B.A. Johnston may not be able to read a calendar, but he sure can put on a good show.
He returns to Lethbridge, Tuesday, April 21 after rescheduling a show which was supposed to be on Thursday, April 23 at the Owl Acoustic Lounge with local punk trio Advertisement and Internet Love.
“ I can’t read a calendar,” he said from Victoria, in the middle of the tour for his latest CD, “ Shit Sucks.”.
“ I double booked myself,” he said.
“ Thursdays are better usually, but whatever,” he said adding despite the bad press Lethbridge has received due to Marilyn Manson getting punched at Denny’s after his April 4 concert, he looks forward to playing Lethbridge.
“ That feels like the sort of thing that would happen in Medicine Hat, not Lethbridge,” he deadpanned.
Making fun of the town he plays in and neighbouring/ competing towns is as much part of B.A. Johnston’s show as is his self deprecating humour and quirky, original battered guitar and keyboard powered songs about fast food, McDonald’s Coupon day, the deep fryer in his basement, douchebag doormen, zombies and life's little foibles.
“I better not go to Denny’s, I might get punched. But it’s certainly become a big story. I don’t know what happened. Some say Marilyn was being a jerk, others says the other guy was,” he said adding sometimes people want to fight him at his shows.
“ I’ve had people who want to start something. Especially in Prince Edward Island. They can be hillbillies there. I just avoid them though,” he said adding he enjoys Lethbridge.
“ Other than my show where the guy almost died, audiences are usually well behaved there. They listen. They buy CDs and T-Shirts. They’re a good T-shirt audience. And they smell nicer,” he said referring to a show at Henotic a few years ago where one of the patrons put his hand through a glass and wire window.
He said the tour has gone well as has response to the new album.
I usually have one bad album and one good album. But people are buying lots of these. And it has been getting lots of play on college radio. So I must have two average albums in a row,” he said agreeing the songs are a little more mature than usual.
“ I’m just feeling older I guess and it’s seeping into my songwriting,” he said.
He turns serious on one song “ The Ballad of Wheeler about the actor who played the character of Wheeler on Degrassi Jr. High who passed away without anybody knowing about it for two days.
“It started out as a joke song, but you can’t joke about a story like that. It’s such a strange story and he’s from Hamilton,” said the Hamilton based Johnston.
He doesn’t know if he will wrote more serious songs, as people listen to him for his lighter fare.
“Time will tell. You’ve got to do what the audience wants. I should just write more songs about fast food. I can’t get enough of those,” he said.
He is looking forward to the Lethbridge show.
“ The Owl does these shows right. Usually there are a couple of great local bands on the bill, so their fans come out. Advertisement is on this one — that’s Ryan from Fist City’s band. And it’s an early show. It will be done by midnight. I hate it when a bar asks you to play until 2 a.m. on a Tuesday night. People don’t want to be there that late. They’ve got work and school. Kids don’t drink like they used to,” he continued.
“I’ve got new sweaters, new jokes and new songs but other than that, it will be pretty much the same thing,” he said.
“So come out and out some money in the jar,” he said.
There is no cover for the show , which begins at 9:10 p.m., Tuesday, April 21.
