When we first started thinking about potential guests for the blog, Brant Bjork was one of the first few names on my list. His tenure behind the drum kit in Kyuss and Fu Manchu, produced some of my favorite albums, from two of my favorite bands. His solo work, now spanning two decades, provides me with just the right balance of chillin’ and rockin’ jams to sustain me on any given day. To me, he’s slowly become the embodiment of the Desert Rock sound that I love so much. But above that, his love of music speaks so loud through his work that I knew he would be a quality guest. It is with great pleasure that we offer you the conversation we had over the phone on a chilly December morning. – Ben F.
Check out Brant Bjork’s upcoming releases on Heavy Psych Sounds:
New album ‘Jacoozzi’ out April 5th on HPS Records – Preorder
‘Keep Your Cool’ reissue out April 12th – Preorder
What have you been listening too lately?
Well, I listen to different music depending on the season and usually, in the winter months, I like to listen to Jazz. The Jazz records I enjoy are by artists like CANNONBALL ADDERLEY, COLTRANE, DEXTER GORDON, ART BLAKEY. I like a lot of the 40’s, 50’s and early 60’s stuff.
How does the setting affects your playlist? Obviously seasons, but mood, location, etc.
If it’s casual listening, like if I’m making dinner for the family, or last night a friend and his girlfriend came over and we were just hanging out, I’ll throw on Blue Train by JOHN COLTRANE. It’s a great record that you can play in the background; it’s got vibe and energy and you can still have a conversation and be social. If I’m doing full-on critical listening or submerging myself, I have a chair and a lamp that I like to sit by and I’ll make myself a cocktail or have a smoke and I might play something like Monk’s Dream by THELONIOUS MONK. If the kids are in bed and everyone’s chilling out, then I can really go deep and get into it, you know.
How does that switch operate between approaching music analytically and casually? What triggers you going one side or another?
It kinda just naturally happens, based on what’s going on in my house. I have a crazy house with a lot of people that come and go a lot. I got the wife and the kids. If it’s mellow, then I’ll put a mellow record and I’ll get mellow. If it’s a circus, I’ll put on music that kinda jives with the energy, you know?
What’s the album you’ve listened to the most in your life?
Hum. (Pauses)
We have a lot of these head scratching questions like this so if any of it goes too deep, just tell me.
Oh, no, you couldn’t go too deep. Trust me. It’s probably a toss-up between two records that I’ve been listening to consistently, Disreali Gears by CREAM and Are You Experienced? by JIMI HENDRIX. I’ve probably listened to those two more than any other records ever.
What puts them on top?
I think they’re coming of age records. When I got turned on those records, I was a young kid, and I was deep into Punk Rock but I was also quickly realizing that I wanted something else. My soul wasn’t satisfied with Punk Rock. I had already built this curiosity about the 60’s and in Jimi Hendrix and some of the Southern music that I was hearing about, and seeing on TV and hearing on the radio. And, you know, I just finally had my money, I’d buy a record every couple weeks, I’d usually buy a punk rock record or something. I just remember one weekend, I was like, you know what, I’ll give this try. It was a big deal, man. I didn’t have a whole lot of money so every time I picked a record, it was kind of a big deal. I’d have to make the right choice. I finally said, go for it and I bought Are You Experienced?. I’m going to commit, I don’t care what my friends are listening to. I don’t care what people think is hip and cool anymore. I’m just going to buy what I am instinctively and intuitively feeling and sensing and it was kind of a life changer.
How did your relationship with music evolve throughout the years? Let’s start with this: do you remember the first time that you really enjoyed music?
My parents raised me and they enjoyed music. So music was on in the house and they were older than most of my peers’ parents. They were from the 50’s so the first wave of Rock and Roll was something that was common in my house growing up, you know, JERRY LEWIS and FATS DOMINO, CHUCK BERRY and all that. RAY CHARLES. That’s probably when I was exposed and first started getting excited about music, and then I was into the radio, I would hear like leftover 60’s and 70’s Classic Rock on the radio as a kid. And then like, 80’s music, and there’d be the odd song that I enjoyed. Then in the neighborhood, kids were still into the 70’s Rock thing like KISS and QUEEN and TED NUGENT. So as a young kid I was around pretty good music. I just absorbed it.
