Trained in the “school of gigging,” Johns grew up in Elyria, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, taking every rock, soul, and gospel gig he could find. Meanwhile, he was training his fingers on a steady diet of Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, and especially Rocco Prestia, his bass lodestar. Eventually his hard work paid off in touring stints with Jimi Hendrix’s Band Of Gypsies drummer Buddy Miles, as well with guitarist Neil Zaza. But compositionally, he always had his eyes on bigger—as in larger—bands. “Look at the horn lines in Tower Of Power, Earth Wind & Fire, Blood Sweat & Tears, and old Chicago … I used to wear those records out!” You don’t need to listen further than the album’s first track, “Scrumpt,” to hear all of Johns’ bass and compositional influences come together in one, huge, swinging groove.
Unafraid to let some midrange and fret noise color the notes, Johns’ ultra-tight finger staccato has a unique squonk to it, giving his fearsome facility on the bass a trademark tone. Ironically, Johns cites his roots in the greater Cleveland area (where he still lives today) as fertile ground for his ideas, even though the local scene isn’t as well known as those in the more famous neighboring cities. “I think sometimes the isolation gives you a truer soul release; it makes you come up with your own groove. You have to come up with something, and it better not be half-stepping.”
Two years after his self-titled debut, Pocket Fulla Nasty is anything but half-stepping, with jaw-dropping bass work sprinkled liberally throughout the disc. There’s also an evolution in Johns’ writing and playing, with fewer songs overall, tighter forms, and a more pure distillation of his trademark compositional sound in each song. His how-to is pretty simple. “Be musical first!” Johns emphatically advises. “Look at YouTube … there’s cats out there with chops I can’t touch. But Chicago, TOP, Earth Wind & Fire—that’s music there.”—
CAN BE HEARD ON
Doug Johns, Pocket Fulla Nasty [2008] Doug Johns, Doug Johns [2006] Both available at Dougjohns.com
CURRENTLY SPINNING
Trilok Gurtu, Living Magic [1990, CMP] Jaco Pastorius, Live in NYC Volume 1 [1990, Big World] Tower of Power, In the Slot [1975, Warner Bros.] – “I’m working on TOP’s ‘Ebony Jam’ right now…talk about funk school 101!”
GEAR
Basses Pedulla Buzz 4-string, Fodera Monarch 6-string, Tobias Growler 5-string, Custom Jon Hill custom 4-string
Live Rig Eden WT-800 head, Eden D-210T 2x10 and D-410XLT 4x10 cabs; Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 and 3.0 heads, Genz Benz Uber Bass GB-410TUB- 4 4x10 and GB 210T-UB 2x10 cabs; Lexicon Jam Man, EV RE-2 Wireless
Effects Pigtronix OFO Disnortion, Pigtronix EP-1 Envelope Phaser, Dunlop 95Q wah, Boss SD-2 dual overdrive, Boss OC-2 Octave, Radial J48 D.I.
Studio Eden W-T 800 or Genz Shuttle 6.0, direct into Ableton’s Live via MOTU 896 interface “While you’ll always find an Eden in my toolbox, recently I’ve been doing most of my live gigs with the Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 into an Uber 4Ω cab. Of all the companies that are making big sounds in small packages, Genz’s Shuttle really is the best of the bunch. I’m old school, and I love a big amp, but with all of the travel I do, Genz has really got it right!”