Johnathan Rice started playing clubs in New York, open mic, you name it, and by the time he was 20, he scored a record deal. His hustle paid off, but he also credits his success to “98% luck, 2% talent.” Johnathan brought a mature, emotional sound on his first disc, Trouble Is Real. And he wastes no time, his new album, tentatively titled Further North was completed in a month. “The theme [of the record] is ‘We’re all stuck out in the desert and we’re all gonna die.” Insert your sarcasm here. Let’s at least give John a listen while he’s still around.
Johnathan had a bit of “industry spy” fun in Japan with Rilo Kiley front-lady Jenny Lewis: For a good part of last year, I [performed with] Jenny Lewis, and we went to Japan and a guy told us there’s a bar where all the super models go. I had just bought this new suit in Tokyo and apparently it’s real hard to get into the bar. So I dressed up in this suit and I went to the bar and pretended to be like an entertainment executive. It really worked! They ushered us into this VIP suite, brought us a bunch of champagne and they sat all the girls down with us. We had a really good night!
Johnathan describes the “minimal anxiety” approach to writing/recording Trouble is Real in LA: The idea was just not to rehearse anything and to pull it off within a few takes. So, I did that. I produced the record with two friends, and we made it in a month. The idea was to get it done as soon as possible and not really think about it until it was done, so we didn’t really have time to overanalyze anything.
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