Freedy Johnston and Brett Newski discuss over-isolating, desert life, internet avoidance, getting signed to a major deal, and why becoming a touring musician is terrible for your mental health.
SNIPPET:
Freedy: When I made my record, Can You Fly, that’s what made it for me. My manager at the time really made that record extra special by getting all these musicians together. I never would have gotten them together. Mind you, I wrote the damn songs, I’ll take full credit for that. And without anyone else, I would have made the same record, I think.
But that record really did great things for me. I don’t know if you heard my first record, but it’s so…not to disparage myself, but it’s not that good of a record. At least to me. I don’t sound the same.
With Can You Fly, when I did that, everyone was saying, “Wow that’s a really good record!”
Brett: Is that the one with “Bad Reputation”?
Freedy: No, it was the one before that.
Brett: Oh, okay.
Freedy: Yeah, it’s the one with the girl jumping in a black and white photo on the cover. And it really changed my life when I made that record. I just didn’t realize that I had it in me. The songs really came out well.
That was how it changed, that record.
Brett: Huh. It is wild how you spend so much time working on songs, and you write them, and you think some are good, and you go back and you wonder if they actually are any good. You don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen in the end product. But sometimes you capture lightning in a freaking bottle. It’s pretty incredible, you know?
Freedy: Yeah. And it’s not always your decision. Or maybe it’s rarely your decision, even. But it happened, at least. So that record got such critical acclaim that it got me a record deal.
I remember the night. It was kind of mythical. Me and my band were playing at CBGBs and there were a bunch of label execs bidding on me. It was so fucking weird, you know? That I can say that really happened, you know? And I could say I still had my day job. I had to go to work in the morning.
But that’s how I met Butch [Vig]. He was a big fan of Can You Fly, and he had just worked with Nirvana, and then Smashing Pumpkins. He was the biggest producer on the scene.
Brett: Totally.
Freedy: And I said, I wanna work with Butch. And it was like, “You do? Okay let’s go get him!” And all of a sudden I’m meeting Butch Vig in New York, and I’m thinking, I can’t believe this is happening.
Brett: That’s so cool
Freedy: He’s a prince among men. He’s really one of the most genuine, nice, patient, good people on the planet.
Brett: He’s like the most Wisconsin person on the planet, even after living this life of super-celebrity.
Freedy: He is, man!
Brett: He comes back to the state and he’s like, “Hey man, how are you doing?”
Freedy: He’s the best, dude. And his brother too. That’s just good Wisconsin parenting right there.
