ve done that and it’s just um it’s sort of depressing I mean it’s always great to II I love what I do and I’m I’m always excited about what I put out Like I don’t put anything out unless I’m really excited about it But you know you wanna you wanna reach people too and do it on my own It’s it’s expensive man I mean it’s expensive anyway but now it’s expensive for somebody else who’s not me So that’s that’s a good thing
Buzz Knight:
00:34:02.79 – 00:34:05.68
What are some causes that are important to you
Jonny Polonsky :
00:34:06.78 – 00:34:08.628
making the planet habitable
Jonny Polonsky :
00:34:09.398 – 00:34:11.54
You know the homeless problem is
ridiculous
Jonny Polonsky :
00:34:13.689 – 00:34:32.199
I used to live in L A Like it was like a I think it was like 40 or 50,000 people almost in L A which is completely insane I mean it’s insane anywhere that that exists But um there’s quite a bit uh in New York and I just dropped something off It’s the bowery mission
Jonny Polonsky :
00:34:32.83 – 00:34:39.939
But uh yeah I mean there’s a lot of things that serve attention but those are the two that really spring to mind for me
Buzz Knight:
00:34:40.79 – 00:34:47.628
What advice would you give to somebody listening to this That’s a musician just in the early stages of their career
Jonny Polonsky :
00:34:48.428 – 00:35:10.639
Just play what you want to play what you wanna hear like never stop being the listener or the fan the audience you know because you’re the first audience member you know it should be music that that you actually want to listen to which sounds strange But like that’s a common thing to for one reason or another to make music
for reasons other than um just because you love it especially once you start getting a little feedback from people just make the music that you want to hear Plus it’ll be way more personal that way And that’s gonna be what people will respond to is when there’s something genuine When you can you know you even non musicians everybody would anyone can tell like when there’s a real palpable sense of
joy or a sense of discovery or you know what I mean Like you can just tell when somebody’s doing it for real or whether they’re just you know it might be very good or a well-made product or whatever but you can tell when there’s like no real genuine enthusiasm
Jonny Polonsky :
00:35:50.469 – 00:36:00.62
or I can anyway like I feel I feel like people can whether they realize it or not you know so just do what you really wanna do you know do it because you love it not because you’re trying to get something out of it
Buzz Knight
Thanks for the music that you bring to us that’s raw It’s authentic obviously it’s something that brings you joy but it brings us joy And thanks for everything that you bridge together through all your musical influence I absolutely love that as well Johnny
Jonny Polonsky :
00:36:19.85 – 00:36:22.5
Oh thanks Buzz I appreciate the kind words Thank you man
Buzz Knight:
00:36:22.77 – 00:36:24.899
Thank you for being on taking a walk
Jonny Polonsky :
00:36:24.939 – 00:36:26.149
Thank you for having me
Announcer
00:36:26.979 – 00:36:35.439
Takin a walk with Buzz Knight is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts
About The Author
Buzz Knight
Buzz Knight is an established media executive with a long history of content creation and multi-platform distribution.
After a successful career as a Radio Executive, he formed Buzz Knight Media which focuses on strategic guidance and the development of new original content.
