Ripley Johnson
MANY artists have side projects, but few lead three great bands simultaneously, as Ripley Johnson has with Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo and Rose City Band. Recently he’s been concentrating on the latter, his psychedelic motorik-choogle project, who have just released their third album Earth Trip.
“Rose City Band is where I can follow only my own ideas,” Johnson explains on a call from ‘The Shed’, his garden studio in Portland, Oregon. “I’m definitely someone who wakes up in the morning with a song in their head. Because I can be obsessive and prolific when it comes to wanting to produce a lot of stuff, it’s nice to have an outlet that’s my own thing.”
During our trip through some of his catalogue’s highlights, Johnson recalls his gradual journey from San Francisco to Portland and how he’s evolved from fuzz-drenched guitars and smelly carpets to crystalline synths, cosmic country and the inspiration of the natural world.
“It’s cool because I’m an older person and there’s still growth. I still feel like I’m figuring everything out, especially when it comes to making sounds and recording and working with other people.” TOM PINNOCK
WOODEN SHJIPS
WOODEN SHJIPS
HOLY MOUNTAIN, 2007
The drone-rock quartet’s garagey debut, recorded in San Francisco’s Soma district
It’s been a journey from this record, for sure. This was the first LP I’d ever done with any band, so it was a new process for me. John Whitson from the Holy Mountain label contacted me after hearing our early releases and said, “Let’s do a record.” So I had to come up with the songs and we bought a tape machine and mixing desk so we could record in our rehearsal studio. The bass player, Dusty, works in sound recording and he bought the tape machine on Craigslist from someone who
