(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Watch out, Bob Marley, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ben Harper. Former professional surfer Jack Johnson is looking for the musical backpacker throne.
If you step up and down the light trails for backpacker tourists in Southeast Asia, you quickly stumble across quantities of pirated CDs to the 5-25 krone piece. And these are the same plates that are left, whether you are in China, Hanoi or Khao San Road in Bangkok. Bob Marley and Red Hot Chili Peppers are commoners there at home, but at the same time there are deviations from Norwegian record stores. In 2001, the plates of American Ben Harper dominated, and this year he received competition from his friend and colleague Jack Johnson.
Pirate Hero
Of course, it is a shared pleasure to become a cold hero when it comes to pirated discs, and Jack Johnson has probably sold far more pirated discs in Khao San Road than legal albums in Norway. While Johnson plays at cafes and pubs throughout Southeast Asia, the backpackers are slowly but surely bringing Johnson's music home. Now he's just back with his third album, In Between Dreams (Brushfire Records / Universal 2005), and the pirates in Asia have guaranteed to heat up the CD burners already.
Who is this Jack Johnson? He is a guy who struggles to fail, no matter what he tries. Growing up in Hawaii, he was well into a professional surfing career when he was 17 years. While studying film in California, he started writing songs, and he got the outlet for all his creative pages as he produced and wrote music for the surf documentary Thicker Than Water in 1999.
It turned out that the music was close to Johnson's heart, and he was quickly discovered by like-minded role models such as G. Love and Ben Harper – who were both inspired by blues, hip hop, reggae and acoustic pop on a par with Johnson. Harper contributed to the debut album Brushfire fairyles (Enjoy 2001), where Johnson pairs his acoustic shows in the James Taylor tradition with blues sense and hard hip-hop-inspired rhythm.
Slow success
Brushfire fairyles was no immediate success, but grew bigger and bigger. After three years it had sold to platinum and its sequels On and On (The Moonshine Conspiracy Records / Universal 2003) and In Between Dreams follows the same relaxed formula – this time with solid assistance from producer Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion). The songs are not particularly sensational with the first encounter, but their summery charm and melancholy strength come creeping up after months, even years, with listening.
Then we know who Jack Johnson is, but why does he strike so well among backpackers? If we look at the similarities with other great backpacking heroes, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ben Harper, we see several similarities. He writes light and summery pop songs, but it is not to be assumed that the music is characterized by a melancholy basic mood. This is music that is perfect for a cold beer on the beach in a tropical climate, but they are just as good as a soundtrack for reflection, love grief, loneliness – and not least homesickness. Jack Johnson makes music for hot summer evenings, while showing that a hot summer is not all you need to be happy.
While we're backpacking heroes: Colleague Ben Harper took his music a step further last year There Will Be a Light (Virgin 2004), a collaboration with gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama. Harper has released several brilliant albums with his unique mix of rock, reggae, soul and blues, but showed signs of toothlessness on Diamonds on the Inside (Virgin 2003). With this collaboration, Harper is revitalized. It was initially only intended as a possible Harper guest play on the upcoming gospel veterans' upcoming record, but the collaboration quickly evolved into something more.
Harper was so inspired that he wrote seven new songs, and suddenly we ended up with a brand new and solid gospel rock album. The Harper and Alabama guys won a well-deserved Grammy Award in the gospel class, and the album is already in place in Khao San Road. Pick up the backpack yourself, or just as easily go down to the nearest record store – then the musicians will also get some money for their efforts.
