Duncan Wilder Johnson profile Jason Gardner
jasonagardner@gmail.com 989 words

Duncan Wilder Johnson is a man of many faces. Johnson has poured time into fronting bands, taking photos, doing spoken word pieces and writing. If you caught him on stage, regardless of the night, you'd probably find him making a face only describable as maniacally enthusiastic. And considering he hails from the heavy music hot spot of the Northeast, or to be more specific Boston, it’s pretty easy to figure out what kind of music he’s getting into.

“I have a feeling that I wouldn’t be into the kind of aggressive guitar music that I’m into if I didn’t grow up in central Massachusetts,” Johnson explains, being a man whose biting lyrical content was the backdrop for aggressive acts such as Destruct-a-thon and Kill it All Away. Whether it is currently spinning the latest disc by Shadows Fall or watching and quoting Metalocalypse, it's pretty easy to see how deep heavy music runs through Johnson's veins.

A quick look at thrashachusetts.com will show a plethora of Johnson’s musical and spoken word projects, from his time as the frontman of the now defunct Destruct-a-thon up to his latest release “How I Fell in Love with Punk Rock”, a wittingly written book on how Johnson found his way into the scenes of heavy music and standup. The book looks, feels and reads like homage to the 'Do-it-yourself' movement with the facade of something put together on Microsoft Word, printed and then hand-stapled together. But that’s in no way a bad thing, as it reflects Johnson’s feelings on the inclination for DIY in today’s world.

“DIY is alive and fine. In fact, it’s translated out of the punk rock thing and into mainstream culture in forms of things like Home Depot,” says Johnson, also pointing out somewhat of a mantra for the movement. “Do it yourself, don’t ask for permission, take control of your own thing.”

As an artist in many mediums though, you have to wonder how anyone could keep them all separate when working on things, whether it be the spoken word content or lyrics for the music he makes.

“The mediums that I work in are all different voices for different ideas,” Johnson says. “The content of the work, or more likely my mood that day, dictates which medium the piece will be in. So, the lyrics to “9 Squares” by Destruct-a-thon wouldn’t end up as spoken word. The story “That Girl Can Take A Shit In My Car Anytime” wouldn’t end up as a metal or punk song. My photographs are meant to be photographs, not songs.” But as far as the music industry is concerned

, the DIY movement is starting to pick up steam, with what Johnson describes as one minor setback for the digital age of music.

“As far as music is concerned, I think we’ll see it get more and more DIY as time progresses,” Johnson explains. “The whole infrastructure is falling apart. The people who are actually parting with their hard earned cash for music are the hardcore enthusiasts, such as yours truly.”

The problem Johnson finds with the current trend in music though is the heavier usage of the internet to get music, leading to less of an interest in seeking out the physical product as it is released.

“One of the things that really bums me out in this arena is we’re going to see less and less cool packaging,” he says. “The packaging might become more one-of-a-kind, but since fewer people will buy it as an object, the demand to press 1,000 pieces will diminish.”

It is Johnson's hope the recent resurgence of vinyl will keep the life of packaging and art work alive, especially considering the lack of record label support causing bands to turn to means of self-recording and releasing their work digitally.

Currently, Johnson splits his time between spoken word, writing and his newest musical endeavor Bring the Knife (check thrashachusetts.com for demos), which will play their first show in January of 2010. His latest writing endeavor, "How I Fell in Love with Punk Rock" is a gritty, self-reflective story of Johnson's journey through the beginning of his time in the scene, leading up to his opportunity to open for icon Jim Carroll. Between Johnson's to-the-point writing, well-placed humor and the overall questioning, yet appealing aesthetic of "How I Fell in Love with Punk Rock", it is an easy access point to start pouring into his written or spoken word work.

From all of the things he does, Johnson feels his work in the spoken word department is the most challenging due to the environment in which it is delivered.

“Although I’m very confident in delivering monologues,” Johnson acknowledges. “It’s one of the harder mediums that I work in. If you’re in the zone and the audience is with you, it’s magic; but if one drunk asshole heckles you, it throws off your rhythm and you spend the whole set doing one-liners to shut up the hecklers instead of the actual pieces. It’s more of a bummer for the audience members who are into it. I’ve been doing this for 14 years and I’m used to it [though].”

Johnson points out that when he’s playing music the sound of the guitars drown out any possibility of hecklers. Still Johnson has been silencing those that don’t understand as his name continues to grow in popularity with both his music and spoken word. And if that doesn’t work Johnson still has a backup plan, “I spend a bunch of time in the audience, freaking out some folks and end up causing such a scene that you can’t help but rubberneck my band even if you don’t dig the tunes.”

Given the looks you might see on his face during these performances though, you might not really have a choice but to pay attention after all.