I know very few people who would die for rock 'n' roll. In fact, I know very few people who would volunteer to even be mildly inconvenienced in the name of rock 'n' roll. It's an unlikely comfort, then, that one of my personal heroes, Calvin Johnson, was willing to sacrifice a finger for the music that's been such a large part of his life for the last two decades.
Even without the finger incident, Johnson's legacy has been well established. In the early '80s, he founded Beat Happening, a highly influential indie-rock band, started his own label (Olympia's K Records) and moved into the '90s mentoring such essential artists as Beck, Built to Spill and Modest Mouse. He's spent the majority of the last decade working in his playful, hit or miss collective the Dub Narcotic Sound System.
Early this month Johnson mangled his finger while pressing his band's latest 12 inch single, \Handclappin'."" The fact that Johnson still presses his own singles gives you some insight into his workaholic tendencies and attitudes toward independent music, but he probably could have chosen a better single to mangle a finger over, as ""Handclappin'"" falters somewhat. Johnson's voice, an immediately recognizable, almost inhuman baritone, sounds unusually out of place on the song, while the tired groove and forced whimsy threaten to reduce Dub Narcotic's sound to a formula. The track fails to pack the punch of Dub Narcotic's earlier singles (such as the infamous ""Fuck Shit Up,"") which succeeded by counterbalancing Johnson's bubblegum tendencies with just a hint of grit.
Thankfully, the upcoming Handclappin' EP's other tracks fair better, especially the melodica-laced ""Petrolbzz (Version),"" and ""Sabley Goodness,"" a song that allows drummer Heather Dunn to take an unlikely turn on vocals. Dunn, for those who are counting, also drummed on Dennis Driscoll's Voices in the Fog, one of most endearing folk albums in recent memory, released last year on K Records. On that album, Dunn kept time about as well as a one-armed seven year-old, yet managed to make it sound appropriate. Her loose playing suits Dub Narcotic equally well.
Driscoll, along with the hype-worthy bands like The Gossip and The Microphones, are just the latest in a seemingly endless line of artists that Johnson has played a large role in exposing to the music community outside of Washington. With K Records, Johnson almost single-handedly created Olympia's diverse independent music scene, a scene that he hasn't stopped supporting for more than 20 years. Frankly, I'm jealous of Olympia for having the guy. Madison's scattered music scene could benefit from someone like him. It's not that our local musicians don't hold any promise, rather they simply lack the kind of organization and dedication that Johnson brought to Washington.
Hopefully, our city will learn a thing or two from him this Sunday when he brings the Dub Narcotic Sound System to Madison's Club 770, at Union South. Sure, the venue's airport cafeteria sensibilities leave something to be desired, but it's hard to complain about the chance to see a living legend for free.
