A Life in Music with Alain Johannes

‘I am interested in coming up with something timeless…’

Pictures by Tom Bronowski tombronowski.com

Revered for his insane ability as a writer, musician and producer, Alain Johannes is always in demand, but right now he’s shining a light on his own body of brilliant work with a UK tour, which will see him visit Milton Keynes. Pulse’s Sammy Jones spoke with him…

Whether in the studio environment, working solo or having others utilising his talents as a collaborator, if Alain Johannes has a hand in the music-making, it’s guaranteed to bring gold to the ears.

We don’t have the space to list the roll call of artists Alain has worked with in full, but he has been trusted by Chris Cornell, No Doubt, Mark Lanegan, Jimmy Eat World, Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys.

He has spent time in PJ Harvey’s band and as a touring member of Them Crooked Vultures he took the stage night after night with Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme.

And yet he seems to evade the limelight, going about his art largely unchecked. How does that happen?
“Personality wise, I have always been a very kind of contextual musician or person – I prefer to be part of a family or a group or a duo. I am a pretty good fit for Josh or Mark, because they can rely on me to sometimes carry the heavy load and do so invisibly and still retain all the glory.

“I am not really interested in that part, I am interested in the end result – and coming up with something timeless,” he suggests.

“Mark and I could rock out 80% of a record, and really quickly. He had this way of silently communicating and I had a way of silently perceiving what he was hearing in his head and manifesting it for him. He was really happy about that, because he didn’t really like being in the studio,” Alain laughs, “You are pretty exposed when you go in a studio – especially if you are a genius like him…”

Understand Alain’s history and it will come as no surprise that he made music his life.

Alain’s family were a part of the nueva ola, or the ‘new wave’ and his Uncle Peter was instrumental, no pun intended, in Alain’s formative years: “He was kinda my childhood hero. He was very extroverted – he walked into the room and commanded.

“He could do the most insane Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr and Louis Armstrong imitations, not only playing trumpet but the voice and the physical comedy of it too. He played guitar, bass, keys, drums, he was a multi-instrumentalist, so there was always music in the house.”
Alain soaked it in and developed an early obsession with The Beatles.

“In ‘66 I was four and they were all over the radio. I would throw tantrums until I got their singles,” he says, laughing at the memory, “My grandpa had a guitar and when Uncle Peter came over, he showed me all the chords. It just basically started from there.

“When he would visit he would take over the house – my mum would allow him to rehearse his band – there was a full recording and playing set up in the living room.

“The band were into getting high and having fun so they would leave the instruments alone and I had carte blanche to play them and learn to record.”

Before he was in double figures, he had been exposed to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and King Crimson, and had developed a healthy interest in every part of music making.

In 1990, Alain formed alt-rock band Eleven with his partner Natasha Shneider (‘the most talented person I’ve ever met’), which was swelled by drummer Jack Irons.

Alain and Natasha were a formidable musical force; in life, in music, and in helping others to realise their musical ambitions.
Eleven released five albums before Natasha passed away in 2008.

“It was a huge shock because we hadn’t been casually together for 25 years, we had been in the same room for 25 years, to the point that when our friends started having children they would call us Alain and Natasha together – they saw us as one unit.

“I would never have imagined having a solo career if it wasn’t for needing to make a record for Natasha, about Natasha and about loss and love and the blessing of finding your soul mate.

“It’s amazing how many people say that record, Spark, actually helped them with their grieving process. If I over-thought it, it would be a huge responsibility.

“Those songs can’t be casually played, I have to embody them.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the devastation around the loss of his partner, Alain’s memories of recording that opus are few.
“I went into the studio and came out with a record four days later. I don’t remember anything about it, I drank like a bottle of vodka a day, and I was really speaking to Natasha in my mind. It was almost like a weird trip, you know?

“Every time I made a solo record I could feel her in the room, there is like a presence inside me.
“When I experience life I experience it for both of us.”

Alain has had to suffer loss more than most with key collaborators Lanegan and Cornell also checking out ahead of time.
“Now I feel like Chris, Mark and Natasha are all sitting in my head going, ‘Yeah, no, how about this?’ Not in a creepy kinda way, but in a magical way.

“Sometimes people go, “Oh, here he goes talking about Natasha again,” but I don’t want people to forget. I want people to actually know that she was here and how amazing she was, and to pay attention, you know? That’s all.”

Grief is a constant: “I’m surprised how it doesn’t weaken very often, it comes in waves and it is almost like there is a part of it that is not processable.”

Alain is speaking with us from Chile, where he is currently staying in a little rented property off grid, ‘There’s no address!’ he laughs, “But there is a river, 50ft trees, and a pool,” and his life as a touring musician and producer means he gets more rays than most, too: “I get to have three summers a year, that’s really abusive on my part!”

Living apart from the toxicities of modern life sounds perfect to us, and it is for Alain who has struggled with disquiet: “It comes from seeing the world as it actually is and then imagining what it could be at the same time,” he reasons, “I remember being a kid and watching adults around me behave a certain way, and not understanding why. I was already super aware of racism and religious intolerance and all that stuff when I was young. Why are people so awful?

“I think that tension created a lot of the anxiety that I have.”

To the music that matters right now, and there are plans for a new solo release and an album of material from Drink the Sea (an eight legged ensemble also featuring Peter Buck from REM, Barrett Martin and Duke Garwood) just for starters, but imminently, Alain will be here in the new city, for one of his UK dates.

Scottish risers Earl of Hell and their ‘fiery rhythms and ominous lyrics’ have been working UK crowds hard this year, stage sharing on tours with Masters of Reality, and Brant Bjork, who they joined at The Craufurd Arms in January.

They will support Alain, and then return as his band on this tour. The two parties joined forces last year for a small run which worked spectacularly well. A second stint was a no-brainer.

It’ll be a chance for fans to engage with Alain’s solo work, and listen to some Lanegan and Cornell material… a mix of the marvellous.
Is there ever a day Alain doesn’t give in to the lure of instrumentation?

“Very rare. I am looking at about 35 instruments right now – a bansuri which is a classical flute, an alto-sax, flute, trumpet, violin, sarangi which is a stringed instrument from India, a sitar, a mandolin, a harmonium, a few acoustics and a few electrics…”

Follow Alain on his Instagram account (with its organic following numbering close to 70,000 followers) and you’ll know he is a prolific engager on the platform, with clips of him at play figuring heavily.

“If I don’t do it for a couple of days I start to feel a little disconnected, you know?” he shares, “Instagram is almost like a sketchpad…”
And this artist has more creativity than there are pages. Great news for fans and collaborators alike.

Alain Johannes plays The Craufurd Arms on Thursday, May 8.
To book tickets visit www.thecraufurdarms.com
Keep check on Instagram: @alainjohannes