Damon Johnson (Brother Cane, Alice Cooper)

Episode 105 - Damon Johnson!!! Damon rose to fame in the 90s with the band Brother Cane. The band had hits like “Got No Shame” along with “And Fools Shine On” as well as live shows with Van Halen and Robert Plant. He since went on to build quite the resume as the guitar player for Alice Cooper and Thin Lizzy. In addition he has written songs with Sammy Hagar, Faith Hill, Stevie Nicks, Carlos Santana and more. His latest solo release “Battle Lessons” is produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains) and available on his website or streaming service.

00:00 - Intro
01:21 - Welcome & Arizona Connections
02:32 - Early Days & Sticking With Music
07:58 - Marti Frederiksen Producer/Songwriter
12:19 - Collaborating with West Arkeen
15:45 - Brother Cane & Early 90s Rock Scene
18:15 - Harmonica on "Got No Shame"
21:35 - Working with Sammy Hagar
25:23 - Writing a Song for Stevie Nicks
29:45 - Playing Golf with Alice Cooper
33:55 - Quitting Alice Cooper for Whiskey Falls
37:05 - Thin Lizzy & Black Star Riders
40:10 - Slave to the System & Second Album
41:27 - Working with Rachel Bolan of Skid Row
42:20 - Independent as a Solo Artist
45:08 - New Album "Battle Lessons"
49:08 - Shows for Damon Johnson & The Get Ready
52:48 - Future Plans with Thin Lizzy
54:55 - World Center Kitchen
56:02 - Dan Sokolik & Messaging
58:37 - Wrap Up

Damon Johnson Website:
https://www.damonjohnson.com

World Center Kitchen Website:
https://wck.org

Chuck Shute Website:
http://chuckshute.com/

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:13

Greetings from Arizona, it is a beautiful sunny day here. And I hope you're staying warm wherever you are. We have an amazing guest today and I know I say that a lot, but this guy really is rock royalty. Damon Johnson. He started out in this band called brother Kane and I love this band. You may remember some other rock radio hits like got no shame and full shine on. And with that band, Damon got to do shows with Van Halen, Robert Plant. And if you just looked at the brother Kane stuff, that alone would be an amazing career. But no, he would then go on to be on Alice Cooper's guitar player. He played with Thin Lizzy, which I think he's currently still playing with them sometimes.

Unknown: 0:55

Plus, he's

Chuck Shute: 0:55

also worked with Ted Nugent, Sammy Hagar, Faith Hill, Stevie Nicks. I mean, you really can't get much bigger than that. And now he's back. He's got his solo band Damon Johnson on the Get ready. And they have a new record out called battle lessons. You can get this on the website. It's in the notes or you can listen to it on streaming however you get your music, but this was a really fun interview with a lot of great stories. So enjoy it. Welcome, Damon Johnson to the chuck shoot podcast. How are you doing today?

Damon Johnson: 1:28

Chuck? I'm doing really well. I'm doing extra good. I thought I had a little water problem from the from the deep freeze but it turned out to be turned out to be okay man. Where? Where are you? Like Where do you live? Chuck? I'm in

Chuck Shute: 1:43

Scottsdale, Arizona close to Phoenix.

Damon Johnson: 1:45

Oh, of course. Of course. I know. Scottsdale really well. Man.

Chuck Shute: 1:49

I your buddy Alice Cooper lives down here. So

Damon Johnson: 1:52

my buddy Alice Cooper lives out there. The best man. In my wedding. One of my best friends on the planet is a is a ear nose and throat doctor in Phoenix proper. Oh, Chandler. Okay. So yeah, if I ever need

Chuck Shute: 2:08

somebody off to get that referral from you, then

Damon Johnson: 2:11

Hey, brother, he's the man. Okay. He's the man. He has seen every. He's seen every esophagus in the business. Chuck. From Billy Joel and Mick Jagger. Wow. And Tyler to really see

Chuck Shute: 2:25

Yeah. Okay, that's good to know. But anyways, back to you and music and all this. So you were recently interviewed by my good friend, Rob lane for his straight to video podcast. And you guys covered a lot of the early stuff. So what I want to do is maybe just pick up kind of where he left off, and go right into the brother Cain stuff because that's how I became a fan of yours. I was a big brother Cain fan. I love this band. But I'm just curious, like when you first started that band. I mean, there were so many years that you know, you I'm assuming that you struggled and some of those other bands like split the dark and witness and delta rebels and Chinatown all this. I mean, you must have learned a lot. But was there ever a point where you're like, I just I should just teach guitar lessons or, you know, do music on the side or you were still just going all in for the full Rockstar job? Right?

Damon Johnson: 3:13

I would I was going all in for the full rock star job. Chuck. That's a great question you just asked. And I've often, like my kids are all I have five kids from my my oldest daughter is a high school counselor just gave us our first grandbaby. And then my youngest. My youngest is 12. So I you know, between the five kids, they run the whole gamut. And they're always asking me about that time period. Because, you know, if you just look at the reality of how things were just kind of on a day to day level and making a living. Yeah, I probably should have given some. Yeah, maybe going back to school. I was fueling off of this continual reaction by other musicians, other managers, other bands. There was something about my guitar playing that was really speaking. For me it was resonating with people. And in a real quick succession succession Chuck between 1987 in 1990 I was in four bands, you know, it was split the dark witness Delta rebels Chinatown. Every band was made up of different people. So each one I learned more each one there was some cool things about it. There was potential, you thought something was gonna happen. And I guess in a way the good news was, is we found out pretty quickly that you know, things weren't gonna really develop for one reason or not okay. And she just

Chuck Shute: 4:54

kept on. You just kept just kept going.

Damon Johnson: 4:57

I just kept going, Man, you know, I was so Inspired by the success of bands like the Black Crowes driving in Kryon, was another really popular regional band. They were based out of Atlanta as well. They were having some success. There was a scene in Atlanta at the time and see when I was in that band witness I was in Atlanta did better in 1988. So I just felt like I was really close to it. Yeah, these if these guys can do it, I can do it. So, you know, witness had some issues. You know, the Delta rebels had some issues. Chinatown was really just a cover band. But But, man, that band was the it played a big role for me, Chuck because that's how I met when I was in the bars playing in that band. That's when I met Scott Collier on drums Roman Glick on bass. I met Glenn Maxie who was our original bass player. All those guys, man, we're kind of from that scene. Yeah. And that's what, that's what I put brother Kane. Right. And then, you know

Chuck Shute: 6:04

not not to jump ahead too far. But it is you when you talk about meeting people. You met Eric Dover in that band? Never did you think in 20 years, I better be nice to this guy. Because in 20 years, he's gonna help get me a job with Alice Cooper. Like, is that just kind of like, isn't it it's an interesting life lesson, right? Never know, you better be nice to everybody. Because you never know when somebody could help you out later than in the future. Right?

