Johnny Helm | Singer and Songwriter

October 7, 2009

Dr. Kent: Well that’s a beautiful song from Johnny Helm. His album is called Divide, and I became a fan of him hearing his music on CD Baby. I can’t recall exactly the time, but it’s a gorgeous sound. Welcome to the show, Johnny Helm.

Johnny Helm: Hi. How are you?

Dr. Kent: Pretty good. Tell me a little about this album.

Johnny Helm: Divide was kind of a, I’d been recording since ’96 was the first time I really went in and did some recordings, and I had been working on a project that was supposed to be Divide, and it wasn’t coming out the way that I wanted it to. So what I did was I wanted it to, so what I did was I went back and I looked at some of my earlier recordings and I kind of picked through a bunch of recordings that I liked and some older recordings, and kind of pieced together Divide. And so Divide was kind of, it was divided amongst, the title of the album was divided amongst kind of the different recordings that I had, that’s where I came up with the idea.

Dr. Kent: And it’s a great sound. And just hearing you talk I can hear you’re singing with your real voice, it’s not contrived. When did you start singing?

Johnny Helm: I started singing probably right around 16 when I started to really listen to music. One of my friends picked up a guitar, and so I followed suit and then just kind of started trying to sing the songs of different people that I was listening to at the time. And some of those bands, I listened to a lot of Grateful Dead when I was younger, and I listened to a lot of Neil Young and so I just kind of tried to mimic them when I first started. And then it, as I got a little older, once I got off to college I started to write a little bit. And then the sound sort of started to develop and it’s what you’re hearing, I suppose.

Dr. Kent: And you’ve hung out a little bit in Hawaii, and that was a big part of your development as a musician, right?

Johnny Helm: Yeah, definitely. I’ve been here, I’ve been in Hawaii since 19, on and off since 1993, and so there’s a huge influence, there’s a songwriter named John Cruz, and he came out, you know, he’s had a couple albums come out, but he was a huge influence. I heard that guy play for the first time and I was blown away by the songwriting and the stage presence and everything, the performance. And so I kind of just asked him if I could open up for him, cause he had a weekly gig in Honolulu, and I just started to, he just kind of took me under his wing. And so that’s another huge influence of mine would be John Cruz and definitely the music of Hawaii, there’s great music in Hawaii.

Dr. Kent: So tell me about that song in particular, Shed, that we just heard. When did you write that?

Johnny Helm: Shed was written, I actually, I also, I was in radio for a long time out here as well, besides songwriting I worked as a production director for several radio stations, and I did a lot of on air work, too. But I was working for a station and I was sitting in a room and I had some free time, so I started to piece together some drum beats, which is, it’s a really simple drum beat, it’s just a kick and a snare basically. So I pasted those onto a wall, and then I took a couple bass notes from a sample, and I pasted those together, and then I started writing a song, and at the same time coincidentally I had a friend who had been through breast cancer and a divorce, and she was feeling pretty awful at the time. She was like, “I just need something to cheer me up. Could I, you know, it’d be really cool if maybe I could pay you some money and you could almost like write a song around my situation, and it would make me feel really good if I was a part of something artistic, even though I’m not artistic, maybe I could offer you some money to do that.” And so I was like, oh, you don’t have to offer me any money, I’ve got a song I’m kind of working on right now. So Shed was kind of like this woman shedding her skin of all this negativity, shedding her skin of the divorce, this cancer, and starting a new life. And so that’s what Shed was about. And the good thing about that story was that the woman ended up fine, she ended up great. She’s in a great place now. She’s cancer free and she’s, and cancer free in maybe the form of a divorce too, maybe he was her cancer.

Dr. Kent: So she was able to shed a lot of stuff.

Johnny Helm: She shed a lot of things. And so was I. That song was healing for me, too, writing it was healing.

Dr. Kent: So how is this, how has your music developed through the years, your being into the Dead and from your bio I get that you played in a band called Cat on a Tin Roof.

Johnny Helm: Yeah, Cat on a Tin Roof was like a college band, it was actually kind of started as a joke. And I would say out of all the musical endeavors I’ve had that was probably the one with the biggest fan base and the least amount of talent from all of us. We had a huge following in college, and I think we all agree that we were pretty bad at the time. But for some reason, I just guess just cause you know, a good network of friends, and the word spreads pretty easily in college that you can get the word out. But for some reason we packed up this place every single week. If I had that fan base now, I think I’d have a lot more money.

Dr. Kent: I hear you.

Johnny Helm: Yeah, it was one of those weird things, now I have a hard time getting three people to come to my gigs, you know.

Dr. Kent: You’re working on a new project, is that right?

Johnny Helm: Yeah, the new project is, basically where I’m at right now is I gig out, I’m a gigging musician, so I gig out for the tours, you know, Waikiki and that. I do seven gigs a week and then I’m working on a, my songwriter side of music, not my gigging side. I’m working with a guy named Jed Leiber out of Los Angeles, California. He’s got a studio called Nightbird, and his father was on the writing team Leiber and Stoller, they wrote like Stand By Me and many other great hits. But anyway, he owns a really nice studio in L.A. and so we’ve been working out of that studio and we’ve also been working with a drummer named John Michelle, who’s done a lot of studio work. So we’re kind of five songs in right now, and it’s starting to sound, shape up, it sounds really good, I think. Actually it is probably the project I’m most excited about so far.

Dr. Kent: And you said you play seven gigs a week?

