Chatting with Jonny Two Bags – HuffPost 3.5.14
Mike Ragogna: Why “Salvation Town”? For that matter, why “Jonny Two Bags”? And why now, for Pete’s sake?
Jonny Two Bags: Initially, I was thinking of starting a band in which I could sing and play my own songs. I was trying to come up with a name for the project and soon found that all the names i thought of had already been taken. It was a little bit frustrating. I now understand why a lot of younger bands have very long names…sometimes a sentence or even a paragraph! I was listening to a record by my old friends’ band Joyride and they have a song called “Salvation Town.” I thought it would be a great band name so I asked Greg Antista, who wrote the song, if I could use it. As the recording was progressing and I was starting to do some solo shows, it soon became apparent that this was a solo project rather than a band, but the record had already begun to develop its personality and I thought Salvation Town worked perfectly as the title. When I play with the band live, I sometimes bill it as Jonny Two Bags and Salvation Town.
As for the nickname, it’s kind of a three-fold thing I guess. At first, it was a play on the old reggae song ‘Johnny Too Bad’ by The Slickers and also a drug reference. Then, when the drug use turned me into sort of a homeless street urchin for awhile, it seemed even more perfect for my friends to keep calling me that. I’ve never been ale to shake it so now I just roll with it.
Making my own record is something I’ve always wanted to do and haven’t until now mainly because I lacked the confidence to really go after it. I’ve made a few weak attempts over the years to get something going, but nothing ever panned out. The musicians I tried to rally up weren’t into it and I wasn’t very strong in my conviction so nothing happened. I’ve always worked on writing songs but I’ve also always been in bands, or been a sideman for other musicians / songwriters. Some of the people i have played with have been extremely prolific so needless to say, there was a competitive element in place and I just couldn’t step to it as I was still trying to figure it all out. So I had to be content with sneaking a couple songs in here and there on Cadillac Tramps and Youth Brigade records and dealing with a lot of compromise.
I’m very lucky to have had a few great friends who have backed me and my songs at different points along the way. My friend Amery Smith–aka AWOL–who played on the first Suicidal Tendencies record and toured for years with the Beastie Boys and F- and a bunch of other great bands was the first person ever to say “Hey I like your songs, we should get something going.” So, we recorded a few songs which we pressed into a 7″ EP called .001 Loser’s Club, named after the title of one of my favorite DOA songs. I’m very grateful to him and I’ll never forget it because I feel that working with him literally kept me in the music game, as I wasn’t playing in a band at that time and wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue with music. Shortly after that I joined the US Bombs and for the first time ever, had the experience of writing and recording as an equal. “The World” was such a fun record to make. I’m very proud to have been a part of it. Then, when Mike Ness asked me to join Social Distortion and expressed interest in me contributing as a writer that was an enormous honor and confidence booster. Social Distortion’s bass player Brent Harding was really the person that helped me feel like I could venture down the road of making my own record. He kind of forced me to join his band The Steeplejacks, a really cool sort of country folk outfit, and play some of my songs with them. I really began to believe I might be able to pull off performing my own songs. The next thing was working as producer on a now defunct band called The Strangers. We made a really cool record that unfortunately never saw the light of day. During that time I worked with the singer and main songwriter David Stucken on some writing, which further boosted my confidence. Soon after, my good friend David Kalish convinced me through bribery–he told me that he could get Pete Thomas to play on a track–to go into his Redstar Studio and cut some tracks. So it really has been through the support of a few good people that I very slowly came to the point of making this record.
MR: David Lindley’s music is awesome, just listened to his Love Is Strange album with Jackson Browne. I’m totally jealous that you got to record with him!
JTB: I’ve been told the same thing by several of my friends! I’m very aware of just how special it is to have David on this record. I consider it to be nothing short of miraculous…seriously. In fact, I feel the same way about all the incredible players that contributed their talent. This would’ve been a very different record without these people. Kalish really made all that possible. First Jackson’s long time keyboardist Jeff Young played on the song, then one night Kalish told me he was going to a show that Jackson would be at so I said “Why don’t you ask him to sing on that song, it’s perfect for him, in fact it almost sounds like he could’ve written it.” Of course never really believing that it was a possibility. The next day, I get a call from Kalish. “Jackson’s down to do it”…I absolutely could not believe it. The crazy thing is my father was getting very sick at that time and I had been listening to For Everyman nonstop as that record is such a huge part of the soundtrack of my childhood. It really was very heavy.
So I guess the fact that Jackson was on the song probably helped a lot in getting Lindley to come down. I still can’t get over just how amazing it is to have a song on my record with both of those guys on it. The sound of Jackson’s voice and Lindley’s slide playing together is such an institution!
MR: But wait there’s more. You had musical backing from The Hidalgo Family, guitarist Greg Leisz, uber-singer Arnold McCuller, accordion whiz Joel Guzman, Elvis Costello & The Attractions/Imposters member Pete Thomas…wow. Do you understand what you’ve done here?
JTB: I absolutely understand what has happened here. I will never figure out why I have had the good fortune to have these people play on my songs, but I am so beyond grateful. None of it escapes me.
MR: Okay, there’s this group, Social Distortion…out of Cleveland, right?
JTB: Yes, great band…featuring members of The Dead Boys and The James Gang I believe…
MR: [laughs] Okay, let’s get back to your Salvation. Which of these tracks saved you the most and which of them damned you to hell?
JTB: I’d say that I found my salvation in the first track “One Foot In The Gutter” then lost it when I killed my girlfriend in the last track on the record “The Way It Goes.”
MR: Salvation Town was produced by David Kalish who also produced Rickie Lee Jones. How many tracks is she featured on and why isn’t she on your album at all, not even a little?
JTB: You know, we really should have asked her to sing on a track…
MR: Would you call Salvation Town confessional or autobiographical?
JTB: Well, not to get all heavy tortured singer-songwriter guy on you, but I’d call it more of a confessional. I’ve never thrown it all out there like this and it’s a little bit scary.
MR: How do you want to evolve further as an artist?
JTB: I would hope to use the momentum from this and continue making records. I also spend lot of time trying to improve as a player, learning new instruments, styles etc. I’m one of those people that has to work extra hard at music. Lots and lots of woodshedding! I really don’t feel that I possess the kind of inherent skill that I see in a lot of other musicians.
MR: What advice do you have for new artists?
JTB: Just try and keep your motivation pure. Never lose sight of why you started making music in the first place…for fun and for free. If it becomes solely about success and that doesn’t work out you might just abandon it. I almost did once and I realized that my motivation had become so skewed that I really didn’t even deserve the gift of music at all. I’m very lucky to have learned that lesson.
MR: After this many years of recording, don’t you think you deserve an upgrade to “Jonny Three Bags” or at least “Jonny Two Bags 2.0”?
JTB: Two Bags does me just right…
MR: Nice. It’s perfect.