Damon Johnson: 6:29

Well, one thing is for sure me and my parents are were amazing. They man, they gave me so much great information. Even as a kid they like never burn any bridges ever. Even if something doesn't work out. I'll always say thanks for the opportunity. Good luck to you and move on to the next thing. As a little footnote, about Eric Dover, I don't know that there was any single person in the Birmingham music scene. more talented. More that had more skills in rock in rock music. Then Eric Dover, you know, he could play anything. He's saying he is he's just saying his brains out Chuck. I remember like it was yesterday. He sat down with us we did a cover of Purple Rain and he went into that whole outro refrain and saying it like Prince. Wow. No, he did all the full Senate stuff all the screaming and all that all that kind of like r&b thing. I'd never seen anything like it and we just knew like, well, that guy's gonna do you know some big stuff. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 7:42

gotta sing with slash and guitar with Alice Cooper is it was amazing. But doesn't

Damon Johnson: 7:47

jellyfish. Yeah, jellyfish. Yeah. Which was I mean, talk about talk about other levels, for sure.

Chuck Shute: 7:54

Oh, yeah. Back Back to you and brother Cain. So Marty Fredrickson. Let's talk about him. Because he's an Emmy. I feel like he's another member of brother Kane really like because he helped write those songs and produce and he went on to work with Aerosmith, and Motley Crue, and like, Can you explain that guy's like process? Like, is it all just raw talent? Or is it like, does he meditate? Is he is he doing drugs? Is it networking? Like how does he What is the secret to success?

Damon Johnson: 8:21

I can't really make a commentary To what degree the drugs have played. I do know, the first time we had a chance to smoke some weed I passed. It's just never been the drug for me. And Marty got right in there. He was a Hey, bro. Let me hit that.

Chuck Shute: 8:39

So that might have something to do the creativity.

Damon Johnson: 8:43

Well, I'll try to I'll try to condense this Chuck. it you know, Chinatown evolved into child child was we were writing originally Yeah, I was we had we had a singer for a while. I was just a guitar player. Man that lasted about nine months. We showcase we got some interest. We had some good songs. Nobody really was a fan of the singer enough to sign the band. Virgin Records signed us to a development deal. said we really love Damon, we loved the songs. We're going to help him find a singer. We tried that for six more months tried several guys. I became the singer Chuck by default. That's a whole other story. I don't want to get too sidetracked that we can talk about it more if you want. But so right at that moment, thanks to Virgin Records my a&r guy, Aaron Jacobus, and I was working with their publishing company, a great, great talent named Sharona sebat Sebag and Sharona was sending me cassette tapes like Well, here's some of our writers here. Some people you might be interested in writing it with. And Chuck, no disrespect to those writers. I just didn't like any of the tapes. It sounded very it was a little too pop. It was a little too College. That just wasn't anything, man. I was looking for paradise city brother. You know what I mean? Yeah, I I was looking for jealous again, you know black crows. I was just gonna, you know into that. Okay,

Chuck Shute: 10:15

and so you but sorry gone was there more to that I'm

Damon Johnson: 10:17

just gonna say I got out of this bag picked Marty. Yeah get bags of tapes man that was just random tape. I still I've kept it for prosperity trust me Oh, yeah, that would be called on the spine in. In pin it was written Marty Fredrickson, okay. And I put it in my car to join me that just rocked their ass off the drums. The drum sounded incredible. There were big hooks and harmony vocals. And it didn't sound like 80s hair band stuff. But it wasn't you know, college or, or anything weird like that. I mean, it was just balls to the wall rock. Aerosmith. Yeah, ironically. Right. So that's how you know, and we got together. I told the publishing girl, you know, Sharon, I said, Can I write with this guy? She said, Sure. Next, come down lay, we'll hook it up. And, you know, Marty came to the door. I opened the door Chuck, and we look like twins. Really, like identical twins. Man, we both had long straight here. Mine's a little more gray now than it was in but you know, same height. Same, you know, almost dressed the same. And that was how it started. Marty was very, he was further down the path as a songwriter. And an arranger than I was sure no lyrics weren't necessarily his forte. We worked on that a lot together. I think the lyrics were always the toughest thing. But you know, man, I could play anything on the guitar. And that guy, man, he would start singing these vocal melodies. That's his. That's his tricks. That's, that's the Juju. Okay. When he wrote was Steven Tyler and they wrote Jade it was Marty's melody. That bad at that at that. That's that sounds like Burt Bacharach. That's cool. That's neat. So

Chuck Shute: 12:16

tell me the other this is another songwriter that I don't even know if I knew this at the time. But you worked with West Arkeen, who was if people know that name. He wrote with Guns and Roses. He wrote the song. It's So Easy, which is one of my favorite Guns and Roses songs and a couple other ones. How did you get hooked up with him? Was that the same kind of thing? Did he send you a tape or you must have already known his name? Like you didn't really need to?

Damon Johnson: 12:38

Oh, I knew his name, brother. So when Marti and I started having some progress, I started kind of fine tuning my search as far as any anybody else to collaborate with. Because look, you got to keep in mind, bro, there was still no guarantees that a record was going to get released.

Chuck Shute: 12:55

That's true.

Damon Johnson: 12:56

We had we had to have great songs so Sharona once again. I was like, oh, who else can I write with? And she sent me more of a shorter list. Okay, here's some other people kind of next level. And as soon as I saw that name West Arkeen, I was like you I knew exactly who that was. Because, you know the credits on Appetiet For Destruction.... So GNR number six West Arkeen. Like he was a sixth member of the band. And he did right? It's so easy with Duff and Musee. And, again, that's that's another long story short, that's changed. West changed my life. He changed my life. And he, you know, we had two songs on the record that we wrote together. And we wrote a couple more. There's one that I'm gonna I swear to God, man, I'm gonna put it on my next record. Oh, it was the very Yeah, it was the very first song we wrote together in 1991. a song called Rattle My Bones. And it sounds cool. It just sounds like Appetite. Really? Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 14:05

Oh, man. I want to hear this. I got,

Damon Johnson: 14:07

Yeah, man, I showed up with a really killer riff. And, you know, he instantly was drawn to it. He goes, Okay, let me work on that. And I just kept playing and he started writing and, you know, when I got to see... again Marti's (Fredriksen) forte was melodies, arrangements. He could play great guitar. So we could just play together and I would riff and he would change a chord, you know? Lyrics were with West. West was a dark soul. What you you've probably studied up on him a little bit. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 14:40

A lot. Yeah, I'm sorry to hear what happened to us. And I didn't realize he'd passed away But yeah, that's sad.