What is it that catches your attention when listening to new music?
Well, after all these years of dedicating my life to music and loving music and having a passion for it, I’ve always tried to think about what it is about music that touches me. What kind of music really touches me and what it does and how. Because there’s so much music out there in the world and there’s more today than ever before, of course. I mean, there’s so much. I think for me, it’s not really about genre. I love Rock, I love Jazz and Blues, Funk. I love, you know, Classical and soundtracks and all kinds of stuff. But for me, really, it’s kind of like food, ah! If it has soul. Music that has soul to me is what makes it enjoyable, makes it nutritious. The most powerful element is the element that you can’t really see or hear. It’s hard to describe and it’s hard to define and it’s hard to pinpoint but it’s felt. It’s a feeling and it’s soul. That’s what I want. That’s what I’ve been studying and searching for as a young person up till now. That’s what I create on my own. Ultimately I feel like I create soul music. And because I’m hearing more and more music in the world, sometimes, I get a little depressed because I feel like I’m hearing less and less soul in the music. Again, it’s kind of like food. It just gets less and less nutritious, and it’s more processed. It’s more of a commodity that’s got no value. It’s just for consumption. Mindless, unaware consumption. Music, I think, over the years, has been kind of falling into this unfortunate situation as well. We just got to keep making real musical soul.
To be honest, that’s one of the reasons why we started this project. To get people to talk about music and what it means to them and just get to the heart of it. Like, why are people listening to music? So, yeah, I hear you.
Awesome.
What are your favorite means of discovering new music? Is it live, on records? Through friends’ recommendation? Just dumb luck?
Yeah, dumb luck has always been a part of my discovering of music. There’s just a synergy that happens that I believe is part of the spiritual side of life where you just happen to be at the right place, at the right time, for the right reasons. Literally, it’s like an apple falling out of a tree onto your head. It happens and it’s happened to me quite a bit in my life, where I’ll just happen to be somewhere and hear something. Maybe it’s on the radio, maybe it’s at a restaurant, or somewhere out in public. Maybe it’s through a friend. It’s a portal. Sometimes you go,”oh, what is that?” and trip out on it. Sometimes, it’s something on the surface that was enjoyable for the moment and you appreciate that. Sometimes, it’s a portal into a world that could literally change your life. I’m hyper aware, I’m very observant so my life has always been being aware of the small minor details that a lot of people might potentially look over.
Sometimes these moments get away too. I remember this summer I was at Target with my kids -this is a department store out here- and this song came on, and it was such an incredible song. I was like, oh my god, I was scrambling ’cause I didn’t know how to figure out what it was and then I remembered about this app called Shazam. I quickly tried to get this app on my phone but in in the end, it was a lost moment, I wasn’t able to get the song and it’s gone and that’s one of those frustrating defeats. I’ll probably likely never hear it again. You know, back in the 80’s, you heard a song on the radio, chances were you’d hear it again, because there just wasn’t that much music played. Now, it’s like, argh, I’ll probably never hear that song again, ah! And it was so good. You win some, you lose some.
But at the same time, it’s a magic moment. You know, it’s something that happened in this tiny nutshell. It was there one moment and now it’s gone but you still enjoyed it and you still have that memory of it in your mind.
I enjoyed it and it also gave me hope, because I was like, okay, see, there’s still music being made that feels good and sounds honest and real. I might not be able to take it with me, but it’s out there somewhere so that feels good.
Is there any band that you discovered live recently that blew you away?
