Johnny Crashed
Johnny Crashed was born in 1971 in the old mill city of Lawrence, Massachusetts. He had no siblings and his mother died when Johnny was only a year old. With the help of an illegal immigrant neighbor who spoke no English, Johnny's hard drinking father raised him alone.
When Johnny was only fifteen, his father died. Johnny said his good bye's to Rosa Marie who had helped raise him, packed his acoustic guitar and wandered around the country for two years before ending up on a Micmac reservation in northern Maine, where he lived for the next three years of his life.
When Johnny was twenty one he began to play music as a solo artist. At twenty four he formed the Reagan Babies, a highly politicized band that fused rock, punk, folk, along with elements of performance art. The bands first CD, entitled "Growing Up the American Way" provided Johnny with the kind of notoriety that many artists would shun as he wrote about political prisoners like Mumia Abul Jamal and the lives that were swallowed up by the vacant and stifling suburbs of the United States. The band quickly developed a following and a reputation that got them invited to many events, but rarely got them asked back.
In 2002, in response to 9/11, the band put together the now infamous "Jesus Christ Terrorist" which was a bizarre re-working of the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar", featuring an imaginary hybrid of both biblical and contemporary (The Bush administration) worlds. At the intersection of anti militarism, queer culture, and Christian mysticism, the show was a huge hit and was performed all over New England. Fittingly, the final performance scheduled for the 900 seat Somerville Theater, was cancelled when the Theater's insurance company refused to cover the band, calling the show a "dangerous combination of themes" and referring to the band as "unruly, unnerving, and uncompromising".
In 2004 the band followed up with "Resistance is All We Got", an effort that established them as unparalleled songwriters whose high energy music made for volatile shows where the lines between band and audience dissolved. By this time the band was also experiencing fractures among its members with both crack addiction and mental illness emerging.
One last CD was recorded by the band in 2005 entitled "Live from J. Edgar Hoover's Closet", which featured the band at the apex of its explosive energy. Although technically flawed, with alcohol and pills pushing the band at 78 rpms, it represents the chaotic possibilities the band strived for but also served as the closing act of The Reagan Babies.
In 2006 Johnny made the decision to end the Reagan Babies, and the relentless touring that had consumed his life for close to fifteen years and to move to an old farmhouse in Maine that had been in his family for almost four decades. Here he dived into the mountain music of western Maine and after reconnecting with Van Lawton, the bass player from the Reagan Babies, he formed the Stoned Mountain Boyz.
Joined by jazz legend Tom Zicarelli, and with a percussion section composed of local hippies paid in marijuana, the Stoned Mountain Boyz were a hybrid of everything from bluegrass to improvisational jazz/jamming. The band quickly became the local favorite at the Finish Line a popular hangout of pot growers and bike gangs and in 2008 they came out with "Politics for Pre-Schoolers", a CD heavily influenced by the writings of Daniel Quinn.
In 2009, however with the loss of Van Lawton, a big man whose heart gave out on him, the Stoned Mountain Boyz were put to rest, and Johnny temporarily retreated from music. Burnt out by the music industry and stung by the devastating break up with the mother of his two children, Johnny began growing marijuana again, a skill he had first learned on the Micmac reservation.
After years of seclusion, with pressure from his record company, Johnny emerged with a new band, Johnny Crashed and the Rednecks. The music of the band was now built on the original songs of Johnny Crashed and the vocal harmonies of Johnny and his co-vocalist, Jezzabel Gentempo. What has emerged is a unique sound the blends conscious American music with everything from gospel, to reggae, folk, country, and straight up punk rock.
But after five years the band went their separate ways as the world of opiate addiction claimed some of the band and the desire of the flesh claimed even more. These days Johnny plays music solo, with local virgin Jezebel Gentempo, or with whatever sober (or relatively) musicians he can pay with weed. While simultaneously making video's, writing books, and in 2016, writing, directing, and producing, a 35 minute dark comedy film called, "Pill-Billy Blues".
When Johnny was only fifteen, his father died. Johnny said his good bye's to Rosa Marie who had helped raise him, packed his acoustic guitar and wandered around the country for two years before ending up on a Micmac reservation in northern Maine, where he lived for the next three years of his life.
When Johnny was twenty one he began to play music as a solo artist. At twenty four he formed the Reagan Babies, a highly politicized band that fused rock, punk, folk, along with elements of performance art. The bands first CD, entitled "Growing Up the American Way" provided Johnny with the kind of notoriety that many artists would shun as he wrote about political prisoners like Mumia Abul Jamal and the lives that were swallowed up by the vacant and stifling suburbs of the United States. The band quickly developed a following and a reputation that got them invited to many events, but rarely got them asked back.
In 2002, in response to 9/11, the band put together the now infamous "Jesus Christ Terrorist" which was a bizarre re-working of the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar", featuring an imaginary hybrid of both biblical and contemporary (The Bush administration) worlds. At the intersection of anti militarism, queer culture, and Christian mysticism, the show was a huge hit and was performed all over New England. Fittingly, the final performance scheduled for the 900 seat Somerville Theater, was cancelled when the Theater's insurance company refused to cover the band, calling the show a "dangerous combination of themes" and referring to the band as "unruly, unnerving, and uncompromising".
In 2004 the band followed up with "Resistance is All We Got", an effort that established them as unparalleled songwriters whose high energy music made for volatile shows where the lines between band and audience dissolved. By this time the band was also experiencing fractures among its members with both crack addiction and mental illness emerging.
One last CD was recorded by the band in 2005 entitled "Live from J. Edgar Hoover's Closet", which featured the band at the apex of its explosive energy. Although technically flawed, with alcohol and pills pushing the band at 78 rpms, it represents the chaotic possibilities the band strived for but also served as the closing act of The Reagan Babies.
In 2006 Johnny made the decision to end the Reagan Babies, and the relentless touring that had consumed his life for close to fifteen years and to move to an old farmhouse in Maine that had been in his family for almost four decades. Here he dived into the mountain music of western Maine and after reconnecting with Van Lawton, the bass player from the Reagan Babies, he formed the Stoned Mountain Boyz.
Joined by jazz legend Tom Zicarelli, and with a percussion section composed of local hippies paid in marijuana, the Stoned Mountain Boyz were a hybrid of everything from bluegrass to improvisational jazz/jamming. The band quickly became the local favorite at the Finish Line a popular hangout of pot growers and bike gangs and in 2008 they came out with "Politics for Pre-Schoolers", a CD heavily influenced by the writings of Daniel Quinn.
In 2009, however with the loss of Van Lawton, a big man whose heart gave out on him, the Stoned Mountain Boyz were put to rest, and Johnny temporarily retreated from music. Burnt out by the music industry and stung by the devastating break up with the mother of his two children, Johnny began growing marijuana again, a skill he had first learned on the Micmac reservation.
After years of seclusion, with pressure from his record company, Johnny emerged with a new band, Johnny Crashed and the Rednecks. The music of the band was now built on the original songs of Johnny Crashed and the vocal harmonies of Johnny and his co-vocalist, Jezzabel Gentempo. What has emerged is a unique sound the blends conscious American music with everything from gospel, to reggae, folk, country, and straight up punk rock.
But after five years the band went their separate ways as the world of opiate addiction claimed some of the band and the desire of the flesh claimed even more. These days Johnny plays music solo, with local virgin Jezebel Gentempo, or with whatever sober (or relatively) musicians he can pay with weed. While simultaneously making video's, writing books, and in 2016, writing, directing, and producing, a 35 minute dark comedy film called, "Pill-Billy Blues".