Plastic ‘oh no’ land
Hitmaker and eco warrior Jack spotlights pollution ruining his paradise island’s shores
Jack Johnson – professional surfer turned multimillion-selling hitmaker – captures the sound of tropical paradise. But on the cover of his new, seventh, album All The Light Above It Too, the Hawaiian eco activist highlights a darker side to his island home.
Jack’s pictured surrounded by the plastic debris which regularly washes up on its idyllic shores.
“Hawaii is definitely a beautiful place with a beautiful culture and it was an amazing place to grow up,” he says.
“But just like anywhere, it has its problems. There are some of the most beautiful, amazing valleys, waterfalls and beaches, but on the beaches now there’s plastic building up everywhere.
“We are sort of like a filter out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for all this plastic pollution.”
On All The Light, 42-year-old Jack continues the trouble-inparadise theme that has run through his acclaimed career.
The legendary Byrds founder David Crosby was an early admirer of his consummate style.
“He called me out of nowhere and told me he loved my first album,” says Jack. “I thought it was just one of my friends playing a trick on me so I was a little defensive at first.”
But Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke gave him the biggest compliment of his career. “He told me I was a human drum set. He said my hands were my kick and snare drum on my guitar and my mouth was my hi-hat taking care of the syncopation.”
Despite his success, Jack retains the same laid-back unaffected character that makes his music so amiable.
“Everybody that I surrounded myself with from the very beginning are the same people that are still around me,” he says.
“My sound guy is the same guy who used to watch me play to a half empty small bar. So after a show he is allowed to tell me, ‘You guys really bombed tonight’ or laugh about something that I did that was really embarrassing.
“Having friends around that don’t feel like they have to tread lightly is important.”
While Jack admits the Trump administration has set back the eco causes he holds dear, he’s encouraged by the work of local green charities across the States.
He encountered Trump early in his career, appearing on Saturday Night Live when the future president hosted it. “The only time I got to see him was at the end when we were all waving goodbye,” he says. “I did get to slip him a quick bunny ears.” After almost 50 years, Californian siblings Ron and Russell Mael are still going strong. Their 25th album finds them having a glorious laugh, using systemised electro, operatic interventions and lyrical drollery to conjure a mood that’s both giddy and lethally on the money. God addresses his minions in What The Hell Is It This Time? while Life With The Macbeths is a riproaring mini symphony, and Scandinavian Design is an ode to flat-pack furniture. Hippopotamus is, suitably, large.