The first I heard of The Hidden Hooks in June, 2008, when they were set to play at the Radio Free Silver Lake's now-retired Let's Independent! event that month with The Parson Red Heads and Buddy. At that point, I had only been blogging for a month. I had struck up a friendship with Joe Fielder earlier in the year when I was thinking of starting a blog, and asked his advice.
Joe and I were emailing each other and he said I should check out The Hidden Hooks on myspace, as he thought I would like them and want to come to the show. I liked what I heard so I went to Boardner's to see and listen.
It was a bit of a surprise to all, I think Joe included, that The Hidden Hooks were just one guy and his recorded samples, dubs and guitar. All that beautiful music I heard on myspace was the product of one Chris Johnson. I, and the rest of the assembled audience, were flabbergasted. I attended most of the Let's Independent! that last year and I never saw a Boardner's crowd so still and attentive -- especially for a solo performer.
Joe and I were emailing each other and he said I should check out The Hidden Hooks on myspace, as he thought I would like them and want to come to the show. I liked what I heard so I went to Boardner's to see and listen.
It was a bit of a surprise to all, I think Joe included, that The Hidden Hooks were just one guy and his recorded samples, dubs and guitar. All that beautiful music I heard on myspace was the product of one Chris Johnson. I, and the rest of the assembled audience, were flabbergasted. I attended most of the Let's Independent! that last year and I never saw a Boardner's crowd so still and attentive -- especially for a solo performer.
Granted, he was on first and early, so the crowd was rather sparse, but all were won over by the music. His songs were each little gems of various shades of indie rock. It seemed like the work of an artist searching, yet so sure of his own musical instincts, that it felt, not like uncertainty, but exploration. I was struck by how sophisticated and melodic the music was.
After his set I went up to meet him and he was gracious and polite and perhaps a bit shy. This was his first public performance, I was told, and I got his CD, which I was anxious to own, and he thanked me for the kind words.
Flash forward 11 months... I'm now writing for Radio Free Silver Lake, and I'm doing my first band spotlight on The Hidden Hooks in conjunction with the release of some new material. I got in touch with Chris recently and asked how he developed his interest in music.
Raised in the Norwalk/Whittier/La Mirada area, it was his dad who mostly peaked his desire to make music. Being a musician who was in bands during Chris' early years and before, he was able to teach his son to play guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. Apart from encouraging frequent practice, that was the extent of Chris' formal music education.
Currently a resident of Los Feliz, he maintains the recording studio his parents let him build in his old room at the family home and he spends a lot of time there when he can. It gives him a place to go just to create music.
He has no band at the moment, but has in the past and enjoyed the camaraderie, so he is open to the possibility. The same with touring, if the opportunity arose, though it would have to fit his work schedule. He works as an assistant in a high school library (which was why I made some comment about librarians when I met him).
I admit, I'm surprised at how many of the musicians in bands I meet hold down regular jobs. Without that decades old environment where greasy music executives are doling out money to bands, hand over fist, these guys have to get up in the morning and go to work. It must seem to some like there will never be any money made from making music, but, ironically, it's exactly that fact that has freed their creativity to make music exactly the way they want to. And their day jobs keep them grounded and centered like no generation of musicians I've ever seen.
It's music fans like myself who are, probably, reaping the greatest rewards out of all this Us and history. Because this music, as epitomized by the elegant and literate output of The Hidden Hooks, will never go away. I feel like the recipient of a great gift. Lucky to be here in this time and place.
I want to thank Chris Johnson for allowing me to share this information with you. He hopes to have an opportunity to play more shows and when he does, I will be there. His new CD, Leviathon Blues, is at least as good as the best of the last CD. From what I've heard, he continues to develop as a musician and writer on songs like the intriguing "Gertrude Stein" and "Matchlock". The CD is available to download on his blogspot page here.
There's a rueful poignancy to his compositions that is always a major component in my favorite music and often provides the emotional connection. The Hidden Hooks deliver it in an intriguing and varied mixture of sound samples that give the music the grand sweep of a band like Gangi, and orchestral flourishes that remind me of Grizzly Bear, or the bare simplicity of a Chad VanGaalen. I'm very impressed.
Related Links:
- The Hidden Hooks Interview
- Girl, Don't You Get Buried MP3
- When The Silence Squeezes MP3
Related Links:
- The Hidden Hooks Interview
- Girl, Don't You Get Buried MP3
- When The Silence Squeezes MP3
yeah-- I was at that show... he was amazing-- I also went to say hello after the set-- really hoping to see the hidden hooks perform again soon.
- Jacob Summers
Posted by: Jacob Summers | May 03, 2009 at 01:18 PM