Damon Johnson: 14:45

Yeah, man. And, there was definitely an edge to him, just the life experiences he had had. It's like, man, if you're gonna write songs like"It's So Easy." You've you've been lived some life, you've seen things you've been through some stuff, man, I hadn't really been through a lot. But, but I had the presence of mind to recognize, okay, here's someone I can learn from. I can tell I can give him my story. And then we can mold it a little bit we can make it we can tell a different story. There's no rules and songwriters, sure doesn't have it doesn't have to be autobiographical. So it might start with this idea, but the West would just take a left turn then it just goes straight to the to the street, you know, and I'd be like, yeah, that's, that's what I want. That's cool.

Chuck Shute: 15:42

Yeah, I'd love to read the lyrics more closely on those songs that he co wrote and that's that's really cool. But so god no shame. I love that was my first introduction of the band I think I must have seen on Headbangers ball. Such a great song. I have two questions about the song first question. How the hell did you get a blues based rock song on radio and MTV in 1993? during the height of crunch like how did you guys do that?

Damon Johnson: 16:06

I don't know brother. Um, you know, one of the a lot of credit goes to Virgin Records, radio promo staff. They worked so hard. They believed in the band. I think a lot of the regional radio promotional people Chuck at that time, they were still kind of rooted in straight ahead rock, like the stuff that they personally like. Yeah. So they could tell we were a little more meat and potatoes, man. You know, we were a little more bad company, grand funk. You know, a little bit of Black Crowes in there, you know,

Chuck Shute: 16:41

definitely not hair metal, and then definitely not glam rock at all. So maybe that's why you guys were able to kind of sneak that in, because there still was a little bit of that. The boy he said the Black Crowes and that stuff wasn't passe at the time. So

Damon Johnson: 16:53

no, there's no and you know, my manager used to say this. He said, Listen, guys, we got lucky. You know, we were able to stick our big toe in the door right before it closed. Hmm, that's a good we had. Yeah, we had enough of the past to have quality influences. We paid attention to whatever coolness we could find in the 80s like Guns and Roses, like the Black Crowes, you know, a little of that rolled off owners. And then we were of the same influences that you know, the guys in Pearl Jam, we're listening to the same records. We were we did. We didn't have the punk rock. That's one thing that we were void of. We didn't have any punk rock influence. You know, I had the same I had those same who records that Eddie Vetter did.

Chuck Shute: 17:41

Oh, sure. And yeah, all of a sudden, it's tough. Yeah,

Damon Johnson: 17:43

yeah. And the same Zeppelin records that Chris Cornell did. So, you know, that's how we kind of made it happen. But yeah, got no shame was uh, how lucky were we Chuck? How lucky was daymond Johnson that his first foray into the major label record business, you know, radio, MTV touring, was with a badass rock and roll song.

Chuck Shute: 18:08

Yeah, Shane with a harmonica. So that's my other question. Now when I've never seen you guys live, I'd love to see you either solo or if you if you did a reunion show with brother Kane. I'd love to catch that. But when you guys do it live who plays a harmonica? Because it wasn't a band member that played it in the recording right? with somebody else, right?

Damon Johnson: 18:26

Yeah, it was a that was a legendary Birmingham. Kind of the, his name was topper price topper. toured all over the southeast. He was like an authentic blues man in every way. You know, the good and the bad. You know, he was another one that struggled with a lot of you know, a lot of drugs and booze but God Damn, that guy could play the heart man. He just you know, is one of the best. I would put him up against anyone. You want to? Like, let's let's have a competition. I'm talking everybody from Little Walter to the guy and Blues Traveler. I'll take topper price. Wow, we but yeah, man. When we started playing live, Roman. See Roman Blick played rhythm guitar on that first record, right. So when we would play got no shame, he would just grab a harmonica and play the intro. And he did a pretty damn good job man. A lot of credit to Roland because he wasn't a harmonica player. He he just put in the time and learned. Yeah. So but then after that first record, our bass player moved on. Roman's original instrument is the bass. So he went back to the bass Chuck. So check it out. He he built this little contraption, which was basically a mic stand with a clamp on it. And he could just put the harmonica in that clamp. It had a bullet underneath it so he could be playing the bass. Just walk up and blow. Okay, nice. And then step back from it. You know, he didn't want to wear the, you know, the Bob Dylan, you know, headpiece, okay. Yeah, no,

Chuck Shute: 20:12

he's too much.

Damon Johnson: 20:12

He's like, Man, that's because yeah, Bob Dylan owns that. I'm not cool enough for that. Let me I want to be able to rock out. Move around.

Chuck Shute: 20:20

Yeah, no, that's cool. Well, I like I said, I hope to see you live and so what? So he's not obviously with you now. It's just you and the trio. So how are you doing with the trio?

Damon Johnson: 20:29

Well, we just don't have the harmonica, or you just don't do that part at all. Yeah, we don't. Yeah, I will say this man. any opportunity? I have to have, you know, a good heart player sit in and jam. I always say yes. rarely have I turned down. Because when you know, people will just come straight up, go, Hey, man, can I play the harmonica and got him shamed? Yeah. And you know, most of the time, it's someone I've never met. And, you know, I kind of do a quick little look around to the people with him like, Hey, is this guy legit? Or is he pulling my leg? And yeah, you know, most times they'll go Oh, yeah, he. Okay, great. So that's cool. Yeah, look forward to seems like it's just a jam. Yeah, no, it's just a jam anyway, as far as the harmonica part, so yeah, man. Thanks.

Chuck Shute: 21:20

Yeah, so many good songs with Brother Cane. But unfortunately, yeah, the band did end around 2000. And then, I think was your next project. Sammy Hagar, you got to tell me about working with him. I'm so jealous. Like, he just seems like such a fun guy to hang out with. Does he make you do tequila shots with him? Did you have fun or was it all business?

Damon Johnson: 21:38

It was all fun. Chuck, it was all fun.

Chuck Shute: 21:45

That's what he seems like he's always fun. Even when he's working. It's fun.

Damon Johnson: 21:48

Well, yeah, let me tell you how fun it was. Now I was still in Brother Cane. Okay. I wrote was I wrote was Sammy in 1996..... Marching to Mars or something? Right, Marching to Mars was the record. We had just toured with Van Halen. That's right.

