Johnston, Creosote share songs, laughter
Kim Dorland is a Canadian artist known for his “extreme” contemporary oil sculpturelike paintings which explore his life experiences through a visceral eye.
Dorland’s image of a Red Deer has great significance for venerable keys master Michael Johnston, of The Skydiggers and (now folded Scottish/Canadian band) The Burns Unit.
Dorland’s painting represents a special bond that Johnston has developed over the past decade with acclaimed Scottish singer/ songwriter (old Burns Unit member) Kenny Anderson a.k.a. King Creosote.
The pair who met in 2006 at Scottish writing songwriting retreat Burnsong — often played shows together over the years.
Johnston recalled a key moment they had together driving home in the wee hours after a gig.
“A deer jumped in front of Kenny’s car to the point where it was like you were looking at it in the eye. Somehow we did not hit it and it was one of those oncein-a-lifetime things. Your life can go one way or the other and that night our lives could have in fact gone in a really different way. It is just a split second and needless to say we were awake for the rest of the drive home!” said Johnston.
“As it happens there’s an image of a deer that artist Kim Dorland had done,” notes Johnston. “And all of those things work together to suggest that album title which I think in many ways represents the improbability of the collision of Kenny and I as friends for a decade. ,” said Johnston adding that Dorland’s intriguing deer on the cover is the perfect image for that fateful night.
Johnston, who began playing piano at age eight, got his first big break opening for the Barenaked Ladies, and then The Skydiggers who asked him to join the band.
His career has continued to flourish over the past 25 years.
In addition to King Creosote, and Burns Unit, Johnston, has appeared on or contributed to more than 50 albums including Junowinners Jim Cuddy, Amelia Curran, Stephen Fearing (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings), Serena Ryder, Cindy Church (Quartette), Oh Susanna, Lynn Miles, Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies), and Ruth Moody (The Wailin’ Jennys), as well as with Juno-nominees Justin Rutledge, Royal Wood, The Monkey Bunch. He has also worked with Joel Plaskett, Chris Gifford of Squeeze, and Emma Pollock of The Delgados. He appeared (with the Burns Unit) on the British late-night variety show “Later with Jools Holland (with John Paul Jones, Seasick Steve, Charlie Haden) plus BBC Radio 6 with Mark Riley.
And recently Johnston contributed piano, accordion, organ and keyboard to the soundtrack for noted Canadian film “Maudie” scored by (Cowboy Junkies producer) Michael Timmins. Acclaimed alt-rock royal King Creosote has released more than 40 albums. He has been nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Scottish Album of the Year Award and hails from the tiny burg of Anstruther, in Fife, Scotland.
He met Johnston through Scottish music man (now Kitchener resident) Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub.
“Kenny and I were in the same room for three hours and managed to write two songs. What a way to become fast friends. It was speed-dating for musicians,” said Johnston with a laugh.
“The great irony of our relationship despite that initial really intense time together is that of course most of our connections have been spread out seeing each other every six months or every year. So we have these bursts of really intense hang-time and creative time followed by lots of absence,” notes Johnston.
“The Bound of the Red Deer” is the result of those sessions. The songs are majestic and lyrically haunting, with a rich ambience. This collaboration is a joyous meld of Creosote’s melodic vocals and Johnston’s spare elegant arrangements from the lush ballads “Round and Round” to “Will You Wait for Me” and “Since We Have Fallen Out” to Johnston’s son’s ode “Supermoon” and his sublime piano soundscape on instrumental “Billows Roll. ”
Johnston says there is one song on the album — a silly not-so-hidden track — that reveals who he and Creosote are on stage and what they are like when they are together.
“It’s “Inukshuks,” says Johnston with a laugh referring the 2012 tour when he and the sharp-witted Scot were travelling through Sudbury to Manitoulin Island past tons of “little man-made creations on the side of the road.”
“When we are driving together we go into imagined sitcom characters,” says Johnston. “Kenny brought the absolute absurdity of being this ignorant Scotsman looking at so many inukshuks all at once. But it was just so ridiculous when you are driving this long stretch in Ontario,”
“I think there is a real seriousness to the record. I do not think it is a dark record but it certainly is not a dance record. And at the very least “Inukshuks” is really who we are. We like to make each other laugh.”