Luke Johnson (musician)

Luke Johnson
Wolverhampton Civic Hall August 2009
Background information
Birth name	Luke Anthony Johnson
Born	(1981-03-11) 11 March 1981 Redditch, Worcestershire, England
Genres	Alternative rock, hard rock, post-hardcore
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, drummer
Instruments	drums, guitar, bass
Years active	2002-2013 (Musician) 2012 - present (Writer)
Labels	Science Records, Warner Bros. Records, Sony, Columbia
Associated acts	Shooter McGavin Shortcut To Newark Amen Beat Union Lostprophets
Website	Twitter
Notable instruments
Tama Drums, Zildjian, Pro-Mark Drum Sticks

Luke Anthony "Jocko" Johnson (born 11 March 1981)^[1] is an English rock musician, drummer and songwriter.^[2] He is most commonly known as 'Jocko'. Johnson began his music career in the late 1990s drumming for a spree of small local West Midlands- punk and metal bands. In early 2003 Johnson was approached by California punk band Amen to join the ranks.^[3] After his departure from Amen in 2005, Johnson formed Beat Union as drummer and songwriter with Dave Warsop, Dean Ashton and Mark Andrews. Johnson has also been involved in other musical projects, including working alongside Producer John Feldmann (Good Charlotte, The Used, Kelly Clarkson) and has performed session work for a variety of bands, including The Wonder Stuff^[4] and Foxy Shazam.^[5]

Biography

Early life

Johnson was exposed to music at the very early age of 2. Beginning with his father, Les Johnson, who was a Birmingham promoter for such bands as New Order, Killing Joke and New Model Army. At the age of 5, Johnson started to join his father on tour with the band he managed The Wonder Stuff. Johnson was then given his first pair of drumsticks by Martin Gilks and would often even get to soundcheck the drums. '"All my life I’ve been around music. I’d go to shows and soundcheck the drums for the Wonder Stuff and get to play kits on these big stages during soundcheck and hearing the sound of a drumkit through a PA I thought, ‘Man I really want to do this!’"', says Johnson.^[6] With the support of his parents, at the age of 6, Johnson started taking drum lessons . At this point, there was no looking back and Johnson was already inspired to one day having a band of his own.

Beat Union

Beat Union was a pop-punk band from Birmingham, Bromsgrove and Redditch. They were formerly known as Shortcut to Newark.^[7] The group has garnered comparisons to Elvis Costello and The Jam, as well as pop punk groups like Green Day.^[8][9]

In 2006 the band toured the UK with Bedouin Soundclash and Zox.^[10]

Their debut full-length album, Disconnected, was released on Science Records in April 2008.^[11] It was produced with the help of John Feldmann, producer and frontman of Goldfinger.^[12] Rolling Stone named their song "She Is the Gun" Song of the Day on 17 July 2008.^[13] The song also received rotation on BBC Radio 1, where it rose to #5 on the station's airplay charts.^[14]

After releasing the album, the group toured with Goldfinger and then played the 2008 Warped Tour in the U.S.^[15] A U.S. fall tour was announced with Flogging Molly, followed by UK dates with Less Than Jake.^[16]

Lostprophets (2007-2013)

Writing and recording the band's fourth studio album began in early 2007. Originally the band stated that they wanted the album released in 2007, however due to both touring and being unhappy with the results of their work in the studio the band did not keep to their original release plan. Despite recording an entire album's worth of material with producer John Feldmann, this work was shelved^[17] in favour of material they later recorded and produced themselves, with recording sessions for what would later be known as The Betrayed beginning in November 2008.^[18] Consequently the album was not released until 13 January 2010, where it reached a peak of 3 on the UK Albums Chart.

Throughout the earlier part of 2008, the band performed several dates, including Download Festival which they headlined on the Sunday night, V Festival and Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, as well as a small amount of performances around the UK.^[19][20] They also headlined the NME/Radio 1 tent at 2009's Reading and Leeds Festival.^[21]

The band have claimed that The Betrayed is "by far the finest, darkest and most real album" of their career.^[22] Originally, Ian Watkins stated he wanted the new album to be "nastier" and "darker" than previous efforts, with more energy and vibe than before. In a blog post, guitarist Mike Lewis suggested that Ilan Rubin (who subsequently left the band to join Nine Inch Nails^[23]) was very much a large part of the writing/recording process. Following Rubin's departure, Luke Johnson of Beat Union was officially announced as the band's new drummer in August 2009.^[24] During this time, Kerrang! magazine published a "world exclusive" article on Lostprophets, revealing the album's title, and its release date of January 2010.^{[citation needed]} In a latter interview with Kerrang in early 2009, Watkins stated that the record was "the most honest album" the band has ever done, and that overall the record was "a lot grittier and sleazier", while also stating that did not mean "it won't be catchy", but that it would not be done "in such a twee way".^{[citation needed]} When speaking about what the record would sound like, Jamie Oliver stated that he felt it had "the bite that Start Something had, with the song-ability of Liberation Transmission but personality of The Fake Sound of Progress."^{[25][26][27][28]}

The first single from the new album, "It's Not the End of the World But I Can See It from Here," was aired for the first time on BBC Radio 1 on 19 August. It was subsequently released on 12 October 2009 and reached #16 on the Official UK chart. This was followed by "Where We Belong", which was released on 4 January 2010.

The band commenced their UK tour with support from Kids in Glass Houses, Hexes, We Are the Ocean and Sharks, in February 2010.

The Doncaster date to the UK tour was cancelled and refunded, but no reason was given for the cancellation. The Port Talbot date of the tour had been postponed and moved to a different venue due to a fire at the Afan Lido Leisure Centre. The show took place on 1 May at the Cardiff International Arena to a sold out crowd of 7,000 people.^[29]

The band spilt in mid-September 2013 following sexual offence charges brought against singer Ian Watkins, including the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13. ^[30]

Present

Johnson is currently writing his first book "101 Fish Bowl Pranks"

Equipment

Drum Kit

Tama Starclassic Performer Bubinga/Birch Shell Color: Black Diamond Dust & Chrome Hardware

• 18'"x22" Kick Drum
• 6"x14" Starphonic Brass Snare Drum
• 10"x14" Rack Tom
• 16"x16" Floor Tom
• 16"x18" Floor Tom

• Iron Cobra Powerglide Twin Pedal

Cymbals

Zildjian

• 19" A Custom Crash
• 20" Medium Crash
• 20" A Custom Crash
• 20" A Custom Rezo Crash
• 21" Sweet Ride
• 15" Mastersound Hi Hats

Drum Sticks

Pro-mark 2B Nylon Tip Natural Sticks

Drum Heads

Remo Coated Emperor Tom Heads Remo Emperor X Snare Head

References