Chuck Shute: 22:07

Yeah.

Damon Johnson: 22:09

Sammy was a big fan of our song "And Fools Shine On." He loved it.

Chuck Shute: 22:14

That's a great song. Yeah.

Damon Johnson: 22:15

Loved it. Thank you, man. So right after he split with Van Halen, he called me at home in Birmingham, and he said, Hey, man, I'm gonna make a record right now. Would you want to come out and write something with me? And I said, of course. So he flies me straight out, brother. I mean, like four days later, maybe that maybe that very same weekend. He picks me up at the San Francisco Airport. He lived up in the hills area in Marin County and that wine country up to? He picks me up brother in the red. I can't drive 55 ferrari.

Chuck Shute: 22:56

The same one?

Damon Johnson: 22:58

Yes!

Chuck Shute: 23:01

Wow, that's gotta be surreal. Is he wearing that outfit, too? He's got like a jumpsuit or something.

Damon Johnson: 23:07

No, he didn't wear the jumpsuit...

Chuck Shute: 23:09

That would have been funny.

Damon Johnson: 23:11

He's scared the shit out of me, man. He he

Chuck Shute: 23:13

He really can't drive 55 really... Yeah, man, he can't drive 55 he jumped straight out into moving traffic in that thing. And I remember grabbing this thing. He's saying hey, Johnson. He goes hey, Johnson. Don't worry, brother. I got you. Don't question don't question the Ferrari, bro. It's all good. Has he had Tequila at this point... or hopefully not...

Damon Johnson: 23:39

Um, yeah, I mean, the tequila thing was already happening. It hadn't really kicked off.

Chuck Shute: 23:45

But he wasn't drinking the shots when he was driving the Ferrari.

Damon Johnson: 23:48

Oh, hell no.

Chuck Shute: 23:48

Okay. Just checking.

Damon Johnson: 23:49

Check it out man, we went straigh up to his house had a couple beers went right i we went to work, which I love I wish this was during the cellphone era, this was amazing. man. There was no messing a ound. We wrote a couple th ngs really fast. It was great. stayed at his house. I ha some of the most insane red wi e I've ever had in my life. He' got a little wine cellar buil into this kind of like a lit le hill. If you if you look at his back door, you see this gra sy hill you think it's like a ound of dirt. He's got like a w ne cellar in there, man. And wow And then the next morning he ade me pumpkin pancakes for bre kfast. like Snapchat video of Sammy Hagar with an apron making you pancakes. That's crazy. I gotta tell you something, bro. I don't think I've ever told anyone. That story.

Chuck Shute: 24:44

That was amazing. That was a great story. Yeah, pumpkin pancakes.

Damon Johnson: 24:48

And Sammy Hagar. That's crazy. You know. And one final little thing I have to mention, and I did tell this to another interview recently, but he flew me back out there. About three weeks later to record, the two songs we had worked on together, and the band was essentially Montrose without Ronnie Montrose. It was Bill Church on the bass, Danny Carmassi on the drums, Sammy, Hagar and me. And we recorded those. Those two songs together, bro, talk about a dream come true. I mean, just,

Chuck Shute: 25:23

there's so many dreams come true that you've had I mean, Stevie Nicks. Tell me about that one. I don't know. I was trying to find out like, how that came. I haven't heard the story. I know. You wrote a song with her. But like, I mean, it's not like you reached out to her because I'm sure she gets reached out to all the time. Like she kind of has to pick you, right? I mean, she ran through a mutual friend or no,

Damon Johnson: 25:42

no, bro. It was a total fluke. Brother Cain. Brother, Cain was about to come to an end. I continued to write. I thought about maybe putting out a solo record. Um, but I went to Los Angeles, I wrote a couple more songs with Marty. And then I wrote songs with my friend john Shanks, who is another mega talent is had a huge success, way, big success as a producer, and a co writer. So john, and I wrote this song called every day. And it still is a lyric I wrote about my girlfriend at the time. Who's upstairs making, I think, brownies for the kids right now. And so I came back home to to Alabama. And about a month afterwards, john called me and said, Hey, man, I think we might get a cut. Somebody wants to record our song. He goes, but I can't tell you who just yet. And I was like, Okay, well, he goes, are you alright, if someone else cuts the song? Well, at that point, I knew john had been working with a lot of young, like female pop singers like Hilary Duff, Michelle brand. Um, a couple of others, you know, like, he was really doing well with that. And I was like, hey, wow, one of those girls were to cut the song. It could be a hit. I'd never had that hit song. You know, besides, you know, the brother Kane stuff, but that was just a rock radio. Yeah, Pop Pop radio. So you would

Chuck Shute: 27:24

you'd be okay with it. Even if it's like not really your kind of music. They turn into a poppy song. But

Damon Johnson: 27:30

well, our song was kind of poppy. It was just a it was just a real simple melody. Very sing songy almost nursery rhyme in a very cool way. So the next week, Chuck, he calls in he goes, Hey, man, I'm gonna hold the phone up to the speaker. Check this out. So I could hear our song and I heard this voice over the phone. I'm like, wait, I know who that is. I couldn't. Come on, man. It would have occurred to me like, oh, maybe that's Stevie Nicks. Right? Yeah. What did I yeah, So sure enough, it was Stevie. And, you know, I almost dropped the telephone. I was Yeah, thinking. I remember thinking Stevie Nicks is one of the great songwriters of the rock era. And she wants to record my song. Come on, man.

Chuck Shute: 28:27

And also just one of the greatest female voices of onion. So for her to sing yours. I mean, I can't imagine if you had to pick a female voice to sing your song. She's got to be at the top of the list.

Damon Johnson: 28:38

Well, she's she's an icon. You know, she's a legend. And, you know, the only thing the only the only component of that story that I want is incomplete is I've yet to meet Stevie in person. We spoke very, very briefly on the telephone. She just said, Hey, I want to I want to say hello. I love the song. She said I love your vocal melody. I'm gonna sing it exactly like you wrote it. And I'm just like, wow. So yeah,

Chuck Shute: 29:10

that is a great compliment. Dang, that was

Damon Johnson: 29:13

a great compliment. That was a you know, that was a big phone call. And of course everybody in my world is freaking out my you know, my the publishing company that I was still working with that same girl Sharona Sharon was so she was so important for me. I'm telling you, Chuck Marty, Fredrickson, Weststar King, john Shanks, I would have never met any of those people had it not been for Sharona. So that's amazing. So they're not a creditor.