I recently saw a band in Canada, ZEAL AND ARDOR, they’re from Switzerland. It was part of this festival in Edmonton. I came to talk to them after their performance. They’re kind of on this adventure where they’re playing, I guess what you would consider kind of Black Metal or something? I’m not much of a Metal guy, but some kind of metal. But the singer is singing kind of almost in this Gospel Blues kind of persona, and his vibe. It’s a mix that’s quite appropriate and they’re doing it very well. To me, it’s kind of a modern, more progressive version of like, a heavy…almost reminds me of when THIN LIZZY would get started to go deeper into the Metal stuff in the later years, but like, slowed down because they kind of have a Doom thing too, It’s really cool. Very nice people, too.
Another band that I saw recently, about a year ago, we played with them in the Alps, in Switzerland. They were a Japanese Psychedelic band. KIKAGAKU MOYO. That was fantastic. They were really good. Like, really good. There’s definitely something going on in Japan as far as Psychedelic’s concerned. That’s a pretty good combo, Japanese Psychedelic. So those are two examples of things that are kind of being mixed up and it’s awesome, for sure.
What is the most impressive band you’ve toured with? The one that you just had to watch every night?
That’s a good question. (pauses) Uh, yeah, that’s a tough one. I’ve toured with a looooot of bands over the years. And I saw a lot of great bands. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of bands that were great for a lot of different reasons, you know, so it’s hard to say one in particular.
Well, I guess maybe we can twist that one up and you tell me what you believe makes a great live band and give me some examples?
Alright, well, let’s just say in the confines of Rock music…Back in the late 80’s, it was a weird time for music. Punk had died, things were getting really experimental and not always for the better but a lot kids, especially myself and our friends, we just wanted a great Rock band. DANZIG came out with his first record and we were huge MISFITS fans as kids. We just never dreamt of the day that Danzig would return and actually even provide us with a Rock band, in our most desperate moments. And so, we used to go watch Danzig play in LA and these were great shows. I mean, this was a great band. The era that he came from was a time when, to even get on a stage was because you were great performers. Even the RAMONES, I used to go see them as a kid and they were just amazing. I see bands now and they’re good but not like these bands. When I was in KYUSS, we ended up touring with Danzig for two months and I definitely would go catch part of the set every night. I don’t listen to Danzig anymore, I mean, it’s part of my youth but at that time I was watching what I knew was a great band. His ability to entertain the crowd and rock up, that’s the name of the game and they did, on the highest level every night man and it was amazing to watch. In fact, I just went and saw the MISFITS reunion here at the forum with a friend of mine and that was arguably the one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen a lot. I saw the KISS reunion with all four members. I saw BLACK SABBATH’s reunion and I’ve seen NIRVANA perform. I saw the CHILI PEPPERS, I’ve seen AC/DC, I’ve seen so many great bands at the Forum in LA and none of them could even touch that Misfits performance. It was just incredible. Incredible. There’s a number of bands I’ve seen that were great but Danzig, for sure.
You didn’t catch the Misfits back then, did you? You were probably a bit too young?
No, I was too young. We weren’t able to go and drive and participate at the shows but we were actually buying the records. We were kids, you know, 10-11-12-13.
You’ve actually almost answered the next question I had, but I’ll ask anyways. What’s the most memorable show you’ve ever seen?
Well, yeah, there’s a handful. I mean, minus the shows in my hometown up in the desert where I was seeing local bands. And that was just, you know, the regular. As far as proper concerts, the first time I saw the RAMONES in ’87 was a huge moment for me, because they were my favorite band as a kid.
The first time I saw SOUNDGARDEN, opening up for VOIVOD, I think that was like ’90 that was an amazing show. I’ll never forget that show. That was incredible. Then I saw NIRVANA open up for DINOSAUR JR around that time and that was great too. I wasn’t a huge fan of Nirvana’s records but man, live they were a great band for sure.
Is there any artist or band that you’ve always wanted to see live but never got a chance to catch them?
