In the 1980s Johnny Jetson began performing as a teenager playing clubs on N.Y.C.’s gritty lower east-side. In the early 1990s he relocated to Los Angeles arriving with only his guitar and a dream and eventually becoming a fixture of the L.A. music community, playing practically every club and venue in the city of angels. In 1997 Johnny joined forces with fellow ex-New Yorker and Warrior Soul front man Kory Clarke to form Space Age Playboys. The band was the first unsigned band in the history of the internet to achieve 100,000 downloads of a song via MP3.com. SAP shared the stage with many notable bands including Metallica, Motorhead, Lacuna Coil and Backyard Babies. Jetson has also reformed his band, Tattooed Millionaires.
Born in Miami Beach Florida in the historic year of 1968 and later raised in the suburbs of New York City. Johnny was given a guitar at the age of five and now four decades later has proven Jetson to be one of the most influential underground rock and roll songwriters of his generation. Praise for Johnny’s songwriting and musicianship have come from many of his heroes and influences. In the words of both Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) and Ace Frehley (Kiss) Johnny’s guitar sound is “the best we’ve heard in years”. According to Evan Seinfeld (BioHazard/Spyderz) Johnny is the “man of a thousand riffs”. Phil Lewis (L.A. Guns) has remarked that Johnny has “a great image and great songs”. Over the years Johnny has written and recorded with such artists as Snoop Dogg, Tommy Lee (Motley Crue), Space Age Playboys, and Chris Verrna (NIN).
Johnny Jetson has also been called a “marketing genius” by none other than famed industry executive Tony Ferguson who was instrumental in the careers of No Doubt, Bush, Snoop Dogg and Eminem. Johnny’s newest project is his first solo album entitled “The Father, The Son and the Ghost of Rock and Roll”.
What can I say about Johnny Jetson that hasn’t been said before? Nothing, except to concentrate on the music, which speaks much louder than words could ever do. “The Father, The Son and the Ghost of Rock and Roll” is a superb mix of brilliant songwriting, profound lyrics, abrasive guitars and stunning melody that harks back to a time when rock n’ roll was the centerpiece of musical attraction.
Johnny Jetson is one of the few rock artists whose sound hits you hard instantly yet manages to maintain that initial sensation listen after listen. You won’t get bogged down with the weight of overused production wizardry here. This is music you can hum to it, bob your head to, sing to, and just rejoice in its gritty and jangly guitar movements from track to roaring track.
The melody and bittersweet beauty just under the rocking surface is probably the music’s most alluring ingredient. Apparently the album comes out of a time of significant pain and loss for Jetson, symbolizing a man drawing on his strength and love from others to pick up the pieces and move on. This album is fuming with originality, ferocity, emotional introspection and some of the coolest rock n’ roll bass lines and guitar riffs around. Sometimes perfection is defined in the simplest of terms and Jetson has the formula imprinted in his soul. Straight chords, driving rhythms, crunchy riffs, brief intense guitar solos, and lots of vocal melody!
“The Father, The Son and the Ghost of Rock and Roll” is loud, raunchy, and diverse, moving at a frenetic pace. This album is not comparable to anything out there today…simply because there is no-one is able to make this kind of music anymore!
This is the sound of what current alternative rock, is primarily built on. No band does authentically pure, straightforward rock n’ roll as good as Johnny Jetson does on this album. And it is not just in the playing or performance styles. The authenticity resides in the recording and production of the 10 tracks which make up the album. It has that brash, piercing, organic aura that modern digital recordings are just not able to capture anymore. It leaps out of the speakers with a certain urgent and excited energy, which Jetson gets just right!
There isn’t a song, word or note on this recording that isn’t absolutely essential to the overall theme of the album, so searching for standout tracks seems a pointless task. However the more ear-catching songs for me include: Behind The Sun, Driving Is The Only Way To Fly, It Could Have Been Love, Save Me From Myself and You’re Not The Only One.
Johnny Jetson forges the prototype sound of the ideal rock n’ roll band; the kind that you fantasized about, playing in your garage or bedroom while growing up…when you still played six-stringed instruments, and not keyboard pads on tablet computers, laptops or pc’s!!!
Album Credits:
Produced By John Mercer Jr. For Minnie-Apple Records And Tapes.
Written, Recorded, Mixed And Mastered By Johnny Jetson
All instruments by: Johnny Jetson except drums on Save Me From Myself by Johnny Strutt
Artwork and layout by Johnny Jones
Contact:
Johnny Jetson is represented by Elena Hernandez @ Excite Entertainment Enterprises.
805.602.7202 excite.entertainment.etrprs@gmail.com
OFFICIAL LINKS: Facebook – Twitter – Youtube – Album Stream/Download
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