Chuck Shute: 29:40

Yeah. So then back to the like when we were talking earlier with Eric Dover. He gets to the call for Alice Cooper. So you get the job with Alice Cooper. So tell me like what is it like? You play golf with him? Right? Does he get recognized on the course like cuz I've seen him around Arizona. I've seen him at the mall one time and my girlfriend's parents saw him at like a storage unit. Just like it seems like he just kind of hangs out like he doesn't try to make a big fuss like I'm Alice Cooper, like he just, I'm going to the mall and going to storage places like is like that way in the golf course as well as he getting recognized or

Damon Johnson: 30:12

Yeah, he totally does mere talk about Alice Cooper is more comfortable in his own skin than anyone I've ever met. He, he is 100% normal, he's just like you or me, loves music, loves his kids loves his wife loves golf, loves to shop, love movies, popcorn. You know, and then for an hour and a half every night, man, he turns into, you know, the shock rock Lord of the universe and goes out and drops all these bombs with his performance and just, you know, does his thing that I mean, basically, he pioneered that whole kind of presentation, you know, so yeah, Alice was a game changer in every way. It was great for my confidence. It was amazing to write songs with Alice, you know, the legend. He kind of has different hats. You know, one is the performer. You know, one is is is you know, the husband and father, kind of the public figure and a rock star, but another hat is Alice Cooper songwriter, and it was a just a thrill beyond anything I could have imagined to get to do that. And of course we do we played so much golf. Oh, my handicap got really good.

Chuck Shute: 31:37

I'm so bad. I love golf. I just I need to do it more, I think is that that the how you get better at it? Because I'm so bad.

Damon Johnson: 31:43

Take some lessons, bro. If you really want to get better. Yeah, you need to take some lessons and then you need to put in the time on the range.

Chuck Shute: 31:53

Yeah, it'd be nice if I had some natural talent. I feel like then that would encourage me to

Damon Johnson: 31:59

I got good news for you, brother. I had no natural talent Really? And and full disclosure. I I sucked for a long time. I played with Alice for five years. I sucked for four of those years really took

Chuck Shute: 32:13

that long to it's hard.

Damon Johnson: 32:15

Yeah, just because Look, man, it's one thing to be out playing every day. But you're not taking lessons. You're not on the range. You're just getting out there and chasing the ball around really. And, you know, I asked Alice one day I said Alice, what's what's my problem? Why can't I get any better? He just said, buddy until you get a real swing. You're gonna continue to struggle. That's all I needed to hear, bro. I was like, done. I as soon as that took that leg of the tour was over. I went home. Got me a coach. I started putting in the time and because, look, you're out with Alice. You play in the best golf courses in the country. Yeah, you know, we played Bethpage. We played whistling straits. We played wingfoot we played almost got to go to Augusta National. I mean, it was just insanity. You know, he's a he's an ambassador of golf. Just like his he's an ambassador rock. So he's pretty good, right? He's

Chuck Shute: 33:06

better. Is he better than you?

Damon Johnson: 33:09

Oh, God. Yes. Really?

Chuck Shute: 33:11

Does he get annoyed? There's that's my problem with golf too, is I'm so bad that if I go with a friend who's good, they're gonna get like annoyed because I'm always keeping them up or whatever.

Damon Johnson: 33:19

Chuck that's another one of the greatest things about Alex. He never got annoyed. Ever. He was so amazing. Well, look, he he wasn't. Look, he didn't like stop what he was doing and come over to help me he as long as he could keep his pace go. Okay, man, he didn't care if you had to hit the ball. 15 times on every hole. He didn't care. So it's crazy.

Chuck Shute: 33:44

Yeah, it sounds like such an awesome time. You're You're Alice Cooper's guitar player getting a golf on the Hangout. It seems like such a dream job but you it was your decision to leave right? Didn't you leave for the was at the southern rock country band whiskey falls.

Damon Johnson: 33:58

I did whiskey falls came across my desk in my third year with Alice and that there was so much talent in that band. There were already some undeniably great songs in that band. That I made the decision to give it a shot. And again on paper. Remember, I'd already been through witness the Delta rebels. Brother Cain, brother Cain had tons of success at Radio. Yeah, we never met we could barely make a living. Honestly, Jacques, you know we Yeah, cuz we were just on the road all the time. Yeah, yeah, we opened for Aerosmith and Robert Plant but what we're getting 1000 bucks a night for those shows you get that's just enough to the whole band or each the whole band.

Chuck Shute: 34:42

That's it for Robert.

Damon Johnson: 34:45

Oh, listen, that that happens more often been

Chuck Shute: 34:47

well, now I hear that the opening bands have to pay to get on to these big tours and such,

Damon Johnson: 34:53

which a lot of times they a lot of times they do. We were fortunate we had good management and they knew a lot of People a lot of phone calls. One of the guys on our management team was a total legend in the concert promotion company, Tony ruffino. And Tony ruffino grew up in the business with Robert plants manager, Bill Curbishley, who was a legend bill, Kirby's Lee managed to who? You know, Robert, Robert plan after after Peter grant passed away. So, you know, Tony just called up Kirby said, Hey, I got my boys this band brother key, and they're really good. And if you got anything keep us in mind. He goes, would they want to open for Robert? Tony goes? I think they'd like that.

Chuck Shute: 35:37

Yeah, and who's gonna say no to that?

Damon Johnson: 35:40

Yeah. So anyway, back to Alice, back to whiskey falls. Yes, I just through all of these experiences, Chuck, there's always been this thing in the back of my head that I want to be a member of a band that is succeeding, that is selling tickets that is selling records. But that I can focus my songwriting and my kind of craft and my and my guitar playing into doing that one thing and have some success in it. So I took a chance on whiskey falls. And, you know, whiskey falls didn't make as much noise as brother Kane, but we definitely accomplished a lot in in the year and a half we were together. And you know, and then it was just another band that ran into some obstacles that we just couldn't get get across. And thank God. You know, after I left Dallas for whiskey falls, Jason hook became the guitar player that took my place. Well, at the end of whiskey falls, Jason hooked left Dallas to join five finger death punch, right. And the tour manager, Toby nameless, called me to ask me if I knew any other guitar players that might be available. And I said, Yes, I

Chuck Shute: 36:58

do. So the next day, you went back two hours from now? And then. Yeah, and then you ended up joining Thin Lizzy.

Damon Johnson: 37:07

Yeah. Well,

Chuck Shute: 37:08

Lizzie slash Black Star riders. Right? Can you explain that? Because it was like, you didn't want to make new material under the Thin Lizzy name. So it's basically the same band, you just call the Black Star riders for the records? Is that how it worked?

