MyNameIsJohnMichael Interview: SXSW 2010

MyNameIsJohnMichael, despite the misnomer, is not just one man but a six-piece indie rock/pop collective hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana. John Michael Rouchell originally created MyNameIsJohnMichael as a solo project in 2007. He decided to take on the ambitious project of recording one song per week for an entire year [that's 52 songs in 52 weeks!] and soon enlisted the aid of a few good friends that had become accomplished musicians in their own right. With the addition of Eric Rogers, Joe Bourgeois, Cory Schultz, Leo DeJesus and Richard Dubourg, John Michael was no longer riding solo in the Big Easy. With recent success and an upcoming album in the works, MyNameIsJohnMichael is giving everyone good reason to learn their name. Spinner caught up with the band recently in anticipation of their stint at SXSW.


Can you describe your sound?

JM: It's something to the degree of energetic indie rock/pop. There's definitely a bit of New Orleans in us. It's a pretty eclectic thing, I mean obviously there's big drums, multiple things going on at one time. Driving rhythms, jangly chords, twelve string guitars, that kind of stuff.

What are your musical influences?

Eric: We've all been musicians in New Orleans for a while, playing for different bands and such, and I'd have to say just by listening to our band I would hope some people have trouble picking out certain influences, but if I had to say a certain musician I would say Prince, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen but then Cory listens to jazz, I grew up listening to rock--my dad raised me on Led Zeppelin and Yes and all that stuff. Joe is a big punk rock guy, but it's like everything is an influence, New Orleans is an influence, music is an influence, it's everything.

So, you said the current band members used to play on the tracks prior to the formation of the band, but how and where did you all meet and start playing with each other?

JM: Eric was the first to start playing on tracks around Week Three. We started talking about taking this thing and playing songs live and at the time Eric was also in a band which consisted of Joe Bourgeois on bass and Cory Schultz who was playing keys and trumpet and things of that nature. So those two guys started playing immediately on songs and I really liked the idea of the trumpet. We brought in Leo Dejesus to fill in for Cory when he hurt his hand but when Cory got back it became a six-piece and Joe and Eric suggested that we pick up our dear friend, Richard Dubourg, aka "the funnest man this side of the South," and he's been playing for us one year exactly, yesterday. We've all been playing in each other's bands and admiring each other for a long time so when I came to Eric I asked him to put together like a "Dream Team," and here we are.

Why did you decide to keep the name MyNameIsJohnMichael after your solo project transitioned into the band you have now?

JM: Well, in November 2007 I bought the domain name "mynameisjohnmichael.com" because other things related to John Michael, etc. were taken by John Michael Montgomery, that fabulous country singer that we all know and love--I hope there's a hint of sarcasm in my voice. But the ongoing joke was that every time I introduced myself to someone I'd say, "Hi, I'm John Michael," and they'd say, "Oh, nice to meet you John," and I'd say, "No, my name is John Michael." So we had the domain name and we did the project so for the purpose of just keeping it sort of, in line, we just went with that. And it's really the worst band name ever, other than the Beatles, but we're trying to make due. But I have to say before your next question, before there's any kind of misconception or misconceived notion that it's me and a bunch of dudes. That's the farthest thing from the truth. It's very much a band and without a collaborative effort and without any one of these people it would not be what it is.

So, obviously you guys are from New Orleans and Mardi Gras was last week. Were you down there to take part in the festivities?

JM: We were. We were there for the Saints parade and all of Mardi Gras. It was quite a good time. This was a special one because it's been a really strange last five years, you know with the thing that happened that we don't really speak about. And that was something we all came together over and it was a negative circumstance and we haven't really had something to come together over with a positive circumstance yet, and with the Saints winning the Super Bowl the city is just so happy and it's really, really cool. It's really great to see people smile and feel together as one and it's really just a happy thing. Mardi Gras is always great but this one meant a whole lot more.

I also saw on your website that you played for a group of kids at an elementary school in Georgia last summer. Why'd you guys do that and how did the kids react to the performance?

Eric: I have a cousin who lives an hour north of Atlanta in a town called Dallas, GA. She said, "It would be amazing if you and the band could come play in the gymnasium at the school, we never have anything like this." She's the music teacher at the school. I guess to answer your question the kids reactions were questions like, "Can you play 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica and 'Stairway to Heaven'?" So we had a huge response from these kids, clapping and yelling. She had to calm them down. It was absolutely hysterical to watch.

You guys were in Austin last year during the SXSW festival but this year will be your first "real" SXSW experience. Are you guys excited?

JM: Oh, we're absolutely excited about SXSW. We played it last year, like unofficial stuff and this is the first time we've done it officially. We've had such great experiences seeing new bands and new types of music and just new things and it's just this buffet of greatness that no one knows about and it's really inspiring to bounce around and see bands we've never heard of and fall in love with. I mean shit, man, it's sort of like the Mardi Gras of music. It's great to just hop into every club and hear something new, something different, inspiring. It's great.


Matthew Ellis is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.