I’ve always wantedp to see BLACK FLAG and I was able to see Flag on the reunion tour and that was incredible. Again, a lot of the Hardcore stuff I was into as a kid and it was a bit bittersweet because, as I said, I was old enough to get the records but just too young to go to the concerts. I didn’t have any friends that had a car and stuff and they didn’t really come our way. But I knew Black Flag were still playing into the mid-80’s and I just felt like I was going to be able to see them and then they broke up. I was a little bummed out.
Is there any one classic show that you wish you could have experienced? Like, maybe a flyer that you saw that you went “I’ve got to see this”, but it just didn’t pan out?
Well, if we’re going to allow ourselves to get into the fantasy world, Wayne Kramer from MC5, I just read his book and I was unaware of this but in 1968, in Detroit, MC5 opened up for JIMI HENDRIX. That would have been a hell of a show.
Can you name five songs that you consider to be perfect and explain why or what they mean to you.
Wow. Five. Perfect.Songs. Ok.
A perfect song for me would be Boys are back in town by THIN LIZZY
Teenage lobotomy by the RAMONES
Brandy by LOOKING GLASS
I shot the sheriff by BOB MARLEY
Purple haze by JIMI HENDRIX
Back in black by AC/DC
Do you have any specific reasons for some of them or it’s just the general vibe that makes these songs stick out?
Well, I’ve been studying what I consider to be great songs my whole life so I mean, I could write a book about my favorite songs but I literally just pulled those out off the top of my head. I wouldn’t suggest they’re any better than any other songs that I really view as perfect songs but those are five songs that, if there was a song Hall of Fame, I believe they should be in it.
Fair enough. Next one, what would be your top 5 rappers?
I don’t really get involved in the hip hop movement at all, I’m not really into it but again, if I hear something I like and I feel is awesome, then yeah, I can get behind it 100%. I’m not a connoiseur but right off the bat, ICE CUBE for sure. TUPAC. You know, one of my favorite rappers and I think he’s really underrated is B-Real from CYPRESS HILL. MCA from the BEASTIE BOYS and then maybe BIGGIE SMALLS.
What are some of your favorite song lyrics? Lyrics that have been important to you or that had an impact on you?
As a songwriter, as someone who writes songs myself, over the years, I’ve come to really appreciate Robert Hunter, who is the guy who wrote lyrics for the GRATEFUL DEAD, specifically Jerry Garcia’s songs. He’s an amazing lyricist. It’s almost hard to describe what he does. He’s found a way to combine fantasy and reality, and put it in an organized narrative. There’s a beginning, middle and end. It’s almost like a story but yet it’s poetic and he’s just an amazing writer.
What would be your top five desert island artists? All you get for the rest of your life is the complete discography of these artists?
Oh yeah, I know this question. I would go for the big ones. You know, I go with Miles Davis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley.
Do you actually have a favorite all time band or artist or is it just this big blur of music all around?
It’s pretty much a big blur of music all around. I mean, I don’t have any particular musical mentor or someone that I look to for any particular or every move. I mean, HENDRIX…I enjoy Arthur Lee from LOVE, he is a big influence, Phil Lynott from THIN LIZZY, BOB MARLEY…but to say that they’re like, my favorite, it’s not the kind of person I am, I don’t really have favorites.
You strike me as a guy who probably doesn’t listen to too much stuff on repeat, that you constantly change what you’re listening to. Am I right?
That’s funny that you would say that because, ah, to be perfectly honest -and my band and my wife will tell you- I’m actually the exact opposite.
Oh, really?
Yeah, I’ve listened to a lot of music over the years. But the way I listen to music, for example, when I tour, I’ll only take about one or two records and I’ll listen to that record for the entire month, over and over. Because I feel like great records aren’t something to be listened to three or four times on the surface and then move on. I mean, it’s like reading comprehension, how many times do you read a book, you’re like in the chapter two, but you don’t really know what the hell you’re reading, you’re not absorbing it. It takes time to think about what’s being communicated. And I think with records, it’s no different.