Damon Johnson: 37:21

Kind of. It's a little convoluted, you know, and now that I've had the advantage of kind of some perspective and some distance, I think that whole situation could have maybe been navigated a little better. But here's what it was. Then Lizzie toured all of 2011 2012 they were having real success selling tickets. You know, there was, you know, Scott Gorham, and that group of players had kind of brought the band back to some level of like, Hey, man, this is good. This is the best version of the band since Phil passed away. And Scott goes, I want to start writing some songs. Well, myself and Ricky Warrick, the singer and deluzy we got very excited. We were like, hell yes. Yeah. So, you know, Ricky was an experienced writer. I was inexperienced writer, and we knew that Scott wasn't. You know, Phil Lynott wrote those songs, Chuck, everybody knows it. Chuck Scott contributed a lot. Scott's got some co writes on several songs. But Phil did all the heavy lifting Ricky and I knew we would need to do a lot of heavy lifting. And we were ready for that man. So we initially thought it was going to be a Thin Lizzy record, and kind of in the 11th hour, Scott in the management, and Phil line, it's a state. You know, they've been having conversations, and they just decided it would be better not to call it Thin Lizzy. Which was the right decision, bro. Mm hmm. There is no there is there is no Thin Lizzy without fluoride. You're talking about putting out records? No, that would have been a mistake. I think it would have been fun. It would have been fun for me. I would have loved it. And yeah, I could have probably withstood the barrage of hate mail and hate posts we would have gotten on social media for you know, it's just it's just how it is. So Black Star riders, man, you know, in Europe, we had some success. people buying the records. We started selling some tickets and it was great. And I was there with that band for three albums. And you know, I've got nothing but positive memories and positive things to say about that band because I wouldn't be here talking to you about battle lessons about my fully focused solo career. Had it not been the fulfillment that I got from Blackstone writers. You know, Ricky especially writing songs with him. That guy's amazing. And it just kind of it just got me back man to wanting to More to kind of sing my own songs and get back behind the microphone. Yeah, this is weird. Yeah. So it's a weird path. It is a path.

Chuck Shute: 40:09

You've done so many. There's another project you did slave to the system with members of Queensyche and Roman Glick, your buddy from Brother Cane and also in Jackyl... That was in 2002. But there was a second album that was never released. Right or was it? Yeah. Is that ever gonna see the light of day?

Damon Johnson: 40:27

Yes, it is, bro. But simply because Kelly Gray. You know, Kelly and I did most of the songwriting. And Kelly and I are great friends to this day. As a matter of fact, there's one song on the Battle Lessons record my new record, that Kelly and I wrote together. Slave to the System was badass. That record was badass. And as we speak Kelly is getting that original record remastered. And we want to at least get it out on the streaming site so they can get I don't even think you can find it anymore. There's no one actively working it. So we want to get it back out. Yeah, we got six or eight tunes that are very worthy of us, recording and putting out a second record. It's the only kind of project that I want to do. Because I'm, I'm telling you, brother, I'm 100%. fully focused on Damon Johnson and the Get ready. That's it.

Chuck Shute: 41:27

What about your I didn't know you're buddies with Rachel Bolan. I had him on the show. I was a huge Skid Row fan. Would you ever? Would you guys ever do a project? Or would you ever have him help you write songs for your solo stuff?

Damon Johnson: 41:39

He's a great songwriter. So I would write songs with Rachel any day of the week. We've written many songs together really shot. Yeah, you may not know this brother. But that first record that they put out after Sebastian, it was a record called thick six again? Yeah. Yeah, I co wrote three songs. Oh, wow. That's really good. Yeah. There's a song called ghost. Yes, ghost. Yeah, it's, yeah, that that was me and Rachel and snow. Okay, I, I love that song so much. And I am bound and determined to record my own version of it. Oh, wow. Okay. Very cool. Yeah, so a great lyric. Great lyric.

Chuck Shute: 42:19

Absolutely. Well, let's talk about your solo career. So you said that you love not having to, you know, compromise or wait for other people, or have to work with people out of state like this is much easier to be in a band. You know, they live close, and you get the final say and everything. But isn't it also kind of scary to know that you don't have that like Alice Cooper money behind you or Thin Lizzy kind of like recognition? I mean, that's got to be a little bit frightening, right?

Damon Johnson: 42:46

Yeah. What is the word? I'm not frightened? But there's no question. It is a lot of work to do what I'm doing now. If I if there was any way, if there was a way for me to pan back, you could see what a mess. My little cubby hole here is man because I'm, we're we're mailing out CDs and T shirts and all these people that have pre ordered the record. This man, I'm fully independent. And I wanted it that way, Chuck, you know, there's look, rock and roll is never going to be the cultural influence that it once was. This was also part of my reason to leave Blackstar writers, it wasn't sustainable for me to continue to be a part of that. It was just too much time in another country. And really, we were just building it in one place. I'd like to be able to be with my family more play in North America more which is where I'm from where people are familiar with my singing voice. They remember brother King. Yeah, I love it. Oh, the Stevie Nicks song was was kind of a hit here. Like there's just more profile for me here. Sure. So, um, yeah. Okay, well, let's see. It's, it's great. It's, you know, I don't regret any of those things joining Alice and joining then Lizzie come in and change my life it put me um, I don't want to take any more of those gigs. I I have graciously passed on a couple of opportunities just in the last year from very established bands. That hellenization open. Yeah, can you say who they are? I can't do that. Because it would be disrespectful to the guy that you know is in the spot now.

Chuck Shute: 44:26

He told me off the record then.

Damon Johnson: 44:29

You will you know it's so flattering men when the when I get an email that says hey, this is so and so and your name came up and you came highly recommended and we're looking you know, we need a guitar player. So cool seeing you're the guy and I'd like guys thank you so much. And but if I do that, everything out Yeah, last three years. No, I get it comes to a complete halt. And then guess what Chuck? I'm back to waiting on an email. It's gonna have my entire Our year laid out this is your schedule. Yes, this is where we're gonna go. And I have no say so in it whatsoever.

Chuck Shute: 45:06

So you want the freedom so let's talk about this new record battle lessons. The songs are actually written in 2019. You recorded all this before the pandemic, but the songs are about like working past struggles and your good friend, producer Nick. Rescue. I was sick can never say his name right rescue, rascal. Rescue rescue clothes.

Damon Johnson: 45:28

I was so bad. It's really easy. Rescue Linux rescue Linux. I

Chuck Shute: 45:33

know why I couldn't get that. But he's he's worked with rush and Foo Fighters, Allison chains. I mean, he's amazing producer. So what else can you tell me about these songs?

