Joyce Manor’s Barry Johnson On Morrissey Fandom, The ‘Wizardry’ of Kurt Ballou, And More

Photo by Dan Monick

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Today on the Culture Creature podcast, hear an interview with Joyce Manor frontman Barry Johnson. Listen to the complete Joyce Manor interview via the player above or in your podcast provider of choice.

Barry Johnson sat down with Culture Creature host Dan Redding to discuss his band’s new album, Million Dollars To Kill Me, which is out now on Epitaph Records. Barry and Dan also discuss Weezer’s discography, the challenges of being a Morrissey fan, and much more. Listen now.

Joyce Manor Interview Highlights

Barry Johnson on working with producer Kurt Ballou: “Kurt is super, super talented, and an amazing recording engineer. But I just have the opposite mind as him. He’s really technically minded, super good at what he does. And so smart – an insanely intelligent guy. Such a knowledge of all the gear he owns, and such a knowledge of how sound works, and is so talented. But everything he does is so over my head. So I didn’t take away anything.”

Barry Johnson on song ideas in dreams: “I wish that I had more song ideas come from dreams. They do come from my subconscious, which is kind of dream-related. I will have songs kind of appear in my head as though it’s a fully-written song that must’ve been cooking in my subconscious. I think David Lynch talks about it – ‘catching the big fish’ – I kinda have to reel it in. Like, ‘Oh, it’s there.’ I slowly reel it in. I don’t want to break the line, you know what I mean? I don’t wanna start injecting too much of my own thought into it … As it is, let’s pull it in, you know? The best ones, you can pull ‘em in clean without accidentally suffocating it before the idea can appear to you.”

Barry Johnson on the complexities of Morrissey fandom: “I’m such a Morrissey fan that it is part of my identity. I welcomed that for a long time. I’m like a Morrissey superfan the way that someone who is a Trekkie is [into Star Trek]. I’m a Morrissey nerd. His recent political statements… It’s a shame. I think it’s tarnished a little bit.”