Jay Jay Johanson is a little like the pyramid
in the middle of the Louvre : his colourful music is a combination of tradition
and modernity, a sort of aesthetic compromise between soft melancholy sung
by crooners and weird beats mixed by DJs. just as if Scott Walker had bought
a drum-machine! From the first time you'll hear his record, you'll wonder
how this pale and fragile lookalike singer, can have such a great voice...
His first album, the grandiose "whiskey" is a mix of Chet Baker-like jazzy-cosy
atmospherics, scratches and trip-hop rhythms, orchestral strings, Bossanova
and terrific keyboards sounds... The perfect union of all these elements
makes whiskey" a singularly beautiful album.
It is half past ten in the morning, we're at BMG
Record office in Paris and Jay Jay starts this interview with these words.
No need to ask questions apparently... he has so much to say! he's
thoughtful and very kind. This interview was not only an easy job, but
also a delight..
C.A.: Do you play any instruments?
C.A.: Do you take singing lessons?
C.A.: But... !? Where did you get such a voice then?
C.A.: What are you doing at the moment?
C.A.: How did you discover turntables and scratch?
C.A.: Can you breakdance then?
C.A.: Why is your cd in wood imitation?
C.A.: What's you favourite brand of whiskey then?
C.A.: Would you like to make music for films?
C.A.: You must have felt flattered!
C.A.: On "I'm older now", you used a sample of "fish beach" by Michael Nyman, what film does it come from?
C.A.: Why is the girl so sad and so lonely in "it hurts me so"?
C.A.: In your songs you sing a lot about love and desire. are you obsessed by that in your life?
C.A.: Do you often cry?
C.A.: Are you popular with women?
C.A.: Your extended Beats sound a bit like a heart beating... Is it what
you tried to create or is it just a coincidence?
C.A.: Are you afraid of getting older?
C.A.: How old are you then?
C.A.: Do you know DJ cam? We think your music is quite similar to his...
C.A.: You came on stage to sing a song with the french band "autour de lucie"
C.A.: Do you often come to Paris?
Cheers Jay Jay!!!
Jay Jay's favourite topic is love,... from
every angle: desire, fantasy, conflict, absence... and when on the
excellent "I fantazise of you", he croons: "turn off the light, sit down
on the couch, pour me a whiskey, take off your dress, I'll help you with
this", you can only do what he wants, it's so politely asked!
"Hello! I'm very tired; I went to bed really
late last night because I had a very long discussion with my pianist. We
love to talk for hours about one subject and we disagree on purpose, to
make the debate more exciting! Last night we talked about how important
image and advertisement are in music."
Jay Jay: Yeah, lots actually. I started
playing the piano when I was 7 and the flute and the clarinet when I was
10. Then I moved to the saxophone when I was 14 and I started writing brass
bands arrangements for sort of Sinatra Big Bands. Then I moved to learn
the guitar and the bass, then I went to music college to learn how to write
and arrange for strings... I would like to know a bit, to be able
to write for all the instruments rather than be very skilled at ONE instrument.
Jay Jay: No...
Jay Jay:(laughs) I don't know! I never
considered myself as a singer. I've been in lots of different bands when
I as young and I've always been the one who was writing songs. I've always
wanted to have cute girls to sing them, like Serge Gainsbourg did...
But on THIS project, the songs were so much MINE that nobody else could
sing them...
Jay Jay: At the moment, we are recording
our second album. It's called "Ring Ring Well". It's going to be better
than the first one, in quite the same style, but there will be more songs
and it will be more influenced by Bossanova. We have worked with more musicians.
We're also rehearsing at the moment because we're going to do 20 dates
in November in France and then in Belgium, Switzerland and England by the
end of December. We're rehearsing to make the songs more interesting "live",
so we have to rearrange them...
Jay Jay: Well, I used to be a DJ from
92 to 95. I was a local DJ in my town when Italian Disco was fashionable.
It was a brilliant move and I was mostly playing Italian Disco records
and this early electro hip-hop. We were a bunch of guys in my town who
were breakdancing...
Jay Jay: YES! Actually I did a few moves
when we played at L'Européen in Paris on a new song which is a kind
of electro song. So we had a big scratch solo and we were all dancing...
It was so cool! Yes, it was funny! I've always been interested in
scratch sounds. For me it's really important to mix this old fashion style
of songwriting with new sounds and modern arrangements.
