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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2001)
July 20, 2001 • J n t M t 4 M U S IC ................. ......................... Jonesing for Johnson thing special. We also committed to it as a business venture and started a band fund immediately. synonymous with “not very good band” and that in the year 2001 women still have to climb up that hill. Laurie: Swamp Mama Johnson has gone a long way toward proving that chicks can play their instruments, run their own label and write their own songs. We’ve shown lots and lots of young girls that it can be done, and lots of adult women that it still can be done...and they can be the ones to do it. Continued from Page 1 n order to capture the complex spirit of the band, let’s look at the women who drive this wonderful beast. Lisa Mills is the lead vocal ist; everyone else contributes to the harmony: saxophonist Tracy Ferrara, guitarist Laurie Miller, drummer Kim Carson and Leah Hinch- cliff (who replaced Patty Mey three years ago) on harmonica and bass. Hinchcliff lives in Portland, and the rest are based in Washington. Through the years the band played an average of two to three times a month in the Portland area and Eugene. It would be easy for such an ensemble to fall into a pit of generic musical hell— I think its actually the sixth level of purgatory. However, the original arrangements and energy that these musicians bring to each tune is spellbind ing. (Pink’s version of “Lady Marmalade” has nothing on SMJ’s killer take.) I Tracy: We started out by mostly covering other people’s music, playing our own organic version of the blues. Lisa: We chose rather obscure songs to cover, eschewing “Mustang Sally” et al. for material that every other band in Pioneer Square might not be playing. Tracy: Since then, we’ve all learned how to write, arrange and perform songs in a style that has become our band’s signature sound—that funky, bluesy, groove thang. Kim: It took about a year to settle into what we were doing musically and business- wise. I started playing drums about six months after Swamp Mama first formed. I didn’t even own my own drum set at that point. I think we realized at the beginning that we had some M r . M an ' s C leaning lthough they had great success in Seat tle, where they were playing all the hot spots for blues, it was in Bellingham, Wash., where their popularity skyrocketed and the financial feasibility of the band became evident. A Lisa Leah Tracy Laurie Kim “Swamp Mama Johnson has gone a long way toward proving that chicks can play their instruments, run their own label and write their own songs.n —Laurie Miller SMJ’s following grew, and they were able to start laying down some tracks. Riverhips was recorded and mixed in 17 hours, an amazingly short amount of time for an 11-song album. The sales from that cas sette completely paid for the second venture. No loans were needed for Wetlands, an unthinkable feat at that time in independent music. From there, SMJ began and continued a breakneck tour ing schedule of 50 weeks a year. Along the way, they recorded Peachfish Stew in ’97 and Fresh, Raw and Uve in ’99. Kim: We became an event. There was this dive of a bar we played at for years. We would have 200 people at every show. Bikers, farmers, hippies, rednecks, lesbians. A strange collection of peo ple that would usually never be together. But for three hours it was OK— it created an entirely new community. Leah: Every time we play, we are smashing stereotypes that women can’t play, that we have to be sexy and skinny to be popular and that we aren’t competent to be successful. In every way this band has been on the front lines proving that we not only do it, we do it better. Kim : People d o n ’t expect women to play aggressively. I still get com m ents from guys from th at perspective. Just last weekend I had one say to me: “You’re really good! I thought you were a guy up there!” I guess it was a compli ment and took it that way. {Grins] Tracy: If SMJ has shown the world any thing, it’s that truly good music is genderless. Peo ple come to our shows because the music is appealing and well performed. * hey even learned to play pretty good for a so-called “girl band.” How hard is it to overcome negative images of female musi cians, and doesn’t that get old after 10 years? ll power to the sisterhood (raise your fist here) aside, the inevitable question arises: W hat’s it really like being in an all-female band for 10 years? Lisa: Over the years I think people stopped seeing us as a “girl band” and started seeing us as a band. It is unfortunate that “girl band” is Leah: Playing in an all-woman band defi nitely has its ups and downs. PMS— need I say more, to the power of five? Raized Printing A Lisa: It’s nice knowing someone always has a spare tampon. Leah: O n stage I trust these women more than any other group I’ve ever played with. Being part of this has given me more confi dence than 1 have ever felt before. Like togeth er we create a formidable presence and power. I’ve never connected to a mixed-gender band like that before. Tracy: There is a lot of inner strength that can be tapped into by playing in an all-women band. Playing with these four other women over the years— personal and menstrual ten sion aside— has shown me that women can do anything, even punch a big successful hole in the genre/profession that is more about the sex ploitation of women than its artistic apprecia tion of them. wamp Mama Johnson remains one of the most popular bands in the Pacific N orth west. It’s hard to understand why a group still making incredible music would be retiring. S Laurie: As a business we were successful and achieved in a large measure what we set up to do. As a musical entity, we touched people. They play our songs at their weddings, use our songs as personal anthems. I love that. The secret of a long life is knowing when it’s time to go- Lisa: All things come to an end; it’s only a mat ter of when and how. We have decided to choose the manner in which SMJ closes its chapter. Let us leave the arena with cheers ringing in our ears rather than apologetic silence. It is time once again for the members of Swamp Mama Johnson to evolve. Don’t miss your final opportunities to see this amazing band perform. There is no group doing what they do. Their music and magic will be greatly missed. JH S wamp M ama J ohnson will perform 6:30 p.m. July 31 at Mount Tabor Park and 2 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Eugene Celebration. Its schedule and CDs are available online at www. swampmama. com. ALICIA H ealey is a sound engineer, producer and musician in Seattle. Sun g * A We specialize in business cards using thermography, die cutting, embossing, and foil stamping. 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