Interview: Connor Johnson

Conner Johnson has been drumming since he was two. He has played at Lollapalooza and is an avid collector of vinyl. Johnson has played in countless bands and concerts, continuously expanding his sound and technique. I had a chance to sit down with Conner and interview him about his inspirations, beginnings and his edgiest middle school punk bands.

When did you first get into music?

Well, from the beginning my parents were always telling me that I’d be drumming on my lap all the time, everywhere I would go. There was even one moment I was slapping on my knees when I was on a train, a woman in her thirties comes up to my parents and says, “Can you tell your kid to stop drumming?” That’s kind of a ridiculous thing to say, and I remember this old lady said, “Well I thought he sounded really good.” When I was two or three, I got a drum kit, one of those little ones with a kick drum that sounded like a ding ding but I loved it. I remember I used to play it everyday in the corner of my living room when I got it. That’s the first memories I have getting into music.

You eventually started going to School of Rock?

Yeah, that was around sixth grade. I got a bunch of kids to play covers in the talent show and that’s when I started to realize that music is a really cool thing to play with a bunch of people. That’s when I was introduced to School of Rock. I originally started off with a summer camp there before my middle school years and I really enjoyed it. So I went and enrolled in it and I’ve been playing there ever since. This is actually my last season, unfortunately, in School of Rock but I’m going to make the best of it.

Going back to your beginnings, who were some of your influences when you were younger?

Well, I remember I was first into Dave Grohl of Nirvana because I realized how loud he played and I just loved the idea of playing loud. It always interested me, it definitely has a different sound, as you have those jazz drummers that are very mellow, you get that doo-te-doo-doo-te. But the harder you hit, I don’t know, it’s satisfying. It really fit me, I was really into music and had a lot of energy. I still have a lot of energy in me today.

So when you were a kid, did you start out into rock or jazz drumming more?

I was really into rock, but then it was my uncle who was telling me about some of the jazz greats, like Buddy Rich, who was unlike any other drummer and nobody has been close to topping him. The closest who could have topped him was Gene Krupa, who my uncle actually had a few lessons with as a teenager. That’s another thing, what inspired me to keep on playing music, my uncle was a drummer, more of a jazz drummer, he played in these ‘60s garage rock bands. That inspired me to play more, start up my own band. But that was when I started exploring on my own, and I found some great drummers, like Elvin Jones, who played with the great John Coltrane quintet.

Do you have any other favorite drummers?

In terms of rock drummers, Keith Moon, John Bonham, he’s kind of sloppy but unique in that way, same with Keith Moon. Brian Chippendale, from the band Lightning Bolt, he just blew my mind and made me want to play faster, since they were playing from scratch, that’s how they evolved to have this unique drumming skill. I’ve always found this to be an interesting thing, so I’ve been trying to find my own sound, try to play like nobody else. It’s not that I oppose to being influenced by other people, I just always want to try to play a little different from some of the drummers I’ve heard.

Can you describe your style?

I don’t know. Well if I do, then it sounds like, “Yeah, it’s got kind of a Keith Moon vibe.” (laughs)

You don’t want to sound pretentious? (laughs)

Yeah, it’s hard to sound original. There are so many people who have done the same type of fills that you have done. Umm… I don’t know. I like doing a lot of Keith Moon-like fills, I like throwing in a lot of fills for stuff, in parts where it makes sense. I’m not trying to be flashy for the crowd or whatever, you know?

Tell me about the bands you’ve been in, a timeline of sorts.

Well it started off in eighth grade, I was in a punk band. I really liked punk, it’s been in my family since my dad’s brother-in-law was in a Detroit punk band called the Necros. They’re kind of legendary in that scene for some reason. (laughs)

What was the name of the band you were in eighth grade?

We were called Bad Music, because we were edgy. We were bad, but our music was quite good. (laughs) That’s what trained me to play faster, since punk is really fast, if you’ve listened to Minor Threat or the Misfits, that sort of stuff. Then I tried to start a noise band with some friends, but that didn’t really work out. Some of the bands I’ve made have been one-show bands. We were super excited about them, played a show, then we don’t click, we don’t think about playing more shows which is unfortunate. But I try to play with as many bands as I want, I recently just started a noise rock band, another one, with Theo (Snyder), and few others who go to School of Rock. The name of the band is Terms, and we kind of have this underground New York sound, like Sonic Youth and Swans, just noisy avant-garde but in an almost classical, compositional sort of way. Minimalistic. So for instance, we have like a riff that goes on for two minutes, it kind of works that way.

Speaking of stuff that we were talking about earlier, what are some of the concerts that you’ve been in?

Well, the School of Rock All-Stars, we’ve always played some great shows at the end of the tour. Basically, School of Rock All-Stars is an audition process where the best of the best that audition and get in, get into a group of other students all across the country, we tour in different cities. I remember in my first one, we basically stayed in Chicago and played at a bunch of different gigs there. But the second one was very interesting, where we started in Austin, Texas, played two shows there, then we drove to Kentucky and St. Louis, played gigs there and ended in Chicago, where the finale is at Lollapalooza, one of the biggest music fests ever. I’ve been lucky enough to play on the same night where the headliner was Paul McCartney. So I got to play the same night at the same music festival as a Beatle. That felt kind of like a life goal.