Jay Jay: It's the same idea; putting this
old wood on this laser high tech cd would be the same sort of contradiction.
It's the same for the title of the album "whiskey". It's my drink and it's
both really smooth like the old fashion songs and very stingy as the new beats.
Jay Jay: Ermm... Actually, I'm very
poor, so I drink the cheapest brand. I drink J&B, but if I could afford
it, I would buy really expensive scotch whiskey! (laughs)
Jay Jay: Yes, definitely! A few film companies
have been contacting me such as Walt Disney actually. I love all the old
Walt Disney soundtracks like that of "The Aristocrats" and "The Jungle
Book". Also Léos Carax contacted BMG because he was interested by
a collaboration. I bought "Les amants du Pont Neuf" when it came out on
video and it's one of the best films I've seen. Léos Carax is one
of my favourite directors...
Jay Jay: Yes, it's so strange...
When I played at L'Européen, Françoise Hardy came up to me
and said "Oh, you're brilliant!" and, I mean, I've been a big fan of her
for a very long time! It's just so abstract in some way. (laughs)
Jay Jay: That music is from "Drowning
by numbers" soundtrack, when they play a game on the beach, but it also
features in "The cook, His wife and Her lover" in the toilet scene! I sent
Michael Nyman my song and asked for his permission and he said: "Yes, give
me 30% of the income and that's OK!". He liked it.
Jay Jay: Yeah, I don't know! (laughs)
That's what I always ask myself in the lyrics: I want to know...
But I really don't know why she's so sad and there's definitely something
wrong in our relationship! (laughs)
Jay Jay: It's really strange because I'm
definitely a best songwriter when I'm really sad because when I'm happy,
my songs turn out to be quite crappy, I think... Earlier this year,
I spent two weeks in Paris and everything was all right. I was really
very happy. At this time, I was writing a lot of songs and they were really...
BAD! It's the same... I had a relationship with a girl for one year,
and it ended quite recently actually, and the songs I made during this
period, when I was with her, weren't as good as the songs I made after
we split up. It's a problem because it seems that I have to choose between
writing good songs or being happy with a girl! I hope in the future I'll
be able to have both!
Jay Jay: Ermm... No... And
I don't know why... There are a lot of times when I feel that "Oh...
This is the moment when I could have cried , but it takes so much to do
it. When I cry, it's really sincere, but it's very rare. It's just when
I get so hurt.
Jay Jay: YES! I've always had quite an
easy time getting girls actually, but... Errmm... NO, actually...
Let me rearrange these words!!!(laughs) I'm always kind of "in love". I
love to be in love, but very seldom the girl I love is in love with me.
Lots of other girls are in love with me, that I'm not interested in. I
have a tendency to fall in love with THE girl who isn't interested in me!
That's so typical!
Jay Jay: Well no, I've never thought
of that. When I was doing "I'm older now", I thought "these beats are too
good to just go off when the song ends. So I had to put the beats on their
own for a few minutes. But maybe there's a heart beating somewhere... Yes!
Jay Jay: Ermm... No, I don't think
so. I do think that I can grow old in style. There are lots of people who
can look better and better with the age and be more intelligent. For example
Françoise Hardy: she was beautiful when she was young, and she's
still very beautiful, and maybe even more beautiful now because she's so
secure. People have always told me that I look so much younger than I am...
Jay Jay: Well... Ermmm (laughs)
I'm 28! And it's the first year that people begin to say me "OH ! You start
to look old". It's scaring... Maybe it's because I lost a lot of
weight last year...
Jay Jay: Yes... When I heard his
record two months ago, I could feel some similarities actually. I think
he's doing a great job. Also, I've been meeting Dominique Dalcan in his
recording studio for two days and we've been trying out something. It really
worked well, but I don't know if it's gonna be on a record...
Jay Jay: Yes... Valérie Leulliot
asked me if I would like to do a duet with her on the last song of the
gig. It was a Chet Baker cover and I said OK. It was really funny...
She's so sweet! I would like to do more collaborations, maybe with her,
and also with both Jane Birkin and Françoise Hardy because I love
their voices. Daft Punk were asked to do a remix of "Mana Mana Mana" but
they were too busy then...
Jay Jay: Well, I've been in Paris very
much this year... I think this is the 7th time I'm in Paris this
year and I usually stay one or two weeks... But now I'm only here
for two days.
Paris, september 97