Johnny Wilkins is a sound artist from Austin, Texas. While playing the drums in various indie and post-rock bands, he and a friend formed the guitar-based ambient project Fires Were Shot in 1998 and released records on labels such as Holodeck, Asphodel Ltd., and Quiet Design. The project performed with such acts as Brian McBride, Windy and Carl, thisquietarmy, ST37, My Education, and many more. "Heartleaf" is an album about change, a musical diary about moving from one place to another, wrapped in the expansion of the season from spring into summer.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Johnny Wilkins. What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
I don’t believe I’m a great musician, only an artist attempting to articulate an idea or inspiration I may have. Sometimes it comes easy, sometimes it’s hard, but all I want is to continue to create and be passionate about it. I feel like an outsider and imposter most of the time!
Who inspired you to make music?
Early on, when I was 8 or so, my Dad would bring home a different Johnny Cash record every month or so. That was really the only music I listened to at the time. And during that period I began taking acoustic guitar lessons with our next door neighbor, working exclusively from a Johnny Cash songbook. I eventually stopped playing until sometime after entering college; I took up drums during that time, followed by a reunion with the acoustic guitar; and I was then inspired mostly by a low-fi aesthetic--the thrill of creating a noise on a cassette and listening back, imagining groups of those noises forming cohesive collections. Bands like Guided by Voices, Azusa Plane, Aphex Twin, and Red House Painters were great influences during these times.
Your latest release is 'Heartleaf'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
The album is a diary of my family’s move to a smaller town outside of the city we called home for decades. I wanted to capture the joyous and bittersweet nature of the move and the singular experiences during that time, and the songs attempt to represent that.
The tracks for Heartleaf were recorded and mixed between June and August of 2022. I recorded with a Martin DCXIE acoustic guitar tuned to DADGAD most of the time, and I fingerpicked, used a bow, and played rhythmic patterns on the body of the guitar. I recorded various field recordings during the move and added them to the compositions as they were created.
Can you shortly describe each of the tracks that are on the album?
“Humming Birds” is a track about setting up a hummingbird feeder and checking hopefully for visitors;
“Sebastian” is about a purple dragonfly that came around for a month or so to our backyard window every day at the same time to say hi;
“Filigree” is about my wife and the delicate, fleeting moments of the life we share together;
“Howsounds” is my attempt at reproducing an ethereal version of the everyday sounds of the house and our lives;
“Kitchen Table Candlelight” is a looped track that tries to capture in sound the flicker of a candle on our dining table and its reflection in the kitchen window;
“Rains make Rivers” came about during a very heavy spring rainfall, which swept away most of our backyard, leaving fast flowing, tiny rivers in its place;
“Spring Dream” is about watching the spring and early summer storms on the horizon as we drove the 30 miles or so back and forth every day during the move;
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest musical trends?
As far as contemporary music is concerned, I’m interested in the more experimental/instrumental/ambient/avant side of things, and I find that following the new and notable on Bandcamp is a great way to discover new music in that vein.
What makes you different from others?
I’m not sure, but I may be a touch on the spectrum, and I’m very weird and can feel awkward at times. But all in all, I’m not much different from others, just don’t like being around them most of the time.
What’s an average day like for you?
I enjoy being with my wife and kitty child.
Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans.
I don’t have any fans, so I don’t interact and respond to them. But I’d love to!
What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
You might want to find someone else to follow. But if you really want to, I will just say: be an individual, ignore the noise, and try not to be affected by the radio silence regarding your art, just keep at it and get lost in the process of making and releasing collections of things.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m about to release a new single with my group FiRES WERE SHOT very soon. I’ll also work on new stuff for my other solo project, One Far West, as well as continue to play drums and find inspiration for a new release under my own name. I also hope to increase output on my record label, It’s Only Me Records.