Damon Johnson: 45:43

Yeah, the song started in 2000, the end of 2019. I have an old friend, a monster talent. Jim travelin. He's from the Birmingham music scene. We met early in the brother Kane days. And we just kept in touch through the years that we've collaborated on different things. And Jim has kind of a wacky creativity. And I'm the more organized guy that can kind of take that wackiness and contain it and kind of pull things out of it and go, Okay, I'm going to take this, this and this. Thank you very much. You go work on something else. I'm going to finish this song. And then let's start another one. And bro, when we finally did that, that that was what led to my 2018 solo album Memoirs of an uprising. Jim and I co wrote most of that as well. So we just we got a good thing, man. And we work fast. We have a lot of fun. I'm not overthinking anything. I feel more fearless as a lyricist than ever, in my whole career. And battle lessons is a giant leap forward. The riffs, the guitar is front and center. The arrangements. My my rhythm section, Jared and Robbie played their ass off. And Nick made us I mean, do I my record sounds as good as the Foo Fighters. Do any of those other records. Nicky's May. It's Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 47:14

you got all the same. He doesn't use it all the same equipment in such and techniques and well,

Damon Johnson: 47:18

he's just he Yeah, it's just using the same techniques. You know, the way you know, the drums, incredible. They sound great. And that's always kind of the foundation that we build on. You know, Nick has got so much great gear, so many killer guitar amps and guitars. And it's always it's always a fun experience, man. So use

Chuck Shute: 47:36

and you said said that this is your best work that you've done. I mean,

Unknown: 47:40

because I you know, I interview

Chuck Shute: 47:41

musicians all the time, whether Of course, they're going to promote their newest record, but you can kind of tell when they're they're not really feeling it like it's their best thing ever they've ever done. But you are feeling like this is the best record you've ever made.

Damon Johnson: 47:54

Yeah, you know, you're right, what you just said, in a way. It's like almost everybody says that, oh, it's the best thing I've ever done. You can tell when somebody's phoning that in?

Chuck Shute: 48:06

Yeah, or sometimes they won't even say that. Like, I interviewed. The singer. I don't know the band raw. But I interviewed the singer from the band. Ron, I told I told him, I said that new song you have is the best raw song. And he goes and he didn't. He wasn't like, Oh, I agree. He was like, okay, like, I don't think he agreed that it was their best song. So he's like, well, you'll have to hear some of the other stuff. So it's just, it's interesting. But you really, I mean, you've said that repeatedly that this is like you're really proud of this record.

Damon Johnson: 48:32

Yeah, there's an energy. There's so much tempo. There's so much balls to the wall. You know, the same way I felt when I was 19 years old, listening to Van Halen listening to AC DC, and Thin Lizzy. You know, as a kid, that I felt the same way then as the songs make me feel now. So I just feel kind of, I just feel like I'm having a moment right now, with my writing with kind of my vision for what the songs are. The guys and I are getting together literally this week to kind of knock the cobwebs off for the first time in a while. And, you know, getting ready to you know, we want to be prepared. You know, the vaccines are starting to get rolled out. Yeah, they're starting. They're starting to be a little bit of activity, a little some kind of performance situation, some dates. There's a couple things coming up. We're gonna get to support some bigger bands. Yeah, you have

Chuck Shute: 49:33

a show with a blueish or cold this summer.

Damon Johnson: 49:35

We did one that that one's on the books and confirmed as a little run with ZZ Top that I'm hoping really get announced. Yeah. Nothing crazy, but like three or four shows. Hey, man, that's great. Well, we'll take it. Yeah. You know, we just we just want to go play in front of people. And you'll

Chuck Shute: 49:54

do all the brother Kane hits and everything.

Damon Johnson: 49:57

Oh, yeah. Nope, no doubt about it. Look down. That's the other thing. I feel like I'm very lucky, Chuck, you know, and I'm not just the guitar player in Whitesnake, or, you know, again, no offense to those guys. They're great players, but they don't have brother Kane in their, in their history, right. They didn't write they didn't write songs or sing or no, you know, no, I

Chuck Shute: 50:16

agree because I love that you got that job with Alice Cooper as a guitar player. I think that's awesome. But I also think like, it's almost kind of a waste because you our brother can't hear the voice of brother Kane, you should be singing those songs and creating more songs like that,

Damon Johnson: 50:31

bro, there's been so many fans of rock music that have said word for word what you just said. And that just fuels me man. I'm so grateful to look I'm just grateful people feel that way. Because they could be like, Hey, man, this stuff is okay. Don't lose Alice Cooper's fault. There's no none of that.

Chuck Shute: 50:56

You got a catalogue with brother Kane with your other solo stuff? And then or do you do like some Black Star riders in there? You throw in one of Alice Cooper songs or what? Yeah, yeah, I

Damon Johnson: 51:05

mean, we don't get crazy with those songs. But we definitely have a lot to choose from. We can do anything we want. Yeah, you know, like when we when I first started playing full time solo three years ago. The set was a little heavy on Thin Lizzy and some Alice Cooper covers because that was what the promoters wanted. Oh, we're gonna get her and Johnson got a complaint or so and he's in Thin Lizzy and so okay, whatever. And we play got no shame and full shine on and harder to follow in a lie in the bed I make and then two or three of the new ones. Do this year. It's gonna be heavy on the battle lesson songs. Memoirs of an uprising. Yes, we'll play a Thin Lizzy song. We have to play God no shame. We have played fools shine on you have to

Chuck Shute: 51:55

play on that don't satisfy me. That's a good one too. Oh,

Damon Johnson: 51:57

yeah. Do we play we play all of that stuff. So over the course of say if we're in an opening slot situation over the course of 40 minutes. We can get eight songs in there. Oh, yeah. Well, they're gonna hear three or four that were hits that they recognize that I either saying or it's a Thin Lizzy song that you know, sure. Like my like my sister loves to say, Damon, you're on Thin Lizzy's Wikipedia page. Your name is on there you go. It's pretty cool. can take that away from Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 52:29

Are you an Alice Cooper? So you should be on his one as well? Oh, yeah. Quite a resume. It's amazing.

Damon Johnson: 52:36

The difference is Alice Cooper's had about 35 guitar players in history. And Lizzie did Lizzie's head six and I think that's it so so

Chuck Shute: 52:46

would you say would you never say never to like big being a guitar player and an Alice Cooper or Thin Lizzy kind of thing in the future? Or you're just saying like right now you really want to focus on the solo stuff?