Johnny Helm: Yeah, actually I do seven, sometimes eight actually.

Dr. Kent: Wow.

Johnny Helm: But they’re all, they’re all at established, you know, Hawaii’s got a lot of hotels and that kind of thing. So most of it’s just tourist gigs where I’m playing for the tourists.

Dr. Kent: That’s a lot of gigs, that’s, you’re a hard working musician.

Johnny Helm: But it’s, what’s that?

Dr. Kent: And do you do most of them just by yourself? Do you have a little band that you pick up sometimes?

Johnny Helm: No, it’s either, sometimes I’ll do it solo, and sometimes I’ll do like a duo, like I have a, either I’ll have a guitar player that plays lead behind me, or I’ll have a percussion player and, you know, it’s very rare that I’ll put out maybe, you know the funny thing about gigging, when I first started gigging I tried to play as many original songs as I could. And I sold a few CDs. And then I realized that the people that are going to places that I’m playing at, they don’t want to hear original music, they’re there to have a good time and drink, so the more I played cover songs, the more of my CDs I sold. So I rarely ever play covers, you know, I’ll play out of every ten, I’m sorry, I rarely ever play originals. Out of every ten covers I play I’ll play one original tune, and then I’ll sell more original CDs that way than if I sat there and played all originals all night.

Dr. Kent: So you know, they’ve been around a while, but it really has opened up the ability of musicians to make a little money on the side. Have you found that to be the case?

Johnny Helm: Yeah, I would say, I mean, it’s definitely the case. I mean, I was in stores in Hawaii and I barely sold any out of stores. I mean, very few out of stores and I sell way more at my gigs.

Dr. Kent: And I think I originally found you on CD Baby. I’m not sure how or why, but I really dig –

Johnny Helm: I’m glad you did.

Dr. Kent: I dig the sound of your album, for sure.

Johnny Helm: Well, really I’m happy that you found it, and CD Baby is great. I love CD Baby.

Dr. Kent: Yeah, it’s amazing how one organization can kind of open up a world to independent musicians, and just make it available for the world, you know?

Johnny Helm: Yeah, definitely.

Dr. Kent: Well, tell me about, we’re going to listen to one more track here. Tell me about this upcoming song, Staring Up at Trees. Or, sorry, Staring Up Trees, right.

Johnny Helm: Yeah, it was a song, I’d lived in New York City for a little bit. It was a very short stint in New York City, but I lived in an apartment, and the trade off for my rent was to walk this person’s dogs. And she had two dogs, so I’d take the dogs for a walk from, I think it was 16th and Broadway or somewhere around there, and walk it straight down Central Park, or I should say straight over. And the song’s pretty much, it’s a narrative about a walk to Central Park and back, basically. It’s about what I see as I go along. There was a, they closed the street off on that particular day and they were having tent sales, people setting up tents and selling things. So you’ll hear about that. And it just talks about the things I passed on the way down there.

Dr. Kent: Well it’s been great chatting with you. Johnny Helm’s website is johnnyhelm.com, and folks should go there and check out some free sound clips, and go to CD Baby and pick up his album Divide. And when are you thinking this other one’s going to come out?

Johnny Helm: Well, we’re really close to having 5 really good, we’re demo-ing them first, so we’re doing a pre-production phase right now, so I want to say we could have it done in 6 months.

Dr. Kent: And are you going to shop it around, or are you going to produce it yourself?

Johnny Helm: I don’t know, I don’t know what we’re going to do. Shopping it around nowadays, yeah, I’m sure we’re going to try. Sure, why not. But I think we’re probably going to end up –

Dr. Kent: It’s a different industry.

Johnny Helm: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think we’re probably going to end up just, if we’re going to shop it, it’s just to get the finances to put it together, and then we’ll just put it out. I mean, I’m in it at this point, at that level, just to get good music.

Dr. Kent: Yeah.

Johnny Helm: And the musicians I’m playing with are solid, and I think the songs are really solid. So I think people will really dig it.

Dr. Kent: Yeah, and I love the sound. I mean, there’s no question the sound, even with this album Divide, I think it’s a very unique, and for me it’s all about the voice. So you know, I hear a lot of pretty crappy music out there and I really dig this album.

Johnny Helm: (laughter) Well I’m glad you don’t think it’s crappy. I’m glad you like it, and I’m glad you found it, and I’m glad I got to talk to you on the phone, this is really cool.

Dr. Kent: This is very cool. We’re going to listen to the song Staring Up Trees, and it’s been an honor chatting with Johnny Helm. Thank you so much, and we’ll get in touch with you when the new album comes out, or talk online or something, and we’ll talk to you again.

Johnny Helm: I would love that, that’d be great. Thank you so much for your time.

Dr. Kent: All right, take it easy. And let’s listen to Staring Up Trees, and this is from Johnny Helm and the album Divide. His website is johnnyhelm.com. And here we go, Staring Up Trees. We’re having a small technical difficulty, in one more minute we’ll listen to the song here Staring Up Trees, this is by Johnny Helm, and here you go. In fact, we’re having severe technical difficulties, but it’s been an honor today chatting with several guests, from Johnny Helm all the way back to Ian Buruma. And we’ll see you next week on Sound Authors. Go check out Johnny’s music at johnnyhelm.com. Have a great week and pick up a good book.

Posted by jamie | Filed Under Pop, TRANSCRIPTS, Folk, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST