The Making and Demise of The Perfect Recording/Part 1

The Behind-The-Scenes Story of My Work With Freedy Johnston and the Making of Can You Fly

Can You Fly was the album that put Freedy Johnston on the map and it set the tone for his future recordings. It was well received and made several critics “Best Of” list that year. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called it a “perfect record.” In a way, I think Freedy attempted to return to the quality and mood of Can You Fly on his subsequent works, while trying to demonstrate his independence from it.

As The Silos crumbled, I started playing some live shows with Freedy Johnston. It was a great time to live in the Hoboken, N.J. area. There were gigs at Maxwell’s and The Beaten Path. There were recording sessions at Water Music on Grand Street and rehearsals on 2nd Street. To this day, I can smell steaks broiling from Arthur’s kitchen downtown. Maxwell House had a coffee factory uptown on 11th Street and River Road. The smell of roasted coffee beans permeated every inch of the mile square town. You couldn’t walk down the main drag, Washington Street, without bumping into someone from bands such as The Bongos, the db’s, Bob Mould, and Television. Speaking of Television, my initial gigs with Freedy would be with Television’s bassist, Fred Smith. The other characters would be Mark Zoltak, Bob Rupe, Kevin Salem, Marshall Crenshaw, Jimmy Lee, Jared Nickerson and Graham Maby. Freedy’s project couldn’t have come at a better time. I was jumping from the burning ship that was The Silos to a more promising Freedy Johnston. To boot, I was still working with the “crew.” Once again, I was lucky. It wouldn’t be long before this situation fell apart.

Get Your Feet Off of My Dashboard

I met Freedy Johnston when he was the opening act on The Silos Bird tour. He opened for us on a handful of dates in the Northeast, promoting his first record, The Trouble Tree. He was a wiry, awkward guy from Kansas. His music was a blend of Country, Indie and Redneck. More than singing, he had a loony bin vocal style of screeching through his songs. He consciously tamed this vocal style by the time Bad Reputation was recorded. In my opinion this “improvement” was a mistake and not representative of the Freedy I once knew. “Get your feet off of my dashboard. What do you think the damn thing’s for? At least try and look pretty. Tonight we’re goin’ into Tucumcari,” he sang at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA. The combination that was Freedy Johnston was brilliant. I was instantly taken by him.

The Silos’ manager, Mark Zoltak recognized Freedy’s talent and pounced. Within days they had a working arrangement and were already planning a new recording (Can You Fly). Graham Maby and I were the bass player and drummer in The Silos. So it was a no-brainer for Freedy to hire us to play on his sessions. In the interim there was hard work to be done. The new songs needed to be shaped and sharpened. Rehearsals were in a stiflingly hot studio on 2nd Street in Hoboken. In the period leading up to the sessions, all Freedy could offer us was the promise of playing some good songs. Otherwise it was unpaid rehearsals, gear schlepping and club gigs. A cross between a musical workshop and an internship. There were some good gigs opening for more established acts like The Connells and Pere Ubu, but they were few and far between. With Freedy and Jimmy Lee on guitars, yours truly on drums, and Television’s Fred Smith on bass, we forged ahead playing club gigs and shaping the songs for the upcoming sessions for Can You Fly.

Holland

In the summer of 1991, Freedy enjoyed some good fortune, lining up gigs in The Netherlands where The Trouble Tree was well received. In true singer/songwriter form, with each step forward, he shed those that helped him along the way. Before the Holland Tour Fred Smith and Jimmy Lee were fired. They were replaced by Jared Nickerson and Kevin Salem respectively. Bassist Jared Nickerson always was, and always will be the epitome of cool, in addition to being a damn good bass player. Kevin Salem was a great guitarist, but had other ambitions clouding his mind. Our first gig in Holland was a music festival headlined by Golden Earing and Modern English. Unlike our gigs in New York, we were jazzed because there were plenty of fans who knew the songs. We played many shows in Holland including festivals with Dinosaur Jr. and Nirvana. We enjoyed leisurely dinners and plenty of fresh Heineken. Life was good!