Backstage of the Brussels Summer Festival, Madé J. is drinking, smoking, joking. He just went off the stage. And it was a hell of a gig! Kinda like as if Robert Johnston had had a child with Poison Ivy. The tree of rock n’roll, a gig as a tree seconds coma, some tit grabbing… It is totally impossible to get bored talking to that reckless son of rock n’roll!
[French adaptation here]
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Who are you?
I’m Steve Johnson! [laughter] I work in an automobile repair shop. And I don’t know why they let me in but… [laughter] Na, my name is Madé J. I come from Denpasar, Bali and I’m here in Belgium. Why? Fuck! I don’t know! [laughter]
For how long have you been in Belgium now?
Nearly seven years.
Did you plan on staying here?
No, I didn’t plan on staying here. It’s just kinda happened. I came here the first time, like everybody: for a chick. I came here for a girl for the week end. And then, I got gigs and then everyone drinks, and I was like « Fuck it! I like this place! » And then, I’d sticked around. That’s what’s happened. And then I got a record deal and now I’m like a rockstar and shit! [laughter]
So, you’ve lived in London…
Yeah, I’ve lived in London, I’ve lived in New York, New Orleans, I’ve lived in Dublin for a while, in Paris for a while, I’ve lived in Australia for a little while too, and in Bali, of course…
But you’ve chosen Belgium?
I’m not sure I’ve chosen it, but I like it. As far as it goes, it’s my favorite place to live in Europe. And I’ve been around. It’s great, you know. It’s like, everyone is so relaxed. Compared to everywhere else. My brother lives in Cologne and I go to visit him sometimes. At night time, Cologne, I love it. It’s great! Everyone is great. Everyone is like drinking and partying, it’s good. Day time, I HATE it! Everyone is like: « No no, the bus comes in fucking three and a half seconds! » [laughter] And London is the same, during the day, everyone is so in a hustle, or in Barcelona… But in Brussels, everyone is never like that, you know what I mean? So, I like it a lot!
Is it interesting, musically, to be in Brussels nowadays?
Yeah, the rock n’roll scene is better than in a lot of places. Everybody supports everyone else. And there is no separation between genres of rock n’roll. It’s not like the punk rock scene, and the metal scene, and he stoner scene, and the rockabilly scene, or whatever. Everybody hangs out together and gets along, and supports everybody else. It’s just a really cool vibe. In a lot of other places you go, everybody is like: « Come see my band! » but nobody comes and see your band, you know?
There are a lot of bands going back to the roots of rock n’roll. Isn’t it a strange era for rock n’roll, like the newest thing is the oldest?
Yeah, well, I kinda think that, in order to know a kind of music, you have to go to the beginning of it. A long time ago, I started playing because of Pantera. I was listening to this music and I thought: « This solo of guitar is great » and he was playing these licks and I was like: « What is that? » Then I heard Jimi Hendrix and I thought: « He is doing the same damned thing! What is that sound? » And I realized it was blues. I was listening to Muddy Waters and I was like: « Oh yeah, that’s where it comes from! » And I went back to Delta blues, like Robert Johnson and it was what I loved the most. So I started playing it, I really went into that. I’ve been in Mississippi and played with the old guys, the old old guys. And the taught me slide guitar and all that kind of things. Then I could progress forward.
It’s like, you have a tree, yeah? The roots are like this [gesture] and the leaves grow up like that. And then branches come out. If you start with a branch there [quite far away from the roots], you get so far [end of the imaginary branch, no really far from where it began]. But if you start at the bottom, you can go from where it started and go on your own direction [ample gesture]. You can even make your own tree! [laughter]
What does music mean for you?
Music means I get laid more often! [laughter] And I get drunk for free a lot! [laughter] That’s why I started!
Hey, that’s like my life!
But you’re a woman, you get that shit easy! I’ve got to find ways to get that to happen, you know!
And I can touch some tits whenever I want!
[laughter] That’s great! So can I! [he grabs one of my tits] Next question! [laughter]
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
Everything about my life is pretty bad, you know! What I find normal, lots of people just don’t fucking understand. I don’t feel guilty about anything — well, about most of the things. Some things, I look back and go: « Mmm, I probably shouldn’t have done that! » But that’s life, man, you know! I’d rather do something and apologize than think about it before: « Oh, should I do this and regret that shit? » It’s ok!
And how comes that coming from Bali, you’ve travelled that much? What was the trigger?
It’s Robert Johnson, the blues guitar player. I heard Robert Johnson when I was sixteen, I thought: « I will never play at the same level; at least, I’ll live like him! » And Robert Johnson at a time when he was seventeen travelled all around America on his own and learned from a lot of people. So, I thought: « That’s what I have to do! » So, I was seventeen at that time, with a suitcase and a guitar. That’s what I still do. And it’s good, it’s good because I wanna play, I really do. But time flies because you can never really have anything close to you, you know? Because you’re always on the move. And all the shit you have, it’s always fucking crazy. Because you do travel around the world playing guitar. So if you wanna have a girlfriend, good luck! [laughter]
Are you trying to tell something to our readers?
I want to get laid! [laughter] Yeah, no, but you know, it is a fucking nomad life, I realize that now. But you can’t have fucking everything. Well, it’s fine, I guess I’ll fucking live with it!
Can they find you on facebook?
I’m on everything! Facebook, instagram, twitter and other shit! So, it’s all cool, you know! You can follow me somehow! [laughter]
What turns you on in music?
Vibes, man. It’s all about vibes. If it sounds like vibes, I like it. That’s how that feels, you know. That’s the most important thing.
What turns you off in music
When there is a band that I really like and I go see them play and they play like: « Is the song behind me? », you know? So, for me, I need to play live. Recording albums, doing videoclips, doing this shit, all that kind, interviews, whatever… You do it because you have to do it. But you do it because you get to play gigs and that’s the whole point.
Honestly, when I do a really good gig, I remember like three seconds of the entire show. The rest of it is like a fucking coma, you know what I mean? You go there, you remember the first chord, you remember one bit in the middle when you do something fucking weird and you remember the end. And that’s it. It’s all these flashes of a couple of seconds, man! And that’s a good gig. ‘cause it means that you’re completely in that moment and you’re only in that moment.
Could you tell us a joke?
Why is there such a problem with pedophilia in Belgium? Sexy kids.
Pictures: Gautier Houba