€9 //
Edition of 70 //
https://ztapes.bandcamp.com/album/johnny-utah //
Confession: I've been trying for years to do sneak-attack interviews with artists. The first one I think I tried was via a Facebook post (I responded with a question to an artist and tried to keep it going with more questions) I tried to do this with Johnny Utah via Twitter but as with most cases as to why I've not posted one of these guerrilla style interviews yet is because the people I'm typing to lose interest and stop responding. On one hand, I'd be concerned this means that whenever I ask someone a question they'll think it's an ambush interview (I like that-- let's trademark that one!) but what I'm even more concerned with is whether or not this means my normal interviews suck and those who partake wish they could bail after the first few questions.
Insecurities aside, Johnny Utah is in fact the name of Keanu Reeves' character in "Point Break" which is such an underrated movie because of Patrick Swayze and the fact that the guy from the RHCP was in it as a surfer as well (Though, as I was reassured by Johnny Utah himself, this cassette does not sound like RHCP, thank goodness) But who could forget the time that Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah wanted to shoot Patrick Swayze but couldn't do it so he just got mad and cried and shot his gun into the air? I feel like a lot of this music sounds like that only not. I mean, at least it's not surf rock.
While Johnny Utah maintains a sense of bedroom pop rock, there are also elements of Beck in here. This is odd to me because the cover art for this cassette is of someone cutting their own hair and there is also a song called "Her Bangs", so these things combined make me think of "Devil's Haircut". Though I'm not sure if there is a connection between Beck and "Point Break" but if there is I'm sure someone will point it out for me. I also need to point out that this sounds like Beck in the way that he might be a core influence but what sounds actually come out seem to stem from him in the way that they're kind of like Beck but not (and if that doesn't make sense to you now it will when you hear this)
Dreamy, acoustic guitars, drum machine beats and lyrics you should pay extra close attention to, these six songs from Johnny Utah really make me want to hear more. "Point Break" came out in 1991 and I probably saw it the following year somehow so you have to think that movie has been with me for a while. Gary Busey and Lori Petty (fucking Tank Girl!!) have had me watching that movie I don't even know how many times. On some level, I feel like this cassette has a similar sense of familiarity as it's something I look forward to listening to for years to come.
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