Damon Johnson: 52:57

I would never say never. Yeah. Let me clarify. When Thin Lizzy goes out and plays. I'm still playing with Thin Lizzy as we speak. Oh, the good. The good news. It's a very minimal quantity of show. Okay. Yeah, we did. We did four festival dates in 2019 amazing. All in you're all in Europe. It was great. Saw the guys rehearse worked up those killer songs, had a blast had some good food had some laughs I was over there for two weeks. I came home went right back to my my thing. And that's the way it's gonna continue to be. You know, Scott Gordon just had his 70th birthday. And, you know, look, if he calls me and says Hey, bud. I'm ready to go crazy. We're gonna book 75 shows this year. I don't know, bro. I don't know if I don't know if I would want to do 70 then Lizzie shows. Gotcha. I don't know. I'm not gonna say no. You know, that's a conversation I'd have to have with with my family first. But you know, I certainly need to talk to Scott and all the guys in the band like right what's the plan? What are you thinking? Sure. Again, man 75 shows with anybody a lot. I gotta I gotta put battle lessons on hold. And yeah, I got a I got a badass band brother. They want to work to Yeah, I need to. You gotta feed those guys. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 54:17

I want to see you like Will you have any shows? In Phoenix or Scottsdale? I think we're kind of open here. I don't know. I think concerts are happening. I don't know. We will

Damon Johnson: 54:26

have shows Chuck in Phoenix guaranteed Okay, guaranteed that there's there's too much. There's a lot of love for my music there in that town. I know so many people there. You know, Alice is just one of the many people I know there. So I love Phoenix and this rock and roll fans out there for sure, man. Yeah. Well, I'm

Chuck Shute: 54:45

looking forward to seeing the show. Um, thank you so much for doing this. I do like to end with a charity. I think I've mentioned that. I hope I did. Do you have a charity that you support or that you want to give a shout out to

Damon Johnson: 54:57

we support the world central Rule kitchen.

Chuck Shute: 55:02

Okay, I'm not familiar with

Damon Johnson: 55:03

the world central kitchen. Yes. And it's simply about getting food to underprivileged communities all around the world. Okay, I like that. There's good idea. Yeah. Cause is their initials w c? k.org.

Chuck Shute: 55:20

Okay, perfect. I will definitely put that in the notes. And if people can find a way to throw a few bucks that way to help support that's obviously a great cause. I've never heard of that one. And that's interesting. Well, good.

Damon Johnson: 55:31

Good on you, man. For Good on you for even thinking like that, bro. We think the world needs it now more than ever. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And I think

Chuck Shute: 55:39

music is also an amazing thing that can help the world that we need right now to bring people together. Despite all their differences, and all that crap. Just come together to a rock concert. And let's hear some brother Kane songs and daymond Johnson solo stuff. It's gonna be amazing.

Damon Johnson: 55:54

I like that idea, brother. Very young man. I've really enjoyed this.

Chuck Shute: 55:58

Yeah, me too. I love your stories. You got some great stories. Well, thank

Damon Johnson: 56:02

you, brother. Shout out to our common friend Dan socolor. For Yes, connect, connecting the dots. Dan is a good man, a lifelong brother Kane fan. And just, he's he's just one of these great people that I've had the good fortune to meet in these years. Yeah, that was amazing. He

Chuck Shute: 56:19

reached out and said, Hey, do you want to interview daymond? Johnson from brother Kane? I'm like, Yeah, I've actually been messaging him on Instagram. He doesn't respond to my messages. So yeah, like, but you probably get like too many to go through all those. So yeah, the fact that he could hook it up. I was like, Yes, I'm in. I've tried this. So this is great. Chuck, I'm

Damon Johnson: 56:38

glad you said that. I gotta do a little better job with that. What you're talking about? Oh, God. No, it's

Chuck Shute: 56:43

So may I, I don't I think my thing is like, I always think that that's the best way to reach people. But I think most people prefer email. I'm learning that I'm learning as I go like, because you guys probably get so many just random messages from fans and such on on those sites that it's probably harder to weed through it all.

Damon Johnson: 57:01

Well, sometimes you're right. Sometimes there are so many random things that I think you just kind of get this sense in your head like, Ah, yeah, yeah, I'm only gonna check that once a month. But yeah, emails always great. You. You know, listen, email is the it's it's the meat and potatoes of the communication world, man, it just is an undeniable you gotta have it. It's just one of the it's in this basic food group, you know? Absolutely.

Chuck Shute: 57:31

Yeah. Yeah, it's like more, but I think it's a little bit more coveted because not everyone has your email. So if I can, if you know, get with a publicist or something that's always a little, then it's less to go through which I understand so. Well. Thank you so much for doing this. I look forward to seeing you guys perform a show somewhere soon in the future. I hope.

Damon Johnson: 57:48

Chuck Thank you, my friend. It's great to meet you. It's great to talk with ya. You got all my socials and stuff? People can get the album at Damon johnson.com.

Chuck Shute: 57:59

Yes, I will put that in the notes as well. So get the CD there.

Damon Johnson: 58:02

The vinyl. We're hoping to get those by April. Oh, nice.

Chuck Shute: 58:07

Yeah. While making a big comeback.

Damon Johnson: 58:09

Yeah, all the vinyl pressing plants are slow, man, because all these classic bands are reissuing their entire catalog because they haven't had the tour. So they're like, Oh, this is Mick Fleetwood. We want to do you know reissues of all these albums. So all this little guys get put

Chuck Shute: 58:27

in actually what is Yeah, he's Fleetwood Mac. So

Damon Johnson: 58:30

he's the Lord. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Well, thanks

Chuck Shute: 58:34

so much, Damon. I appreciate it.

Damon Johnson: 58:36

We'll see you all the best Chuck. Okay.

Chuck Shute: 58:39

Wow, were you on the edge of your seat during that interview? Like I was listening to these amazing stories of Alice Cooper, Sammy Hagar, Stevie Nicks. I mean, I'm definitely gonna have to have him on again, I could probably have listened for a few more hours. Check out his new album battle lessons. It's Damon Johnson and the Get ready. You can buy it on his website. It's in the podcast notes, or it's on all streaming services as well. And I look forward to seeing him perform live. He's super talented man, great storyteller all around amazing human being so everyone should support him and his music. If you want to support my show, you can share the episode on social media. Or check out some of the other episodes I have, like my interview with Rachel Boleyn and we mentioned in the episode, or Brian, we'd have Tesla recently had him on. Thank you for listening and making it this far to the episode. Have a great day and remember to shoot for the moon.