I took Forever Changes by LOVE on this last tour. I listened to that record, maybe twice a day for a month and it still eludes me. I still can’t get it all because it’s so deep. That’s the fun. You just keep going deep, man. If the record goes deep, you can go with it. That’s why a lot of people go “oh, do you listen to new music?” and I’m like, not really. Because there’s old masterpieces that I just keep going back to. I just keep digging, go deep into it, you know?
Do you have any songs that are meaningful to you because you associate them with special events in your life?
Oh, man. Again, there’s so many. I’m trying to think of something. The amount of music that I’ve ingested in my life, it’s hard for me to bring it down to one. Let’s say, The boys are back in town. I remember the first time I heard that song, I was in my mom’s car and it came on the radio and I was just like “wow, that’s a perfect song”. Every time I hear it, I feel like I’m 10 years old, you know?
Is there any classic, universally acclaimed artist that you missed out on when they first came out and discovered the way later? Or perhaps an artist that you didn’t like at first when they came out but you’ve learned to appreciate more over time?
Well, a classic and critically acclaimed artist that I didn’t like at first and then came to really love was NEIL YOUNG. I did not like Neil Young in the beginning but over time I was able to find his genius and really fall in love with him. To this day, I don’t love all his stuff but I think that’s what makes him lovable. You don’t have to like all his stuff and in fact, he probably knows that you won’t like all his stuff but he does it anyways and it’s honest. It’s always honest.
Do you have any unpopular music opinions they you you’d like to defend?
I still deeply believe that KISS was a great band. And I know that there’s a lot of respectable musicians, certainly from that era, or even in my peer group, that would argue that with me, for sure. But I stand behind it. They are a guilty pleasure too but that’s a whole other conversation. I do believe that Kiss, as performers and as songwriters and entertainers I mean, they’re pretty amazing.
Actually, you’d be surprised how often they come up in these interviews. So it might not be that unpopular of an opinion.
Yeah. Well, they’ve only sold a gazillion records so… I feel like they’re one of those bands that a lot of people dismiss even though they’re hugely successful. Like it was almost a fluke or something but they’re successful for a reason, they’re a great band.
What band or artist do you believe has achieved the most flawless sequence of three records in a row?
Well, there’s quite a few actually. I mean, back in the golden era of the early 70’s, when Rock was born, you were expected to make three great records in a row.
In a year and a half!
In a year and a half too, yeah, so like I mean ZEPPELIN one-two-three, it doesn’t get any better than that. Then SABBATH, the first record is great but i mean Paranoid, Master of Reality and Volume 4, that’s pretty unbelievable. You could almost even change it to the four consecutive records. I mean, it’s just how it was back then. The RAMONES, even in the mid to late 70’s were doing the same. First three Ramones records are flawless. AC/DC were doing consecutive amazing records. In order to sustain a career, that’s what you had to do.
Which artists, dead or alive, from any era, would you dream to see collaborate?
As much as I love the Jimi Hendrix Experience. And as much as I respect Eric Clapton, as a guitar player at least, it would have been amazing if Jimi Hendrix played with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. I think the world would be a different place.
Wow, great pick. Actually, you remind me of something that I read in Hendrix’s bio, the fact that towards the end of his life, he and Miles Davis were talking about making a record together but just couldn’t find the right timing to make it happen.
Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard about that as well. Yeah, that would have been something for sure.
We are pretty much done I believe. Anything that you’d like to promote?
Yeah, the new record, Mankind Woman, check it out. My label Heavy Psych Sounds, out of Italy, is continuing to release my entire back catalogue so next year, we’ll be releasing the 20th anniversary version of Jalamanta, my solo debut. Also, the record that I’ve had on the shelves for almost 10 years now, Jacoozzi, that’ll finally be coming out. I’m actually on my way to the desert Tuesday (note: back in early December 2018) to get Jacoozzi prepared and ready for pressing. So yeah, lot of records being released next year.
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